It’s hard to believe, but we are getting close to the end of summer and gearing up for the fall travel season. Historically, marketers have felt business travel is heaviest in the spring and fall, while the winter and summer tend to be less traveled. At Global Traveler, however, nearly everyone is out traveling the globe to report back to you in a timely fashion.

One jaunt this summer was to Dulles International Airport, and although it was not very far or very exotic, it was a valuable and essential trip. Christopher Ottaunick, GT’s staff photographer; Tracey Cullen, art director; Kim Krol, managing editor; and I took over the lounge of Etihad Airways for a cover photo shoot with two models. It was great to see this beautiful new lounge and allow our team to unleash their artistic talents. Watch for the results in an upcoming issue.

We continue to enhance the digital offerings of Global Traveler since our website relaunch Dec. 12, 2012. Our daily exclusive online articles are now at the forefront of the homepage. At the same time, we are redesigning our e-newsletters — eFlyer USA and eFlyer Asia — and have added a preview newsletter to announce the monthly magazine articles the minute they hit the website. Keep an eye out for more exciting changes.

I do not want to take any thunder away from Lisa Matte, editor in chief, but we have a great number of new columns planned for Global Traveler. One is on cruising, which is a direct result of our recent Globility Board (subscribers) meeting. Their feedback, coupled with our recent Leisure Travel Awards, indicated cruising is a big part of your travel plans.

Silversea Cruises, a proud winner of one of these awards, focuses on entrepreneurs, who must remain fully connected so they can continue to run their businesses while at sea. Although the connectivity on ships is far superior to what it was years ago, I found it challenging to set up the service on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, which both require passengers to register first at the main IT center. It was far easier on Cunard, which simply provides access from your browser in your laptop.

August is the last month you can vote for your favorite airlines, hotels and other travel-related companies in Global Traveler’s 10th annual GT Tested Reader Survey awards. Log on to globaltravelerusa.com and get out the vote!