Is it still possible to travel and experience the element of surprise? Enchantment maybe, amazement even. But pure, unalloyed surprise? Stay on the breadcrumb trail of today’s legion of itinerant influencers, and likely not. Everything, it seems, has been seen, posted and liked by thousands before us, rendering the whole notion of self-discovery, if not redundant, then sorely undermined. What chance now a trip’s ability to hit the ‘big reveal’?
Well, stay tuned, as our June 2025 Travel Issue makes good on its mission to hit the pleasure points that only moving around our planet can provide.
Our travel director, Lauren Ho, reports from Hong Kong, a city teeming with next-gen talent, while this month’s fashion story sees our fashion and creative director Jason Hughes paint the town red in Las Vegas. And travel editor Sofia de la Cruz challenged seven photographers to send examples of mementoes collected while globetrotting, throwing up an intriguing array of items from the priceless to the prosaic.
The sun sets behind the International Finance Centre building on the waterfront of Hong Kong’s Central District
(Image credit: Photography: Ken Ngan)
But still, that niggle; surprise – how to generate the feeling that we haven’t all been here before, albeit via the lens of some raw-dogging pseudo-adventurer’s smartphone? We found the answer in a treatise by Yolanda Edwards (the creative director and founder of Yolo Journal) on tackling the lack of spontaneity in travel these days, plotting a path to rediscovering serendipity while on the road that an over-reliance on time-saving, surprise-sapping technology too often denies us.
And as a finale, for our new End Paper series, acting global design director Hugo Macdonald explores the beauty of jet lag, that draining, liminal state we all experience at some point in our travelling lives, yet one that can deliver surprising benefits to our own mind’s eye. As he writes: ‘[Its] sense of cosmic isolation can be harnessed into taking a good look at one’s life choices and questioning what’s working and what’s not… Outside the passive humdrum of daily life, the opportunity for frank clarity abounds.’ Much like travel itself, unsurprisingly enough.
Bill Prince
Editor-in-Chief
On the newsstand cover: Dress, £6,100, by Loewe. Shoes, £1,090, by Ferragamo. Earrings, $245, by Alexis Bittar. Tights, £32, by Wolford
On the limited-edition cover: Bicycle, £16,464, by Colnago. Sunglasses, £435, by Balenciaga. Swimming briefs, £95, by Vilebrequin. Necklace, £204, by Crystal Haze. Bag (across chest), £955, by Montblanc. Bag (on shoulder), £500, by Pierre Hardy
The June 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands from 8 May 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
