It’s difficult to think about holidays while a war rages in Ukraine and it feels tone-deaf, frankly, to be writing about them too. But there is nonetheless an appetite for travel which we have reflected in the April issue, even as much more serious issues are to the forefront of our minds.

It seems the pandemic had different effects on holidaymakers, creating in some a pent-up desire for multiple overseas holidays this year, while others are content to go away just once. Most of us, with our carbon footprint in mind, are thinking long and hard about long-haul, and about air travel in general, resolving to limit ourselves to one flight a year or looking anew at trains and ferries as a means to travel far and wide, if slower. One thing’s for sure, the impulse to gather is strong and BFGs – big family get-togethers – are trending. Some travellers, still experiencing anxiety-induced insomnia, are going on sleep retreats to break pandemic patterns, while others will follow their noses all the way to that restaurant they have wanted to visit for an age.

Wherever you go, it’s very likely your long-neglected holiday wardrobe might need attention. Let the eminently packable fashion in this issue inspire you to shake up the contents of your suitcase. The eye has to travel, Susan Zelouf quotes Diana Vreeland, on page 6, so that we remain outward-looking, engaged, excited. While displaced Ukrainian women make arduous journeys to find a safe home for their children, we acknowledge that travel for pleasure is a privilege, and we savour it.

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