The year I romanticize the journey
On the destinations worth arriving at slowly and the sailing trip I’m trying to actually book in 2026
Today’s newsletter is graciously sponsored by Nautica Collective.
I have always cared as much about the journey as the destination.
If you know me, you know aviation is something of an obsession of mine. Nothing exhilarates me quite like the feeling of propulsion speeding down a runway toward takeoff—those seconds of pure anticipation before being lifted off the Earth. I’m always in the window seat, grinning ear to ear, marveling at the complicated choreography of getting from point A to B that so many of us take for granted.
For a long time, this felt like a quirk. Most people treat travel as a means to an end: the flight is an obstacle, the hotel is just a base, the destination is the goalpost. I’ve never quite been wired to think that way. I’ve always revered the liminality of breaking through clouds as much as I’ve appreciated arriving somewhere entirely new. Those in-between moments are where I’ve always found something worth paying attention to.
As it turns out, the rest of the world is finally starting to feel the same.
Romanticizing the journey is having its moment
Prioritizing the experience of transit is having such a cultural moment this year that trend reports have given it a name: romanticizing the journey. Driven by nostalgia and a growing appetite for genuine luxury, travelers are rejecting high-speed, stressful transit in favor of something slower and far more memorable: scenic journeys—specifically via rail and sail—that allow for genuine connection with the places you’re passing through and the people you’re passing through them with.
Luxury rail travel, with its storied overnight routes through mountain passes, restored vintage dining cars, and private sleeper cabins, has evolved from a nostalgic novelty into a genuine luxury category of its own. On the water, the shift is equally significant. The demand is for smaller, more intimate vessels: boutique yachts, bespoke itineraries, coastal access that a larger ship simply can’t offer. “Blue health,” the measurable psychological benefit of spending time at sea, is becoming a legitimate reason people plan trips, not just a byproduct of them.
What makes 2026 feel particularly exciting is what’s actually launching: Belmond’s Britannic Explorer in the UK, new sleeper routes threading across Europe, the expansion of the La Dolce Vita Orient Express through Italy, Aman at Sea. The golden age of travel isn’t being revived so much as reimagined—with modern comfort and historic soul arriving in the same cabin.
When it comes to luxury sailing specifically, the experience I’m most excited to try is with Nautica Collective. They offer fully hosted boutique group sailing experiences designed for the way modern travelers actually want to move through the world: time on the water woven together with genuine land-based moments, not one at the expense of the other. Everything is taken care of (onboard meals prepared by a private chef, thoughtfully curated itineraries—truly, the works!), so the only thing you’re really responsible for is just showing up and being present. But what draws me in beyond the logistics is the focus on community; these are intimate, small-group experiences, which means the people you sail with are likely to become people you actually stay in touch with long after coming back to shore.
The sail & rail destinations on my radar right now
Everything on my list has one thing in common: it’s best experienced slowly, and best arrived at by rail or sea.
Ibiza has always been high on my list, and before you say anything, I already know what you’re thinking! But the Ibiza I’m after has nothing to do with house DJs or dancing on tables. I want the northern part of the island: the finca roads and the fishing villages and the markets in the hill towns. Ibiza by sail with Nautica Collective (offered this year June 6–9) is a completely different experience than Ibiza by flight, and that’s exactly the version I want. Plus, Nautica Collective pairs its Ibiza sails with Formentera, which would allow me to check off two more of Spain’s Balearic islands after my Menorca trip last year (they also offer both east and west coast Mallorca sails!).
Singapore is the one long-haul on the list, and the Belmond Eastern & Oriental Express is the reason it’s here at all. The E&O runs through Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand—through unbelievable jungle and rice paddies and colonial-era stations—in a way that turns what could be a simple city trip into a proper journey through Southeast Asia. Singapore as a destination is endlessly fascinating on its own; Singapore as the starting point for one of the great rail journeys in the world is something else entirely.
Kyushu, Japan via the Seven Stars is perhaps the most ambitious item on this list, and I mean that in the best possible way. The Seven Stars is Japan’s most acclaimed luxury sleeper, offering a four-day journey through the island of Kyushu that is, by most accounts, nearly impossible to book and completely worth the effort. Japan has always romanticized the act of train travel in a way no other culture quite matches, and the Seven Stars is that ethos at its most refined: a moving hotel, an introduction to a region most visitors never reach, and one of those travel experiences that people describe as genuinely life-changing.
The year the list becomes the calendar
I’ve kept versions of this list for longer than I’d like to admit. Destinations get shuffled around, experiences deferred, tabs left open in browsers that eventually get closed without being acted on. The Seven Stars booking that felt too complicated. The sailing trip that was always “next year.” Hopefully, this can be the year I’m done doing that.
If nothing else, Nautica Collective’s Ibiza & Formentera sail is the one I’m closest to pulling the trigger on, partly because the Balearics feel unfinished after Menorca, and partly because it’s the most accessible entry point into a kind of travel I’ve been circling for too long. And if you’ve been curious about sailing but didn’t know where to start, Nautica Collective is genuinely the answer I’d give a friend. Small groups, extraordinary routes, and the kind of experience that doesn’t end when you step off the boat.
Because at the end of the day, the memories that stay with you longest are rarely just about where you ended up, they’re about everything it took to get there.
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Tori Simokov is a Travel Writer and Graphic Designer/Strategist based in New York. To get in touch, email tori@v1projects.com. Want more? Check out Instagram, TikTok, or shop her curated favorites.
Omg the Belmond train is my #1 bucket list item that I have to do! I’m obsessed.