It is a fantastic travel camera. It is in the form factor of a traditional rangefinder, with great ergonomic controls, and even at "only" a micro-4/3 lens still destroy even the best smartphone, while still fitting in my pocket with a prime.
The only thing that might replace it are some of these mirrorless full frame cameras being produced at reasonable prices (<$1K). They won't be as good at travel as m43 (due to lens size/weight if nothing else), but give you more photographic tools.
I'd never go non-mirrorless again, the Viewfinder is a second class citizen in mirrored/SLRs, lacking useful features like focus peaking, realtime histograms, preview of color modes, but most importantly requiring you to take your eye off of the Viewfinder to review your last shot (as opposed to being a one-stop-shop screen for everything).
I have a Panasonic GX85 / GX80 (depends on the market) which is a model inbetween the GX7 and GX8.
I started out with a GX1, loved it and eventually upgraded to this model. I have a Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 which is an absolute dream to use. Also got a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 pancake which is great for travel.
I've considered a FF with a fixed 50mm lens as it's the focal length I use the most but... I'm so happy with the combo that I don't really see a reason to change.
Before I had a Canon 500D with an EF 27-80 f2.8 USM however the weight was actually insane (it was around 1.7kg) especially compared to what I have now. Yeah I could've put a prime lens, but the bulk would not have been worth it. Currently at 505gram for the body + 200gram for the lens.
It is a fantastic travel camera. It is in the form factor of a traditional rangefinder, with great ergonomic controls, and even at "only" a micro-4/3 lens still destroy even the best smartphone, while still fitting in my pocket with a prime.
The only thing that might replace it are some of these mirrorless full frame cameras being produced at reasonable prices (<$1K). They won't be as good at travel as m43 (due to lens size/weight if nothing else), but give you more photographic tools.
I'd never go non-mirrorless again, the Viewfinder is a second class citizen in mirrored/SLRs, lacking useful features like focus peaking, realtime histograms, preview of color modes, but most importantly requiring you to take your eye off of the Viewfinder to review your last shot (as opposed to being a one-stop-shop screen for everything).