The Layover - August 2025
Welcome to this month’s newsletter packed with exciting announcements, news on luxury cruising and a new opinion piece on the world of travel.
Luxury Escapes Preferred Partner
We are delighted to announce that Travel Your Style has been appointed a preferred agent for Luxury Escapes Tours. Luxury Escapes have become a leader in the world of luxury travel and these fully packaged tours are amazing value, featuring bucket list destinations at unbeatable prices.
There are over 80 tours to choose from but here are some of our favourites:
Premium 11-Day Egypt Highlights 2026 with Fairmont Cairo Stay, Abu Simbel & Mövenpick Nile River Cruise – from $7,999 per person
Deluxe 14-Day Best of Japan with Tokyo, Hiroshima & Osaka – from $7,649 per person
Deluxe 13-Day Kenya & Tanzania Great Migration Safari with Maasai Mara, Serengeti & Tarangire National Parks from $12,299 per person
Ultra Lux 9-Day India Golden Triangle Private Oberoi Tour with Delhi, Agra & Jaipur - from $7,099 per person
Deluxe 16-Day Spain & Portugal Discovery with 8-Day Azamara South of France Cruise – from $10,779 per person
Deluxe - The Ghan Expedition 4-Day Rail Journey from Darwin to Adelaide with BONUS Two-Night Darwin Stay & Sunset Cruise – from $5,395 per person
Choose from Ultra-Luxe, Deluxe or Premium tour standards and travel with a small group of 10-16 people
Travel Your Style can complement your tour by arranging flights and pre and post tour arrangements to create one experience designed for you and exclusively managed by your Stylist at Travel Your Style
Beyond The White Lotus: Where Discerning Travelers Are Headed Now
Luxury travel is evolving. While iconic destinations like Taormina, Thailand, and the Maldives still hold timeless appeal, a shift is underway — not away from beauty, but toward depth. In an age of peak visibility, the most discerning travelers are quietly seeking places that feel a little less shared.
We’ve all seen it: a film or TV show shines a spotlight on a location, and soon it’s on every itinerary. The White Lotus made Taormina the backdrop of everyone’s summer. Bali boomed after Eat Pray Love. The Maldives became a honeymoon rite of passage. And suddenly, the quiet charm that once defined these places is replaced by long queues and lookalike experiences.
That’s why a new kind of journey is gaining traction — one shaped by curiosity, culture, and connection. Think Mozambique over Mykonos, or China’s serene Amanfayun instead of the usual Bali retreat. These are destinations that offer not just luxury, but perspective.
Take Belmond’s Das Cataratas in Brazil — the only hotel inside Iguazú National Park — where guests sip caipirinhas at golden hour before the park even opens to the public. Or a journey through the Quirimbas Archipelago, where the day's menu is decided by the morning’s catch.
This isn’t about avoiding the world’s most loved places. It’s about rediscovering what makes travel special — meaningful moments, shared stories, and destinations that surprise you in all the right ways.
For the modern traveler, the greatest luxury is still the unexpected — and the stories you bring home that no one else has told yet.
Luxury Cruise - The Next Generation
Luxury cruise lines like Silversea, Seabourn and Ponant are well known for leading the way in ultr-luxury cruise and soft-adventure travel.
However a new wave of ultra-luxury small-ship experiences is setting a very different course, drawing in travellers looking for comfort, discovery, and a touch of the unexpected.
(can you re-write the article to accentuate that its the hotel groups like Aman and Ritz-Calton as well as rail and hotel operator Orient Express that are starting cruise offerings)
What’s behind the renaissance? A fresh approach to life at sea, where world-class design, curated itineraries, and immersive cultural access are now the baseline. Leading the charge are names you may already know and trust — Ritz-Carlton, Orient Express, Silversea, Ponant, and Windstar — all reimagining what time on the water can look like.
From the Red Sea to the Kimberley, Antarctica to the Amalfi Coast, these next-generation vessels offer all the detail of a luxury resort with the freedom to explore harder-to-reach corners of the world. Think: sunset cocktails in a quiet Ionian port, private Zodiac landings in polar regions, or sailing into historic cities before the crowds arrive.
These cruises aren’t just for the bucket list — they’re for the traveller who wants more than a suite with a view. They’re for those who want to arrive in style, experience each place with depth, and return home with stories that go far beyond the expected.
Whether you’re new to cruising or curious about what this new era has to offer, we’re here to help you find the perfect journey.