NORTH AMERICA

A L T E R E D

Sidestep the predictable and put these 10 arty, upmarket, outdoorsy and sometimes a little odd must-dos on your 2022 travel list, writes Anna Sarjeant

It’s a big ol’ place, North America, and it’s

enough to jam-pack your bucket list from now until forever. Rather than overwhelm your 2022 travel agenda, we’ve compiled 10 top-class experiences.

Hike to a remote Alaskan ice cave

We know New Zealand hosts its fair share of glacial wonders but to walk through an Alaskan ice cave is nothing shy of life-changing.

In southeast Alaska, near Juneau, a six-toeight-hour hike over Mendenhall Glacier grants access to an absurdly beautiful ice kingdom, where the walls are the colour of a Tahitian lagoon and bright-blue ceilings mesmerise.

You could also venture to the ice caves at Spencer Glacier in Chugach National Forest by combining the Whistle Stop train with a short, easy hike. Walking and kayaking tours depart from the station and if you’re after the ultimate adventure, Ascending Path offers overnight glacier camping

Visit the art metropolis that is ... Miami

Think Miami is all high-rise beach pads and string bikinis? Well, it is, but it’s also a hub of surprising art experiences.

The Art Basel fair rolls into town every December, showering the city with art shows, events, and, because this is Miami, parties for days. Mixing modern art with beachside cabanas, Faena Hotel Miami Beach is a big hit with luxury-lovers and is festival venue. Alternatively, if you have US$2700 in your back pocket, an overnight stay at the W South Beach features 21 Warhols in the lobby.

The Wynwood Arts District is Miami’s arty heart, home to eclectic murals and the world’s first Museum of Graffiti.

Don’t skip town without heading to the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti for authentic arts and crafts or, for something obscenely OTT, Dior Cafe in the Design District is sprinkled with life-size animal sculptures in Toile de Jouy print.

Live like an LA local

First things first, you can’t do Tinseltown without a car. This is a city that the word sprawling was coined for.

With wheels to your name (which you should now change to a showbiz one), Venice Beach is calling. Just minutes from the sand is Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a mile-long strip of shops, restaurants and art galleries, including Salt & Straw, where the icecream flavours are as wacky as caramelised turkey and cranberry sauce.

For retail relief, Melrose Avenue destroys bank accounts and is home to the rooftop bar and celebrity hangout Catch. Nearby is Craig’s; a SoCal institution and your go-to for American comfort food, it’s also a Kardashian hotspot.

S TA T E S

an incentive to encourage tourists to visit the real Hawaii that locals love. A wealth of conscientious new activities blossomed.

Take a farm tour through Kauai’s kalo (taro) fields, run by six generations of the Haraguchi-Nakayama family. You’ll also get the opportunity to eat a traditional Hawaiian lunch. Explore one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems on the 240ha Kanepuu Preserve on Lanai. Home to endemic Hawaiian plants, tours are self-led and the terrain is what Hawaiian dreams are made of.

Over in Oahu, on Kualoa Ranch, try your hand at thatching a traditional Hawaiian hale (grass hut) or make it to Molokai for Purdy’s Natural Macadamia Nut Farm. A five-acre Hawaiian homestead and macadamia orchard, visitors are taught how to “crack a mac” and devour its delicious insides. es.

Discover Utah’s brand new state park new

You know an area of significance needs state parkark status when visitors are accidentally making fire pits out of 100-millionyear-old dinosaur bones. To be fair, in the soonto-be Utahraptor State Park they’re almost as common as firewood. The area has more than 5000 bones from more than 10 dinosaur species, including the Utahraptor, hence the park’s name. A palaeontologist’s dream, it’st’s due to open in 2022 once trails,rails, campsites and day-use facilities are cilities are completed.

And if all that rock puts s you in the moodyou in the mood for a hot stone massage, Amangiri, part of the Aman resort collection, cuts deep into Utah’s desert, 480km away in Canyon Point. Worth the journey for its slick concrete rooms, spa and a pool dwarfed by towering mesas, it’s like the hidden lair of a James Bond villain.

Travel by Amtrak

There’s something so glorious about global travel, it makes even the most humdrum things fascinating. Exclaiming at how different the road signs look “over here” or marvelling at the aesthetics of front doors and shopfronts is all part of the experience — and not one you’ll gain from an aeroplane. You will, however, from a train.

Amtrak is the US’ national rail service, connecting almost every inch of the country. If you’ve ever wanted to witness America’s astonishing diversity, you can do so from huge picture windows. For visitors, Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass is the ultimate hop-on, hop-off ticket, accessing 500 destinations, to pick and choose across 10 journeys and 30 days. It’s easily the most carefree way to jump from national parks to big cities to the coast, with stations conveniently dropping you off in the centre of it all. At US$499pp ($714), you get a lot of bang for your buck.

If you’re after a little opulence, there’s ample aboard Amtrak. Passengers can request private bedrooms for one to two people, family rooms (two adults and two children between 2 and 12 years of age) and bedroom suites. Guests are treated to bathrooms with showers, turndown service, a sleeping car attendant, luxury lounge access at all major stations and full meal service, including three-course dinners.

Try a different Rocky Mountaineer route

Travel addicts across the world rave about Rocky Mountaineer’s three Canada-based rail routes. Notably for the non-stop flawless vistas and old-world charm of train travel. Riding the rails is undisputedly one of the best ways to see Canada and now the good folk at Rocky Mountaineer have made tracks into the US too.

Chugging into America’s Southwest earlier this year, the train’s newest route, Rockies to the Red Rocks, snakes between Denver, Colorado and Moab in Utah (or vice versa) over two days; hoodoos and mile-high rock canyons slinking past the window with agreeable regularity. With an overnight stay in Colorado’s Glenwood Springs, Rocky Mountaineer’s regaled SilverLeaf service delivers every comfort you could wish for, while upgrading to SilverLeaf Plus permits exclusive access to the newly renovated lounge car. And cocktails, we might add.

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What’sWh new, New York?York

We could never leave NYC off a bucket list but we’ll sidestep the obvious must-dos in favour of new-for-2022 attractions. First off, Summit One Vanderbilt officially opened in October. An upgrade on your stock-standard observation deck, this inner-city thrill features a glass elevator that shuttles 365m up and down the outside of the building, and for the ultimate knee-quaker, a suspended glass box. Step inside and attempt to hold on to your stomach.

The Blue Box Cafe reopens in 2022 at its flagship Tiffany & Co. store at 727 Fifth Avenue, currently undergoing a total reinvention. Does that mean you can actually breakfast at Tiffany’s? Yes, but not until autumn 2022 when Tiff unveils her makeover.

Micro hotels are also having a bit of a Big Apple moment. Small in size but with lowerthan-average rates, look out for modern Arlo micro hotels (Midtown, SoHo and NoMad) for temptingly tiny stays smack bang in the middle of the action. We cou NYC off but we’ll si obvious must of new-for-2022 First off, Summit On

Conquer the mother of all Canadian hikes

As a nation of keen trampers and after a lengthy lockdown to boot, it’s as if we’ve spent all our lives (and most definitely the latter half of 2021) training for the holy grail of hiking: the Trans Canada Trail. This mammoth network of paths is more than 27,000km long, connects well over 15,000 Canadian communities and covers every nook of the country. There’s literally no escaping it and nor would you want to.

Tracks can be walked or cycled, parts can be ridden by horseback and others paddled by canoe or kayak.

If you want to complete every inch of it, allow at least two years. You’d certainly see the majority of Canada, including its major cities. Tracks don’t solely sew a route through the wop wops — the Waterfront Trail, for example, traces the shores of Lake Ontario through Toronto. Another weaves its way to Niagara, bringing you face to face with the falls.

Tap into some Deep South storytelling

Masters of an engaging story, whether they’re telling it or singing it, the Deep South’s heritage is always told creatively. Nashville is where the first National Museum of African American Music opened in January. Follow the evolution of every musical genre from gospel to blues, hip-hop, soul, jazz and more.

Then, of course, there’s Dolly Parton. If you’re a fan of the country crooner, don’t miss White Limozeen, Nashville’s new Dollyinspired bar (pictured below). It’s pink, it’s pretty and there’s a rooftop area that’s utterly, unapologetically (perfectly?) overdone.

For something a little rougher around the edges, Nashville’s Lower Broadway is nicknamed Honky Tonk Highway and home to no-frills musical bars, where it’s less about the aesthetics and more about the ambience. And the talent. Oodles of it.

Afterwards, make tracks to Prince’s Hot Chicken diner. A 100-year-old institution, it’s a story of infidelity, a scorned lover and a super spicy revenge meal that ended up tasting unexpectedly good.