Travel Blog Posts
September 1st 2011
Say it ain't so Jim...... say it ain't so! The end of the road... I guess the road didn't really end, we just somewhat reluctantly got off of it. Somewhere out there intrepid travelers are looking a near global recession in the eyes and hitting the road anyway. Thanks to all of you who kept us in your thoughts and helped will us home safely... fingers toes and hands intact. Traveling and meeting other travelers along the way is cathartic in that it lets you know that your not insane. While packing up your possessions and hitting the road is not something you can do everyday, it is nice to meet other travelers on the road doing the same things you are, sharing the same risks and rewards and assuring you that when you get back ... read more
August 5th 2011
Sometimes you just play your hand wrong. I guess I should have known better than to underestimate Indonesia. Everyone that we've run into on the road said that Indonesia was incredible and sure enough it really was... that being said we messed up through sheer lack of planning and missed out on seeing as much of the country as we could have. In the end we found ourselves wishing for more time in Indonesia to see the rest of this eclectic and diverse nation. Each of the country's main islands is like a small country to itself and worthy of exploration, in particular we kicked ourselves for not visiting Sulawesi (Tana Toraja, July/August has several festivals) and the island of Papua (Native population of African descent, yet located in S.East Asia... see also Papua New ... read more
Loving Northern Botswana...
Published: July 21st 2011Africa » Botswana » North-West » Moremi Game Reserve
July 9th 2011
Botswana… As a lover of all things African wildlife I have heard stories and wanted to visit Northern Botswana for years… Northern Botswana did not disappoint and delivered a very “basic” safari/camping experience. The country of Botswana manages tourism tightly and has pushed prices up, to limit the volume of tourists… this means more money for them, and more pristine habitat for animals and humans alike. While this approach helps keep the numbers low, it makes it harder for those on a budget so for this go round we joined a group of 9 others for a camping safari. The campsites were ultra basic, basically a designated spot in the woods with no running water or facilities of any type and we would pitch tents, cook over an open campfire and provide free fertilizer to the ... read more
June 28th 2011
Zambezi airlines doesn’t like me. I don’t know why, as far as I know I’ve never said anything crass to its sister or put my feet on its coffee table but it just doesn’t like me… Our flight from Dar to Lusaka was scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, which would get us to Lusaka (Zambia) by 3pm-ish, where we would overnight before our noon flight to Mfuwe. I happened to check my e-mail and was informed that Zambezi had canceled our 2pm Wednesday flight and rescheduled it for 2am (Butt crack of) Thursday morning. This change of schedule meant that A) The hotel we booked in Lusaka was a loss, B) We would have to kill from 6pm (when we made it to Dar) to 2am somewhere around Dar and C) when we got to Lusaka, ... read more
June 20th 2011
After not showering for a week (thank you wet wipes) and dealing with hyenas at night we were looking for a change of pace and headed off to Zanzibar… which is yang to a safari’s ying I guess. We spent our time in Zanzibar between Stonetown, Nungwi and Kendwa… each a little different, but great in their own right. Stonetown The city has been around for hundreds of years and is a mix of Muslim, Arab, Asian and (of course) African influences… one of the ports draws is just walking the old towns narrow alley ways and taking in all that is stonetown. I walk here and want to take pictures of everyone and everything around me as it is very picturesque… everything from the oversized doorways with ornate metal decorations, to the colorful clothing of ... read more
And then hyenas ransacked our campsite...
Published: June 21st 2011Africa » Tanzania » North » Serengeti National Park
June 12th 2011
Simply put the Serengeti is both amazing and awesome… if you made a ranked listing of amazing places the Serengeti would be an amazing place amongst amazing places. Serengeti national park is the holy grail of wildlife viewing opportunities and most of the African wildlife documentaries you have seen were most likely filmed there (or the Masai Mara). The park itself is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut (14,763 sq km) and is home to an amazing concentration of predator and prey who call the park home. On top of the resident animal population, the park also hosts an annual migration of a million plus wildebeest and zebra who follow the seasonal rains in a clockwise circle visiting both Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. The park is the ancestral home of the Masai people, ... read more
Falling for the oldest trick in the book
Published: July 9th 2011Africa » Egypt » Upper Egypt » Luxor
May 31st 2011
Luxor is billed tongue and cheek as the hassle capital of Egypt… and the city apparently takes the title pretty seriously and works actively to live up to the hype… enter Luxor. The economy of the city of Luxor is heavily dependent upon tourism… or was anyway prior to this little revolution that happened in the country back in January. As far as revolutions go it actually wasn’t that bad… no civil war, no genocide, minimal casualties and a still functioning government… sounds pretty good for the political future of Egypt… but the revolution was disastrous for tourism as westerners universally watched and gasped in unison as Anderson Coopers’ silvery mane was unceremoniously and publicly frumpled on the streets of Cairo… things just haven’t been the same since. In the face of a shrinking tourist dollar ... read more
May 26th 2011
Since Egypt was cooperating and decided to stop at toppling the government but avoid full scale civil war we left it on the itinerary. After learning a lesson from India we decided to start in the south of the country and work or way north… instead of backtracking and going north – south –north as we had originally planned. We started our trip out deep in the south of Egypt (the upper Nile) in Aswan. Most people have never heard of Aswan but while researching the country I came upon rave review after rave review of the city. Most of the city’s fans focused on how relaxed and laid back the city was in contrast to either Luxor or Cairo, which can be a hassle as the competition for your tourist dollar there can be fierce. ... read more
May 21st 2011
Yes blogs are out of order... I got behind and started posting current blogs (Serengeti) and will back post Egypt shortly... Turkey wasn’t even on our list of places to visit when we set about planning this trip… we were supposed to go straight from Manila to Cairo Egypt before the good people of Egypt decided (after 30+ years) that they were through with Mubarak. As we watched events on the ground in Egypt unfold we opted to add Turkey as a stop right before Egypt as a resting and replanning place if Egypt had descended into civil war by this juncture of the trip… As it turns out there is no civil war in Egypt… but we still had tickets through to Turkey where we would spend a few nights and my birthday before heading ... read more
May 9th 2011
We arrived in El Nido at about 11:40 pm, about 6 hours later than was originally forecast (see Coron blog) and found that the lack of information we encountered on the way to the island continued upon arrival in El Nido… word went around the boat that we arrived after the port was closed and we could not leave the boat… then word went around that we could leave the boat but had to stay in the port office until 6 am in the morning… then we made it to the office and people were allowed to leave… who knows. I ended leaving Venny at the port and wandering around El Nido at about midnight looking for a room which was no bueno (see husband contract page #3)… but we ended up at a solid beach ... read more
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