Winston Aldworth: Start planning your next holiday

We wouldn't swap the Kiwi summer break for any other holiday on Earth. Photo / Getty Images

Of course, we wouldn't swap the Kiwi summer break for any other holiday on Earth, but it can be pretty exhausting.

Ah, it's good to be back at work, eh?

There's much about my summer holidays that involves frantic running about, packing and unpacking, finding one kid's precious Lego piece while locating the other kid's dearly loved and recently acquired seashell. All while driving cross-country to see relatives, pitching tents, searching for that lost Jandal, mixing cocktails, packing up the tent again and driving across country again to see other relatives.

It's fun and, of course, we wouldn't swap the Kiwi summer break for any other holiday on Earth, but it can be pretty exhausting.

So, in many ways, it can be nice to settle back into the routine of work. Oddly, it's an opportunity to recharge your frazzled batteries.

The downside? You're back at work.

But you don't need to let the back-to-work blues get you down. Now is the time for serious blue-sky planning for your 2017 adventures. And we're here to help.

In today's centrespread, we've gone to 17 industry experts (well, 16 experts plus me) to get hot travel tips to inspire you for the year ahead.

From luxury cruises to luscious cocktails, and from eating scorpions to exploring the Solomons — I hope these ideas will get you thinking. Of course, you don't need to do what the 16-experts-plus-me say — use these ideas as a starting point for your own journey.

In the meantime, if you come across a small yellow Lego piece — single width, four bumps long — please drop me a line.