Beginnings and Endings:

Some News You Can Use

(with a side of Snooze You Lose)

Beginnings: Some action on the airline route front

It's hard to keep up with airline route announcements, but I've done the best I could at digging into recent press releases and updates for Winter 2025 and Summer 2026. I'll refrain from listing everything I've found, but will focus here on additions to the international route maps for some major US hubs. Note that many of these routes will be seasonal, typically from May to September. Some of the highlights:

American

DFW-Buenos Aires (service extended into summer from what was more of a winter schedule--probably World Cup-related for 2026)

DFW-Athens

DFW-Zurich (This is a return of a 1990s route)

LAX-Brisbane

MIA-Milan 

ORD-Mexico City

PHL-Budapest (no doubt due to river cruising)

PHL-Prague (again, probably related to river cruising)

PHL-Santo Domingo DR

Delta

ATL-Athens

ATL-Marrakech

BOS-Madrid

BOS-Nice

JFK-Malta

JFK-Olbia (Sardinia)

JFK-Naples

JFK-Catania (Sicily)

JFK-Tel Aviv

MSP-Rome

SEA-Rome

SEA-Barcelona

SEA-Barcelona

United

IAH-Guatemala City

IAH-San Salvador

IAH-San Pedro Sula (Honduras)

ORD-Tel Aviv

Etihad

CLT-Abu Dhabi

Aer Lingus

RDU-Dublin (adding to its recently expanded list of US cities)

Southwest

Adding Sint Maarten to its Caribbean destinations

Other Southwest routes TBD, pending its partnership arrangements with IcelandAir and China Airlines...these are not Southwest routes but codeshares from certain US hubs/gateways.

Does this list make you think about how it might improve or expand your travel options for 2026? If you live at a main hub city, this is great news. Or even if your trip requires connections, perhaps that will be reduced to only one change of plane. Let me know and let's get planning!

Beginnings and Endings at the Border (Simultaneously)

After year upon year of delays, it looks like ETIAS is finally--maybe--on the horizon, and not just a bureaucratic mirage. You may recall that this is a European Union initiative which requires pre-registration by travelers, much as the USA, UK, and many other countries require at their own borders. (It is not a visa program, a common misconception.) 

The first stage of the new program is the EES, an electronic entry/exit system that is being implemented in 29 European countries in mid-October. Passengers will use electronic gates, which will log border entry and exit data, rather than interacting with a border agent who has a stamp for your passport. 

Many of my clients have probably already used an electronic gate for entry into certain countries already (I think I used one to enter China in 2019), so this experience will be nothing new. Both Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle have been piloting electronic gates for some time.

Sadly, this means that those 29 countries will, in most cases, no longer be stamping our passports. I LOVE having the physical passport page stamps from all the countries I visit...the physical visas pasted onto pages, all of the analog souvenirs of past travels. I'd be willing to be that most people feel the same way. While I can appreciate the anticipated efficiency and record keeping capabilities of a digital system, I will miss the acquisition of those new stamps terribly. 

And you know what else those stamps are good for? Filling out a foreign visa form or a Global Entry renewal that requires you to list all the places you've been in the past X years. I'd just pull out my passport and go through the pages. Now I'll have to rely on my calendar and my memory!

ETIAS, the preregistration program we have all been anticipating for so long, is supposed to be triggered six months after EES is in effect. So, if all goes according to plan with EES, starting on October 12, 2025, and for the following six months, we could finally see the official ETIAS rollout in April 2026. I will, of course, highlight the implementation of ETIAS in a spring newsletter, when and if it happens.

Endings: don't miss out on the savings, through Tuesday only!

Several river cruise promotions will be ending on Tuesday, September 30th. Inventory has been filling up on these sailing dates, so I honestly don't expect these same savings to continue beyond Tuesday. These promos have already lasted longer than I would have anticipated, but I think the window could be closing now. At worst we will still have our $250 per person group discount, but I think you would agree that $1000 or $750 off (maybe even with comp gratuities) is a LOT better.

These trips include both of the July river cruises. The first is on the Rhine, Main, and Moselle Rivers and overflowing with postcard-worthy charm of German medieval and baroque architecture. I just read a really cool BBC article about beautiful Bamberg and its fascinating role in the history and culture of beer--and its very particular specialty of smoked beer--so now I'm even more excited about this port, and I don't even like beer. 

The other is going to be a really fun Upper Danube sailing with Alan Walling of the very popular band AlpenMusikanten. (You may have seen his band lately if you live in Texas--they headline pretty much every Oktoberfest I know of.) This trip will include some of my favorite European capitals--Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, as well as other gorgeous destinations along the river. 

Also with the same deadline--the trip to Egypt is also coming to the end of the current $750 anniversary promotion. If you have been thinking of joining this Nile cruise with included Cairo extension, now is the time. Ask me about how you can save an additional 5% on top of that, to sweeten the offer. This is a bucket list destination for a lot of you, and we are not getting any younger!

Please see below for links on these and other group trips now booking. Note that I will be traveling on Tuesday afternoon, so don't wait till the last minute!!

Updates on the 2026-2027 Small Groups Calendar 

🎵 MUSIC GETAWAY to Los Angeles with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Guild: April 23-27, 2026. For the DSO Guild member trip to Los Angeles--if this trip doesn't reach its minimum by October 15th, a decision will be made on whether it will continue. Music lovers who are not in the Guild can still join the trip--you can become a member for only $50. For the trip brochure, click here.

🍺 PICTURE-POSTCARD GERMANY via the Main, Rhine, and Moselle Rivers, July 8-15, 2026: Please visit the dedicated web page here. My other clients are welcome to join this trip now.

🪗 DANUBE cruise with Alan Walling, of the band AlpenMusikanten: July 20-27, 2026. Learn more here and contact me for current pricing and availability.

⛩️ CITY BREAK DOUBLE DATE, September 19-October 4, 2026: Next year's installment in this popular series will be a week in SHANGHAI paired with a week in SEOUL. You may do only one city or both (and there are nonstops from DFW). Check out the brochure here and snag a spot today with your deposit. We have reached 50% of our minimum group size for each city, so if you have delayed signing up, please consider doing it today so we can confirm this trip as soon as possible. 

🎁CHRISTMAS MARKETS on the Rhine🎄, December 10-17, 2026:  No one does the holidays like AmaWaterways! Review the itinerary here.

🐫 SECRETS OF EGYPT & THE NILE, Dec. 30, 2026-Jan. 10, 2027: Treat yourself to three nights at the Ritz-Carlton Cairo, a seven-night Nile cruise on the AmaDahlia, and a final night back in Cairo. Are the pyramids on your bucket list? Travel with other Mon Voyage clients to this eternal destination. Plus, the Grand Egyptian Museum is finally opening! Reach out with any questions and read more here.

❓The mystery continues

It looks like we'll have a trip to Spain in 2027. But the tie must be broken...

ENGAGE MON VOYAGE FOR YOUR PRIVATE PLANNING

The Mon Voyage private planning calendar is more or less full for the rest of 2025, so speak now or you may not even make it into my book for 2026. I only have a few spots left for next year, so please discuss your needs with me as soon as possible.

À la prochaine,