Sanctuary Baines’ Camp, bordering the Moremi Game Reserve and the Okavango Delta, is ideally placed for wildlife watching

Nobody wants to go where everyone else has been. Creating a holiday that eschews the well-trodden tourist trail requires knowledge, contacts and experience. James Parry speaks to ultimate tour operator Abercrombie & Kent to see how they create experiences beyond expectations, from the best view of a solar eclipse in Argentina to a private tour of the Bolshoi with an ex-ballerina as your guide

In our increasingly crowded world, it’s difficult to ‘get away from it all’. We often reminisce about the places we visited long ago – that seaside holiday when you and your friends were the only people on the beach or that time you visited a beautifully tranquil temple and got a guided tour by one of the monks. And though our memories of bygone holidays may be rose-tinted, it is certainly true that getting off the beaten track today has never been more difficult. Queues, timed tickets and a throng of visitors brandishing selfie sticks are often part of the price you pay for seeing more of the world.

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The travel market is starting to recognise that some travellers would like a more engaging, authentic experience abroad, one where they can create a personal connection to their destination. Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), the bespoke travel company created by adventure pioneer Geoffrey Kent, has been specialising in highly personalised itineraries that are designed to match each traveller’s interests and passions since 1962. A&K’s clients want more than a sight-seeing tour, and Kent and his team are specialists in what’s known as ‘experiential travel’, conceiving trips that “inspire our guests to look at the world in a new and different way”.

Chile has some of the world’s most spectacular vineyards

However much input you may want to have in your itinerary, a wide network of contacts is useful, and A&K’s global staff – which numbers over 2,500 – leverage their detailed local knowledge and send their team members on fact-finding missions so they can devise trips full of unusual venues and experiences.

In Cambodia, A&K’s contacts extend beyond the temples, cultural landmarks and eco-tourism spots; it has also built relationships with art experts and curators to offer insider access to the country’s thriving creative industries. If you’re passionate about craftsmanship, the chance to spend time in an artist’s workshop gets to the very heart of what makes a place tick. One visit included the opportunity to spend time with artisans who are preserving and promoting traditional Khmer lacquerware techniques and whose pieces have been commissioned by brands such as Cartier, Hermès and Louis Vuitton. On another trip, A&K arranged a stopover to a Khmer couture designer to see how locally sourced fibres are used to hand-make bespoke fabrics that are now making it onto the catwalks of Milan and Paris.

Eric Raisina, a couture designer in Cambodia

For dance lovers, the trip of a lifetime might involve witnessing the legendary dancers of the Bolshoi in Moscow – not just performing, but in rehearsal. Elizabeth Patch, private client manager, organised one such behind-the-scenes visit for a client, who commented on “the unstaged emotion and raw-life element of the practice room”. The experience also includes a tour of the legendary institution led by a former ballerina who offers first-hand recollections of a life dancing on stage and regales her guests with stories of landmark productions and celebrated prima donnas. Guests are also shown the seamstresses’ workshop, where every costume is hand-made, and the visit is topped off with an attendance of the performance itself.

Read more: Ferrari designer Flavio Manzoni on collaborating with Hublot

Behind the scenes at the Bolshoi in Moscow

Time and again, travellers’ most memorable experiences are drawn from the people they meet. In Chile, one possible itinerary sees visitors spending time at Casa Marín, the award-winning winery of Maria Luz Marín – one of the most influential women in the global wine industry. Marilú, as she is usually known, bucked the trend in the male-dominated world of viniculture by going out on her own to produce premium wines from an estate that most experts said was too close to the sea for vines to thrive. Today she shares her knowledge – and some of her finest vintages – with guests at La Casa.

Renowned chef Francis Mallmann’s unique Siete Fuegos open-flame cooking techniques in Argentina.

One of the greatest joys of a bespoke holiday is delegating logistics to the experts – even the weather. Earlier this year, a special programme was arranged for a group of clients to witness the total solar eclipse visible across parts of South America on 2 July. The A&K team in Argentina had to identify the best possible location for a luxurious camp from which to view this momentous event. “We chose two different places, based on the optimum vantage points, and had to decide at the last minute which one to use, after we knew what the weather was doing,” says Veronica Curtis, A&K country manager for Argentina. “We were prepared for one area to have more cloud cover than the other, so we had helicopters on standby ready to take the group to whichever site had the best view of the eclipse.”

Read more: Lenny Kravtiz on his creative vision for Dom Pérignon

A rare view of the total solar eclipse in Argentina this summer

For travellers who balk at overcrowding, the ultimate luxury would be a visit to a unique venue on an exclusive basis. This applies not just to cultural landmarks, such as the Mount Etna Observatory in Italy – one of many private tours that A&K has made possible – but also to accommodation. Hotels and lodges are selected to reflect the distinctive character of each destination. Think lesser-known gems, such as the boutique Temple House in Chengdu, China, which artfully combines a restored imperial courtyard with chic modern interiors, and Angama Mara, a luxury safari lodge dramatically perched on the edge of Kenya’s iconic Great Rift Valley in the midst of what has been described as the ‘greatest wildlife show on Earth’.

Abercrombie & Kent has spent decades honing its instinct for what makes truly meaningful, one-of-a-kind trips. Beyond the planning and preparation, experiential travel requires imagination on the part of the organiser and the traveller. After all, a successful journey will take you to a place you’ve always dreamed about, but a wildly successful trip might just take you to a place you’ve never even heard of.

Another side of the red city

The YSL Museum in Marrakech

The sandstone walls and souks of Marrakech in Morocco are a well-established stop on the mainstream tourist route, but you can also experience some of the city’s more remarkable sights in a totally original way: without the buzz of the crowds. Bespoke private access can be arranged to many of the city’s cultural venues, offering you the chance to soak up the atmosphere at your own pace. Options include an after-hours private tour of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, a visit to an Arab horse stud farm, and exclusive occupancy of the privately owned estate of Dar El Sadaka, designed by the celebrated French installation artist Jean-François Fourtou and home to his whimsical architectural masterpieces, The House Fallen from the Sky and The Giant’s House.

Discover A&K’s portfolio of travel tours: abercrombiekent.co.uk

This article was originally published in the Autumn 19 Issue.

How well do you know your socio-economic and demographic grouping acronyms?

Abercrombie & Kent founder and LUX contributor Geoffrey Kent discusses how a new generation of consumers are influencing brands

How well do you know your socio-economic and demographic grouping acronyms? From the best-known, like Yuppie and Wasp, to the more recent, Sinbad – there seems to be an acronym for everyone.

If you are a frequent reader of my columns here on LUX or if you’re familiar with our luxury travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, you might be forgiven for thinking that we concentrate on attracting Dinkies, Tinkies (two incomes, nanny and kids), Glams (those who are greying, leisured, affluent and middle-aged), or even Rappies (retired affluent professionals), but in fact, we, like all brands, are increasingly turning our attention to the Henrys.

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Nothing to do with the Hooray Henry, this term was coined by Fortune magazine and stands for ‘high earners, not rich yet’, Henrys are those on their way to affluence, but not quite there yet due to high living costs and other factors. While Henrys span both the millennial and GenY generation, it is millennial Henrys, which are of so much interest to entrepreneurs and their marketers for two simple reasons.

Firstly, their numbers: as revealed in an all-important announcement in 2015 from the U.S. Census bureau, millennials (born between 1980-2000) surpassed Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) as the largest generation in the U.S. (where this type of research frequently seems to stem from and of interest to me because of A&K’s American offices (A&K is headquartered in both London and Downers Grove, Illinois). Plus there are many, many more of them in comparison to their parents’ generation.

Secondly, their spending power: from now until 2040, millennials will be entering their prime spending years. They will be the key consumer segment driving the world’s economies.

The millennial generation had its biggest birth year in 1990, so using them as an example, the top 20 per cent Henrys (high earners, not rich yet) born in 1990 earn over $50,000 per annum and the top 10 per are earning more than $75,000 a year approximately. They are well on their way to affluence, and are more educated, better informed and setting the trends that other millennials will emulate.

And with millennials driving economies, as brands try to win their business, millennials will change the businesses and their offerings, thus affecting us all. They are driving what is coming to be called the ‘experience economy’, moving from consumerism towards experientialism (read more about how they are redefining luxury travel here). If you have a subscription to a streaming service and no longer purchase DVDs or boxsets for example, it’s all down to millennials and this trend. If you have noticed more travel companies urging you to experience a destination like a local or learn something on holiday, you now know who the cause is. This isn’t exactly new ground for A&K – we’ve been encouraging travellers to make horizon-broadening connections since the early 1960s – plus ça change.

Read more: Kuwait’s ASCC launches visual arts programme in Venice

Millennials and the Henrys among them are focussed on value, not price point, and interested in feeling proud of their purchases and the things they do. They are design-led, crave authenticity and want for everything they do to be climate positive (or at a bare minimum, neutral). They are the type to choose a travel brand that is philanthropic and does good in the places in which its guests travel (such as A&K). They want a curated experience, that does no harm (i.e. is socially responsible) and that is Instagrammable. They share their experiences in the same way that their parents related theirs at dinner parties.

They are searching for a connection to their communities, other cultures and the world at large. Travel is a practical way to process and respond to an increasingly complex globe.

Thanks to childhoods, lifestyles and the psychology of millennials, they are the ‘Do It For Me’ customer – exactly the type that appreciates a well-travelled and knowledgeable travel expert who will arrange their luxury holidays for them. A match made in heaven? Who knows, but it certainly was a match made sometime between 1980 and 2000.

Discover Abercrombie & Kent’s luxury travel itineraries: abercrombiekent.co.uk