Jordan Sunday, October 7th Jordan, 1 night Amman, 2 nights Dead Sea, 2 nights Petra, 1 night Aqaba The first two paragraphs are a double entry I am making for Jordan and for the blog for Egypt. When we had decided to visit Jordan and Egypt we had decided that we would go the route of two different tour companies and we were far from disappointed. Actually both of the companies, their guides, drivers, office staff and meet and greet people far exceeded any of our expectations. Two tall blonde women travelling in these countries and we were treated with respect and welcomed with warmth, great hospitality and service. Would go back in a heartbeat and would strongly recommend these companies and doing some individual research when making choices. We found them through research of different ... read more

Kusadasi, Ephesus, Miletus and Didyma for the day - Meeting really early for our excursion at Kusadasi Turkey. We are on a 7 to 8 hour tour to Ephesus, Miletus, lunch and Didyma. The Turkish countryside is beautiful and we come upon many fields of cotton. Our tour guide is excellent and gives us a lot of interesting information on the history and culture of Turkey. We are here for just the day. We arrive at Ephesus and make the transition through the ruins with our guide along with many stray cats and not too many tours happening this early in the morning....Bonus... I am wishing I had food in my pocket for the cats but it looks like someone is feeding them. The ruins are incredible and we are here early in the morning so ... read more

Messina & Taormina Sicily We were happy to get onboard the ship with our luggage and head off for some fantastic food on the ship. As this was a work trip for Sian we had seated dining on the ship with other travel agents that were taking the same course. Me, I am just a guest and no classes for me. The meet and greet was nice and the facilitor was especially nice. Met some really interesting people at dinner and I knew we had a full few weeks of activities so I kept my nights early even though it was quite tempting not too. For our tour of Messini, Sicily, we started with a 7 ½ hour excursion to Mt. Etna and some free time at Taormina, an incredible medieval style village hanging on the ... read more

In Love With Iceland A seven hour flight and a seven hour time change brought us from Vancouver Island to this beautiful country. What a thrill to make this trip with some of my family and at least 3 generations. The only thing missing are the other family members who I know would love this country. Instantly the feeling is of community. Also the desserts are fantastic so there won't be much losing weight during our visit here no matter how far we walk. The only foreign feeling I sense is the language and most everyone we meet speaks English too. I think a lot of the locals are quite surprised when we don't answer back in their language as our four heads bobbing down the street look like they belong here. The people are so ... read more

After gorgeous weather and blue skies at the Hubbard Glacier and a day of scenic cruising in Glacier Bay we headed south. Being here just left us in awe...we hit such incredible weather and it is difficult to describe such raw beauty when nature reveals it so stunningly. The snowcapped mountains, glaciers and blue green glacial waters with the large floating ice cubes were quite the combination. We felt so lucky. We got quite a few incredible photos and videos and was able to get video of the Marjorie Glacier calving. Here as well there were birds sitting out on the ice incuding an eagle. So hard to judge distance on water. There was one wall of mountain that looked like it had many faces carved into it. We walked miles on deck. In Skagway the ... read more