Primes vs Zoom for Travel?

It remains one of THE questions for travel, and I think it comes down to, what are your trip priorities?

Get the best photos possible?

Bring every lens you think you'll need.

Have a great vacation and take good photos?

Stick with a well thought out and minimalist approach.  I tend to think changing lenses sucks, you constantly get the "I don't want to miss this" feeling, so you spend more time getting the photo, whereas, when I travel with just say one prime (say 24-50 range), you are happy managing what you can, with plenty of room to be creative.

That being said, I was carrying 5 lenses and picked up a 6th in Thailand in 2007... the Tamron 18-250 I think it was, and I loved i for its ease of use (but I used it less than I should have cause I constantly thought "I should use the better glass.") As such, I would recommend a minimalist approach.  In your case, the superzoom (or - as mentioned - I would in this case maybe go for the 16-85) and a 35/1.8 make perfect sense, and each has a particular application.

Enjoy!

-TBri