In their words.

We’d done a few group tours before and dreaded them. This was different. Our guide Ásta knew where every photographer would tell us to stop and one or two she’d only show people she liked.

The cooking class in Ubud was the highlight of our year. Wayan picked us up at 6am, took us to the market, and four hours later we were sitting down to a meal we’d cooked ourselves.

I was nervous about going solo at 64. Met two other solo travellers on the first night, finished the trip with new friends. The team checked in on me twice a day — not in a fussy way, just nice.

Booked the Galápagos live-aboard for our 25th anniversary. The boat was small (16 guests), the diving was unbelievable, and the wildlife guide was a literal Galápagos researcher.

We had to cancel our Japan trip 6 weeks out because of family stuff. The team rebooked everything for 8 months later without any drama. That’s the test, isn’t it?

Tanzania during the migration was even more incredible than the photos. We saw a river crossing on day 4. Our driver waited 90 minutes in the right spot because he knew the herd was coming.