A 500m cruise on Ponant’s luxury icebreaker in Lyttelton Harbour
A Week in Japan at Christmas by Ian Collier
Japan is certainly a ‘hot’ destination for Discover Travel presently, with unprecedented levels of interest in this most fascinating of countries since they dropped all restrictions in April 2023. My last trip there was in April 2019 when I walked the Nakasendo Trail, so I jumped at the chance to… Learn more
A week in Northern Spitsbergen in search of pack ice and polar bears. by Ian Collier
A few years ago, I wrote a short piece about how much I enjoyed my 2 day ‘digital detox’ aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train in the wilds of British Colombia. Disconnected from phone and internet does provide an increasingly rare opportunity to focus entirely on your surroundings and so a… Learn more
Oslo to Longyearbyen by Ian Collier
Oslo is often overlooked by travellers keen to explore Europe’s great cities, probably because it doesn’t have any obvious iconic landmarks and is perceived as being very expensive, so I was completely unprepared for how impressive it is for the first time visitor. This is a city with vast green… Learn more
Whirlwind 50 hours in Barcelona! by Ian Collier
We really packed it in, on Sunday afternoon we wandered the Gothic Quarter, jumped on the hop on / hop off bus ‘red’ route and strolled along the beach. On Monday we did the bus ‘blue’ route, went to Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, the Camp Nou stadium and explored… Learn more
Exploring San Sebastián & the Basque country by Ian Collier
After our sprint around Barcelona, we elected for a change of pace and a short flight from Barcelona to stay in an apartment for 4 nights in the old town of San Sebastián. This is truly a foodies paradise, with hundreds of excellent restaurants and the famous charming pintxos (tapas)… Learn more
New USA ‘ESTA’ APP
Ian Collier
Walking Japan’s Nakasendo Trail by Ian Collier
Japan is very popular for Kiwi visitors; with the Rugby World Cup last year and the Olympics upcoming in 2020, the country’s profile has never been higher. So many visitors to Japan use the impressive Japan Rail network to hop at Shinkansen (bullet) speed from one big city to another… Learn more
Exploring Jordan by Ian Collier
Shalom from the comfort of the Hilton overlooking the beaches of sunny Tel Aviv, which feels positively freezing today at a mere 31C compared to last night at the Dead Sea in Jordan where the mercury topped out at 41C (according to my iPhone this ‘feels like 46C’!) Jordan has… Learn more
A Circumnavigation of Iceland in Springtime by Ian Collier
Keflavik Airport in Iceland has come a long way since I first passed through it twenty years ago. It’s certainly a lot bigger and grander than I had remembered, which is perhaps explained by the recent incredible increase in popularity of this tiny island nation for overseas visitors. Iceland is… Learn more
Be insured properly for my travels by Ian Collier
To say it’s been an eventful few years for Canterbury is of course an understatement, but one thing we’ve all learned is the importance of being adequately insured! This is especially true when it comes to choosing the right travel insurance policy, and at Discover Travel we have extensive experience… Learn more
