Passage Journeys: Group Travel Redefined
As frequent travelers, we’ve all had our share of “If It’s Tuesday, This Must be Belgium” tours. The kind where you have to see Rome in a day, racing from one stop to the next.
There must be a better way, right?
Welcome Passage Journeys, where the destination isn’t the end, but only the beginning.
Launched earlier this year, Passage Journeys promises to offer a limited number of guests a deep immersion into a place’s history, culture, cuisine and people, curated by leading experts.
“What we do,” said Kristen Cash Dennison, Passage Journeys General Manager, “is take group travel to the next level.” She noted that group travel, always popular with institutions and schools, is having a renaissance as travelers seek something more turnkey.
“And having a guide means if something goes wrong, someone is there to help. You can just enjoy being there and not worry about when the train arrives.”
Ms. Dennison’s career has been shaped by her love of travel, and the opportunity to launch Passage Journeys “has been a dream,” she said. “Very few times in a career will someone say let’s build a new company, and that’s what happened this year.”
A New Name in Group Travel
Centered around five guiding pillars — Pleasure, Ease, Meaning, Connection, and Embrace — the inaugural tours, with a maximum of 24 people per departure, launch in 2027 and were fashioned around the expertise of the curators who will guide them. Those include historian, author and educator David Eisenhower, grandson of General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, New York Times best-selling author Eric Weiner, acclaimed essayist and novelist Pico Iyer, travel expert Joseph Rosendo and award-winning writer, photographer, and author Carla Capalbo.
In choosing the itineraries, Ms. Dennison said they felt it was important to get the experts onboard first, then plan the journeys.
“They’ve studied it, they’ve written about it and they know the areas,” she said. “We wanted destinations that felt relevant to them.”
“The fact they’ve all been so engaged and willing to build something was the best part,” Ms. Dennison added.
Who Passage Journeys Is For
“Anyone who is curious,” she said. “Someone who is well-traveled, ready to learn and has an affinity toward one of the tour themes.” The initial themes are history, culinary and cultural immersion, but Ms. Dennison thinks those are only the beginning. Future topics could be wellness, sports or even bird watching, “depending on how they align with an expert.”
As to limiting the tour size to 24, she said, “24 as always been my favorite space for group travel,” adding, “it’s a sweet spot because it has the element of being social, meeting people with similar backgrounds, but not too big to be overwhelming.”
The inaugural journeys include Bhutan, Japan, Normandy, Provence, and Florence.
Autumn scenery in Japan, one of the destinations featured in Passage Journeys’ inaugural 2027 program. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys. picturesque street in Provence, France, featured on Passage Journeys’ “The Living Provence” itinerary. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys. Honfleur in Normandy, France, part of Passage Journeys’ “History and Heroes of Normandy” itinerary. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys.
Rates for the journeys range from $5,995 to $11,995, per person, double occupancy, and include hotels, some meals, airport pick-up and drop-off, plus local guides and sightseeing activities as noted. Not included is airfare to and from the destination.
“The reason we don’t include all meals is to allow free time for guests to go exploring and trying restaurants on their own,” said Ms. Dennison.
The initial response since their July launch has been “overwhelmingly positive,” she said, “which has really been fun and exciting. We have trips booking already.”
Bhutan on the Bucket List
When asked which of the tours she might want to join herself, Ms. Dennsion noted they are all beautiful, but if she had to choose, it would be Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom between India and China, known for their emphasis on Gross National Happiness (GNH).
“It’s a bucket list destination foe me,” she said. Tourism is a relatively new thing for a country that was one of the last in the world to add the Internet.
Paro Taktsang, also known as Tiger’s Nest Monastery, in Bhutan. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys. A traditional Bhutanese temple set beneath a dramatic rock face. Bhutan is featured on Passage Journeys’ “The Pursuit of Happiness in Bhutan” itinerary. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys. A traditional masked dancer performs in Bhutan, one of five destinations featured in Passage Journeys’ inaugural 2027 program. Photo courtesy of Passage Journeys.
“It’s more than just seeing a destination,” said Ms. Dennison. “It’s about feeling it and being a part of it. Travel takes a lot of time, and it’s expensive. It’s really an investment, and you want to get everything out of it.”
“And you don’t want to say, I was shuffled from point A to point B and got pictures. But did I actually experience the destination? Did I actually speak to someone from there? Did I spend time wandering through a market? And that’s what we really want — to make sure it stays.”
So whether you want to explore the culinary markets of Provence in the South of France, retrace World War II history on the beaches of Normandy, partake of Italian food and culture in Tuscany, visit the temples and shrines of Japan, or gain a greater appreciation for happiness in Bhutan, Passage Journeys is ready to take you there.
