January is often seen as a transitional month, somewhat suspended. For us, it's above all the month of ritual. The one where we push the files to the side of the table to spread out maps of future explorations.

Last year, in January 2025, it was around a map of Costa Rica that Valérie and I sealed our next trip (our fourth to this country), to the Osa Peninsula (we'll tell you more about it here). The map revealed untraveled trails, jungle corners where biodiversity still awaited us.

The month of "armchair pioneers"

This early-year intuition isn't just a personal feeling. Having worked for several years at a Canadian travel agency serving French travelers, I've seen that January represents the annual peak for bookings in the travel industry. The British Association of Travel Agents (ABTA) confirms this: it's traditionally the busiest time of year for reservations. Once the holidays are over, the mind needs a new direction to get through winter. In the industry, this is called the Early Birds season — those travelers who plan early and secure the best options. It's the moment when dreams become concrete projects.

Why maps are the ideal planning tool

Because spreading a map on the table is giving yourself a moment of travel before the trip. In January, at our place, maps don't get folded back up.

A map allows you to visualize real distances, identify alternative routes, understand a region's geography. It's also a projection tool: you trace possible routes, evaluate travel times, spot logical stopping points.

That's also how the idea for the Canadian Rockies germinated last January, for our summer 2025 road trip. The map laid the foundations of the project — even though the preparation required much more work afterwards — we'll tell you about it in a future post!

So at the start of this year, give yourself this pleasure: clear a space on your table, unfold a map, and let yourself drift.

And you, which map will you leave lying on your table this weekend?

Christian