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November 24, 2016updated Jul 27, 2017

Q&A with Matthew Robertson, Momentum Adventure

By Zahra Al-Kateb

Image Credit: OZZO

Momentum Adventure takes great pride in creating tailored, exciting, unique adventures – away from the generic tourist trail and off the beaten track. From swimming with manta rays in Indonesia to riding dune buggies across Iceland, Momentum Adventure’s CV is truly world class and very unique. Founder Matthew Robertson tells us more.

Read the first part of this interview here.

Momentum Adventure covers a huge range of countries from all four corners of the globe. How do you go about choosing them, and does the client always know what they want?

Interestingly, we have found that most people who come to us are not sure what they want to do, but what they do know is that they are looking to do something different, away from the tourist trail and designed to their needs, and feels genuinely unique and very special.

We organically find out what makes the client tick through their passions, aspirations and desires. As I’m talking with the client, the adventure starts to take shape. We ask them to allow us a week as every trip is bespoke. We may even give them something they’re not remotely thinking about which, more often than not, we get the response: “Wow, sounds incredible. I’d never even thought of that, let’s do it!”

It’s brilliant and what we love doing – opening up incredible locations that some never knew existed.

How do you pair luxury and adventure together?

It’s like baking the perfect cake, with the right ingredients you can make something very special. With cheap ingredients, it’s just another cake that everyone sells. Some trips require a mix of luxury and rustic luxury; it’s always a delicate balance, and we take great pride in getting this just right.

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More often than not, rustic luxury is enough. For example, I designed a trip recently to Iceland, where we traveled through the volcanic deserts in specially adapted dune buggies in the same location where Oblivion was filmed with Tom Cruise. The landscape was unworldly! At about 10 O’clock at night, we pulled up to a Research Centre where they monitor the volcanoes and weather patterns. The accommodation was basic but the food was incredible, we cooked lobsters and lamb over lava under the midnight sun. But you know what, if we had finished that day at a five-star hotel, it would have killed the experience. After an active day, a tasty meal and a glass of wine is all you need. When you get into bed that night, it’s the comfiest bed in the world.

After all, nowhere does it say you have to suffer to enjoy the adventure!

Have you noticed any specific trends within the travel industry?

The Arctic regions, Polar and Antarctica. These are growing because people sense they are changing rapidly and they want to sample it while they still can.

Interestingly, depending on where you go and how far you venture into the Arctic, there are some amazing places to stay, small hamlets, Sami camps or a bespoke base camp for our clients. The reality is you can still go to the Arctic and have a comfy bed and an amazing experience without having to suffer to do it.

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