Excitedly preparing for this evening’s departure to Bhutan, a country that has long sat near the top of my own personal ‘wish list’.

While in Bhutan, in addition to of course checking out a variety of accommodations, activities and excursions that might be suitable for future clients, I am also very much looking forward to what must be one of the world’s best day-hikes – the trip to the Tiger’s Nest temple complex. This temple, located on the cliffside of the upper Paro valley was originally built over 420 years ago and the hike up to the temple promises to be one of the highlights of my trip.

I also expect to hear a lot of laughter across Bhutan, a country that is deeply at ease with itself, and where the former king famously declared that he was more concerned with his people’s Gross National Happiness than GNP.

This is a country where class has been abolished, where the female line inherits and where 30 per cent of the population enters a monastery. The king was part of the dynasty that began in 1907, and the country’s stability over the following hundred years suggests that the dynasty did a very good job. But recently change has come as the country has peacefully moved on to a constitutional monarchy that incorporates free elections, so that the future of Bhutan is really now in the hands of the people themselves. Since then, this remote Himalayan kingdom has been becoming more open to the influences of the outside world, while at the same time trying to protect their own special culture and traditions from those very same forces.

It is an exciting time to be in Bhutan, and I am looking forward to a wonderful adventure! I will try to provide lots of news and impressions once I’ve returned, or with updates along the way if time permits.