New Zealand is one of our favorite countries, a place we would love to live one day. While there we were fascinated by penguins. At one viewing spot, near Omaru, we were told to be very quiet, turn off cell phones, don’t make any quick movements because they were shy birds. What a laugh we all had when, after 45minutes of fruitless scanning the brush for a sighting, someone pointed out that the penguin was hanging out right next to the viewing platform…NOT hiding in the bush!
Some places call to you, fill a place in your soul, and make you feel like you’ve come home; sometimes even if it’s the first time you’ve been there. I’ve had several of those experiences over the years; Vernazza, Italy on the Cinque Terre, Istanbul, Turkey, and Chiang Mai, Thailand, but the one place we’ve been to more than anywhere else in the world, and the place we keep finding ourselves going back to, is Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
We ended up spending more time in Vientiane, Laos than planned due to an Indian visa snafu. What we found was an extremely pleasant capital city, teeming with Buddhist temples and some fantastic architecture.
Africa has always been a dream destination, one for the bucket list. Romanticized in such movies as Out of Africa and I Dreamed of Africa, a land of adventure and amazement. A decade ago, the tour company I work for, Grand European Tours, first started selling a trip to South Africa and lucky us, we were one of the first in the company to get to go on tour and check it out!
We started February off with our first camping trip of 2013. We needed to get away, clear our heads, and remind ourselves of all the things in our life to be grateful for. A forecast of mid-50’s and sunny didn’t hurt, but we were determined to make our escape no matter what.
While camping in the Carnia Gorge area of Australia, we got the chance to help feed these amazingly colorful birds.
Over landing Africa is an amazing, and often challenging way to travel. Spending the time to drive the arduous route from Nairobi through Tanzania, following the lake in Malawi before veering SW into Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Continuing through arid Namibia and finally reaching South Africa you will travel thousands of miles on a trip that takes several months to do properly and, even then, you feel as though you missed a lot.
Sunrise at the Taj Mahal, a magical moment of serenity amongst the chaos and craziness of India.
Wish we were here. Rush hour on the beach in Mui Ne, Vietnam
Zion National Park is filled with amazing landscapes and photo ops but one of my favorite sights in our time there was this view on the drive in as we experienced the first glimpse of the rainbow colored cliffs.
