Asian travellers embrace solo journeys

Interest in solo travel is rising across Asia, digital travel platform Agoda reports. 

Agoda notes a 16% increase in solo accommodation searches compared to last year. 

This trend underscores a growing movement of travellers embracing the freedom and adventure of solo journeys, it says.

When planning their trips, solo travellers gravitate towards major cities in Asia. 

Tokyo (Japan) leads the pack, ahead of Bangkok (Thailand), Seoul (South Korea), Osaka (Japan), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) rounding out the top five destinations. 

These urban hubs offer a wide range of attractions, from cultural landmarks to world-class dining and lively entertainment, perfect for those looking to explore at their own pace. 

At the forefront of this trend are travellers from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan, who make up the top five solo travel groups in Asia, Agoda's data show. 

While Japanese travellers dominate in numbers, interest in solo travel has grown the fastest among Indonesians with a 72% increase in searches. 

Thai travellers follow close behind, with a 37% rise in solo travel interest. This growth highlights a transformative shift in how individuals across Asia are redefining their travel experiences and looking beyond traditional group trips.

"The rise in solo travel across Asia has become a defining trend in 2025 that reflects a growing desire for personal discovery and meaningful cultural immersion," says Jay Lee, regional director for North Asia at Agoda said. 

"Agoda is thrilled to support these journeys by offering a wide array of options tailored to solo travellers, ensuring they have everything they need to make their trips unforgettable."

See Agoda.com for more information.

Image: Terran Goodwin, Scop.io

Wheel away: New cycle tour explores an epic coastline

A new cycle tour offers the opportunity to explore Victoria’s spectacular Great Ocean Road at your own pace.

The new self-guided tour from Australian Cycle Tours gives travellers the chance to cycle along the wild southern coast and roll right up to one of Australia’s iconic natural landmarks, The Twelve Apostles.

Launching next month, The Great Ocean Road Cycle itinerary features impressive cliffs and dramatic seascapes.

Designed for confident and experienced riders, the seven-day journey offers the freedom of self-guided travel with all the details taken care of, including accommodation, daily luggage transfers, and a navigation app.

The trip begins inland on the the Camperdown to Timboon Rail Trail and then the Twelve Apostles Trail, a newly developed path that winds through native bush and farmland.

From there, the route descends toward the coast, joining the Great Ocean Road and rides alongside the wild Southern Ocean.

There are also gourmet stops in foodie towns like Timboon, Port Campbell, and Lorne.

For details see https://www.australiancycletours.com.au/victoria/great-ocean-road/self-guided/great-ocean-road-cycle

Rebellion, cannabis and hospitality will be hot trends for 2025

More hospitable service, cannabis-infused drinks and more adventure are just three of the food trends to look out for in 2025. 

The New York Times reports that American consumers this year will be looking to break rules and ignore tradition. At least, that’s what the market researchers, food sociologists and other prognosticators are saying.

And we all know that what happens in the US quickly becomes a global contagion. 

“It’s a take-chances time right now,” said Andrew Freeman, president of AF & CO, a San Francisco consulting firm behind the Hospitality Trends Report. 

“Think of what we’ve just gone through," says Freeman. "The whole world shifted. And if the whole world is going to break rules, why not do it with what we eat and drink?”

The hottest trend in hospitality will be … hospitality, the newspaper says. 

So look out for for cosy counter service, soulful food served in comfortable dining rooms and shorter menus that mix value and deliciousness. Restaurants that connect to the community and offer work-life balance for employees will matter more than ever.

“We are feeling doom; we are feeling big feelings,” said Renee Wege, a trend expert and publications manager at the research firm Datassential. 

“So more than anything else, people are craving that cosy, warm hospitality and service.”

Protein will continue its rise to the top of the popularity pyramid, driven in part by gym users and Americans on weight-loss medications. 

Rebellious consumers, meanwhile, are pushing limits with unconventional choices, said Melanie Bartelme, a global food analyst and trend spotter for Mintel. 

They eat snacks when they should be eating meals. They embrace weird combination. 

Japanese convenience stores, popularly known as konbini, are open 24 hours and known for pre-prepared foods like onigiri and ramen. 

Soon, the Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven will start to export its konbini-style food to some of its US stores.

Drinks spiced with cannabis and other mood-altering components like kava, guarana and an amino acid called GABA will grow as interest in alcohol declines, especially among Gen Zers, the newspaper predicts. 

“Younger generations see cannabis as having less negative side effects than alcohol,” said Candace MacDonald, co-founder and managing director of the marketing firm Carbonate. “We’re just beginning to see a shift in how this impacts their consumption.”

Image: Meghan Page, Scop.io

On the right track: Vietnam plots a railway revolution

Clunking through rural Vietnam on a slow-moving long distance train may soon be a thing of the past - although probably not soon enough.

I recently spent a whole lot of hours each way on a vey slow train from Hanoi to Hue, and then from Danang back to Hanoi.

I was in a four-berth sleeper cabin and it was an adventure, but not one I'd repeat in a hurry.

While the cabins have been tarted up, they are claustrophobic and the rolling stock rattles and clunks its way up and down the country. How fun your journey is might well depend on who your travelling companions are. Pot luck.

The various classes of travel on Vietnamese trains are soft sleepers, hard sleepers, soft seats, and hard seats, with soft sleepers as the most expensive.

Most tourists opt to journey in a soft sleeper because each berth has a pillow, sheet, a soft quilt, and a personal reading lamp. There are power points - and even wifi most of the time. Snacks are provided and you can buy food from vendors who roam up and down the carriages,

You need to stay on the lower berths in the daytime - and need the agility of a gymnast to scale an upper berth. Make sure to book a lower berth!

But now two sections of Vietnam's north-south high-speed railway - to connect Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - are slated to begin construction in late 2027, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Vietnam's parliament this week approved a resolution supporting the $67 billion high-speed rail project.

The railway, Vietnam's most ambitious infrastructure project, will eventually run all the way from the capital Hanoi to the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City. The 1,541-km (958-mile) project is expected to be completed in 2035.

The Hanoi-Vinh and Nha Trang-HCMC sections will break ground in late 2027, and construction of the Vinh-Nha Trang segment is scheduled to start between 2028 and 2029.

The proposed railway is designed to support trains travelling at 350kph.

Ticket prices will be offered in three tiers, depending on the service class.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has suggested extending the line beyond its current endpoints to include the northern province of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay, and to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

It can't come a moment too soon.

How to take the best walks on Australia's wild side

One piece of advice that is key for anyone planning a holiday: Do your research.

You don't want to end up in a luxury hotel that is next to a major building site, or find that jellyfish make it dangerous to swim at your chosen beach resort.

Making sure you make the right choice is super-important if you are considering splashing out big bucks on one of Australia's famous - and sometimes challenging - multi-day walks.

A new book showcasing the best long-distance walks in Australia is perfect for anyone planning their next multi-day adventure.

Do you you need a tent? How much food will you need?

One of the greatest challenges can be searching through the options to find the right trail for you you and your abilities.

To help with this, editor and writer Wendy Bruere has assembled a team of experienced Australian writer-hikers, to survey and showcase the best multi-day walks Australia has to offer in the new book: Australia's 50 Best Multi-Day Walks.

Descriptions, essential planning information, tips, maps and photography will help inspire, and guide readers towards the right choice for their vacation.

Bruere is a Sydney-based writer and editor, specialising in outdoor adventure and climate change. She has combined with a team including John and Monica Chapman, who have been writing walking guides for Australians for over 40 years.

Australia's 50 Best Multi-Day Walks. Publisher: Woodslane Press. RRP: $39.99. Available at bookstores and at www.woodslanepress.com.au

Polar opposites. Travel from the inside looking out

Enjoy travelling vicariously with some quirky companions?  

How about a journey from New Zealand to Spain undertaken almost entirely by train? 

Meet amusingly eccentric French horn player Gregory Hill and his German violinist wife Anne. 

Gregory somehow came up with the idea of travelling from one point on the globe - his home in Wellington - to its exact upside, or antipodes, which turns out to be somewhere between near Salamanca in Spain. 

He remembers doing a similar exercise with an old school atlas. Now he decides to try it real life, which turns into a 38,000 kilometre trip in 78 days, with 31,000 of those kilometres covered by rail. 

On the right tracks, so to speak. The trip from Saigon to Spain was conducted entirely on steel tracks. 

So 33 trains, 19 countries and a whole lot of interesting, sometimes amusing, encounters, fortunately completed before Covid made a trip of this nature impossible.

The trip takes us from New Zealand’s Northern Explorer to the Eurostar and a wide range of trains with stops Xi'an and a hilarious experience with Chinese bureaucracy, and possible drug dealers in Siberia.

Well illustrated with maps and photos, this is a fun armchair journey with Gregory and Anne with musical interludes including the Bolshoi Ballet and the Paris Opera. 

The Antipodean Express is published today in Australia by Exisle Publishing. $44.99. 
https://exislepublishing.com/product/the-antipodean-express/ 

A new book to inspire walkers of all abilities

Here's a new book that is equally appealing for armchair travellers and avid adventurers.

Greatest Walks of the World is an ideal gift for anyone who ,loves to connect with nature, or for a Father's Day gift for any Dad who dreams of walking some of the most inspiring landscapes on earth.

From Tasmania's epic Three Capes Track track and the Larapinta Trail in central Australia to the Camino de Santiago in Europe and South Africa's Table Mountain, hiking routes are explored with photographs, route guides and maps.

The locations have been chosen for their outstanding natural beauty and their popularity with a selection of 'bucket-list' treks combined with 'locals-only' knowledge.

The book, from Exisle Pubishing, features 50 walks from around the world, and is lavishsly illustrated and enticing enough to make even this confirmed coach potato put his walking boots back on.

Greatest Walks of The World by Stuart Butler and Mary Caperton Morton, Hardcover | 320 pages | Exisle Publishing | RRP $49.99

See www.exislepublishing.com 

The ultimate African wildlife safari - by hot air balloon

Here's a trip that sounds well worth adding to your bucket list.

How about a balloon safari looking at African wildlife - from cheetahs to zebras - from above?

Aardvark Safaris has just announced a unique balloon safari crossing the Serengeti National Park.

In partnership with Serengeti Balloon Safaris and Wayo Africa Fly Camps, the six-day African safari adventure will take to the skies each day to traverse the Serengeti, Travel Mole reports.

The inaugural launch date is November 1-7.

Having taken balloon flights in South Africa and India, I can confirm there is no better way to observe wildlife - the animals are simply not concerned by balloons flying above them.

Starting and ending in Arusha, Tanzania, the new safari includes four nights fly-camping in cocoon tents (above).

Each morning, guests will be flown by hot air balloon to a brand-new wilderness spot - although it is not clear what happens if there is no wind.

Guests can then explore with fully escorted walking safaris and traditional wildlife drives.

Highlights will include flying high above the Serengeti as well as close-up wildlife encounters while flying at grass level.

Balloons will also land on the eastern shores of Lake Victoria.

Serengeti Balloon Safaris is the oldest hot air balloon safari company in Tanzania. It has flown over 250,000 guests in its 30+ years of operating.

The experience is bookable through Aardvark Safaris - but be warned. It does not come cheap.