From the Editor Christian Schwalbach “ At a certain point, or at least on certain trips, travelling becomes more of an art form. We want to go to a place that matches our expectations “ DEPARTURES 16 WE MAY TRAVEL for different reasons – leisure or business, adrenaline or relaxation, new discovery or familiar embrace – but we all share one abiding desire: to do it right. When we’re young and carefree, that often means letting serendipity take its course on a gap year or a freewheeling summer adventure. But at a certain point, or at least on certain trips, travelling becomes more of an art form. We want to go to a place that matches our expectations. We want to dress appropriately, eat well and not waste our time at the overcrowded tourist traps. Here at Departures, we’re proud to have been a reliable source of on-the-ground travel advice for more than 20 years – and, in this issue, I want to celebrate this long tradition, whose continued value lies in our editors and writers actually visiting all the places we recommend. Because it is the details that you discover when you’re on the ground that matter most – and they are precisely the things you can’t pick up from an Instagram photo or a TikTok video, let alone an AI-generated nub of an article that has tricked Google’s algorithm. As you turn the pages of this magazine, I want to encourage you to do something that’s increasingly rare in the 2020s: read every word of a story and, as you do, soak in the rich atmosphere of the photographs and the wisdom of our contributors. Whether it’s Paul Richardson discovering the rich food world of the Brazilian Amazon (page 88), Nicola Chilton journeying to India to learn the full philanthropic story behind the Subcontinent’s premier leopard sanctuary (page 82), or Gary Buchanan writing about the cuisine on cruise ships, his beat for 22 years (page 36), I’m confident you’ll find both expertise and inspiration – even if you don’t end up following their particular advice. I wish you happy reading and encourage you to visit us at departures-international.com for more recommendations.
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