It’s with great relief finally to report that I’m happily back on the road, for virtually the entire year. This month is Norfolk Island, which barely counts as overseas, although for some reason the Qantas flight goes from the Sydney international terminal (a damn nuisance!). Next month, I head to South Australia for the Adelaide Festival [March 3-19].

April means it must be South Korea, spending time in Seoul, then taking the train to Busan and a ferry to Fukuoka, on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island. That’s only a transit stop en route to Yokohama (south of Tokyo), where I’ll pick up Holland America Line’s Westerdam to cruise across the north Pacific to Alaska, and down the Inside Passage to Seattle.