Fall 2026

I last saw my Grandpa Ed just before the new year. Every time I visited him, we talked about my recent trips and his travels decades earlier. In December, he told me he’d made it to 48 U.S. states but regretted missing Alaska and Hawai‘i. Our conversation reminded me to stop putting off the epic trips I assumed I’d take someday. So in June, my husband, two daughters, and I flew to Juneau for a weeklong voyage through southeastern Alaska aboard the 22-passenger Safari Quest with UnCruise Adventures.

On our first afternoon at sea, we boarded a skiff headed for Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. We peered into tide pools filled with sea stars and chitons, then walked deep into spruce forests teeming with spiny devil’s club and salmonberries. Our expedition leader, McKenzie, told us that of the 740,000 people who visited the park in the last two years, only about 4 percent set foot ashore. I felt grateful to be touching, feeling, and breathing in the pristine wilderness. I knew my grandfather would have been happy we made it to such a special place.

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Later in the week, an orca swam under our ship, we kayaked among humpbacks in Takatz Bay, and we polar plunged into 37-degree water near Dawes Glacier. By the time our family boarded our flight home, we all felt it was one of our most unforgettable trips. In that spirit, we’ve dedicated this issue to memorable adventures: Contributing writer Bonnie Tsui surfs in Cornwall, England, meeting people who care deeply for its waters; on a trip with Wild Frontiers, contributing writer Peggy Orenstein visits Kazakhstan’s canyons, cliffsides, and markets; and photographer Brad Ogbonna captures the vivid culture and religious traditions of Vodun in Benin.

Shortly after we returned from Alaska, my grandpa died at 105. Despite his long life, I wish I’d had more time to tell him about my older daughter’s encounter with a mink on a beach scattered with butter clam shells, or about our twilight s’mores on the Keku Islands, where the tide snuffed out our campfire. Maybe that’s what makes a trip feel even more epic: going home to share memories with those we love.

Travel well,
Julia Cosgrove
Editor in Chief