Celebrated whodunit author Agatha Christie was 32 when she set off on a 10-month world tour with her first husband, Archie, in January 1922. Leaving their two-year-old daughter behind, the couple left the UK to set sail on a nationwide voyage to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition of 1924. The letters, photographs, postcards and newspaper cuttings gathered across Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada were collated and published 90 years later in The Grand Tour.
‘One of the extraordinary things about my great grandmother was her passion for travel. She did it pretty much throughout her life,’ James Prichard, Agatha Christie’s great grandson, tells Tatler. ‘I was five or six when she died. I've grown up with lots around her. She's always been there.’
100 years on from the historic voyage, Agatha Christie Limited has partnered with luxury travel agent Black Tomato to organise a series of exclusive trips to celebrate the author’s journey. Dubbed ‘The Grand Adventure’, the trip boasts four immersive and action-packed itineraries through London, Africa, Australasia and North America.
Speaking about the new partnership, Prichard adds: ‘the more we look into my great grandmother, the more extraordinary she is. Her sense of adventure, her bravery, it was something we wanted to celebrate.’
Whether you chose one leg of the trip, or have your sights on the entire tour, travel lovers now have the chance to embark a journey that follows in Agatha Christie’s footsteps. The four itineraries offer avid fans and keen travellers alike the opportunity to experience and stay in the places that she did. ‘The thing that is most extraordinary and most exciting for me is that there isn’t one highlight,’ says Prichard.
Itineraries can be completely bespoke, but must-visit stops include a stay at London’s Brown’s Hotel – where some might be lucky enough to have tea with Prichard himself – a journey to Pretoria from Cape Town on the Blue Train; visiting Australia’s remote Dandenong Ranges; soaking in the sights of the waterfalls in Hokitika, New Zealand; and surfing on Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach.
Speaking about his great grandmother's original voyage, Prichard says: ‘it must have been so different at that time when you had no concept of what Africa was like, what New Zealand was like. It was all done by boat, it would have taken an inordinate amount of time. I just find it mind boggling.’
He adds: ‘I would love someone to do this just thinking about what it was like for her, and maybe taking some books along – her books, not other people’s books, obviously. I think it would be really interesting to do it and try and imagine it through a 1920s lens.’
With Death on the Nile also days away from release, Agatha-mania is high. Prichard mulls over his great grandmother’s legacy. ‘Here we are, 40 odd years after her death, 100 years after she started writing and she’s probably as popular as ever. I think she’s probably respected as much as she ever has been.’
The Grand Adventure itineraries are available to book throughout 2022, POA, blacktomato.com/agatha-christie/
