Seven travel trends and destinations for 2010

In her vocabulary exercise from 5 January, Meep! Defining the buzzwords of 2009, Anne Hodgson told us about the "staycation", which is "a holiday spent in one's home country or at home, with day trips to local attractions". It's a good idea, but the "staycation" has its limits, especially if you want to see the world. We do, and that's why we're looking at the travel trends and destinations of 2010.

1. Trend: "Slow travel" will be the way to go this year. Think train, boat and foot. It takes seven days to get from Southampton to New York on board the Queen Mary 2, but you can take a Pilates class, learn to play poker or read some of the 8,000 books in the ship's library while crossing the Atlantic in style.

2. Destination: This is the year to discover the beauty of Northumberland. Extending north from Newcastle to the Scottish border, Northumberland's landscape is marked by romantic Norman castles at Warkworth and Dunstanburgh, while Hadrian's Wall, the greatest feat of Roman engineering north of the Tiber, reminds visitors that this is frontier country. Walk the Cheviot Hills or relax in fishing villages such as Alnmouth, founded almost 1,000 years ago by William de Vesci, Lord of Alnwick. Before you go, listen to local lass Kathryn Tickell playing "Lads of Alnwick".