Greetings from Thailand!
Was it just me, or did summer move at quite a pace this year? Either way, here we are...welcome to September!
Everything starts moving again in September...back to school, markets pick up, and a lot of travel happens, as it's an ideal month in many places for cooler temperatures and fewer tourists. And as the summer haze fades, it's also a time when many people book future trips.
I had expressed hope back in the spring that perhaps the bumpiest parts of the travel world's rebound would be past us by the fall, but much of the chaos remains. Many hotels, tour operators, and airlines are running short-staffed with surging demand, and it's still creating a number of challenges. We've seen some impact on some of our trips, including:
- We had been trying to set up an Australia program for 2023 for months, but border closures and general chaos meant we were unable to get things arranged and thus have had to postpone the program
- One of our lodges for our Costa Rica program in January accidentally double booked our allotted rooms; we've now changed it to three different lodges over the course of the trip instead of just two (see the updated itinerary below).
- Challenges arranging trips in destinations a year in advance, as hotels and tour operators are super busy, and understandably focusing on dealing with everything in the present.
Occasionally too there are opportunities that arise from chaos. I received an email last week about quite a deal on an expedition cruise to Antarctica that was originally chartered for Chinese travellers in January 2023; with all the limits on travel for Chinese citizens, there may be an opportunity for those interested in Antarctica to jump on a last minute deal there. I'll update on this once I get all the info.
All this is to say that I expect this to be a busy and perhaps rather hectic fall, and if you are thinking about booking travel anywhere, consider jumping in to do so before the rest of the market does this month.
We traditionally see an uptick in bookings in September, and I expect this year to be the same if not greater than usual, given the still rebounding state of travel.
In trip news, I'm pleased this week to release our Peru program that was derailed last year due to the pandemic. It's a chance to see Machu Picchu and the other spectacular sites of the Incan empire, with an optional extension to explore the Peruvian Amazon. You can find the full itinerary in your newsletter.
We've also got our Morocco webinar next week, followed by two webinars about Portugal, for our 2023 Azores and Algarve programs. You can find both of those registration links here.
I'm here in Thailand for just a bit longer before heading to France to meet our members joining us for our France Kaleidoscope program. Wherever you are, I hope you're fully enjoying the final weekend of official summer (we can all still hope for an Indian Summer), and for those about to travel, I hope you're indulging in the anticipation of your next adventure 🙂
Cheers!
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