Angela Mollard: The secret travel hack that won’t cost you a cent
Don’t sleep away your holiday — sightseeing at dawn, free from the hustle and bustle of heaving crowds, is a winning travel hack, writes Angela Mollard.
Opinion
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Is there anything as magical as a fresh dawn? The sliver of soft blue cracking open the night and sneaking across the sky before the swagger of cerulean takes over the day. I’ve always loved an early morning: the quiet, the possibilities, the sweet delusion that you might have the world, or your corner of it, to yourself.
This week, sleepless in Seattle during a travel assignment, I didn’t fight the insomnia but leant into it. Up before 6am, an hour later I was sipping coffee as I strode through the city’s Pike Place Market, stopping to chat with the flower sellers unloading their dahlia blooms. On the harbour, the cruise ship passengers were still slumbering behind their portholes when my companions and I jumped on the ferry to Bainbridge Island where river otters played on the shore and bakeries seduced with cinnamon scrolls, a cuddle curled from bread.
We were off to play pickleball on the Pacific Northwest island where it originated and, as our instructor wiped the dew from the benches beside our court, I marvelled – not for the first time – at the best travel secret I’d stumbled upon many years ago.
No, it’s not how to bag a business class seat or how to get the best room in a hotel. It’s not a secret beach or an ancient church or a wine made from grapes crushed by the wizened feet of a silent order of Benedictine monks.
Rather, the single best holiday hack, the one that’ll crystallise your memories so you revisit them again and again in your imagination, is to get up early. Just as few good things happen after 10pm, everything whimsical and unexpected is up for grabs at dawn.
I was going to keep these stolen hours to myself, selfishly tucking away my discovery that the traveller’s sweet spot is a day that starts at 5am and has you to bed by 9pm.
But now one of the nation’s key tourism bodies has seized upon my secret and is planning a “First Light’ campaign that seduces tourists with early morning experiences.
As Destination NSW revealed this week, in a bid to lift annual visitor expenditure from $51.4 billion to $91 billion, it intended to capitalise on our “first light” culture of “early rising, physical activity and the outdoors”, followed by brunch.
It’s a genius idea and one we should’ve marketed years ago, especially in Queensland where the cockatoos are squawking from 4.30am. For years my northern hemisphere mates have marvelled at how we’re up surfing at dawn, striding around Uluru at sunrise or jogging beside the beach.
Travel has moved on from simply gawking at things – bridges, parks, museums, churches – to experiences that incorporate those attractions. We should have mass open-air yoga classes in front of the Sydney Opera House and in the park under Brisbane’s Story Bridge as they do during the summer at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Guided fun runs for visitors could take in historic buildings or coastal vantage points, followed by a game of beach volleyball or a group plunge in the ocean. Finish up with brekky, and you could sell an all-inclusive fit, dip and brunch package which leaves visitors feeling immersed and invigorated.
“First Light” should become the nation’s signature travel slogan with imagery and messaging as captivating as the striking Pure New Zealand campaign.
Not only does it chime with our lifestyle, but it reflects a new generation of travellers – many of them solo – seeking wellness experiences, nourishing food, natural beauty and an opportunity to meet others. And for those who love the night life, what better than rounding out the walk of shame with dawn dolphin-spotting or pilates on the sand.
I’ve learned that getting up at sparrow’s fart not only treats you to the gentle unfurling as humans and nature wake up but the opportunity to get in 10,000 steps before breakfast. You can make a better dent in a buffet brekky if you return to your hotel having worked up an appetite. Bringing your day forward also means you’ll be wanting dinner at 5pm, an ideal time to secure a table or a “two-for-one” booking on the First Table app.
I stumbled across the early morning hack a decade ago while trying, without success, to get to Lake Louise in Canada’s Banff National Park. The midafternoon traffic was gridlocked so we abandoned plans, returning at 5.30am the following morning for a stunning and solitary dawn hike up to the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse. We enjoyed the same early starts on Magnetic Island, Mudgee and in Morocco’s stunning blue city, Chefchaouen, where the night before the place was heaving with crowds.
This week it was Washington State which turned on the early morning charm with seals and blue herons off sleepy Whidbey Island and the boys at Piroshky’s bakery pumping out pre-dawn pumpkin toffee pastries.
We need to do the same with some 7am openings at our zoos and attractions, exercise options aplenty and a tantalising campaign showing that the early bird catches the magic.
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Originally published as Angela Mollard: The secret travel hack that won’t cost you a cent
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