Tag: adventure

Alaska – Land Tour with Grand Circle

This is the map of the trip I’m supposed to be on right now. It is also the map of the trip I canceled last night.

Why?

Well, here’s the “Readers Digest Version:
After spending the day at Newark airport, with close to an hour on the phone rescheduling flights, followed by a little over two hours sitting on a hot plane on a Newark airport runway, I’d had enough.

The flight crew had “timed out” on this second rescheduled flight, so when we returned to the gate, I didn’t wait around to see whether they were successful in finding a crew to fly to Anchorage. I knew that leaving Newark after 6 PM would guarantee that I’d miss my connecting flight, resulting in my having to stay overnight in Anchorage, then find a flight to Fairbanks the next morning. I was hot, tired, and hungry. That is not a good way to start an eight hour flight, so I returned home.

As soon as I entered the taxi, I called United to cancel my flight. Although I was on hold long enough to travel 35 minute drive home from the airport, cook my dinner and eat it, it was worth the wait because United is completely refunding my plane fare.

I hope I’m as lucky with the Travel Insurance Company attached to my Visa Sapphire Preferred card. That’s today’s adventure- submitting a claim for the cost of the OAT trip. I also have an annual policy with Trawick that is secondary, so I figured I’d start with Chase and let the two insurance companies figure it out. (I know about subrogation from my insurance days). I bought Trawick’s annual policy because some countries are now requiring a minimum of $200,000 in expatriation benefits, and Chase only covers up to $100,000. This is my first time having duplicate coverage, so I hope it isn’t a hassle, having the additional coverage through a different company.

Actually, if truth be told, I’m not THAT disappointed that I had to cancel the trip. It was only for 11 days, and I would have missed at least 2 of them. I’d been to Alaska in 2024, with my friend Jean, and I know it would not be as much fun traveling without her.

So, no photos of Denali or cute animals on this post. Next trip will be to Borneo, Java, Bali and Komodo Island, leaving on Sunday, September 13. I hope you’ll join me on THAT trip, which will be almost a month long.

Antarctica

The first time I went to Antarctica was in January of 2011. At that time, my friends thought Mike, Greg and I had completely lost our minds. “WHY in the world would you want to go THERE?” was the most frequent comment we received from friends and family.

Although Mike was retired, Greg and I were employed, so we were limited to a 15 day journey, 10 days with the National Geographic tour and 5 days on our own traveling to and from Santiago via Lima.

THIS time I’m retired, going solo, so I am able to spend 24 days traveling beyond the Antarctic peninsula to the South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Instead of meeting the group in Santiago, I’m traveling to Buenos Aires. As with last time, however, we are flying to Ushuaia where we will board the ship, then sail through the dreaded Drake Passage. (Yes, my doctor gave me an adequate supply of seasickness patches. They worked well last time for me and Greg, not as effective for Mike.)

Photo from 2011, taken at the end of our voyage
Another view of Ushuaia

So why in the world am I going again?

Where else can you experience creatures so unafraid that they follow YOU?

Where else can you see so many different shades of blue and white?

Or learn about the different seals and penguins living in this frozen wonderland?

But won’t it be cold?

Yes, sometimes it is cold, but National Geographic’s trip cost includes matching parkas for those times. (Laura,one of my trip leaders said “there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing choices”.)

Sometimes it’s warm enough to have a cookout on the back deck wearing just a sweater (and a smile) over your tee shirt.

The best part was traveling with National Geographic experts: Photographers, naturalists, geologists, penguin and whale experts. We would gather in the bar every evening for presentations by those experts, showing us how they spent their day.

The walls of the bar/lounge were covered with big screen TVs so no matter where you sit, you still would have a great view.

Fifteen years ago, our ship was the Explorer. This time, I’ll be sailing on the Endurance, a newer ship serving 126 passengers, with 8 cabins for us traveling solo. I’m not sure how effective the internet is at the bottom of our planet. 15 years ago, I didn’t have a smart phone or a blog so it wasn’t an issue.

I hope you’ll join me on this adventure; I’ll be posting when the spirit moves me and the internet grants me connectivity.

How Many Cities Have YOU Visited

Many of us have seen the lists circulating on Facebook, asking how many places we’ve visited. One list includes those tourist hot spots that are on EVERYONE’s Bucket List, such as Kabul, Pyongyang, Lagos, and Tehran. Really?

Here’s a list that is far more achievable. You might not be able to claim to have visited all 100, but I’ll bet most can get to about 20 – 25.

How many have YOU visited?

Mr Toad’s Wild Ride

Not even a pedicab ride through Hanoi’s old town could prepare me for the rickshaw tour of Thamel, the tourist section of Kathmandu.  There is no way these photos can capture the experience–the bumpy roads, the breakneck speed, the sounds and smells.  It was quite a ride!  

My view
Eugenia and Karl in front, Peter and Marie close behind
Marilynn and our guide Binoy
My driver–i survived, and am still smiling!