The Rise And Rise Of The Radical Sabbatical

In there's been a post-pandemic boom transformational travel, but can a break from the norm actually change your life? Jenny southan goes in search of a new direction

- JENNY SOUTHAN

One night last summer, I found myself paddling out to sea on a transparent Kayak that glowed in the dark with underwater lights. The black Caribbean water was warm and the sky glittered with stars. Looking back at the shore, I could see flaming torches on the beach, and the party I’d just left still in progress, with people milling around in animal fancy-dress costumes. I’d discarded my own rubber llama mask on the sand, and, as I breathed in the fresh air, the questions How did I get here? and, more importantly, What next? drifted through my mind.

I’d spent the past five days among a group of 20-plus strangers, all of whom had very different backstories (there was a millionaire nomad who was living in a luxury Winnebago, a commodities trader from Australia, and a professional poker player and Seventh Day Adventist who had both travelled over from middle America). But all of us had one thing in common: we’d been inspired to sign up to a life-changing holiday at the Aerial BVI, a private island in the British Virgin Islands. Run by American entrepreneur Britnie Turner, the retreat is a utopian hideaway in the Caribbean Sea, engineered to help people achieve mental, physical and financial transformations.