Note from Zack: Gazette Travel kicks off this week

You may be asking yourself: What are these Gazette Travel ads you’ve been seeing in recent weeks all about?

We’re excited to be launching Gazette Travel, which will be hosting a series of trips each year. In 2026, we’re launching with the following four destinations: Rome and the Amalfi Coast in Italy (April), The Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park (July), the Blue Danube River Cruise (October) and Australia and New Zealand (October).

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We believe the opportunity to travel with fellow Iowans may be helpful, and having a few folks to travel with could bring peace of mind, and make the journeys more enjoyable. It’s also an opportunity to leave all the planning and logistics to others.

We’re hosting an informational meeting about all of the trips on June 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Because of the response, we’ve had to move the site of the meeting to the Geonetric Building, 415 12th Ave. SE. The meeting will have details about each of the itineraries and pictures of some of what you’d see on each trip. As the various trip dates get closer, we’ll have individual meetings about each of the trips starting in August.

Each of the first year of trips have differences: one is a river cruise, while others are destinations members of the team are excited about. We’ll be sending a senior leader on each of the trips so that there is additional support in case something comes up or to resolve any unforeseen issues along the way.

If you looked at my search and YouTube history, you’d discover that I’ve watched hours of videos about hikes and must-see items in the Canadian Rockies. So when I had a chance to review that itinerary, and see the options to see glaciers, pristine lakes and the mountains, I volunteered for that trip immediately.

We’re partnering with Premier World Discovery, a group with more than 25 years of experience in these trips. The trips aren’t available to the general public, and the team has gotten rave reviews from other organizations that work with them.

Why were we interested in doing this?

We believe that seeing other cultures and learning about traditions is an important piece of understanding the world today. There can also be comfort in traveling with a group of folks who are likely to have more in common with you.

We also see Gazette Travel as a way to extend our brand, which is built on trust. We want to continue to build lasting bonds with our audience, and this is another way to build lifelong memories. Sharing experiences together is another way to add to our connection.

This program also allows us to diversify our revenue base, as Premier shares a commission for the advertising that we provide in advance of the trips. As the business models continue to evolve, this is another way to continue to support our news operation.

While it may seem early to be planning trips for next year, we’re launching these trips far in advance so that folks have an opportunity to build connections with each other and learn about the destinations in advance of going. We also know that it takes time to plan for international trips.

If you are interested in learning more, I’d encourage you to sign up and come to the informational meeting to learn more. Register at thegazette.com/travel to reserve a spot and to see highlights of each of the trips. Even if you can’t make the June 26 meeting, it’s an opportunity for us to share information at a more convenient time.

If these first four destinations aren’t speaking to you, we’ll be gathering to build our 2027 list soon and would appreciate knowing if there are destinations that are on your bucket list.

As someone who loves to travel and has a bucket travel list a mile long, I’m excited to see this program take off. I hope you’ll consider joining us.

Thanks for reading,

Zack Kucharski

Executive Editor