Ron’s monthly dispatch on travel worth knowing about.
I have found that travel planning is rarely just about choosing a destination anymore. Increasingly, it is the small practical details that make the biggest difference to how smoothly a journey begins. What you don’t know can and may bite you. I was reminded of that recently in two very different ways. One was close to home, when the UK reinforced its requirement that dual nationals must enter the country on their UK passport, something that applied directly to my own children and may catch others out too. Some UK–New Zealand families are unaware that their children can automatically be entitled to British citizenship, even if they have never lived in the UK, which means they are required to travel on a UK passport when entering Britain. It is a good reminder of why checking the fine print early really matters.
The other reminder came from a very different setting, stepping onboard Scenic Eclipse II when it was visiting Timaru. Seeing the ship up close reinforced how much thought and preparation sits behind journeys that feel effortless once you are underway.
In this edition, we touch on a few timely developments like these, along with some broader travel trends we are seeing emerge for 2026 and beyond. As always, the aim is to help you travel with clarity and confidence, so the experience itself can unfold exactly as it should.
February has been a busy one for us, and for the best reasons. I thought I would share a few of the holidays we built for clients over this past month.
Sri Lanka – planned for a couple that hadn’t travelled in a good while, the holiday designed for them incorporates a range of interests; from beautiful scenery, a love for hiking and walks, upper scale accommodation to relax in, days at leisure to contrast other days with pre-planned excursions, and a scenic rail journey through the mountains.
India – long time clients of mine with a strong interest in history, culture, peoples and the wilderness. We also planned this trip around Diwali in Mumbai for a big finale!
Europe river cruise – it was a pleasure to help two couples with a Jazz themed river cruise in France this July. The Rhone river commonly has different special interest cruises with Avalon Waterways. In addition to the Jazz cruise there are health and wellness cruises, cuisine, wine focus, and more.
Japan – a pair of honeymooners off to Japan for 5 weeks. Balancing their wants and needs against the record-breaking surge in Japan tourism required expanding beyond the normal Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka loop. From Tokyo they are heading off to lesser known but experience rich and worthy destinations like Sendai, Kanazawa, and Takayama… with a final stop in Okinawa for beachside downtime at the end.
Travel headlines can feel noisy, but every so often there are a few developments genuinely worth pausing over. Over the past month, a handful of changes and trends have stood out, and they matter particularly for New Zealand travellers planning long haul journeys in the year or two ahead.
As well as the changes in UK entry requirements as mentioned in the introduction, Europe is also in the midst of some changes. New biometric entry systems were introduced across the Schengen zone (EES) in October 2025, requiring fingerprints and facial scans on arrival. While designed to improve security, the early stages may bring longer queues at major airports, particularly over the European summer. For travellers arriving from New Zealand after long flights, this is something we are factoring into how journeys begin, whether that means choosing arrival cities carefully or simply allowing a little more breathing room at the start.
At the same time, Asia is finding its rhythm again. Vietnam has seen a strong return of international travellers this year, reflecting what we are seeing on the ground. My own visit in September 2025 was a reminder of what a great destination this is, especially the food! Demand for high quality cultural, culinary and river based travel is building steadily. This does not mean sudden crowds, but it does mean that the best guides, hotels and experiences are being secured earlier, especially for those looking ahead to later 2026 and 2027.
What sits behind all of this is a subtle shift in how people want to travel. We are seeing fewer rushed itineraries and more interest in staying longer, travelling more gently, and choosing quality over quantity.
These changes are not cause for concern but reinforce the value of calm planning and early conversations. When the details are thought through, travel still feels as rewarding and effortless as it should.
Last month, at long last, I was invited to tour through the Scenic Eclipse II when it was visiting Timaru. This ship is at the very top end of the “luxury discovery yachts” catagory.
One (of many) standout aspects of this ship was the spacious foredeck over the icebreaker hull. Picture yourself with a warm hot chocolate, or glass of bubbles, down in the Antarctic, plowing through the ice and able to see and feel this experience.
We also had a chance encounter with the captain in the corridor, and rather than a quick nod and a smile, he spent over 15 minutes chatting with us on anything and everything. It felt more like a conversation with a neighbour or friend than a “service professional”, which is part of what makes Scenic different.
More on the ship: with a capacity of 220 guests (with 200 staff), every part of the ship felt intimate and accessible, the staff to guest ration is very close to parity which means you are always being accommodated and they are never rushed to get to the next “task”.
Aboard there are 2 helicopters and a submersible, meaning that you have at your disposal all angles of the destination – the “4D Experience” they called it.
This ship, and her sister the Scenic Eclipse I are featured in 4 or so episodes of Maritime Masters on TV3. I recommend having a look!
It is easy to feel that travel has become more unpredictable. Headlines move quickly, weather events feel more extreme, and global news rarely pauses for nuance. And yet, for most people, most of the time, travel still unfolds exactly as planned.
The difference today is not danger so much as complexity. There are more moving parts. More rules to be aware of. More decisions that benefit from a little foresight. When journeys are designed thoughtfully, with sensible pacing and a degree of flexibility built in, those moving parts tend to stay quietly in the background.
Preparedness now looks less like caution and more like good design. Allowing breathing room at the start of a trip. Choosing reliable routing over the shortest connection. Understanding entry requirements and insurance properly rather than assuming they are all the same. These are small decisions, but they have a calming effect on the entire experience.
On the ground, what many travellers notice is how normal things feel. Meals shared. Landscapes unfolding. Conversations with guides and locals who are far more focused on daily life than on the news cycle. The world is not standing still. It is simply continuing, much as it always has.
Travelling well today is not about ignoring uncertainty, but about planning in a way that accounts for it without letting it dominate. When that balance is right, travel remains what it should be: enriching, restorative, and quietly joyful. And for the vast majority of journeys, that is still exactly how it unfolds.
Just this past week I heard from a client who has worked with me on quite a few holidays over the years. She’s off again in 2027 to Europe.
“Never again,” she told me, “will I fly all the way to Europe and go straight into a packed itinerary.”
I call this planning for a “soft landing”.
Flights, whether you’re squeezing into economy or sprawling in a first class suite, take their toll on our bodies. Add in the adjustment for time zones, and most of us are affected.
The “pillar” experiences that you are planning your holiday around should be engaged with you at your best, when it is possible to do so.
In this client’s case she will have 3 nights in Nice to stroll around at her own pace before heading to Arles for a river cruise. She will get the full experience of the cruise rather than afternoon naps playing catchup.
Sometimes your specific requirements don’t allow you to take this approach, but when they do… plan for a soft landing.
