After 16 years, Michael Gebicki's Tripologist column has signed off from Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald), and the final instalment is a genuinely useful grab-bag: organising a three-generation trip for two families, packing for Greenland in May, choosing an Alaskan cruise, and a two-to-three-week Japan rail route ending in Kobe.
The multi-generational question is the one most of us dread: two families, ages three to 70s, two weeks over December-January, clashing budgets and diets. His answer is blunt — take a cruise. You unpack once, nobody has to be herded onto buses or connecting flights, big ships run everything from burgers to fine dining, and cabins span a range of price points. For that particular reader, he points to South Pacific sailings from Sydney: nine to 10 nights taking in Noumea and Lifou in New Caledonia plus Mystery Island and Port Vila in Vanuatu, with longer versions adding Fiji. One caveat worth knowing: December-January is cyclone season in the South Pacific, though he wouldn't let that scupper the plan. His bigger tip is that the ship itself matters as much as the islands — choose the vessel carefully.
Next, a reader juggling Thailand's heat and Greenland's chill on one trip. May temperatures in Greenland run from minus 6 to 6 degrees, and you'll be sitting in Zodiacs on the water, so layers are non-negotiable: a thermal base layer top and bottom, a fleece, then a windproof and waterproof shell, plus beanie, scarf and gloves. Budget polypropylene base layers work; Icebreaker wool is lovely but pricey. Feet matter too — thick socks and shoes with rubber compound soles like Vibram, which doesn't transmit cold. Expect the cold-weather kit to add roughly 5kg to your checked bag.
On Canada's Inside Passage, the advice splits by taste. Big ships carrying 2,000-plus passengers offer value, facilities and choice, but small vessels — often under 100 passengers, sometimes just a couple of dozen — get you into bays and ports big ships can't reach, with kayaking among sea ice on the menu. Typical cruises run seven days; The Small Boat Company and Un-Cruise Adventures get good reviews.
Finally, the Japan itinerary is the standout. May is a great month, but dodge Golden Week, which ends May 5, when accommodation is scarce and expensive. The route: Tokyo (Asakusa/Ueno base, Senso-ji, Kappabashi, Yanaka, then Meiji Jingu and Harajuku, with a Kamakura day trip), the Kiso Valley around Kiso-Fukushima for mountain scenery and old post towns, two nights in Kanazawa for Kenroku-en Garden, the Nagamachi Samurai District and Omicho Market, then onsen towns like Yamanaka and Yamashiro — ideally a ryokan with a private bath — four nights in Kyoto, and finishing in Kobe with time for the Kitanocho quarter, the Nada sake breweries and a Nara day trip.
It's a fitting swan song: four practical problems, four workable answers, and no fluff.
