Velocity Black: The App That'll Make Your Travel Dreams Come True

Velocity Black is about to make your travel dreams come true...

In this digital-first climate, time is a complex commodity. It's not as simple as adhering to a set of binary numbers on a clock face for the ‘experience generation’ (that’s people like you and me FYI, who value experiences over ownership of goods – no house, no problem!*).

*Lol.

Case in point: On a daily basis in the office, you’ll probably hear multiple variations of the phrase, ‘Yeah, fine. Busy, busy, busy… but fine’, yet there always seems to be enough time to get the aesthetic right on your latest post for Instagram.

And it’s this switch in behaviour that Velocity Black knows all too well.

What is Velocity Black?

For the uninitiated, Velocity Black is essentially the most exciting luxury lifestyle app launch of the year. As Zia Yusuf, co-founder of the app, concisely puts it, Velocity Black ‘brings you extraordinary experiences in the most convenient way possible'.

‘It’s about saving time as well as enriching it. People come to us asking us for restaurant recommendations and we’ll book people into the Georges V in Paris, or a really nice Japanese hidden gem in New York… all the way through to taking people up to the edge of space in a fighter jet to see the extremes of the earth’s atmosphere and see the curvature of the earth.’ Yes, THE EDGE OF SPACE.

Velocity Black app — Fly to the edge of space, or live the 5 star beach life?

This is where Velocity Black gets really interesting. Along with acting like a premium, access-all-areas concierge service for the millennial generation (think free hotel upgrades, securing VIP tickets to sold-out shows, access to private yacht parties etc) it also services our seemingly insatiable appetite for ‘extra’ experiences. A five-day beach holiday isn’t enough. We want The Bluest Water, found on A Deserted Beach, on a Private Island. Surrounded by Millennial Pink Dolphins.

A swimming session with blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka? No problem, that’s actually one of the next experiences Velocity Black has coming up. But if that sounds a bit tame, they’re also planning a swim with orca whales (!) in the fjords of Norway soon – which, logistically I still can’t get my head around.

‘One of our members actually said that Velocity Black delivers the best Instagrams in the world’ explains Yusuf, and yeah, we can see why. You only have to look at the app’s A-list founding members (think Gigi Hadid, Vanessa Hudgens and Poppy Delevingne) to see that it totally gets the wants and needs of its target audience. From Martha Hunt swimming with said orca whales, to Elsa Hosk using the app to get her a helicopter to take her to Palm Springs, this is celebrity living made accessible (annual membership to Velocity Black costs £2,000).

Download the app and book amazing experiences. And with a 24/seven chat feature and a guaranteed response time of under one minute, this service essentially uberises your entire lifestyle.

Oh yes, Yusuf and his team are thinking big. ‘The long-term vision is very much to democratise as much as possible just like Uber did.'

‘You know, Uber started out with just black cars sometimes people forget this. Uber didn’t exist when Obama came to power and it started out with Uber Black in Silicon Valley. Yes, it was cheaper than having your own chauffeur, but it was certainly not democratised. But today Uber competes with public transport in London.’

Champagne taste on a lemonade budget? Where do I sign up…?

Holly Rains is the digital editor of Marie Claire UK. She has over 10 years journalism experience, working as an editor and writer, specialising in digital media, content strategy and dog breeds. Prior to Marie Claire, she has held senior staff positions at ELLE UK, Grazia and Company magazine.

Holly is a frequent speaker, panelist and interviewer on a range of subjects including media trends, careers and entertainment. From working with Reuters to provide global red carpet coverage for events like the BAFTAs, to discussing fashion and beauty trends on network TV, she was also the host of the Marie Claire series ‘Holly’s First Dates’, where she regularly interviewed a mix of inspiring woman and A-list celebrities (including Jack Black, Dakota Fanning and Renée Zellweger) - a series which garnered half a million views in its first two months. And was approved by The Rock.

Her love of office-based meetings means that the days of discovering the melting point of Cadbury's Flakes are long gone, but when she isn't dreaming of scheduling in meetings, she likes to think about social media, and how best to avoid it whilst still retaining the title of 'digital' editor. She also likes learning about emerging technology, Influencers and how to become a Financially Responsible Adult.

Contact Holly: holly.rains@futurenet.com