News: Recent trips include an Ireland
tour
in May 2010. I'm hearing good reports about Copper
Canyon, Ecuador. Upcoming trips include Costa Rica and Guadalajara including Lake Chapala plus San Miguel
Note: I'm not in the travel business, just a travel
enthusiast. However I would not rule out organizing trips in the
future. Any feedback on trips would be appreciated.
Trip Reports:
Photos from our Yellowstone trip July 8-14, 2011 here.
Photos from our Hawaii (big island) trip Jan 26-Feb 2, 2011 here.
Photos from our Caribbean trip Nov 5-13, 2010 here.
Photos from our Ireland trip May 1-10, 2010 here.
We had a great trip to Maui Jan 21-27, 2010, photos here.
We had an outstanding trip to Oahu Nov 5-12, 2008. The cost for air, lei greeting, transfers, lodging, breakfasts thru NWAWorldVacations.com was $639. Extremely nice weather for shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops.
We travelled to the Palm Desert area April 5-12, 2008 where
the weather was very nice. Trips from our base at the Oasis, http://www.vacationinternationale.com/resorts/oa.html
included Joshua Tree Park, up the tram to the San Jacinto mountains,
the new areas of Palm Desert, La Quinta, etc, the Palms to Pines
Highway (74) and Big Bear Mountain.
We travelled to Chile and Argentina including the Patagonia region January 13-24, 2008. Details are here (land portion). Patagonia can have unpredictable weather but we enjoyed mostly very nice conditions. The economies of Chile and Argentina seem to be growing nicely and there is a lot of new construction. Photos of the trip are here.
We travelled to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Croatia June 27-July
11,
2007, photos are here, details as follows:
:
We flew to Rome and took the train to Levanto for two nights to
explore the Cinque Terra area (you can catch the Cinque Terra train in
Levanto). Then to Venice overnight and next day on the Costa Serena,
http://www.costacruise.com
, to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Croatia. Then
to Cortona overnight and on to Rome for two nights. We especially liked
Levanto Italy
http://www.CarlaHotel.com
,
Bari Italy (on cruise) , Katakolon Greece (on cruise), Cortona Italy http://www.rugapianavacanze.com
and our
Virginia Hotel, http://virginia.hotelinroma.com/overview.html,
area in
Rome, Italy (which had a great restaurant across the street and a
market in the street in the morning). The big cities, such as Venice,
have become overcrowded
tourist
traps
but you have got to do them once for the history, etc. We found that
settling into a favorite part of a big city and become a local such as
our neighborhood in Rome or the Passy - Rue Cler areas in Paris (which
had similar attributes), makes a big city stay much more enjoyable.
When a town or area becomes overhyped, it becomes overcrowded which
makes the visit less enjoyable. It is a good idea to see what is
currently popular and perhaps select similar areas that are less
crowded. We had good luck with http://www.tripadvisor.com
and their
http://www.booking.com
.
We traveled to South Africa February 12-25, 2006, see photos here, details here and here. Note that the itinerary in 2006 was more extensive.
We traveled to New York, India & Nepal March 5-21,
2005, see
http://www.friendlyplanet.com/india-nepal-tour.asp , photos here.
We did a Russia tour September 2004, see http://www.kompas.net/tours.php?offerid=2&year=2008 , photos here.
Prior
to that we did a trip to Peru April 2004 including Lima,
Cusco, Agua Caliente and Machu Picchu, photos here.
Prior
to that we did a China tour March 2004, see
http://www.alkitours.com/march.html,
photos here.
Philosophy: Much of the problems in the United States today result from ignorance of the rest of the world by a large majority of Americans. Therefore Americans have a responsibility to travel so they are better informed.
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