Change: good as a holiday

NOTICE anything different? Well, turn the page and you’ll see. Welcome to a slight reimagining of Sunday Times Travel Weekly.

We have been busy here, working on new ways of doing things. It’s not change for change’s sake but a little makeover that we believe will get the juices flowing and keep the travel section vibrant, interesting and relevant.

“Kaizen” is a Japanese word — a philosophy, actually — which means continued improvement through incremental change. Apparently kaizen underpins the work done by Japanese camera makers such as Fujifilm and certain car manufacturers. Simply put, it means change for better. That’s what we are striving for.

From this week, we are adding new sections such as The Practical Traveller, which will be an expert guide full of punchy and useful information on getting the most out of a destination — a city and its attractions, perhaps, or how to smooth the process of getting a visa for Vietnam, or where to take the kids in New York, or maybe how to get to run away to sea ...

These days, as the rand takes yet another beating, how to make your money go further on holiday is something everyone thinks about. So look out for a series on Randstretching Holidays, devoted to exploring rand-friendly foreign and local destinations, how to save money while travelling, how to score great deals on flights, hotels and car-hire and budgetfriendly travel such as cruising and package tours and holidays.

We are keeping, and improving, the stuff you like — the excellent travel writing, the Ask Andrew advice column and the Been There, Done That and Where in the World competitions. We will do more local travel too because South Africa offers some of the best travel in the world.

Join us on the journey. Stay in touch with us at travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za and check out our Facebook page (Sunday Times Travel Weekly), where we’re setting up even more spaces for the sharing of info, pictures, tips and travel dreams.

Ash is the editor of Travel Weekly