2026 travel plans.

Canada in April - +1 has a conference in Toronto and we will build out a trip from there.
Philippines in July / August.
 
So far I have Solomon Islands (4-5 islands) projected for May-June-ish. We are thinking to fly to MUA but only served by Solomon Airlines and no points can be used except maybe my Chase UR from the States. Then QF HIR-BNE.

Then maybe a cruise to Vanuatu but must include Luganville/Santo because that is where the best birding is.

And I am sure I will be back to my 2nd (spiritual) home - Turkiye!
 
Haven’t even started planning yet but World Cup in the US/Canada/Mexico is at the top of list
Poop! I have a Vancouver to Alaksa cruise booked smack bang in the middle of the World Cup dates. That makes my chances of rewards seats unlikely, and paid seats expensive. I think I'll cancel 😢
 
We have a Rhine river cruise booked on Avalon Waterways in April (Amsterdam to Basel). On the way we're planning stopovers in Istanbul and Paris, with a couple of days in Geneva at the end.

Two friends claim that Avalon Waterways is by far the best operator of river cruises in Europe.

One of these friends is 'dark' on Viking as when their cruise became a bus part way, they were offered a $1000 credit. As he said 'there won't be another Viking cruise for us'.
 
We'll be in Periyar National Park in southern India when we wake up on New Years Day.
Our usual out of the country for Jan 26. Next year Wellington.

Then nothing else, so far.

I'll be without employment and the world is out there waiting. Not sure bAlt is feeling the same with a few years of permanent work still to go for him :)
Not sure if the list is out for 2026 yet but look out for dry days in the south :) Dry Days In 2025: A Complete List Of Non-Alcohol Days In India
 
Locked in so far, in March/April, back-to back cruises on Ponant expedition vessels through the Canary Islands

View attachment 438044

Followed by a food and wine cruise around Sicily

View attachment 438045

Then in July, a cruise around the Greek islands, through to Sicily, Italy and ending in Nice also on a Ponant expedition vessel

View attachment 438043


Flights will be on QR J ex CGK or SIN, with SIN awards to those points.

Any other trip if I can afford it will be to Saudi Arabia, particularly the north-west where another (smaller scale) Petra exists, remnants of the Nabataean empire (ElAlua/Hegra), but also Medina, which is now open to non-Muslins and of course Jeddah (been there before, for work). Incredibly cheap J airfares on Saudia Airlines

Was going to go back to Sicily for 4 days (max I could do) after the second Sicily cruise that ends in Malta in April but the dates and airfares just didn't line up getting out of Sicily and then onto a QR flight to SIN with Classic fare. I'm determined not to go above QR's Classic fare (no seat selection, but QFF Plat takes care of that), which gives SIN to many ports in Europe return in QR J for about $4,300.

Then realised that I'm back in the Mediterranean in July '26, so could do Sicily then. So I asked my travel agent to get me home from Malta - maybe via Rome (spend a few days there ...) and she said 'There's good connections to Milan and a well-timed QR flight MXP-DOH-SIN'. SOLD! Wanted to get to Milan some day.
 
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