The main entrance leads to the reception area where staff clad in jeans and a waistcoat are welcoming and efficient. The colourful area has comfortable sofas, armchairs and chandeliers making this a lovely place to hang out. It has a trendy vibe about it.

Small bells hang on the wall perhaps in homage to the Abbey bells, behind a white reception while the rest of the room has funky artworks, as does most of the hotel. Sometimes it’s Regency-style, sometimes faces obscured by a primary colour and bizarrely even animals dressed in military costumes. In much of the communal area, carpets are decorated with butterflies; sometimes there are prints and maps. A lot is going on.

Influencers flouting local rules for the perfect ‘gram. Ignoring the locals living in the destinations we visit as we book Airbnbs, crowd streets, behave badly, and generate waste that will stay in our destination long after we leave.

Mary Doe

Sure, there have always been tourists behaving badly ever since the first tourist existed. But, in an age where travel has become so easy and ubiquitous for so many for the first time, those problems have amplified a thousandfold. Destinations didn’t have the necessary infrastructure to handle the flood of tourists cheap travel brought.

From flouting rules and refusing to wear a mask to hosting parties, coughing on others, and just generally being selfish, the pandemic has shown us that the world is filled with more assholes than we thought. But, despite all of that, when it comes to the future of travel, I think the pandemic is going to make it better.

All rooms come with comfy Hypnos beds with luxury Egyptian cotton linen, spacious bathrooms, Nespresso coffee machines, highspeed Wi-Fi and several channels on a 40” flat-screen TV.  The mini-bar comes stocked with some drinks that are included in the room rate.

Facilities

• World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
• Insure My Trip (for those over 70)
• Medjet (for additional repatriation coverage)

As we yearn to reconnect with friends, family, and the world at large, I think that what we’ve gone through has also given many of us a chance to reflect on all the things we took for granted: the outdoors, community, neighborhood restaurants, and the arts.