Are you looking for a holiday – or are you seeking an ‘experience’? Holidays used to involve lazing around by a pool, working on a tan and drinking too much of the local spirit.
In case you didn’t get the memo, that has gone out of fashion along with travellers cheques. These days people want to enjoy a special moment, a unique experience.
This year, by chance, I’ve been on a series of trips that boasted moments special enough to be ‘self-ied’ and transmitted to the world via social media.
The Mail on Sunday’s travel editor Frank Barrett went on a trip aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, with the voyage devoted to ‘Prog Rock’
We want, it seems, a chance to say: ‘Look at me! See what a special holiday I’m having.’
At the start of the year I took a ‘Cruise To The Edge’ from Florida to Cozumel in Mexico.
Sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas this was a trip devoted to ‘Prog Rock’.
On board were bands including Yes, Kansas, Curved Air and Focus.
There were prog events day and night: from a chance to quiz your favourite band and have your photo taken with them, to a late-night jam session in the bar when you could bring your guitar and join in.
I’m not the biggest prog rock fan but I found its enthusiasm infectious and could see why music cruises have become a hit.
Frank said the Monaco Grand Prix was ‘fast and furious’. He was surprised how the race takes over the whole of the principality for several days
My second ‘moment’ came in May when I attended a Katherine Jenkins concert on the beach in Dubai along with Imagine Cruising clients starting or ending a journey on the QM2’s World Cruise.
Joining in with Land Of My Fathers as the sun dropped behind the Burj Al Arab hotel really was a special experience.
My third experience was a sporting occasion with Silversea: the Monaco Grand Prix, left.
The race is fast and furious but what you don’t expect is how it takes over the whole principality for several days.
I tweeted photos from all three events. I’m sure my six followers were impressed…
royalcaribbean.co.uk, imaginecruising.co.uk and silversea.com.