Into the Arctic: the journey of a modern-day adventurer

There are off the beaten path destinations, and then there’s Antarctica. One of the driest, coldest and windiest places on the planet, the majestic icy wilderness attracts scientists from around the world keen to study the unique environment.

Upon its christening in May, Swan Hellenic’s new SH Dianasailed north from Amsterdam to explore some of the lesser visited spots along Norway’s seemingly endless coast. Thanks to the expedition ship’s small-size, its 10-night Norway Explored voyage went deeper into fjords than most cruise ships can manage (the first leg of the voyage is covered in this post).

In Iceland, the sun doesn't fully set between May and August, with June being peak "midnight sun" season, according to Guide to Iceland.

If you haven’t heard about the U.K.’s heated debate on cutting ties with the European Union—dubbed a “Brexit”—you certainly will this week. Britons headed to the ballot box on Thursday and made the historic decision to leave the European Union.

Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air will introduce new direct service from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Copenhagen, Oslo, and London (Gatwick) this May, making it Boston’s largest international airline. Norwegian joins other low-cost carriers like WOW Air in targeting Boston as its gateway to Europe.

The market for Europe travel has softened, undermined by Brexit and terrorism concerns, among other factors. And what market there is is served by a growing contingent of cut-rate carriers like WOW and Norwegian Air.

These days, budget air deals aren’t hard to come by. There are plenty of flash sales and discount carriers to choose from, but not all of them are created equal. It’s become easy to find reasonable flights between big air hubs, but dreamy, far-off islands will almost always cost you more.

Almost all recent action in startup airlines has come from outside the U.S. We already see WOW and Norwegian, with a handful of other European lines gearing up and even one line from Asia (Malaysia’s AirAsia X). Prospects for home-based startup lines are pretty dim, but they’re not quite zero. Two are worth watching; a third new airline is pretty ephemeral so far.

I don’t suppose that most travelers choose their trip destinations based on a country’s happiness index. On the other hand, if they knew that Country A scored near the top of the happiness index and Country B scored near the bottom, it seems probable they’d be inclined to book their flights to Country A. Who wants to spend their vacation among unhappy people?

IdeaWorks is out with its annual reward seat availability survey, which ranks airlines’ reward programs based on how easy it is to redeem frequent flyer points or miles for reward travel. As any frequent flyer knows (and as common sense dictates), this metric is essential to determining the value of an airline reward program. It’s sort of the whole point, right?

As we head into a new decade, let’s take some time to acknowledge the incredible events and momentous changes in the travel world since 2010.

2020 likely wasn’t anyone’s favorite year ever, but for citizens of one country, it was a little bit better, according to the United Nations.