by
The hastily-planned revenge trips to popular destinations are done. Kaput! This is the year of intentional travel – stepping outside one’s comfort zone, exploring the far-flung or lesser-known, and ticking off one’s bucket list. Now that everyone has seen how quickly the world can change, they are planning accordingly. Compared to three years ago, bespoke luxury travel company Scott Dunn has seen a massive 80% increase in demand for long-haul adventures in 2023. Additionally, it observed a strong interest in immersive, nature-related experiences that bring people closer to wildlife, such as penguin spotting by helicopter in Antarctica or big game safaris in Africa.
The continued desire for responsible travel contributes to the growth of adventure tourism. According to travel agency Virtuoso’s year-end insights, millennials and Gen-Zs prefer destinations that embrace environmentally friendly practices and philosophies, while also conserving natural and cultural heritage. A prime example, the Trans-Bhutan Trail, an ancient 403km trek, recently reopened after almost 60 years of closure.
Couple this with the allure of an almost-guaranteed digital detox — the less extreme sibling of the silent retreat — and it is no wonder that once-in-a-lifetime adventure trips are seeing surging interest. The global adventure tourism market is expected to reach a value of USD1 trillion by 2030, says a report by US-based business consulting firm Grand View Research.
Now there’s just the matter of what to bring along for your next adventure trip — and whom.
1. Portable espresso maker: Wacaco Nanopresso
Credit: Wacaco
Freshly brewed java — anytime, anywhere — is the name of the game for Hong Kong-based coffee equipment company Wacaco. Its flagship Nanopresso shrinks your classic countertop espresso machine into a nifty 336g package that fits easily into most day packs. Add the hot water, ground coffee and a little elbow grease for extra pressure, and be duly rewarded with a piping hot cup of joe on the go. It also comes with a capsule adaptor if you can’t live without a Nespresso.
2. To capture it all: GoPro Hero 11 Black
Credit: GoPro
Exhilarating experiences don’t often translate into treasured memories, what with all the adrenaline that’s pumping through your brain. An action camera strapped to your noggin can help in that regard. Enter the GoPro Hero 11 Black. The biggest upgrade to the brand’s camera series is its enhanced image sensor, which delivers crisper stills (up to 27 megapixels) and better cinematic video with an extra-chunky field of view. Built to last and waterproof to around 10m, you’re almost guaranteed that your footage will be safe — especially if you are within range of wireless Internet, sending it automatically into the cloud.
3. Portable speaker: Devialet Mania
Credit: Devialet
One rarely thinks of portable speakers when an exceptional listening experience is what’s required. French audio engineering company Devialet wants to change that perception. Its Mania portable speaker comes with four full-range drivers and two sub-woofers, delivering crystal-clear sound across Whitney Houston’s highs and Leonard Cohen’s lows, no matter the room. It creates the desired soundstage, automatically adapting to the environment and nixing any pesky echo. At 2.3kg, this isn’t the speaker you’d lug when summitting Mont Blanc — but it’d sure make your fellow trekkers happy at base camp.
4. Tool watch: Garmin Marq Adventurer
Credit: Garmin
5. Foldable drone: DJI Mini 3 Pro
Credit: DJI
The uber-tiny DJI Mini 3 Pro is the perfect lightweight flyer for shutterbugs looking to get into drone photography. The foldable drone, compact enough to fit easily into your coat pocket, provides a decent flight time of up to 34 minutes. This is usually more than enough to get all the stunning 48-megapixel shots and 4K high-definition video your heart desires. It also comes with an in-built obstacle avoidance sensors. The kicker? The Mini 3 Pro weighs about 249g — or slightly over half the weight of a 10th-generation iPad.
6. Self-cleansing water bottle: Larq Bottle
Credit: Larq
Larq’s bestselling self-cleaning water bottle is based on a simple, tantalising premise — your drinking water can never be too clean. Its main selling point is the UV-C LED light in the cap that regularly clears out nasties and odour-causing bacteria every two hours — or on demand at the press of a button. There is a caveat though: this only works with clear water as the UV-C light has to penetrate the liquid entirely for it to do its job. We’d shoot for the double-walled vacuum flask version, which keeps cold things cold for 24 hours and hot things hot for half of that time.
READ NOW
