Greetings from Réunion Island!
I've had a splendid few days on this lovely and surprising island, and I've thoroughly enjoyed its unique little vibe. It's one of these gems that requires that one or two extra steps from the more well-known places to get to, and one that comes with all the rewards of that extra effort.
It's a volcanic island, with some really excellent hiking up and around the calderas. I climbed up to the 2,500m high crater of the most famous volcano here a few days ago, and where it was considerably cooler than the otherwise balmy tropical clime of the region.
The views, the scenery, the beaches, the strange French-but-not France ambience all make quite a charming package, and I think it will make a compelling addition to our LiveAway roster for early 2024.
It may sound far away but now into December, we're on the on the doorstep of 2023, and we'll soon be fully into our 2024 release schedule.
As you can probably imagine, there are a lot of moving pieces with so many trips in the pipeline, and I'd like to briefly address some trips that were in the plans but have been postponed.
There were a few trips on the website that we were intending to do for next year that we will be pushing to 2024, when I expect some of the space limitations and volume issues will have resolved themselves across the industry.
These include a few I was particularly keen on, including our Assam & Brahmaputra program, Austria & Northern Italy, so near and dear to my heart, and the Scotland portion of the Castles of Ireland & Scotland program.
Because I had quite specific hotels and accommodations in mind for Scotland, we have been unable to piece it all together amidst their own surge in tourism for 2023...unfortunate, but these things do happen with highly specialized trips.
So while that's a bit disappointing, we will still be going to Ireland, and on the upside, it has opened the door for a very special private charter Lochs & Castles of Scotland program which we are lining up for 2024. There's only one of these ships that sails this route and we've managed to get one of her sailings...more on this to come.
Lastly, I have received several inquiries regarding the status of our Slik Road & the 'Stans program which we were and still are planning for 2024, probably in September. It's another place where geopolitical and travel industry turmoil has gummed up our attempts to pull it together, but as of now we are still working on it.
There will be more on these and other 2024 plans once we get to 2023, and in the meantime we have more for 2023 coming here in 2022.
Before I get to that, please note: we will be closing for the December 23 - January 3 period to give both myself and the team a much needed break after what has been both an exhilarating and challenging 2022 for us and the community.
On this note, if there's something you'd like to get booked before the end of 2022, please get in touch with Paula or Barb in advance of Dec 23 so we can get things squared away before the break.
Before we pause we are going to push to get out a bunch trips in our planning pipeline, which means you can expect the following in the next few weeks:
- Ireland: The Emerald Isle (September 2023)
- Japan: Ancient & Modern II (October 2023)
- Croatia, Slovenia & the Adriatic Coast III (October 2023)
- Morocco: Land of Enchantment II (November 2023)
- Vietnam: Land of the Ascending Dragon (November 2023)
- The Galapagos: Laboratory of Evolution (March 2024)
(...that's a lot of trips!)
You can find links for upcoming webinars for several of these in your newsletter, with the rest coming in next week's newsletter.
So - lots to come! I'm off to Thailand today to put the final preparations in order for our Samui LiveAway and to get some rest before our rather exciting 2024 begins.
In the spirit of Mark Twain, "I apologies for the lengthy letter - I didn't have the time to write a shorter one" 🙂 Be well and do get in touch with us about these or any other trips of interest to you.
Cheers!
P.S. Speaking of Croatia - we have had a cancellation for our May 2023 program and there is 1 cabin available, should you be interested in joining us. Please reach out to Barb or Paula for all the information.
Leave a comment!