Travel days.

They’re always the most stressful.

And yet, where – quite literally- would we be without them?

2026 is shaping up to be a big “travel days” year, so I thought I’d summarize our craziness all in one place, with a plan to document each of the individual travel days as we survive them.

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I’ve been planning intensively for almost 6 months (Episode 713 – RTW), so 90% of our 2026 travel is completely booked, with electronic tickets in hand. A few things – like local trains and buses – aren’t available yet, but I know exactly what we need and the booking apps are loaded on my phone.

There will, of course, be more, as we use public transit in each city, plus the occasional Uber.

(Aside: I really like the DeutscheBahn app for train travel in western Europe.)

So, here goes!

✈️ January 5th Round-The-World Leg 1 of 13 : (Air New Zealand) – Vancouver to Auckland

🛩️ in-country flight: Air NZ – Auckland to Christchurch

🛤️🚂🚍 ⛴️ Sir Edmund Hillary Tour: 4 vintage trains, 12 coach buses, and a steam ferry!

🚞 Rail New Zealand Wellington to Auckland

✈️ RTW Leg 2 of 13: (Air New Zealand) – Auckland to Sydney

🛩️ Cross-country flight: Jetstar – Sydney to Adelaide

🚞 “The Overland” Train – Adelaide to Melbourne

🛩️ Commuter flight: Jetstar – Melbourne to Canberra

🚞 NSW Trainlink Train – Canberra to Sydney

✈️ RTW Legs 3 & 4 of 13: (ANA – All Nippon Airways) – Sydney to Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur

🛩️ Local flight: Air Malaysia – KL to George Town Penang & return

✈️ RTW Legs 5-7 of 13: (Turkish Air) – KL to Istanbul to Athens to Heraklion Crete (Aegean Air)

🚍 Buses Heraklion to Rethymno, Rethymno to Chania, and Chania to Heraklion

✈️ RTW Legs 8 & 9 of 13: (Aegean Air) – Heraklion to Athens to Warsaw Poland

🚞 Trains Warsaw to Krakow and return a week later

✈️ RTW Legs 10 & 11 of 13: (Brussels Airlines) – Warsaw to Brussels to Manchester England

🚊Trains Manchester to York, York to Durham, Durham to Liverpool, and Liverpool to Manchester

✈️ RTW Legs 12 & 13 of 13: (Lufthansa) – Manchester to Frankfurt to Vancouver

Whew!

And to think that the Round The World ticket would have allowed us three more legs!

After that marathon I’m doing some travel without Ted, with son#1 in September (for which our air travel is booked, but the trains not yet available to ticket) and with daughter-in-law#2, in October.

✈️ September 5th Porter Airlines – Vancouver to Toronto (overnight)

✈️ Lufthansa – Toronto to Frankfurt

🚉 ICE TrainFrankfurt to Köln

🚞 Train Köln to Bremen

🚞 Train Bremen to Nuremberg

🚞 Train Nuremberg to Vienna

🚞 Train Vienna to Passau

🚞 Train Passau to Frankfurt

✈️ Lufthansa – Frankfurt to Toronto (overnight)

✈️ September 27 Lufthansa – returning from Toronto to Vancouver

I was so determined to have all our 2026 flights booked before we left in January that I put multiple reminders in my electronic calendar, and ended up booking our Italy flights twice, on two different carriers. That ended up being a costly mistake, since the $300CAD per ticket cancellation charge was augmented by the fact that seat reservations are non-refundable!! That just seems wrong on so many levels, but I have to admit that I did know that when I made the bookings.

Clearly I need to slow down, breathe, and make better checklists.

✈️ October 6th Air Canada/Lufthansa – Vancouver to Venice via Frankfurt

🚤 Vaporettos in Venice

🚞🚞🚞🚐🚐🚐🚐 Intrepid Travel’s “Italy Real Food Adventure”, Venice to Rome: 3 trains, 4 minibus/vans

✈️ October 17th Lufthansa – Rome to Vancouver via Munich

That only leaves us to decide how Ted and I get away for winter next December. We’re already thinking about the possibility of another RTW ticket, if 2026 works out well, but there just might be a couple of short cruises in our future too.

Time, a stable economy, and continued good health, will tell.

In the meantime, I need to pack!

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POSTSCRIPT: We’re not ignorant of our carbon footprint, but there are places to which we simply can’t get without a plane or a ship. We use public transit wherever possible – and other than a literal handful of Uber rides in North America (interestingly almost always electric or hybrid vehicles), we haven’t used a car since ours was totalled in 2022 (Episode 276).