Meet the team

Ian Collier

I’ve been lucky enough to visit all seven continents, including several trips to Antarctica & the Arctic, South America and East & Southern Africa. Living in the UK for 30 years, I explored most of Europe; also the USA, India, Nepal, Japan & South East Asia.
Some Favourite Holiday Experiences
  • Namibia: Quad biking through the enormous sand dunes at Swakopmund.
  • Greenland: Kayaking among icebergs in perfectly calm waters – beautiful!
  • Tanzania: Reaching the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro and breathlessly gazing down on the savannah below.
  • Vietnam: Taking the famous scooter tour around the old capital of Hue, seeing the countryside as the locals do.
  • Japan: Walking the beautiful Nakasendo Trail, staying in quaint ryokans.
  • Indian Himalaya: Trekking for 3 weeks across the incredible ‘moonscape’ of ‘Little Tibet’.
  • Bolivia: A 4WD trip across the Andes from Chile to Bolivia across the Salt Flats of Uyuni.
  • Hawaii: Cruising the Islands with my kids and then driving a red Mustang convertible up to the North Shore of Oahu.
  • Brazil: perched on a boardwalk in the middle of the ‘Devil’s Throat’ with the Iguassu Falls in full flood all around. The Soccer World Cup was pretty fun too!
  • New York: enjoying a cycle tour of lower Manhattan & Brooklyn, crossing both of the famous bridges and weaving through the busy streets of Chinatown and Soho.
  • Caribbean : A week sailing around Barbados, Tobago, the Grenadines and St Lucia aboard ‘Sea Cloud’.  This luxury 4 masted, square rigged, sailing yacht is definitely one of the world’s most unique travel experiences!
Top of My Bucket List

Kamchatka in North East Russia: Incredible wildlife viewing among volcanoes in one of the remotest parts of the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’.

favourite places

Antarctica & South Georgia: extraordinary wildlife and wilderness – quite simply the ultimate travel experience. If I was forced to name one place on earth as my favourite, this would unquestionably be it!
The Galapagos: Outstanding wildlife encounters on land and in the ocean. The snorkelling is superb.

Weirdest place I’ve been

A toss up between Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazhakstan to witness a Soyuz rocket launch and the inside of an Ilyushin-76 during a Zero Gravity-inducing parabolic flight 50,000ft over Moscow. The 1990’s were different…

Most dangerous place I’ve been

Mozambique in 1994. I’m sure it’s lovely now.

Last big trip

Barcelona, San Sebastian & the Basque Country, Oslo and an expedition cruise into the pack ice around Northern Spitsbergen in search of polar bears.

Where to next?

Sarawak, Portugal, Andalucia, UK & Chicago in Sep 2024

Places Ian has been

Just a quick note to thank you very much for your assistance with our recent trip to New York.  We had a great time and everything went extremely well.
USA, Michael & Tonia
We had a fantastic day at Plitvice today - very wet and overcast but absolutely stunning and loved every minute of our 12kms walking and photographing!! Loving our hotel here too ... another perfect one thank you!
Croatia, David & Joss
Sandra and I are back at home now after a couple of great months away.  The whole trip was great, so thanks for your help with the bookings etc. No issues at all. We very much enjoyed the Rhine cruise with Viking. We couldn’t fault their service and effort, and are happy to recommend them to others.  
Europe, Murray & Sandra
Our trip went very well. We loved Ireland with Back Roads, excellent guide and good group. We think of three things, its green, narrow roads and old stone fences! Very interesting history. Hurtigruten had ungraded us to Cabin 601, right at the front with three windows, nice and spacious so very enjoyable. We had rougher seas around the Hebredies and Orkneys but all good.
UK & Ireland, Barbara
Just a quick note to say thank you for another seamless trip with my flights to and within Australia last week. Many of the others had luggage tagging issues due to the way their tickets had been set up by their agents while I quietly breezed through with no problems.Thanks again for being so amazing at what you do.
Georgina, Australia
The Amazon trip was way beyond my expectations and everything else just perfect.
Peru, Adelle
I was on the Marlborough Sounds trip 1 - 7 May, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I appreciated the upgrade to a more comfortable, and quieter cabin. The team is really excellent, they do their best to see that their travellers are being well cared for and get the best possible out of the trip. They also did a brilliant job with the weather! We had a good balance of shore explorations, zodiac cruises, and time to relax. The food was excellent. We were very fortunate in the variety of birds and native bush, as well as fur seals and that marvellous dolphin pod. The interesting talks in the evening were an added bonus
New Zealand, Sandra
We have returned from our Darwin and Ghan journey - all really fantastic and couldn't fault the organisation.  We were pleasantly surprised to have credits on the JetStar flight for food and drink, and of course the $150 at the Mindil Beach was very useful.  This hotel was truly wonderful.  The flights were well coordinated and all on time.  The temperatures in Darwin were hot but not oppressive, much cooler now.
Northern Territory Australia, Trish & Mike
We arrived back safely on the “Wings Of The Nation” yesterday morning. Your invaluable advice and meticulously planned  itinerary, worked flawlessly!  Unbelievably, we did not have a late flight, a missed connection, or lost bag the whole time away! The cruise itself was everything we had hoped for, and more, a trip of a life time! Thank you for putting together this option. One of the things that made all the difference on the cruise, was that the weather was brilliant, the whole time! The crew couldn’t believe our luck, mind you, and neither could we! Overall the whole trip was a wonderful experience. Thank you again for putting together a very successful itinerary.
Alaska, Ian
Back safe and sound after a wonderful cruise and Greek Island stay. Barcelona amazing and our little hotel was perfect. So handy to everything. The Viking cruise was pure luxury . Food, cabin décor entertainment , just perfect. My favourite places visited were Sicily, all the Croatian coast, towns and villages. Our Greek island stay very good with nice family hotel. Not so keen on the ferry. Like being in a plane. Very quick! Business was great and it would be hard to fly any other way now. Anyway Ian thank you so much for organising a great holiday for us. Very much appreciated. I haven’t completely ruled out travelling again!!
Mediterranean, Lois
My trip to India was fabulous and went without any issues. Thank You!
India, Janine
from the travel journal

Stories from Ian