At last there’s light at the end of a particularly long and badly lit tunnel! Viable vaccines and faster tests are bringing optimism back to travel and life in general. Enquiries have already picked up for 2021 and we’ve taken our first reservations in months.
Yes it’s early days, but the now exotic, intoxicating idea of taking a holiday to Montenegro or indeed anywhere is back on the table. Important first steps enabling this have happened. Our main market, the UK, has at last caught up with the rest of Europe – a test and release scheme will start this month allowing trips abroad with just five days’ quarantine on return, while sleeves will be rolling up soon for first jabs. By Easter, there’s real talk of a post-pandemic world emerging. Time to dust the cobwebs off our bookings database and look ahead to the amazing adventures we’ll be running next year.
Despite the obstacles, some very determined and lovely people did actually make it to us for their 2020 holidays. The truncated season taught us many things. First and foremost, that we’ve been practising social distancing for years with our nature-based holidays away from the crowds. Adding face masks (not needed on hikes or in kayaks of course!), increased hygiene and other Covid-19 travel protocol from our industry body, the Adventure Travel Trade Association, made minimal difference to the actual holiday experience and saw us become Covid-safe travel pioneers in Montenegro. And it also confirmed something we knew already – spending time being active in nature really helps us all feel much better. We’ve started calling it nature therapy – and we’ve had time to research even more spectacular secret spots to indulge next year.
Our kayak, wild camp & bushcraft weeks at Lake Skadar became a surprise hit of the summer – or perhaps not such a surprise given that each person gets their own boat to paddle themselves into a deserted wilderness. We welcomed families from the UK and Germany to a sparkling Villa Miela (with a special thanks to our season helpers Beth and Sam for giving it extra sparkle), while Vuk and Bojana took super-active adventurers into the mountains for rafting, canyoning and mountain-climbing. And we even ran our first ever yoga and sound healing retreat – something we’re repeating in Spring next year.
We even managed to maintain a 100% 5 star review rating this year on TripAdvisor, along with their annual Certificate of Excellence and Travelers’ Choice Awards!
Through all of this, we would not have held onto our sanity without the people who have stuck by us and our local partners on this corona-rollercoaster. To the few who made it, and to the many who postponed, knowing the damage a tsunami of cancellations would do, we would like to say a big, heart-felt THANK YOU. A massive thanks also goes to those of you who have emailed, facebooked and instagrammed messages of support. Those thumbs-up, likes and hearts from have really helped keep our spirits up!
We’re raring to go for 2021, and for the first time in a while can actually look forward to the new season with some optimism. Rest assured, that when flights, holidays and travel in general return to something approaching “normal”, we and our brilliant tour leaders will be here waiting for you, ready to show you our amazing little corner of the planet.
Take a wander through the fantastic itineraries of our multi-active, kayaking or hiking adventures, which have all been designed to support nature and communities, then get in touch at enquiries@undiscoveredmontenegro.com!
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