Omi-crikey.

Let’s start with the bad news - and boy, is there a lot of it. (If you haven’t read the newspapers in the past week, we’re truly sorry for the nasty shock.)

The rise of the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, recently detected in South Africa, has caused countries across the world to tighten their restrictions around travel.

The most common response - including the UK - has been to restrict travel from South Africa and neighbouring countries.

It’s been suggested that these targeted travel bans may be misleading, however.

Omicron cases have since been detected in a number of countries across the world, and early signs are showing that the variant may have already been present in Europe even before it appeared in South Africa.

The UK's new rules

As of the 26th November, you must now quarantine for 10 days if you’re travelling to the UK from Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

All international travellers must also take a more expensive PCR test, rather than a lateral flow test, upon their return - and then self-isolate at home while you wait for the results.

The UK red list is typically reviewed every three weeks, but Sajid Javid has suggested that changes could be brought in earlier than that, so do keep an eye out.

Across the world

Meanwhile, other countries have begun tightening their own restrictions at short notice. Take a deep breath, we’re diving in:

• The USA is expected to announce today that mandatory tests will now be required one day before arrival for everyone entering the country - whether they’re vaccinated or not.
• As of 30 November, Canada now requires every visitor to test for COVID upon arrival (unless they’re coming from the United States).
• Israel, Japan and Morocco have banned foreign visitors outright.
• India now requires travellers to submit a 14-day history of movement as well as proof of a negative COVID test. COVID-negative travellers from ‘high-risk’ countries, including the UK, will still need to quarantine at home.
• Switzerland has enforced a 10-day quarantine for all new arrivals.
• Spain has tightened its entry requirements for visitors to the UK. You’ll now need to be fully vaccinated to get in (proof of a negative test won’t be enough).

The World Health Organisation has urged those who are unwell, vulnerable, or over 60 to avoid travel outright unless they’re fully vaccinated.

The news has come as a serious blow to travellers everywhere - but we wouldn’t recommend following the example of the couple who tested positive for the new variant in Amsterdam, then attempted to flee the country rather than quarantine.

If you’re worried about an upcoming trip, the first thing to do is check your flight’s cancellation policies - a number of airlines, including EasyJet, have extended their flexible policies in response to the news.

All of the useful links

• CNN is running an updated list of international travel restrictions in response to the Omicron variant.
• The Mirror is keeping track of the latest changes to cancellation policies by airlines in the UK.
• If you’re considering booking a trip, Google Flights has a general list of international airlines that already offer flexible cancellation policies around COVID-19.
• MoneySavingExpert has a helpful round-up of the most affordable sites to order a PCR test from.
• They also have a handy explanation about travel insurance policies and what they do / don’t cover when it comes to the pandemic.

Isn’t there any good news?

Well, Fiji has just opened its international borders for the first time since March 2020, which will be good news for the island's tourist industry!

Fully-vaccinated travellers are now welcome from countries including the UK, Japan, New Zealand, the USA, France and Canada.

Our Dream Destinations in 2022

As travel appears to lock up and restrictions tighten once again across much of the world, many of us are probably looking at our plans with a sense of gloom.

So to cheer us all up, we’re taking a look ahead to 2022 and beyond - and we asked our JFC travel experts to nominate the dream destinations they’re holding off on visiting until the pandemic is no more.

Larissa - Sydney, Australia

Bondi Beach

“I moved to London in 2019 and I haven’t been able to return home to Australia since, so that’ll be the first destination I want to visit once it’s possible.

I can’t wait to see friends and family again after two-and-a-half long years and have belated celebrations for all the life events that I’ve missed out on. And I’m looking forward to the beach, of course!

Other than that, I’ll be heading straight to Sydney’s Chinatown. The UK is great, but it doesn’t have the same range of consistently amazing East Asian cuisine that you can find in Australia - I’ll be stopping in at the Chinese Noodle House, who cook up a braised aubergine that’ll never be beaten in my eyes!”

Jon - The Art Islands, Japan

Teshima Art Museum, Japan

"My wedding and honeymoon were booked for April 2020 - we were going to spend three weeks travelling around Japan in the height of cherry blossom season! And then the pandemic happened, everything fell apart, and of course we had to cancel our plans.

Thankfully, I managed to finally have my wedding in October 2021! But my wife and I still haven’t been able to go on our adventure together.

When we do finally get to Japan, I’m really looking forward to checking out the Art Islands - they’re 12 rural islands off the western coast, filled with epic modern art installations! I love weird and unusual architecture, so that’s going to be my treat.

I’m also a lifelong tempura obsessive, so I imagine I’ll be heading to Tokyo’s finest restaurants to sample their prawn dishes!”

Katy - Georgia

Chiatura, Georgia

“I’m absolutely obsessed with Georgia! I’d made plans to visit in spring 2020, but as the first reports around COVID began to spread, I decided it was better to play it safe and I cancelled my trip.

Instead, I took a friend to a Georgian restaurant in London and ate loads of khachapuri, a traditional cheese bread. It is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted, and it’s only made me more determined to head there as soon as I can.

As soon as I arrive, I’ll be heading to the town of Uplistshike - an ancient Bronze Age settlement, carved out of the rock itself.

After that, I’d like to see the old mining city of Chiatura. It’s hidden away in a steep mountain valley, and there are old, rusted Stalin-era cable cars still hanging above the rooftops!”

Where are you dreaming about visiting in 2022, and why? Let us know - we’d love to feature your story in a future edition of The Detour!

Our Pick of the Clicks

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• This man has accumulated enough air miles to fly around the world 1,000 times - here’s how he did it.
• In Barcelona, the architects of the Sagrada Familia have just finished construction of a giant twinkly star to sit on its roof. (They've been working on the cathedral for more than a century, so the tinsel probably won't go up until 2122.)
• Bittersweet news - Canada has been forced to tap into its strategic maple syrup reserves.
• Use this cool new app to track the migration of birds across Europe.
• Fed up with working at home? You might want to consider becoming a digital nomad in Malta...

Inn-credible Hotels

A huge thank-you to our member Peter, who inspired this column with his request for some record-breaking travel facts!

This week, we’re taking a look at some of the weirdest, wildest, Guinness Book-featured hotels across the face of the globe...

The world’s highest hotel - Tayka del Desierto, Bolivia

The 'Stone Tree', Siloli Desert, Bolivia

If you have a quick Google, you’ll see that several epic mountaintop hotels are competing for the title of ‘highest-placed’ - from the Everest View in the Himalayas (13,000 feet above sea level) to the fascinating, futuristic LEAPrus 3912 eco-hotel in Russia (3912 metres, or over 12,000 feet high).

But as far as we can tell, the actual winner, at over 15,000 feet above sea level, isn’t atop a snowy peak at all.

It’s the Tayka del Desierto, a community-owned, one-storey hotel located deep in the Siloli Desert of Bolivia.

While you’re there...

You can’t expect too much comfort up at the Tayka if you do pay them a visit, so this is one for adventurers rather than tourists - the reviews have more than a few teeth-shattering complaints about the hotel turning the heating off at night.

But if you’re willing to rough it up there, it’s a once-in-a-world opportunity to check out some extraordinary, otherworldly sights in the desert, including the famous Red Lagoon, a 6,000-hectare lake stained red by algae and filled with flamingos.

World’s Biggest Hotel: The First World Plaza Hotel, Malaysia

We’re not necessarily sure why you’d want to visit the world’s biggest hotel (just makes it easier to get lost on your way to the breakfast bar, surely?)

But if you’re in Kuala Lumpur and you have the inclination to rub elbows with thousands of other guests, you might want to check out the ludicrously vast First World Plaza Hotel in the Genting Highlands of Malaysia, which boasts 7,351 rooms as part of the Resorts World Genting casino and theme park complex.

(To put it in perspective, that's potentially more people staying in one building than living in the entire City of London.)

First World briefly lost its title of World’s Biggest Hotel to The Venetian in Las Vegas back in 2008 - its owners were annoyed enough to immediately build an extra 1,200 rooms and reclaim the glory.

While you’re there…

Once you’ve found your way out of the hotel and the resort, you should drive out to the magnificent Krau Wildlife Reserve and meet some friendly elephants.

The world’s most expensive hotel - The Hotel President Wilson, Switzerland

The title of world’s most expensive hotel - by some distance - is often awarded to the ‘Lover’s Deep’ from Oliver’s Travels.

The Deep is a luxury submarine, usually docked in St Lucia, which can be rented out to a pair of guests at the low, low price of $292,000 per night - with a captain and a pair of staff members coming onboard with you as you act out your wildest James Bond villain fantasies at just $200 dollars per minute.

However, we’re discounting this one (sorry, Oliver), as it seems a bit more like a SeaBnB than an actual working hotel.

Instead, we’ll award the title to the five-star Hotel President Wilson in Geneva, overlooking Lake Leman.

Ordinary rooms are pricey enough, but the real draw is the Royal Penthouse Suite, occupying the entire eighth floor of the hotel. The astonishingly plush 1,680-foot suite comes with a wrap-around terrace overlooking the lake, a fitness room, hot-tub and more.

Previous guests have included Michael Jackson, Rihanna, and us...just as soon as we figure out how to pay $80,000 dollars a night for the privilege.

While you’re there…

Geneva has a (perhaps unfair) reputation for being both a bit dull and fairly overpriced due to the city’s focus on banking, diplomacy and trade.

Us, we’d head out of town and take a road-trip into the Swiss Alps. It’s a two-hour drive to Gruyeres, where you can pick up some smoked cheese (and visit a creepy castle dedicated to H.R. Giger, the eccentric artist behind Alien).

The mountains themselves hide all kinds of unusual and far cheaper sights, like Aescher, the restaurant and indie live-music venue that’s carved into the side of a cliff.

It’s been a rough week. Here’s two solid minutes of dogs playing in the snow during Storm Arwen.

Thanks for reading!