Before the pandemic temporarily clouded its forecast, the outlook for the travel industry was astonishingly bright. With an entirely new generation of travellers coming of age, previously off-radar destinations such as Cambodia, Ethiopia and Mongolia going mainstream and solo travel a seemingly unstoppable force, the world of holidaymaking was seriously going places.

Over the past many months, with much of the world indoors, in an uncertain isolation, the grandeur of life and nature could only be reached in our imagination, in our memory, accessed through images on our walls and screens. Photography, then, always our great portal to distant lands, the simplest method of imaginary transport, has in the time of the pandemic become ever more valuable to the travellers among us.

As the August Bank Holiday and Labor Day both reappear on the horizon and the travel industry tentatively tiptoes back into the frame, isn’t it time you embraced the dog days of summer in style? Before both sides of the Pond fall into autumn, jumpers reappear from wardrobes and sweaters from closets, there’s still one final opportunity to get away, relax and enjoy the last of the summer sun (and, indeed, wine). On whichever side of the Atlantic you’ve been locked down, this is your chance to escape before summer scarpers. These are our expert picks for a holiday without the quarantine.

The photographer – and paterfamilias to an enormous brood of beautiful children and hunting hounds – Mr Oddur Thorisson is a prolific traveller. Mr Thorisson will very often pick up sticks with his wife Mimi, author of the forthcoming food book, Old World Italian: Recipes And Secrets From Our Travels In Italy, and family, from their new-ish home base in Torino, and head off to Paris, say, for fashion week (in which his children may be modelling for Bonpoint). Or to Venice, where he and Ms Thorisson host culinary workshops. To Medoc, where the Thorissons have a home (across the street from our friends Mr Matt Hranek and Ms Yolanda Edwards) – all the while eating, photographing and generally making merry.

Before the pandemic temporarily clouded its forecast, the outlook for the travel industry was astonishingly bright. With an entirely new generation of travellers coming of age, previously off-radar destinations such as Cambodia, Ethiopia and Mongolia going mainstream and solo travel a seemingly unstoppable force, the world of holidaymaking was seriously going places.

Over the past many months, with much of the world indoors, in an uncertain isolation, the grandeur of life and nature could only be reached in our imagination, in our memory, accessed through images on our walls and screens. Photography, then, always our great portal to distant lands, the simplest method of imaginary transport, has in the time of the pandemic become ever more valuable to the travellers among us.