Travel ideas

Need some travel ideas? You want to get away but the thought of a Caribbean cruise doesn't excite you? Here's some suggestions:

Europe in Style

A recent development in river cruising is the introduction of Crystal Cruises. This luxury brand now has 5 different ships and they've just announced 2020 itineraries. Crystal sails on the Rhine & Moselle rivers, the Danube River, the Main.

Don't know about Crystal? This is an all suite ship, butlers in every room category, king sized beds, several restaurants on board and is an all inclusive experience. We will be traveling with them in a few months and we're very excited about it.

New Destinations

The New York Times just published their 52 Places to go in 2019. They list Puerto Rico as their top pick (recovered from the hurricane) but also list some more unusual picks such as: Hampi India (ancient civilization), Panama (Pacific side eco tourism), Munich (culture), Eilat Israel (Red Sea diving), Japan's Setourchi Islands (beauty), Aalborg Denmark (architecture), The Azores (adventure), Zadar Croatia, Salvador Brazil, Danang Vietnam, New Zealand, Puglia, Italy, The Falkland Islands, Scotland, and many more.

Tours on Land - more travel ideas

Of course how you travel is equally important. Land tours continue to be very popular. Travelers like to be able to spend more time in a city than on many cruises plus you can explore all those wonderful land locked destinations. Here's some examples of how to tour on land:

• Personalized tours: we can customize a trip to almost anywhere. If you have a small group, the economics are actually reasonable.
• Small group tours: when groups are limited in size (less than 20 people), you get a much different experience.
• Luxury tours: Think more room on the bus, more inclusions, higher quality hotels, special activities not available on other tours.
• Premium tours: If you don't want to spend for a luxury tour, you can get close with premium tours. You'll stay at 4 star hotels, have lots of fully immersive experiences and generally get treated very well.
• Comprehensive tours: If you want to do it all, this is for you. You'll be staying in hotels 1 - 2 nights but you'll see as much as possible in the time allocated.
• Theme tours: Love wine or food? Interested in art history or world war 1? Want to explore religious travel? Interested in attending a special event (ex: Calgary stampede). There's a tour for you that focuses on just what you want.
• Country or region specific tours: These are appropriate if you want to learn much more about a specific area or city. They tend to have longer stays at each hotel

Small Ship cruises

Sure you can sail the giant 2000 - 6000 passenger ships - which offer a great value and can be a lot of fun. You can even sail the mid sized ships like Amazara, Oceania, Viking Ocean which are about 1000 passengers in size.

Or you can sail ships of less than 300. There's so many options here including Windstar, Tauck, Ponant, Silversea and Scenic. Many of our clients that cruise the smaller ships never go back to the larger ones. Find out why. There's many advantages to these small ships but perhaps the most important one is that they allow you to go where larger ships simply can't.

Active traveling

Are you interested is something more active? Here's some suggestions:

• Yearn to take the Zodiac on the Galapogos? -Try Silversea or Celebrity
• Bicycle through Europe in luxury? Try Backroads or AmaWaterways,
• Ski in Switzerland? - Try Club Med
• Snorkel in Tahiti? Try Paul Gauguin
• Trekking in Patagonia? Try G Adventures
• Exploring Antarctica? Try Hurtigruten

There's many more possibilities as well as suppliers. We can help you find the best fit for your budget and interests.

Lots of Travel Ideas

Sure, cruising the Caribbean can be a lot of fun. But consider some of the ideas in this blog post too like:

• Super Luxurious river cruises
• All sorts of different land tours
• Small ship cruises
• Active vacations

And there's plenty more out there. An expert travel agent can help you figure out which is the best vacation for you. And what's that expertise? The ability to understand want you want, and understand what products are available with the resources and relationships to make it happen.