Yangzi is on my bucket list and a tour of Japan would be great also, if we had a local tour person along similiar to Egypt where someone is there. I do not have the expertise to be the "tour guide' like I do in South Africa. Both of these destinations would be brand new for me.

I need to balance out my trips as organizing things out of the box is a ton of work. This last few weeks with finalizing ROAR, doing the excursions in Beijing for Kangaroo, Fiesta organization, and putting together NILE 2 all at the same time. Swear I wont do this many out of the box things again. Handling one major land trip with normal business is a lot but all of this is really difficult.

When I go somewhere new such as Yangzi and Japan it is not easy and takes a lot of time and work. Hard to explain but there are always so many issues that are unknown and the unknown with a group worries me. In most cases I want to go and do it first before I take a group and that is not always that easy to do.

I have never taken an escorted trip to a totally unknown destination. I went to South Africa first before the first ROAR trip, I even did an additional trip to the Nile (5th time in Egypt) in September to hand pick a new boat and so glad I did that. It was not one I would have found had I had not been there personally. I just feel the need to be in control and know what to expect if I am taking a group somewhere particularly if there are land arrangments involved.

When I work with Regent everything is so much easier because of the working relationships we have with the corporate office and also on the ships. It makes a world of difference. Most problems I can resolve and I am so familiar with the policies and how things work. I cannot go into situations but just in the last few months some really unique things have happened and Regent has stepped up and done some incredible things that no other line would do. So the secure feeling I have with Regent for resolutions of unique situations is hard to recreate anywhere else.

When I go to other lines everything is much more complicated. The experience with the Antarctica trip on the Hanseastic was so incredibly difficult. Those on that trip understand, even though it was "just booking a cruise" the complications were amazing.

So when you look at 2012 it is getting full of out of the box issues.

2012 - Antarctica (January) Nile 2 (March)Safari (September) that is three out of the box trips already. So my plan is to finish off 2012 with cruises rather than taking on another unknown trip.

Silversea is now getting very easy to deal with too. With Ken Watson from Regent over at Silversea things have changed for B&K a lot. Everything worked great with Antarctica on the Prince Albert and I know that ship well and really love it.

2013 the only trip planned is a safari in June or July that is all set with three family groups. So 2013 is where I can add some "out of the box" things but anything brand new in 2012 would be a challenge.

Seabourn at least I have been on the new ships and it is a possibility. However I have never taken a group and worked with their group policies. I do know any of the senior corporate or ship staff, except ex Regent people such as Captain Dag, John Baron and Barry Hopkins.

When you go to a new cruise line those PERKS that most of us enjoy on Regent are not there. No free internet for almost everyone, for some no free laundry these things are so nice to have and when you do not have them it really hits home. No internet for me is a problem I am on all the time.

I just hope that Regent has some new interesting itineraries as we do need some new places to investigate. Interestingly enough I have not been to the basic MED for a LONG time. A few new ports in Italy or Sardinia would be great.