Overseas Adventure Travel – Destination NOW

Last Stop- Innsbruck, Austria

This is the second time I visited Innsbruck. The first time was with Mike, on our honeymoon, 50 years ago, during the summer of 1976. I recall driving around in circles, seeing our hotel, but we were unable to figure out a way to get to it. Finally Mike said “The hell with it, I’m going the wrong way on that one way street.” And he did, which was very unusual for such a rule follower. The only other memory I have of Innsbruck was the two of us walking one night after dinner to see the “Golden Roof”, commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I around 1500 to celebrate his wedding. These days, it isn’t the only “gold” landmark.

What a difference 50 years makes!

Mike only took slides with his film camera (Yes, we watched slide shows way back then— but not frequently), so I don’t have any then photos to compare to now— only very vague memories. Let me assure you, I’m positive there were NO McDonald’s Golden Arches back then!

So let’s return to the present, shall we?

Because of the rain, we were unable to visit the scheduled waterfall, on our drive to Innsbruck. Instead, Luca arranged for us to tour a copper mine. Once again, the substitute activity turned out to be phenomenal. Much better, in my opinion, than a waterfall. Besides, our route took us alongside this raging mountain stream, so we saw plenty of water!

The copper mine, no longer operational, is now an attraction, led by another guide that my sister Sandy would have fallen madly in love with before the tour had ended. Can you tell how much I miss her?

Luckily, we were given hard hats and rain jackets. The ceilings in the mine were so low that I would have cracked open my head at least one of the many times I bumped it. Man, people were short back in the day! Mike and Greg would have been very uncomfortable on this tour.

The mine was extremely cold, so I was grateful for that 4th layer. ( yes, I was already wearing THREE layers and I was STILL cold!)

The little train whisked us to the start of the tour, where we were greeted by one of the seven dwarfs ( or was he the Travelocity gnome?)

If it has to rain on vacation, what better time than when we are riding on our bus? Luca always chose music appropriate for the day, and this day was no exception. As you can hear, some of us chose to sing along.

The weather has been absolutely crazy. That old New England saying “you don’t like the weather? Don’t worry. It will change” certainly applied to this trip. We had sunshine, torrential downpours, then sunshine…heat, then cold all in the same day.

Once again, Susan and I were safely tucked under an awning, having lunch, when the rain hit. Our delightful and engaging waitress demonstrated a novel use of a menu!

What did we care? We had great company, our favorite beverages, food on its way, and a free show!

By the time we had finished lunch, the sun had come out, so Susan and I decided to go on a reconnaissance mission to check out the 360 view at a bar Luca recommended.

As usual, our one full day in Innsbruck started with a tour by our excellent local guide, Tina.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the palace, but that’s okay. It was like all the other palaces I’ve seen, except it was filled with portraits of Maria Theresa’s 16 kids (including her daughter, Marie Antoinette). The church across the street was far more interesting.

Although Maximilian 1’s body is located in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna, his grandson, Emperor Ferdinand 1, decided that Grandpa deserved a tomb in Innsbruck. And what a tomb it is!

Surrounding the cenotaph are 28 larger than life bronze statues.

I was particularly taken with the figures of women, especially the one with the long braids.

According to the brochure, she was Elizabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol, mother of 21 children, wife of King Albert, and “first ancestress” of the Hapsburgs. And I thought Maria Theresa was prolific!

Before our farewell dinner, I had time to visit the Swarovski store. I DID make a purchase, but that outfit wasn’t it.

One final photo of our schnapps toast in the square between the police car on the left and the marijuana dispensary on the right.

I head to Munich tomorrow morning, then I fly home the next day.

San Candido and The Dolomites

Before we boarded our bus to drive to San Candido, I couldn’t resist two last Bolzano shots. The Grief Hotel had the very best breakfast of the trip (at least so far). I LOVE fresh fruit.

I also enjoyed the beautiful poppies in front of the cathedral, almost as much as the bees did.

Our first stop was at the stunning Lake Carezza. On the ride there, Luca told us the story of a beautiful fairy who was looking for a handsome man (aren’t we all?). The ugly old wizard, who was quite smitten, changed himself into a handsome suitor, but the fairy figured it out, changed him back, then pushed him into the lake, which became a veritable rainbow of colors.

She didn’t even bother to determine whether he had redeeming qualities! I was ready to write her off as a superficial witch until I saw this at the lake, which offered a very different perspective. Maybe there are multiple sides to every story!

Which legend do YOU prefer?

The twisty mountain ride through the Dolomites ensured everyone on the bus got an excellent view. If the view was on the left, no problem, because around the bend, it will be on the right. I’m very glad I don’t suffer from motion sickness!

Believe it or not, I took the next two photos from a moving bus with my new IPhone 17.

Well, at least I am impressed by the phone’s capabilities!

Our hike gave us plenty of “Kodak Moments”, like these:

For THIS hike, we were offered options: a short hike and a long one. Susan and I got outvoted, so we took the short hike, which was still very picturesque.

The photos can’t possibly do the vistas justice. You just have to come to the Alps to see for yourself. (Or watch a PBS special).

San Candido is another glorious village that I never would have found on my own. Thank you, OAT, for this little gem.

We occupied every single room in this boutique hotel. Because every room is decorated differently, it feels like you are staying in someone’s home.

The main attraction of the area is hiking. That’s what we came for, and that’s what we did. This time, we all did a short hike around the lake, then those of us who wished could continue around the lake for what Luca described as “more challenging”.

Because Susan and I have been the speediest hikers, Luca looked directly at us when he said “whoever gets to the beach first needs to find us a picnic table”. As you can see, we took the assignment very seriously.

For the challenging part of the hike, we were joined by our buddies, Dan and Jodie.

Once again, for our final day in San Candido, we lucked out with the weather. Fortunately for us, the weather forecast was much worse than what we experienced. But the forecast resulted in the optional ($220 per person) hiking trip in the Dolomites to be cancelled.

Instead, Luca substituted a (free) beautiful morning hike by the river, and it was GREAT!

Susan and I decided to take the forecast of rain starting at noon seriously so we hightailed it back to the ski lift. No way were we missing the chance to ride up to the top of the mountain and take the “fun bob” down. It was every bit as AMAZING as we anticipated!

Dan and Jodie surprised us by positioning themselves so they could capture our descent.

I was so focused on my path under the bridge

I didn’t even notice Jodie standing on it with camera readied for us!

Admit it. You didn’t spot her either!

The rain DID fall, but by then Susan and I were seated under an awning, enjoying our lunch.

What does one do on a rainy day in a ski/ hiking town? Well if “one” is me, you invite your favorite travel companions to a party in one’s suite. The local grocery store carried Franciacorta wine, which is not sold in the USA. What’s special about it, you ask? Ms Google describes it this way:

“Franciacorta is a premier Italian sparkling wine from Lombardy. Crafted using the Metodo Classico (identical to Champagne’s bottle-fermentation), it is the first Italian wine to earn DOCG status. It offers incredible complexity, fine bubbles, and rich tasting notes of brioche, citrus, and toasted nuts. “

Dan discovered yet another( very practical) use for my bidette.

After that, we were more than ready to walk through the hailstorm to dinner !

Next stop Innsbruck!

Bolzano

Although Mike and I visited Bolzano in 2018, I had absolutely no memory of anything except Otzi, the Iceman. And because I wasn’t traveling solo back then, I didn’t blog as often, — Mike tended to distract me —so I couldn’t even consult my “on-line” trip journal.

So, I’ll just have to wait till I get back home to see whether the photos on my computer jog my memory. Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose.

This time, the trip to Bolzano included a morning stop in the lovely village of Monza where the Carabinieri were having some sort of a convention.

The main attraction was supposed to be (what else?) the Monza Cathedral, which houses the iron crown that was used for Charlemagne’s coronation. The Italian policemen were an unexpected bonus.

This is a replica. The real deal is locked up below.

So what makes this crown so special? Well, in 324 AD, St Helena, mother of Charlemagne, traveled to the Holy Land. The enterprising locals quickly recognized an opportunity to make a few shekels, so they told this gullible woman that they found a nail that was used to crucify Jesus (in their grandpa’s attic, no doubt). Oh, and by the way, if she wanted—and had enough money—she could also purchase a piece of the cross on which Jesus hung. (She did. It is a relic someplace else—I forget where).

The centuries old nail was melted down and made a part of the interior of the crown. No photos of the relic were allowed, but that’s okay, because the crown made it into the cathedral’s brochure.

Must have been a really big nail to circle the interior of the crown. Something tells me it will never be carbon dated.

Theolinda’s chapel was totally covered with visually impressive frescoes, but photos were only allowed to be taken at a distance, outside the chapel.

Who was Theolinda, you ask? Well the frescoes tell the story of her life. She was a Bavarian princess, who outlived her two Lombard husbands ( no small feat, back then). There is more to her story than that, but I’ve forgotten the details. Supposedly, she is buried in that chapel.

It wouldn’t be a Catholic house of worship without an image of a gruesome death, and this cathedral was no exception: John the Baptist’s severed head was prominently displayed.

We had time between our cathedral tour and lunch, to explore Monza. Here are a few of our sights.

It’s a good thing that the morning was so delightful, because we spent the remainder of the day stuck in traffic, arriving at our hotel around 9PM.

We were lucky that our bus was super comfortable, we all had our entertainment centers (otherwise known as cellphones) and all bus seats had charging ports. Plus, we pulled into a comfort station to load up on snacks when it became apparent that we needed to cancel our dinner reservation. Fortunately, everyone rolled with it, without complaining.

As usual, we started our day with a local guide who pointed out what makes Bolzano special. Our tour ended at the archaeological museum, where we could visit Otzi. Although the iceman was fascinating, Susan and I had already seen him, so we chose to roam the streets of Bolzano instead.

Though we only two nights in Bolzano, we packed a lot into our brief visit, including a hike on the Freud Promenade. To get there, we had to take a train that strongly resembled NYC mass transit during rush hour, which was definitely not a highlight. Like everything else in life, when you travel ya gotta take the good with the bad.

But the NEXT part of our journey more than made up for the crowded train ride. This fabulous gondola provided 360 degree views of the beautiful countryside.

The walk was lovely, the weather was perfect, and by the time we finished, we had worked up quite an appetite.

Once again, Luca chose a fantastic restaurant, where we were served our choice of three courses. I had delicious barbecued ribs, and ended up so full, I began to wonder whether I’m going to exceed my usual five trip pounds gain!

Our next stop will be in San Candido. I sure hope the weather report continues to be wrong, because it is predicting rain for all three days that we are there.

Arrivederci Switzerland, Ciao Italia

We have mainly lucked out with the weather during our stay in Lugano, Switzerland. The only exception was our arrival and departure nights, when it rained heavily. It wasn’t a problem for our departure night, because we were content to stay in the hotel, packing and resting. Arrival night, however, was another story. After checking into our hotel, we took a brief orientation walk. We got DRENCHED! No photos — just imagine what 15 wet rats looked like!

Luckily, the next morning was breathtakingly gorgeous, so Susan and I took advantage of our group’s 10 AM departure to take an early morning walk around Lake Lugano.

But wait…I almost forgot about our drive TO Lugano. As is usually the case with OAT trips, our drive was broken up by stops in interesting places. The first was Candelo, a very old walled village that was used as a refuge and to store food should marauding bands try to rape, pillage and plunder. Today, it is a refuge for shoppers and hungry travelers.

The gift shop where I bought “prizes” from this artist

Our next stop was this small winery. If my sister, Sandy had been with us, she would have instantly fallen in love with the owner before the end of the tour.

As for me, I was far more interested in the wine and its beautiful labels.

Of the four wines we tasted, my favorite was the last — the Gattinara, of which the winery only makes 3,000 bottles per year.

I decided it was the perfect gift for my favorite chef. When I get back to New Jersey, he promised to delight me with his excellent polenta, which is far more delicious than any a I’ve had here in Italy.

So once we got to Lugano. How did we spend our time?

One day, we hiked along the “olive trail”, a beautiful , narrow mountain path along the lake. It was well worth climbing the 270 steps (yes, I counted, but only the steps UP; like my Apple Watch, I figured the down steps weren’t worth counting). Our reward? Four different kinds of chocolate, supplied by Luca.

According to my Apple Watch, I climbed the equivalent of 28 flights of stairs that day! (Thank you, Somerset Hills YMCA).

This isn’t a great photo, but I’m including it because Luca told us that on the OAT trip he guided last summer, the travelers stripped to their underwear and jumped into the lake right here! I imagine that was quite a sight. Fortunately, it wasn’t so hot, and I suspect none of our group was so inclined.

Good thing, because we wouldn’t have had time to dry off before our funicular ride to the very top of Monte Bre.

To be more accurate, we actually rode TWO funiculars to get to the top, where we enjoyed this majestic view ( and of course, took a group photo).

Jodie and Dan very graciously shared the food they had purchased earlier at the supermarket in town with Susan, Luca and I. To walk off the calories, we strolled down and back to the villa we spotted below.

I know everyone is curious about the day’s step count: 21,157 steps, just a hair under 10 miles!

For our last full day in Lugano , 8 of us chose to take the optional trip to Lake Como. This was a particularly great day for me, because our ferry sailed by Tremezzo. Let me tell you, I was absolutely thrilled that I remember — and spotted the hotel where I stayed in 2018!

I recognized the hotel’s tower, which brought back memories of our wonderful trip to the Dolomites before Covid rocked our world. If you are interested, click on the underlined word in the paragraph above to access the 2018 post, which includes a photo of the tower’s interior.

THIS time, we visited a different villa, the Villa del Balbianello.

This absolutely gorgeous villa was the setting for scenes in Casino Royale and Star Wars II.

It is also a very popular spot for photos, with the “models” queuing up, patiently waiting for their turn, including these ladies. It wasn’t hard to figure out which was the photographer and which was the photographed.

There was a bit of drama, when a photographer asked a bystander to move out of the background. I was relieved to hear that the entitled, bitchy bystander had a German accent, not an American one, when she berated the photographer for what I considered to be a polite, reasonable request.

The last owner, Guido Monzino, never married, so he bequeathed the villa and its contents to the Italian National Trust when he died in 1988.

Our tour ended with an incredibly delicious lunch, that was SO filling, that even I who never misses a meal, skipped dinner that night.

These last photos are designed to have you scratching your heads, thinking “what the …”

Here’s the story. I had thought that the shower head was in the same position I’d left it the day before. But no. The maid had turned it so it faced the ceiling. As a result, the entire bathroom got drenched, including the floor, door, mirror, toilet seat, etc. What a memorable way to end my stay in Lugano!

Biella, Italy

What?! You never heard of Biella? Before this trip, neither had I. That’s one of the many reasons I choose to travel with OAT. Their itineraries include places I didn’t know I wanted to visit until I got there.

Our hotel, the Agora Palace, is across the street from a beautiful park. Unlike the USA, Biella has public sources of pure mountain water, like this one, from which you can fill your water bottle.

Also near our hotel is a small mall with a grocery store and an inexpensive clothing shop. Because the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we were ALL expecting cold temperatures, most of us went shopping for lightweight clothes. For 30 Euros, I got a tee shirt, shorts and a long skirt. I wasn’t crazy about the slit in the long skirt, but that’s all Piazza Italia had in stock. (That’s the name of the store).

Before we arrived, Luca explained Biella is a quiet town, without much going on, so we were a little surprised when we encountered this:

Turns out, an “old car” race with over 100 cars was taking place that night. We were a little puzzled by the cars departing one at a time, but we learned it was a TIMED race, and unlike most “races” , the speed was not the point. It was actually an opportunity to show off your old car. Supposedly, the race went on all night!

Babes, band & cars — in a “sleepy” town??

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we were unable to visit the ice cave in Chamonix, so Luca negotiated with the OAT office to replace THAT activity with vermouth tasting at a historic bar.

We were all quite delighted with the change in activities!

Our second day in Biella started with a guided tour of the city’s highlights, namely churches, including this baptistry.

We’ve all seen churches, and the remainder looked like every other church I’ve visited, so I took no photos.

We then hopped onto a bus, which whisked us up to the old section of Biella, where we toured La Palazzo La Marmora. Here’s another reason I love OAT. The palace is normally closed on Sunday, but it was opened just for us.

Our guide, the marquis, was a member of the illustrious family, whose tree adorned the dining room wall.

To say the artwork and antiques were interesting would be an understatement.

The matriarch who commissioned the following family portrait gave birth to 16 children. The girls all moved away after marriage, so the artist had to visit the homes of the daughters to create “sketches” that he later incorporated into the portrait. Of course, the gathering of all surviving children portrayed in the painting never occurred. (Was this the forerunner of Photoshop or AI?)

I thought I could figure out who was who by matching the clothing, but apparently the artist preferred different outfits.

The 4 sons on the upper right were all generals in the Crimean war. So what do you do when a cannonball almost kills you? Why, if you are a member of nobility, you bring it home, melt it down and recycle it into a chair.

One final example of the artwork, before we move on.

For some unknown reason, the marquis didn’t point out this mural on the dining room wall. Perhaps he didn’t want to have to explain what his ancestors were thinking about while they were munching on their Cheerios?

After the tour, most of the group chose to take an optional cooking class, but Susan and I decided to skip it. Instead, we had lunch in upper Biella at the “Hasta La Polenta” restaurant. How could we resist a restaurant sporting a plaque that said ( in Italian) “Ernest Hemingway never was here”?

I absolutely LOVE the Italian sense of humor. Take a look at the English translations on their menu.

Of course, after our entree, we HAD to have dessert. Here’s Susan, showing off her selection.

After our wonderfully filling lunch, Susan and I worked off some of our dessert by walking back to the hotel.

By then it was time to get ready for a “home hosted” dinner with Marcelo and Claudia in their historical home, built in the 1800’s.

Our group of 14 split up to have dinner with 3 different families.

For final day we visited a cheese farm, to partake in what OAT calls “A day in the life”. As the name suggests, OAT travelers are given an opportunity to experience the area’s daily life. The best part? We walked part of the way there — and the weather was perfect!

We all got a chance to “make” cheese, while we learned more about Elisa, our host. Although she has a degree in economics, Elisa decided she preferred to take over her grandparents’ cheese making business.

OAT group at a Day in the Life, with our hosts

We ended the day with a visit to (what else) the church complex at Oropa.

This “new” church was built for a papal visit

The original church incorporated this rock into its wall, presenting the perfect backdrop for yet another group photo.

Dinner was on our own, so four of us went for pizza at Doppio Zero. It was very good, but very different.

Next stop Lugano, Switzerland.

Goodbye France, Hello Italy

OAT made the right decision to start this adventure in Chamonix! Our hotel, the Lykke, was ideally located. We could walk to the many restaurants, bars, trails and attractions. And we DID.

Not only that, but if you needed down time, the hotel’s pool/ whirlpool /sauna complex was the ideal spot to relax and recharge. I visited there twice during my four day stay.

The MAIN attraction of Chamonix, however is the mountains in general, and Mont Blanc in particular. During our stay, we rode the classic cog train to view the glacier which either starts or ends at Mont Blanc. I forget. But really, who cares?

Unfortunately, the gondola was not accepting passengers, but we saw its practice run.

We were SUPPOSED to ride the gondola to an ice cave, but because of climate change, the cave was closed. A new ice cave had to be built nearer to the glacier. Because the pace of warming is escalating, our guide told us over the last few years, a new ice cave had to be constructed every year.

I find it hard to understand how someone cannot “believe” in global warming and climate change. Yes, I know, our planet has been through ice ages and warming trends, but those changes took centuries to occur, not years. But enough on that topic. For those of you who will never visit Chamonix, here’s what you would have seen.

The vertical arrow shows the current position of the glacier. The horizontal arrow near the bottom of the photo marks where the glacier ended four years ago.

And if you were lucky enough to get Luca as your guide and Francois as the local guide, this is who you would have seen it with.

It wasn’t a problem that we missed out on the gondola ride, because the next day, we rode two huge gondolas to get to the Mont Blanc viewing platform.

60 of us were jammed into the gondola. It felt like a NYC subway, minus the hanging straps.

The photos can’t possibly capture the grandeur of the mountains. But those of you who have been following this blog know I’m going to try!

Yes, those ARE clouds in the photo below. That’s how high we were.

Although WE rode the gondolas, others chose a different method for getting to the top.

None of us had a death wish, so that’s why we chose the safer, more boring option. We DID manage to walk through an ice cave, AND we made it to BOTH viewing platforms shown in the header of this post, which required us to mount several flights of stairs.

Luca, our guide, emerging from the ice cave

If we wanted, we could stand in line for about an hour to step into “the void”, which was a transparent cube that allowed you to see to the bottom of the mountain. I imagine that on one’s instagram feed, it would look like the poster was suspended in mid air. The photo taking was undoubtedly why the wait to enter the cube was so long!

One of the MANY photos this couple took!

Since none of us have an instagram feed, we skipped that experience.

Instead, we used our eyes to take in the spectacular views.

The views from the gondola , on the way up and down

Before we leave Chamonix, one last photo of almost all of the single ladies at dinner at the Rose du Pont

Me, AB, Stephanie, Susan and Kay. We are missing Gail, the photographer

Although we ended up in Brielle, like most OAT trips, our bus ride was broken up by a stop in Aosta, a charming town along the way. Mike would have LOVED Aosta, because it was chock full of ancient Roman ruins. Back then, it was called Augusta Praetoria, shorten over the ages to Aosta.

He heard there was gold in them thar hills, so he decided to “ veni, vidi, vici”.

The original arches are 32 steps below the surface of the modern city. I don’t recall why or how they were preserved, but I’ll bet you don’t care either.

After sharing a half a bottle of this

with my new friend Sarah, I decided to press send without proof reading.

Biella deserves its own post, and once I sober up, I’ll get to it. But until then, happy reading and thanks for coming along.

The Alps with OAT

Okay, so plan A was to spend most of the month of May on the OAT trip to Azerbaijan and Turkey, but when OAT canceled the pre-tip to Azerbaijan because of its proximity to Iran, I decided it was time to activate Plan B. Turkey ALSO shares a small part of its eastern border with Iran, and because US leadership is wildly unpredictable these days, I decided not to take a chance. It’s too bad, because I was really looking forward to travel with my buddy Janis. Maybe we will travel to Turkey in the future, once things settle down.

I was really lucky to discover OAT’s Alpine Europe trip was not only deeply discounted, but it also had single availability AND the timing was perfect. This particular departure offers neither pre nor post trips, but that suited me just fine.

Ignore those boxes on the map at the top of this post. Instead, follow the red arrows. I flew into Geneva a day before the tour starts, got picked up at the airport and driven to Chamonix, a small town at the base of Mont Blanc, about an hour away. Eventually 18 days later I will end up in Innsbruck, Austria.

There are 14 of us on this trip, 4 couples, and 6 singles. We are already a very congenial group, with 12 of us choosing to have dinner together for what was supposed to be an “on your own” night.

Luca, our trip leader, took this “selfie”

The restaurant Luca chose, The Rose du Pont, is located right by the river, which winds thru the center of Chamonix.

Earlier that day, I had hiked along the river walk and saw that I could have booked a river rafting trip,

or gone paragliding, had I planned ahead.

Only joking…walking along the river is as adventurous as I get these days.

In the afternoon, I took advantage of the pool and whirlpool. The outdoor hot tub and sauna were being cleaned today, so I wasn’t able to use them, but we have another full day here, so maybe.

I’ll end the first day of our tour with two night shots. The first is of four of the “single ladies”, with Mont Blanc clearly visible behind us.

The second is the night view from my balcony.

OAT VS TAUCK

I’ve had several friends ask me to compare and contrast these two travel companies.

Full disclosure: I have only taken one Tauck tour, to India, in late October, 2025.

I have taken over 20 OAT tours, to every continent except Antarctica, with the most recent one being to Costa Rica. Obviously, I’m far more familiar with Overseas Adventure Travel.

Having said that, BOTH are excellent companies, and you won’t go wrong choosing to travel with either. It was either Socrates or Elvis ( maybe both) who said “Know thyself”. And that’s the most important factor in determining which travel company to select. It all boils down to what kind of experience will make you happiest.

Let’s start with what BOTH companies have in common.

Both offer small group options. OAT’s maximum is 16; Tauck’s is 25, however I have been on OAT trips with only 9 travelers. There were 17 on my only trip with Tauck.

Both offer large group options: OAT uses its sister company, Grand Circle, which maxes out around 44. Tauck’s big groups are similar sized.

Both have excellent trip leaders, whose job is to oversee all aspects of your experience. They choose the local guides, the restaurants, and add additional experiences that are not on the published itinerary. If an OAT trip leader doesn’t get high ratings on the customer survey, they are not rehired. Not sure whether the same applies to Tauck.

Both allow for free time and meals on your own, with the trip leader available to offer suggestions.

Both include cultural activities.

Both take care of tipping, except for trip leaders. Tauck also takes care of tips for hotel housekeeping; OAT does not. OAT tips the bus drivers, Tauck does not if you have the same bus driver for most of the trip.

Both will handle airfare, however both will allow you to make your own flight arrangements. OAT includes the cost of the flight in their quoted prices on their website, Tauck does not. If you choose not to use OAT for your flight, you simply deduct the airfare cost from the total price.

So what’s different? The biggest difference is the cost of the trip. Tauck is significantly more expensive. However if you only take one or two trips per year, and you want to have your every need taken care of, Tauck is an excellent option.

I’m not at that point yet. My preference, RIGHT NOW, is more trips, less luxury.

PRE-TRIP INFORMATION

I really like the booklet OAT mails out a couple of weeks before the trip starts. It includes helpful hints, the full itinerary, the hotel names and addresses, and a list of the group participants.

With Tauck, you won’t know how many are traveling with you until you get there. At our introductory meeting, our trip leader gave us a piece of paper with the names of our fellow travelers and would email (and print out) info about the following days. I strongly prefer having the booklet because all of the info is in one place, which makes it handy for taking notes.

Being slightly obsessive compulsive, I like being able to plan in advance for free time.

The trip leaders from both companies send travelers a welcome email, full of helpful information but OAT travelers who have taken more than 3 trips, also get a phone call from the trip leader who can then answer any questions one might have.

WEBSITE

Although both companies offer websites from which you can print out your itinerary, I find the OAT website far easier to use. I thought it was because I was more familiar with OAT’S website, but Joann, one of my favorite fellow travelers, said she felt the same way about Tauck’s website—that it wasn’t easy to find what you were looking for.

ARRIVAL

If you buy your airfare from OAT, you also get transfers to and from the airport included. If not, you can either pay OAT for transfers or arrange your own.

With Tauck, transfers are automatically included in the price of the trip. Because I made my own flight arrangements, I can’t comment on flight services Tauck provides, but I CAN say that they do everything possible to make sure your arrival goes smoothly.

HOTELS

Both companies select clean, safe, comfortable hotels, but with Tauck, replace the word “comfortable” with “ luxurious”, at least that was my experience in India.

OAT and Tauck, however, were using the same hotel during my stay in Halifax. For the Egypt trip, both used the exquisite Aswan’s Cataract Hotel.

On the whole, however, I believe Tauck tends to use the best hotel in the area, generally 5 star, while OAT usually choose hotels by location, normally within walking distance to restaurants and sights.

I think the best comparison I can come up with is Four Seasons (Tauck) versus Marriott or Hilton, except OAT tends to choose local, non chain lodgings. Because I have taken so many trips with OAT, I know that the hotels vary greatly from one country to another. In Morocco, for example, the riads were over the top gorgeous,

While in Costa Rica, they were more rustic.

FOOD

Based on my sole experience with Tauck, I would say that the food on their trip is truly outstanding. The buffet breakfasts offered an amazing array of choices,

while the OAT breakfasts tend to offer the basics, with little variety.

Tauck, like OAT, had some included meals at which we were all served the same.

Generally for OAT, there are lots of buffets.

For some of Tauck’s included meals, on the India trip, at least, we were offered a choice of restaurants, and were able to order whatever we wanted from the menu.

Although OAT’s included meals offered limited choices, the group always dines together at the same time and at the same restaurant. For solo travelers this could be a huge plus, particularly if the other travelers prefer to dine with their travel companion(s)

BEVERAGES

Both companies offer some included alcoholic drinks, but you are free to purchase whatever you want.

LOYALTY PROGRAM

This is an area in which OAT excels. People who have taken multiple trips with OAT are recognized with pins, gifts, and special perks (which vary by trip leader), plus a host of other financial incentives.

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES – OAT

All travelers get a percentage of the cost of the trip if they take another OAT trip within the following two years.

If you recommend OAT to someone who has never traveled with them before, you each get a $100 credit. The friend saves $100 immediately, and the “recommender” gets $100 toward a future trip.

After 10 OAT trips, if you take more than one trip in a given year, you save $350 per subsequent trip. Before your 10th trip, you save $250 per subsequent trip in a year, but I have forgotten if you need to take a minimum number of trips for that credit to kick in.

It all adds up. Especially for someone like me, who LOVES to travel.

OTHER TRAVELERS

The group on the sole Tauck trip I’ve taken was wonderful! That was also the case with most of my OAT trips. (As one would expect, occasionally you get one or two clunkers, when you take over 20 trips with the same company).

If I had only taken the Costa Rica trip, I would be exclaiming how outstanding OAT travelers are.

That’s all I can think of. Feel free to correct any misconceptions and add your experiences with either company in the comments section.

Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Our farewell dinner took place at L’Olvio, the Italian restaurant around the corner from our hotel. The food was great, but this is definitely not a restaurant to frequent if you are in a hurry. It was an hour before our food started to arrive, one dinner at a time. But the food was very good, and luckily, we were not in a rush.

Randy managed to get everyone (except himself) into one photo,

so I fixed that by taking this photo of him with his lovely wife,Cindy. I’m so glad that they are coming on the post trip, along with Mike and Jo-Lynne, Jolene and me.

The start of OAT’s post trip was a little sad, because we had to say goodbye to Esther, Cindy, Edwin, Lee Fa, Phil, Marianne, and Lester.

We will miss them all greatly, but especially Edwin’s superb translation skills, and Phil’s excellent photos. At least we still have Malo, who is an amazing photographer. I’m sure he will miss Edwin the most, because Malo will now have to do ALL the translations…no breaks for him!

Before we posed at the airport, I told Randy I’d hang all over him so he looks like he travels with TWO chicks. Is it my imagination, or does he look a little worried? Cindy was rightfully unconcerned.

I’m glad the 7 of us were the only passengers because the plane was TINY! So how many times do you think I bumped my head?

Our boarding pass was almost as big as the airplane!

Here’s what Mike and Jo-Lynne think about our flight. They were in the second row. Now how did THEY get to be in business class?

Because we were flying so low, we were able to get a spectacular view of Costa Rica, starting with the arial view of San Jose,

and ending with the Caribbean Sea.

We still had another leg of our journey, because you can only get to Tortuguero by boat. No cars or buses are allowed on what is essentially a sand bar and yep, I bumped my head yet again climbing into the boat.

We had just enough time to watch a short video about the efforts to save turtles from extinction and walk into town before we checked into our lodge.

Where did our group end up? In a bar, overlooking the river, of course.

Malo told us that Tortuguero’s nickname is “the little Amazon” because of the abundance of wildlife along the river. That was also the case by our lodge’s pool. For those of us willing to get up early, (Jolene and me) Malo offered to take us on an optional tour starting at 6 AM. Our reward? Rare footage of a spider monkey pooping,

and having the jungle (and pool area) all to ourselves.

Because weather has always been somewhat unpredictable in the tropics, and now even more so due to climate change, we were very grateful we were given ponchos for our morning cruise.

It’s impossible to show how hard the rain came down!

Despite the poncho, I still got soaked, but the wildlife we saw made the intermittent showers inconsequential.

Tonight is our last night at the Pachira Lodge. Our return to San Jose is first by boat, then by bus. We spend the night in San Jose and fly home the next morning.

My last afternoon in this paradise was spent by the river, with a tropical drink, catching up with some of the important people in my life and writing this post. The perfect ending to a wonderful trip!

Next adventure, Antarctica in February.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

More sunshine!

It’s hard to pick a favorite location, but Puntarenas would definitely be high up there on my list.

Malo had told us to expect rain when we moved from the Caribbean to the Pacific Coast. Boy, were we delighted that he was so very wrong about the weather. Both days were perfect; not too hot, and just enough sunshine to quickly dry us off after our water activities.

For the drive to Puntarenas, I sat in the front seat. It was truly amazing how much the roads had changed since our first visit in 2007.

I was even happier to be here when I checked my driveway on the ring camera.

I texted my snow plow guy, who will make sure my driveway is clear by the time I return home. At that point, I may even be ready for some cold weather.

I used to think that traveling by bus would be tedious. That was before, when I had a mind that was partially closed. Now I am able to appreciate how surprisingly wonderful some stops can be. For example, on this bathroom break, we saw an iguana, macaws, and bats.

Malo changed our itinerary, moving Friday’s boat ride on the Tarcoles River to Wednesday afternoon so that we could maximize the probability that we would see birds. And we sure did!

An unexpected bonus? we didn’t need to be on the bus till 9 AM on Friday morning to return to San Jose.

These are just a few of the birds along our “jungle cruise”. Mike and I took the very same cruise in 2007, which is when I took this photo with my Panasonic LUMIX.

At one time or another, we spotted most of the 60 birds pictured in the guide we were given. How very lucky were we! Of course, Malo had a lot to do with our “luck”. The reason he modified our itinerary was to choose a time when the tides were at the optimum level for viewing wildlife.

Phil and Malo took great photos so I was able to gaze at the birds thru my binoculars, knowing that one, or both of them, would capture the moment.

It’s pretty clear why I preferred their photos to mine, although I DO like this video that I took.

But wait…there’s more! Our second day in this heaven on earth was jam packed with adventures.

We started by rowing our outrigger canoes to Limoncito Beach,

where we were able to splash around in the warm water, snorkel and enjoy lunch on the pristine beach

Our guides provided EVERYTHING! Lunch, chairs, snorkeling equipment, noodles. They even took photos of each of us.

After we returned to Agujas Beach, Malo took us to the local bar, where he treated us to Chiliguaro, a local concoction consisting of moonshine, chilies and sugar cane. Did we like it? Well, you be the judge.

But wait…there is still more!

After fortifying ourselves with what could pass as a gin and something that slightly resembled tonic,

Marianne and I got the bright idea to walk (stumble) to Playa Blanca. We were soon joined by Cindy and Edwin, who were usually up for anything. Luckily the shuttle stopped to pick us up before we got to the steep part.

Edwin, our translator, comedian, and overall great guy!

While on the beach, we were entertained by the capuchin monkeys. I wasn’t fast enough to get a video of one while he was stealing food. Man, they are FAST!

The shuttle stops running at 5, so we decided to grab the 4:30 one, to be able to make a final stop before heading to dinner. That’s where we found Mike and Jo-Lynne,

who responded to Edwin’s many personal and pretty hilarious questions about their relationship. The 6 of us going on the post trip to Tortuguero will definitely miss the 7 that will be returning home at the end of the main trip tomorrow.

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