LIFESTYLE FLIGHTS
Hate to fly? Maybe not anymore! Forget cramped seats, bad food, and limited entertainment. Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways and Emirates already have full bars in first and business class. Some airlines plan to offer social spaces for long flights that will include yoga space and communal dining. Airbus and Zodiac Aerospace are working on turning their cargo holds into rest zones with bunk beds, kids’ play areas, clinics, and lounges. Each fully furnished unit is built as a pod that can be put into and taken out of the belly of the plane. And when one airline does something that the public embraces, they all pretty much follow suit. This is one airline change that I can get on board with (pun intended!)
FYI: A revolution is coming with gourmet dining options coming to airports. Beijing Daxing International offers Chee Kei, a Michelin-recommended wonton noodle outlet. Singapore’s Changi offers cake boutiques, cafes, fine dining, and London-based Burger and Lobster. New York’s JFK just opened a Mad Men-style restaurant, Paris Café, from famous Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
TASTY TRAVELS
Foodies get ready! Culinary experiences are all the rage. Look for an increase in immersive experiences, such as cooking classes, vegan retreats, private home dining, and truffle hunting. Also, more and more vegan restaurants are opening up worldwide.
CRUISES
European river cruises and expedition cruises will continue to increase in popularity. Active travelers will appreciate the wellness itineraries on AmawWaterways cruises. Budget-minded travelers will find lots of good options with CroisiEurope. Viking River Cruises caters to affluent travelers. U River Cruises (Uniworld) is great for adventure travelers while Le Boat is the perfect option for independent travelers. Their self-driving boats are available for seventeen destinations in nine countries.
There will be lots of new ships and favorable pricing in 2020. In summer 2020, Carnival will launch the 5,282-passenger Carnival Mardi Gras. It will be the first liquefied natural gas-powered cruise ship to set sail in North America. It will also be the first to have an on-board roller coaster! Carnival will also be adding more U.S. ports to its roster, including San Francisco. Also coming in summer 2020, Marriott International, through its Ritz-Carlton brand, will throw its captain’s hat into the ring with its Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. This will feature a 298-passenger ultra-luxurious ship. Another big travel brand, Virgin (owned by billionaire Richard Branson), will launch Virgin Voyages this spring.
Hipster cruising will be a thing. Richard Branson’s (Virgin Voyages) maiden vessel, Scarlet Lady, has been designed to appeal to Generation Y and Z in a way that no other cruise line has yet managed to do. There will be Tom Dixon-designed interiors, a tattoo parlor, karaoke studios, an open-air gym, a vinyl record shop curated by music producer Mark Ronson, bars serving signature craft beer and CBD cocktails, and all-inclusive restaurants such as Razzle Dazzle (with lots of yummy vegan options).
UNDERGROUND SUPPER CLUBS
Forget food trucks! These ‘clubs’ are for people interested in culinary experiences that are more community-minded with the event consisting of a ‘pop up dinner’ in a new location, with new people, trying new foods. These dinners are typically in a home setting with a mystery chef and mystery menu, though sometimes you will get the menu beforehand. The beauty about these clubs is you typically never know what to expect; you can have gourmet burgers and beers prepared by a celebrity chef in his home with a group of twenty strangers, or you can enjoy authentic exotic Philippine food flavors in a ‘hidden restaurant’ somewhere in your city. Some of the most popular clubs and restaurants within the United States include the Naked Lady Room in NYC, Hush in DC, and the Sunday Dinner Club in Chicago.
RAIL TRAVEL
Luxury rail travel is on the rise, especially in Canada, South Africa, and Europe. The most popular trains include Venice-Simplon Orient Express, Belmond Royal Scotsman, South Africa’s Blue Train and Rovos Rail Pride of Africa, India’s Palace on Wheels, North America’s Rocky Mountaineer, Trans-Siberian Golden Eagle, and Australia’s The Ghan.
EXTENDED & EXPAT TRAVEL
Since Boomers have more cash and longevity than previous generations, they will spend much of their retirement traveling. Their soft adventures and cruises will be longer in duration than the typical two-week vacation. Many will even become ex-pats, opting to spend time overseas to enjoy late life adventures and make their retirement dollars go further. Live-at-sea cruises will be more popular than retirement communities and assisted living facilities. NOTE: This season on Terrance Talks Travel: Uber Adventures focuses on extended and expat travel.
ENVIRONMENTAL TRAVEL
This includes volunteer vacations, habitat vacations, eco-vacations, and sustainable travel. These travelers are looking to connect with nature (but leave no footprints) and make a difference in this world. For example, Discover Initiative trips are led by research scientists and a percentage of the money earned on every trip is contributed to charity, such as the Orangutan Foundation and Nature Travels, which donates to conservation efforts and only uses small, local service providers. Although we are only at the very start of this shift, it is being led by a younger generation (think Greta Thunberg) who will shape travel in the future. Travel (planes, trains and automobiles) contribute greatly to global CO2 emissions. Expect future generations to vacation closer to home and utilize more eco-friendly transportation and lodging options.
ANCESTRY TOURISM
A report in MIT Technology Review revealed that by 2019, 26 million people had taken an ancestry DNA test at home. Airbnb has partnered with DNA lab 23andMe to help travelers search for their roots.
LITERARY TRAVEL
This is travel based on your favorite author, book, or book festival. There are many places in the U.S. and around the world based on popular novels and their authors, such as a Mark Twain-themed river cruises and New Zealand’s Hobbit Experience. There are famous libraries worth visiting, such as the British Library. This is the national library of the United Kingdom and the largest library in the world with 200 million items from numerous countries. Book fairs and festivals are growing in popularity, such as the Baltimore Book Festival and the New York Book Expo. Thousands of people from across the U.S. and abroad attend annually.
SPACE TOURISM
Virgin Galactic will soon take travelers who can afford it on 90-minute sub-orbital flight into space. Recently, the airline published photos of its new departure lounge at Spaceport America, where the first amateur cosmonauts will prepare for their ascent aboard VSS Unity in the coming months. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Space Company hopes to launch test flights of its New Shepard in 2020. If all goes well, they will be the next to take travelers into space. Space X plans to take a Japanese billionaire around the moon in 2023. Up to 100 travelers may spend a week at the first-ever space hotel by 2025. Built specifically for commercial use, the Von Braun Rotating Space Station, which looks like a giant Ferris wheel, will have bars, restaurants, and private residences for sale. Hope they have my flying car ready by then!
SURF VACATIONS
Surfing will be an Olympic sport for the first time in the 2020 games in Japan. Surfing holidays are booming and the sport is growing in popularity, especially with women. Surf enthusiasts are opting for surf retreats and surf parks, such as Selina, Pegasus Lodges, Soul, and Wavegarden (which will be the largest in the world when it opens in South Korea in 2020).
DARK TOURISM
More and more, travelers are seeking out itineraries that focus on death, tragedy, murder, disaster, destruction, suffering, and the other macabre. Think destinations like Chernobyl, Cambodia’s killing fields, Jack the Ripper Tours, Ground Zero, Paris Catacombs, and Haunted Savannah Tours.
CASH FREE TRAVEL
We are starting to reach the stage where you might not even need any local currency on a trip abroad. Services like Revolut let you change currencies within their app and use virtual cards to book services. Many hotels, restaurants and services can be used cash free by simply tapping your card – or phone. PayPal can be used when traveling and pre-paid cards are growing in popularity. The biggest ride service in the world, Uber, doesn’t even accept cash. You must set up an account and use their app to book a ride. Uber processes your credit card and pays the driver.
TRANSFORMATIVE TRAVEL
Travelers are looking at combining their love of travel with helping others. They want to come back from their travels transformed. This includes learning vacations, volunteer vacations, retreats, and mission trips.
FYI: The best budget destinations for 2020 are Costa Rica, Bulgaria, Mexico, Montenegro, Argentina, Thailand, Romania, and Hungary.
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Terrance Zepke studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and later received a Master's Degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Carolina. She has studied Parapsychology at the renowned Rhine Research Center. She began her career as a freelance writer and photographer, ... 
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