New research by international travel company KAYAK suggests almost 80 per cent of Australians are interested in having their best-possible travel experience, in what’s been coined ‘main character energy’.
We’re talking about booking bougie boutique hotels over basic budget backpackers, upgrading from economy to first class, and indulging in once-in-a-lifetime experiences over run-of-the-mill tourist traps.
Of those surveyed, 7% said they prioritise experience over expense when planning their holidays, which was even more prevalent among Gen Z (89%) and younger millennials (85% of under 35s).
If anyone knows about main character energy it’s podcast host, media personality and fashion label owner, Abbie Chatfield, who says ‘MCE’ is the first thing you should pack for a trip.
“I think everyone should travel with their main character energy,” she says. “As much as you want to have a good time with your friends or family or whomever you’re going with, and as much as everyone has the best time of their lives, I think it’s a very positively selfish thing to do.”
Chatfield says ‘MCE’ has been even more important for people travelling post-COVID.
“Everyone I know that has gone overseas since COVID, even with their friends, have all been like, ‘I’m doing the exact thing that I want the entire time, because now I’ve had a taste of not being able to travel,’ so now everyone’s like, ‘I don’t give a shit what you want,’” she laughs. “I love it, I think it’s great. I think it’s the way you should travel.”
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It’s about doing what you want to, not what you feel you should.
“I feel like it’s just doing things that you actually want to do,” she says. “I guess in a weird wanky therapy way, it’s like setting personal boundaries and acknowledging what you actually want, rather than what you feel that you ‘should’ do just because you’re somewhere in particular.”
A native of Brisbane, Chatfield likened it to her first trip to Sydney, when she felt like she “had” to see the Opera House and Habour Bridge.
“That’s all well and good,” she says. “But I also feel like what ends up happening is you don’t actually enjoy your trip for you, you just end up doing things you feel you have to do.”
When she first travelled overseas at 20, Chatfield went to Paris with a friend and took a walking tour around the city.
“After two hours we were like, ‘How many more fucking old buildings can we see?’” she laughs. “We were like, ‘We’re going to go to The Louvre, we’re going to go to the Eiffel Tower, we’re going to go here…’ but we got to the Eiffel Tower and once we’d seen it I said to my friend, ‘Cool, we’ve seen it – let’s stay on the bus, let’s go back to our Airbnb and go find some really good croissants or something.’”
These days, Chatfield says all she wants to do on holiday is “sit in the heat like a lizard.”
“I’ve just been to Fiji recently and that was amazing,” she says. “I think maybe I’d like to go back to the Greek Islands – I went when I was younger, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. So I think I want to go back there… or do two weeks in the south of France: just go to Marseille and sit by myself for two weeks and not talk to anyone – just eat lots of crepes.”
Earlier this year, Chatfield travelled to Italy with ex-boyfriend Konrad Bien-Stephen. Her only regret, she says, is not staying longer after the hotel upgraded their room to a $15,000 euro a night suite.
“I wish there had been more days to just sit in the room and just look at all the expensive stuff,” she laughs. “If I’d known we were going to be in a hotel room that expensive I would have had an extra day to just sit.”
Chatfield has advice for those who don’t feel like they have the confidence to pull off ‘MCE’.
“I think my advice would be to just be slightly more selfish that than you think you’re allowed to be, especially for women – because I feel like as a whole, at a baseline men are like a five out of 10 selfishness; ours is like a one,” she says. “So if we just amp it up a bit, you know: just be slightly more selfish. Like, when you travel – just do exactly whatever the fuck what you want to do.”
If you think that dream overseas holiday is out of reach because of price, you’re not alone: 86 per cent of Australians cite price as the main deterrent to making their dream travel itinerary a reality. KAYAK offers a ‘Vacay Valuator’ that can help you figure out how much you can save for your next holiday by giving up little luxuries like a daily latte or new clothes, based on conservative estimates.
They help find the best, cheapest and quickest flights to put together your ideal trip, including itinerary and updates on unexpected changes you can share with friends – something Chatfield says would have come in handy when she planned a trip to Los Angeles at 21.
“We booked through the normal airline website, and we were flying from Brisbane to Sydney then Sydney to LA,” she says. “We got to Sydney and we had 40 minutes between landing at domestic and having to get through international, which is impossible. There were like 15 people who had the exact same issue on out flight from Brisbane to Sydney, so we were all running through the airport and when we got there they were like, ‘Sorry, it’s closed – you’re late.’”
