The Most Stylish Travel Destinations Of 2020

“It is not down on any map,” wrote Herman Melville in Moby-Dick, “true places never are.” While this sentiment may have held water back in 1851, it’s sadly not the case today – an era in which the most remote, saltwater-blasted outcrop on Earth will find its way onto TripAdvisor (“bijou, but breezy”) or Instagram (#OffTheBeatenTrack) and the locals will start building huts made out of shells to rent out on Airbnb.

Fear not, however, because amazing and stylish travel destinations do still exist. And for every thousand people heading off to Croatia, Cairo or Cancun, there’s a savvy holidaymaker with a plane ticket in his hand who has somewhere a little less obvious in mind. These are the ones to keep under your sun hat for 2019.

Bhutan

Bhutan is less than half the size of Ireland, completely landlocked, and no one heading there tends to do so with anything other than a well-thumbed passport. The historic, sparsely-populated, largely Buddhist terrain tucked between China and India is dotted with Himalayan peaks and, further south, lush areas of jungle – but they’ve cottoned onto the idea that tourism pays, so there’s also a smattering of luxurious accommodations.

Some of the most architecturally-striking are operated by Six Senses hotels, whose five lodges spread across Bhutan are brand new but are already considered design classics. This one requires saving a fair whack, mind. To deter low-cost tourism, visitors are required to spend a minimum amount per day — around £200 during peak months. That all sounds about as Buddhist as sinking a few pints down the local, but totally worth it.

Doha, Qatar

Many a globetrotter has ticked Dubai and Abu Dhabi off their travel bucket list, but the neighbouring country of Qatar also has an ace up its sleeve – the coastal city of Doha. Aside from a phenomenal skyline, it has a vibrant arts scene and, of course, a raft of new stadiums being built for the 2022 World Cup. Rockstar architect I.M. Pei (the man behind the Louvre’s glass pyramid) came out of retirement to create the city’s Museum of Islamic Art – an unashamedly angular building that looks incredible by night and houses some of the region’s most important pieces.

Like Dubai, Doha is massively multicultural, meaning you can enjoy five-star flavours from all over the world, and if you visit in September you can take in the World Athletics Championships and return with a reasonably informed opinion about whether they’re going to balls up the footie or not.

Bacalar, Mexico

Where do you have the best beach holiday you’ve ever had without actually dipping a toe in the ocean? Bacalar, that’s where. A relatively unknown lagoon in Mexico about 20km inland from the Caribbean, and a spot that is likened to the Maldives, it has everything the sun-kissed islands in the Indian Ocean have apart from whiny rich tourists.

Visit Bacalar and you’ll be down near Belize, where you can swim in water that is at times pure turquoise and at others a vivid deep blue. The town which bears the lake’s name borders its western shores and is compact, earthy and often called ‘the real Mexico’, which we assume means plenty of tequila.

Seattle, USA

Seattle? Seriously? No one goes to Seattle unless they fancy a rainy pit-stop during a long drive from San Francisco to Vancouver (or they really like Starbucks). But it’s not because tech nerds like Microsoft and Amazon are based there that the up-and-coming city makes this list. This spot on the map is making waves thanks to an industrious young population and cutting-edge art scene (urban art, lowbrow and performing arts in particular have exploded over the last few years).

There’s also the towering Space Needle which has just undergone a major design refurbishment, and the city’s waterfront which is being rejuvenated. However, what really makes us want to go to Seattle is pure grunge nostalgia: 2019 is the 30th anniversary of Soundgarden signing to a major label and Nirvana releasing their debut album. Smells like a road trip to us.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

After somewhere different and architecturally intriguing which few people have ever visited (read: want to look cultured AF)? Welcome to Samarkand, a place you’ve never heard of that dates back to around 800 BC and is home to some of the most eye-catching structures you’ll ever see.

It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, though the Daily Telegraph reports that less than 1,000 Brits visit each year; a shame when you factor in the legendary Silk Road stopover that features such monuments such as The Registan (a jaw-droppingly ornate public square) and the intricately-mosaiced Bibi-Khanym Mosque. A fact to drop while you’re there: the neighbouring Gur-e-Amir mausoleum is actually a Mughal prototype for the Taj Mahal.

Matera, Italy

Five or six decades ago, the ancient cliff-top spot of Matera, just a few hours from the Amalfi Coast felt like it had been abandoned by the world: families would huddle down with livestock in the caves carved into its limestone foundations and disease was rife. To say new life has been breathed into this 7,000-year-old city would be an understatement. It’s the 2019 European Capital of Culture (honours it shares with Malta’s Valetta), and visitors can now bed down in one of the old caves in luxury, as some have been transformed into stylish hotels. This is caveman living 2.0.

Seoul, South Korea

South Korea? What could possibly entice you here when a visit to a certain naughty near-namesake to the north will see you held at US airports for years to come? Well, Seoul for starters. Mixing historical temples and palaces with impressive new architecture (the 555-metre Lotte World Tower with its 117th-floor glass-bottomed elevation deck was only finished in 2017), it’s a bustling metropolis with stacks of innovative public spaces such as Seoullo 7017, a spectacular elevated garden that was once an inner-city highway. (Not to mention one of the most innovative streetwear scenes in the world.)

If you really want a feather in your cap, head out to the volcanic island of Ulleungdo (AKA ‘Mystery Island’), a three-hour ferry ride away out in the Sea of Japan which is arguably one of the most arresting islands on Earth. If you like jagged peaks and towering rocks that rise out of the sea, you’ll likely agree.

Arles, France

If you’d have gone to Bilbao, Spain back in 1997, you’d have been way ahead of the architecture-hungry tourist masses. Arles – a medium-sized city in the South of France, not far from Marseilles – is offering trend-hunters a similar chance in 2019. We have Frank Gehry to thank again, only instead of a Guggenheim museum, the architect has put his pen to work for a twisting, mountainous tower, which is starting to take shape and will cap off a new 20-acre arts centre called the Luma.

Arles has a solid art history, having been home to both Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin (they actually lived there together in 1888) – but what surprises many first-time visitors is its massive, Roman amphitheatre, which still hosts year-round events. “Arles? I went there before it was cool, mate.”

The Best Back Exercises To Build Muscle

We know what you’re thinking. If you can’t see the effects of a workout in the mirror, what’s the point? And that’s understandable — you want gain as well as pain. But this short-sighted ideal could be slowing down your gym progress. If you want a beach-ready physique that’ll also protect you from injury and fix your posture, you need to put your back into it. Literally.

Sure, those chest exercises might look good in changing room, but effective exercise selection for your flipside has myriad benefits. For a start, it will add an inch to your height – finally bringing six foot within reach, no Cuban heel necessary. It’s weak upper back muscles that allow your shoulders to hunch forwards after hours at your desk. Strengthen your back, and you’ll inadvertently pull your shoulders back and down to both broaden and straighten your silhouette and make yourself stand taller.

Weak middle and lower back muscles also make you more likely to experience low back pain, a condition that leads to more than 10 million sick days being taken each year in the UK alone. Target these muscles with heavy metal, and it’s also a condition that can be solved in the gym, rather than with pain medication.

Strengthen the muscles in your upper and middle back, and you stabilise your shoulder joints, which has transferable benefit to every other upper body exercise, allowing you to lift more on chest day. Not only that, your arms will get bigger. Each back exercise centres on a pulling movement and your back works in unison with your biceps to complete each rep and, therefore, will help fill out your T-shirt sleeves. Win-win.

Finally, you may be chasing a pump in the gym, but back exercises will aid you in cutting fat, too. The reason behind this slimming side benefit is that your back muscles are some of the biggest in the body and the more muscle fibres you use, the more calories you burn. Plus, the bigger muscles you have – like the ones you’ll have after four weeks of using the exercises below, say – the faster your metabolism will be. You’ll then burn through belly fat and man boobs while sat on the sofa, basically. Which is well worth gritting your teeth through another set of pull-ups for.

To that end, we enlisted the expert help of Tom Kemp, founder of Farm Fitness and a man whose own V-shaped torso defies physics, let alone biology, to take you through the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the best back exercises for men.

The Best Back Exercises For Men

Wide-Grip Weighted Pull-Ups

How: Hold on to a bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width. Contract your glutes and abs to keep your core stable. To begin the rep, pull your shoulder blades back and down, forcing your elbows towards your hips to lift your chest up to the bar. At the bar, squeeze your lats (the large muscles from your shoulder blades down the sides of your back) hard at the top of the movement, keeping your elbows back and down to maximise the muscle activation of the rep. Lower yourself down to the start position slowly – the longer your muscles are under tension, the more strength and size benefit you’ll get from each set. Once the technique is mastered, add weight to the rep by hanging plates from a weight belt, or by holding a dumbbell between your feet.

Why: “The wide-grip pull up is an advanced bodyweight movement and is one of the most effective exercises to build strength,” says Kemp. However, if you keep at it, you’ll move from completing your first rep to bashing out sets of 10 relatively quickly. If you’re looking to build strength, not size, it’s better to do heavy sets of 3-5 reps with more rest. By adding weight and making the exercise more taxing you’ll be able to work in the lower rep ranges more effectively to make you stronger, faster.

Seated Cable Row

How: Sit at the cable machine and focus on a slight forward lean. Set your shoulder joint by pulling your shoulder blades back and down – this will ensure it’s only your back muscles that take the strain of the rep. Choose a handle with a neutral grip (thumbs pointing up) and pull towards you. Think about driving your elbows down towards your hips. Squeeze at the end of the rep and return to the start under control.

Why: “This is a great exercise if you want to target the mid and lower back,” says Kemp. “Just remember to think about the line of the pull – avoid pulling too high towards your chest as this will shift tension off your upper back.” Building strength in your middle back is excellent for achieving good posture and protecting your spine, to bulletproof your body against injury during day-to-day heavy lifting.

Front Banded Rack Pull

How: Position the bar on the rack below knee height. Wrap two thick bands around the rack and attach to either end of the barbell. Grip the bar and set up like a conventional deadlift – feet shoulder-width, hinged forward at the hips with a flat back, holding onto the bar with straight arms. Begin the drive with your feet by pushing hard into the floor. Pull the bar and bring your hips through as the bar travels up. Stand tall with a proud chest while pulling your lats back. Focus on a max squeeze at the top of the rep.

Why: You can pump up your upper back, too, you know. “If you are training for muscle hypertrophy [growth] and trying to create maximal tension in your target muscles, then using the bands is an effective addition to any rep,” says Kemp. “Adding bands ensures there’s tension at the top portion of the lift.” This stops you slacking half-way through the rep and taking a breather. The harder your muscles are forced to work, the more quickly they’ll grow.

Wide-Grip Lat Pull-Down

How: Grip the handle outside of shoulder width. Once again, set your shoulder joint with the shoulder blades compressed back and down. Sit up tall and begin the rep by forcing your elbows down towards your hips. Concentrating on leading with the outside of your hands will engage more of your back muscles. Pause at the bottom, focussing on contracting your lats hard while maintaining tension in your abs throughout to prevent you from arching your back. Return to the start of the exercise, focusing on stretching the lats before resetting your shoulder for rep two.

Why: This is the perfect exercise to add size and width to your back. “The wide lat pull-down mimics a pull-up, targeting the same muscles,” says Kemp. But the ability to use the lower weights of the cable machine has its advantages. “This allows for greater control on the return phase of each rep,” Kemp continues. More control equals more muscle activation and therefore speedier growth.

Singe Arm Dumbbell Row

How: Find your balance with one foot on the ground and a supporting arm on the bench. Set your core and hang the weight directly below your shoulder. Focus on pulling your elbow and shoulder blade back towards your waist. Focus on pausing and contracting the back muscles at the top of the movement. Return to the start position under control – be mindful only to extend your arm and don’t lower so far that you round your shoulders, this will release the tension from your back and make each rep less effective.

Why: “Unilateral work will sniff out any imbalances,” says Kemp. Which means that by only using one arm at a time you’ll be able to see if one side of your body is much stronger than the other. Imbalances are more impactful than just making your body look lopsided, too. If one side is weaker it can cause other muscles to compensate during day-to-day movements. It’s this overcompensation that can lead to a strain that’ll leave you sofa-bound. Even out your strength with unilateral exercises like this row and you’ll safeguard against any such issue.

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row

How: A dumbbell exercise, start with one in both hands and your palms facing each other, drive your hips into the bench. Slightly extend your spine up and look at the floor out in front of you. To begin the rep, think about dragging the dumbbells and your elbows back towards your waistline and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Pause at max contraction and focus on flexing your upper back muscles. Return to the start position under control.

Why: “Locking your hips in position and being supported on the bench leaves no room for cheating,” says Kemp. By grounding your upper body on the bench, it isolates your upper body and stops any other muscles switching on subconsciously during the rep to help you out when things get tough. Focus on dragging the dumbbells in, pulling your elbows towards your waist to develop a strong mind-to-muscle connection. The more you can sense your back muscle engaging mentally, the larger the physical payoff.

Meadows Barbell Row

How: Position yourself over the end of the barbell landmine, hinged forward at the hip and with a flat back. Brace your abdominals to keep a solid posture and reach for the barbell end. Grip the barbell and drag the bar into your hip. Pause for a moment at the top of the rep focusing on max contraction. Return to the start position getting a full stretch in the lat.

Why: This modified version of a single arm dumbbell row positioned will allow for a great stretch and involvement of the entire lower lat while also challenging your grip,” says Kemp. “Although, if you struggle with your grip don’t let this limit you from how much weight you can lift, use wraps – this meant to be a back exercise, after all.” Again, you’ll benefit from working one side at a time, too, so be mindful of any imbalances if one side is stronger than the other.

Rope Pull-Ups

How: The aim is to use a full range of motion on this exercise, so climb high enough so you can fully lengthen your arms at the bottom of the rep. Hold the ropes with feet off the floor. Drive your elbows down and contract your back to lift up your chest until it rises to in line with your hands. Pause at this position, focusing on a maximum squeeze in your back. Slowly lower yourself down and mentally prepare yourself for the burn in your forearms.

Why: “You’ll build a grip of steel,” says Kemp. “This exercise reaps more benefits than just working your back muscles.” While the back strength benefits of another pull-up variation are obvious, your grip can be a limiting factor in other major lifts like your deadlift, for example. Double up your gains by targeting both in this exercise to build size and strength, but also build a vice-like hold that will allow you to add extras kilo to almost every other exercise you do in the gym.

Wool Can Guide Fashion Into A More Sustainable Future

The next 10 years will undoubtedly have a greater focus on natural fibres, such as Merino wool, with designers and manufacturers having to put a greater focus on traceable and transparent supply chains as consumers become increasingly conscious of their purchasing decisions and more appreciative of the makers behind the products.

As the consumption model shifts towards a more sharable economy, the market for quality investment pieces intended to stand the test of time will grow, and wool is well-placed to satisfy this demand.

I believe the next 10 years will see greater opportunities for wool in the technical and sportswear category and there will also be an increasing focus on process innovation – manufacturing techniques which ensure menswear product development does minimal harm to the environment. Innovations such as zero-waste manufacturing processes and a more conscious way to manufacture overall, endorsing best practice within every supply chain.

Supply Chains Will Become Transparent

We’re living in a time where drop culture and fast fashion are still growing, yet it is clear that our planet is in a crisis. We knew we needed to take responsibility for creating a cleaner supply chain. For us, that means working with the cleanest denim factory, eliminating all virgin plastic from our supply chain by 2021, and doing extensive product testing upfront to increase the longevity of our products so there is less need to replace garments.

There’s so much choice now as well, but we believe that smaller, incredibly focused collections like our 12-piece ‘Uniform’ collection help take the guesswork and uncertainty out of the shopping experience, especially when making the decision to try a new brand for the first time.

We know more consumers are paying attention to how their choices impact the environment and we’ve seen a demand for that which will only increase in the next ten years.

Clothes Will Become Even Smarter

When it comes to fashion and technology, we’ll see our wardrobes becoming increasingly programmable. This emerging smart apparel will respond to the wearer’s movements and modify its form or functionality in response to each individual’s data. The technology is not only more inconspicuous, but it’s also becoming intuitive. Using artificial intelligence to react in real-time, these smart garments change with consumers, learning their preferences and behaviour, and subsequently pre-empting their needs.

Turning this concept into a reality, high-performance fashion brand Ministry of Supply’s most recent development is a jacket that uses AI to automatically heat them to their optimal temperature no matter what the surrounding environment.

And then as the fashion industry grapples with questions about overconsumption, their strategy should focus on digitisation, which offers a new route for consumers still seeking to engage with clothing brands.

A world of immaterial and digital fashion offers opportunities for brands to exert their creativity. For example, London-based 3D designer Catherine Taylor creates hyper-realistic virtual clothing that, when animated, still has the movement and physical properties of real fabrics.

While other industries have embraced digital tools such as 3D rendering, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, fashion has remained wedded to tactility and the physical. This could all change.

Consumers Will Decide The Price Of Streetwear

It is always interesting to wonder what new designers will come into the fray. I’m curious to see how a brand like Supreme will keep performing over the next 10 years. We think of fashion as a 25-year cycle and we’re [at] 25 years of Supreme now. How will it continue to scale globally? We’re at the anniversary of some of these reverential brands in streetwear and I think from a brand perspective that’s going to be interesting to watch.

I would keep an eye on what Aries and Liam Hodges are doing over the next decade. London, in particular, has always had a strong voice in shaping streetwear culture with brands like Palace, Gimme 5, and people like Kim Jones at Dior, which will certainly continue strongly into the next decade.

Streetwear is quite uniquely unisex in terms of the look but I hope we’ll see a lot more unisex sizing over the existing brands so everyone can participate more widely in the way they want to.

Drop culture will also evolve. At the moment, some brand’s commercial strategies will often try to leverage scarcity to create a false sense of hype or demand. I think that will get harder to achieve as the marketplace becomes even more crowded, and people demand a product that’s meaningful, not just hype.

At StockX we see drop culture morphing into what we call our Initial Product Offering.

We did an Adidas IPO in October 2019 with three different sneaker designs. Adidas put them directly on Stockx and instead of setting a price point you went on to Stockx and put how much you’re willing to pay for your size. After 72 hours, we closed all the bids and all winners in a given size were charged the same amount – what is called the “Clearing Price. If the highest bid was £1,000 and the lowest was £200 then everyone got the shoes for £200. It’s the same shoe, everyone should pay the same price. There’s no fights, no campouts – just the product and how much you’re willing to pay for that.

That’s the big idea of StockX. We believe in empowering the consumer and giving them the data on how much they should pay. That’s the future of drop culture certainly, instead of a release where everyone is clambering to get it, the fans can’t get it and then it re-selling for a lot more.

VR Will Allow You To Create Your Own Clothes

By 2030 we’ll still be spending on virtual pieces – something we’ve only touched on in the last decade – from branded skins in games to incredible custom designs that you could never feasibly create or wear in the real world.

Virtual reality will let us push our fashion imagination further and creativity will be enhanced by its endless possibilities, as we express multiple versions of ourselves by styling digital avatars.

We will also see mind-blowing personalisation at every touchpoint in the fashion shopping journey. Imagine every piece custom designed exactly how you want it, and made exactly to fit your specifications. That’s real luxury.