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Blogging Bombshells!

By on November 6, 2010 in General

Ok…with this post we are not trying to be shallow…we just want to highlight some great couple travel blogs.  There are some great twosomes out there on the road.  So vote for your favorite Traveling Divas and visit some AMAZING couple travel blogs.  Vote early and vote often!  Voting ends and the Hottest Blogging Bombshell will be crowned on Dec. 1, 2010.

Mary---maryandseansadventuresabroad.blogspot.com

Lucie---www.thevagabondadventures.com

Katrina---www.patrinadoestheglobe.blogspot.com

Nicole---www.travelingcanucks.com

Vote for the Hottest Travel Hubby!

By on November 6, 2010 in General

Ok…with this post we are not trying to be shallow…we just want to highlight some great couple travel blogs.  There are some great twosomes out there on the road.  So vote for your favorite Hottie Husband and visit some AMAZING couple travel blogs.  Vote early and vote often!  Voting ends and the Hottest Travel Hubby will be crowned on Dec. 1, 2010.

Randy---www.beersandbeans.com

Craig---www.ytravelblog.com

Greg----www.followourfootsteps.com

Rhys---www.2nomads1narrative.com

Soweto

By on October 15, 2010 in General

Soweto-  (SOuth WEstern TOwnships)

The site was the theatre for deadly clashes that started the dominos falling to the end of Apartheid.   Candidly, on the visible surface, not much has changed in the 2010 version of the Soweto.  Poverty still rules the day.  Opportunity is no longer limited but an oppressive government, but it is a difficult road to travel.  Access to healthcare, education and clean water is not as plentiful as your would expect.

Main streets are lined with open air butchers, abandoned cars, and pick up soccer games.   Our guide took us to see an African “natural medicine market” located just outside of the Soweto.

The now abandoned twin nuclear cooling towers have been converted into a tourist attraction.  I understand that they filmed a location of “The Amazing Race” here.  Stretched between the two concrete towers is a bungee jumping facility.  We were on a tight schedule and were unable to check it out.

We spent nearly a full day in the Soweto area, and came away with more questions than answers.  We counted a significant number of Mercedes and BMWs coming and going in the neighborhoods.  We saw well dressed folks coming and going.  We saw clearly malnourished kids wandering among cardboard and tin shantys.  There was a government employee strike during our visit and the large hospital at the hear of the area was completely empty.  It was heavily fortified by the military.  Where did the patients go?  We understood that locals that attempt to volunteer during the strike are attacked.

So many difficult questions.  No easy answers.

Our impression of the Soweto was dramatically different than our visit to Swaziland.  The Swazi situation felt hopeless.  The Soweto again presented a constant dichotomy.  It appeared like some had found the escape hatch from desperation.

The Secret Safari

By on October 2, 2010 in General

Africa is on just about every one’s list as places to see.  With that said, one of the primary barriers that prevent folks from going on safari is the hefty price tag.  Our initial search for safari providers yielded prices ranging from $1000 to $5000 a night!  Ouch!  Perhaps one of the best kept secrets to going on safari is Kruger National Park in South Africa.  Envision a national park the size of England.  It is the self-serve safari.

Here is the drill.  You drive your own car between the different camps in the park.  You simply map out in advance where you want to stay.  Each area has its own character.  There are basically three different types of camps: Main camps, Bush camps, and overnight hides.  Each has its own level of accommodation, cost, and comforts.    We stayed at Sirheni, Olifants, and Skukuza.  We made stops at Mopani, Punda Maria, and Satara.  Let us know if you have quesitons about any of these.  Our favorite was by far Sirheni.  Some camps offer morning and evening walks and drives with park wardens. Candidly, we saw more critters on our own.  But the wardens did offer interesting insights.

Going it on your own in an air-conditioned car, also allowed us to see exactly what we wanted to see. We set our own pace. Taking some back roads, we even got caught in a herd of water buffalo!

Ok we must offer this caution disclaimer.  DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR AUTO.  You are very safe in your car.  Kruger is not Disneyland .  It is not a zoo.  You are on the turf of some of the most dangerous animals on the planet (hippos being one of the most dangerous?!).  There are snakes.  There are large predators.  STAY IN YOUR CAR.  As two people that are prone to fights, we were concerned about the danger in our car as well as out.  Interesting enough, being cooped up together for four days passed uneventful.  The dramatic beauty and adventure that is around every corner in Kruger prevented any blowups!  AMAZING!

So do you really get to see the animals especially the Big 5?  YES!  Take a look at a few of the animals we saw:

Must haves for doing Kruger:

Food-One of the downsides of doing Kruger is certainly the food.  Many of the Bush camps don’t have restaurants. If they do have a restaurant, it tastes like cafeteria food. You can bring your own food and barbecue or cook at any of the camps. We did this one evening and should have done it every evening.

A good auto-Make sure your auto is good working order. Make sure you have a spare tire(s).  You are truely on your own.  Some roads are very rough.  You don’t need a Range Rover, but you do need something that wont leave you in a lurch.

Updated GPS-we used a garmin NUVI.  Worked great.  Not all roads appeared.  But enough to get us between camps and even a quick jaunt into Mozambique.

A better than average Zoomer-A good camera with a 250mm+ lens is mandatory.  You will not be getting out of your auto.  So you must let the lens do the walking.

Be friendly–Most of the people we met were also doing the self-serve safari. Slow down and ask them what they’ve seen and share what you’ve encountered close by. On one back road, we got tipped off that there were lion cubs just a few miles away. Most likely, we would have driven past and never seen them. On another adventure, someone pointed out a leopard!

Cash-We were not prepared for this.  Much of what you do in the park takes cash.  There are ATMs but they are all from one provider bank so if your card doesn’t work with that carrier, they wont work anywhere. (see Africa fight #5)

Bring shower shoes–As a self diagnosed germ-a-phobe, I can say most of the camps were clean, with the exception of the showers. I was glad I brought some flip flops!

Kruger is amazing.   A great safari is within your budget.

Swaziland-A window into Hope and Desperation

By on September 22, 2010 in Slideshowable

Sometimes what you expect to see and reality can be so dramatically different.  Unknown to us, we found Swaziland is a hauntingly beautiful land of undulating mountains.  Huge tracts of domesticated forests at different points of growth and harvest dominate most of the country.  Amid this striking setting, people cling to life in dire poverty.  Nearly a quarter of the county is infected with HIV/Aids.  The living conditions and mortality rate is dire.

In prep for our visit we had done our homework on the tiny Kingdom located almost entirely in South Africa.  As a part of our research we watch Without the King.  A documentary on the Monarcy, and specifically the King’s eldest daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso.  The movie portrays the masses as being on the verge of a overthrowing the ruling body.  We did not witness any outward evidence of civil unrest.  We witnessed a people eking out a meager existence.  A people clinging to life in anyway possible.

So why visit Swaziland?  We truly count our visit there as a blessing.  Amid difficult circumstance there is hope.  We met hope in the people with whom we interacted.

We stayed at the Forester Arms Hotel outside the capital, Mbabane.  Roughly a 30 min. drive through the mountains and forest to an isolated tree plantation.  This charming retreat is very comfortable and the food was very good.  They serve both dinner and a full to order breakfast.  The hostess of this impressive oasis is an amazing woman.  Our interaction was limited, as we only stayed a night, but we witnessed the kindness she exhibited to her extensive staff was only exceeded by her graciousness to us as guests.

You really must visit Swaziland.  The natural beauty is compelling.  Swazi crafts are also impressive.  But most of all, go to Swaziland to learn about yourself.  So many life lessons are learned when you witness happiness and hope amid abject poverty.  The Swazi situation is difficult to witness, but you will be the better human for the experience.

7 Questions with Our Momentary Lapse of Reason

By on August 15, 2010 in General, Slideshowable

Our Momentary Lapse of Reason

From their site:  ”Beginning in June of 2008 we (Tracy & Jason) left our families, friends, house & jobs in Denver to follow our dream of traveling the world. This website is a chronicle of our 2 year journey.”

When we started asking our fellow couple travelers to awnser our 7 questions, our hope was to really capture a glimpse into how and why they travel.  What makes them unique.  Our latest couple gives us that reflection.

Tracy is truely a fine photographer.  Her pics of India with their use of color and story telling are truely not to be missed.  We are also very impressed with their fighting skills!  Please enjoy.

1) How many countries visited between the two of you?Over 50

2) If you had to travel with someone else besides your travel partner, who would it be? (this person can be living, historical or mythical?.)

He Said:  I like Anthony Bourdain.  If I could have traveled in the 60′s-70′s, Tony Wheeler (LP author) would be a good companion as well.  Both are insightful and a little edgy.

She Said: Hmmm, I like Jason’s choice!  Imagine a personally escorted food tour by an international celebrity.  I could wrap my mind around that pretty quickly.

3)What has been your favorite destination in your wanderings?

He said: I have to answer this in groups:  The Galapagos Islands have to be my favorite wildlife spot.  Angkor Wat has to be the most under appreciated ancient site but the place that keeps calling for more exploration is India.  It has to be the craziest place on earth and there were moments where I hated it with a passion but the more I have time to reflect, the more I miss it.

She said: That’s such a difficult question to answer.  We always tell people that we enjoy different places for different reasons.  SE Asia is our favorite region and within that region we love Indonesia (though we still have much to explore there), Burma & Laos.  Aside from SE Asia, we love eating in Thailand, Italy & Argentina :-)  The wildlife viewing in the Galapagos is amazing & diving Sipadan is a real highlight.  For natural beauty it’s hard to top Patagonia but we haven’t been to New Zealand yet (the USA is no slouch either of course!).  I could go on and on…I agree with Jason that India is high on our list to return to.

4) If you had to eat one last meal, what/ where would you eat?

He said:  WOW, so many choices on this.  I have to go with what first pops in my head – Steak and wine in the breathtaking mountains of Patagonia, Argentina.

She said:  Lets see, it would have to include an incredible red wine, perhaps a goat cheese souffle appetizer followed by a blue cheese & tomato salad then a rare steak with crab legs.  For dessert, I love ice cream!  Thanks for making me hungry with that question :-)

5)How do you pick the places you visit? Spontaneous vs. planned?

He said: “SO, where are we going tomorrow?”  She picks the places, I plan the logistics of how to get there.  Of course, we both daydream all the time about our next adventures.

She said: I”m the A-type person in our world so usually I like to have a plan but I”m totally ok with changing it as we go (which we almost always do).

6) If you could solve one problem in the world what would it be?

He said: Lack of Tolerance.  If everyone just showed a little more tolerance for people of other backgrounds/religions/countries etc. the would would be a nicer place.

She said:  Wow, that’s a pretty difficult question.  When we were traveling around India it apparent that the lack of available fresh & clean water was a huge problem.  If I could solve one problem, I think I would bring the world plenty of clean water for consumption & agriculture.

7)You knew it was coming….What has been your greatest travel fight/disagreement?

She said: We took a Transatlantic cruise from Harwich to Boston to round out our Middle East & Europe segment of our trip and one day we stopped in Cherbourg off the coast of France.  Having read a lot about the amazing war & peace museum in Caen we decided to before hand to visit it despite the fact that it was 90 minutes away by train and our ship was only docked for 8 hours.  The ship was an hour late docking and on our way out we stopped and asked the information desk about trains to Caen.  We were told there was one leaving in 30 minutes and the train station was 25 minutes away with a return trip that would get us back into Cherbourg with a few minutes to spare!  We raced off, determined to make that train.  By that time I was thinking that it wasn’t such a great idea to head all the way to Caen (90 minutes away by train) and as we were racing to the train station I told Jason that I thought we should stay in Cherbourg for the day, after all, spending 3+ hours in transport just to see a museum when we only had 7 hours didn’t really seem worth it.  We thought we would have more time and I thought there was enough to do in Cherbourg.  Well, Jason’s the type of person that has a one track mind and while I was talking I could practically hear him thinking “Train, train, must get to the train.  Can’t miss that train.”.  He told me in no uncertain terms that we already decided to go to Caen and it was too late to change our mind…and so we went to Caen.  We arrived at the museum and enjoyed 2 hours there (which was probably less than half the amount of time we really needed as it was probably one of the best museums we had been to).  After racing around the museum trying to take it all in we raced back to the train station to buy our return tickets to Cherbourg.  DOH!  The train we planned on taking back was a summer train that expired on Sept. 1st and it was Sept. 5th…the next train was an hour later and would have gotten us back to Cherbourg AFTER our ship sailed.  We hightailed it to the bus station where they politely told us to take the train.  We thought about renting a car but we never would have made it.  Our last resort was a taxi…at a princely price.  As we raced down the highway watching the Euros add all the way up to 191.20 E (all the while converting it into dollars at 1 Euro = $1.50 USD) I muttered, “wow, that was a nice museum.”    It was certainly the most expensive!

He said: I don’t think many people realize how hard it is to travel…not vacation/holiday…but long term travel.  I can’t really remember a knock-down-drag-out fight but three weeks in, we were walking down a street in Malaysia about ready to call the whole thing off.  We both calmed down however and it all worked out in the end.

For more visit:  Our Momentary Lapse of Reason

Top 10 reasons to travel as a couple.

By on August 12, 2010 in General

#1  It is very difficult to ride a tandem bike alone.

#2  You need someone that can tactfully tell you that, “no, that ‘I heart Detroit’ shirt is not a good idea.”

#3  Your Japanese is a bit rusty, making it difficult to ask someone else to snap photos.

#4  When you need someone to stamp a spider at 2am.

#5  Single men would never make it back from vacations as they will never ask for directions.

#6  Someone needs to tell her that she doesn’t look fat in that tourniquet…I mean bikini.

#7  Peruvian Sunsets are more breathtaking when viewed with your sweetheart:)

#8  Fighting and yelling alone in a Punto might get you fitted with a straight jacket.

#9 Who would you blame for taking the metro the wrong direction?

And finally:

#10- Who is going to stop you from getting that tattoo of the Chinese characters  for “supermarket”?

Put it in Context

By on August 1, 2010 in General

We must put a clear disclaimer on this post, there is one thing that we both hate more than a layover in anywhere that begins with Den and ends with a Ver: it is tour guides.  WE DESPISE THEM!  In so many places we have seen the gaggle of tourists led by someone that is supplying very simplistic remarks.  To identify them simply look for the person holding the metal stick with a yellow flag on top- sporting the clipboard.  You might hear them say, “There is a fine example of Greek statue….ok moving right a long.”  This in front of the Venus de Milo!  Or the most egregious example was a tour guide who said in front of the Celcius Library, “This is the library; imagine it,” and walked off. End of disclaimer.  Ok one more disclaimer…(We are never, ever paid/compensated for anything that we review or comment on.)  This is really the end of disclaimers.

We found a truly unique and frankly awesome service, Context Travel.  This is not your run of the mill tour guide.  You are paired in small groups never more than 6 people, with a true expert in the field.   When we say expert, we mean….someone that has devoted a lifetime to study in a given field.  Imagine having an architecture tour of Rome with someone with a Doctorate in Roman Architecture!  Or a tour of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul with someone that wrote a book about the palace!  Or even an incredible tour of Wall Street with a former bond trader!  With Context Travel you get just that. Ok…must be expensive right?  It really is affordable.  Tours are much more specific in their breadth, but much, much more profound in their depth.Our guide Claire in Istanbul. She speaks seven languages and literally wrote the book on Topaki Palace. We spent four hours with her and it was a highlight of our trip!

Most of our tours with Context have been just Mike and I.  They are not in every city. They don’t cover every topic.  They don’t even offer tours to some of your typically touristy spots.  But what they lack in quantity, they certainly make up in quality.

We have taken the following tours with context:

Imperial Rome: Architecture and History of the Archaeological Center

HISTORY AND CONTINUITY IN ISTANBUL

Tasting the Immigrant Experience

HISTORY OF FINANCE

Many of the tour descriptions sound more like a college syllabus than a promo for a tour. Don’t be scared away.  The beauty of Context is the questions you are able to ask.  Forget the trite quicky response (quicky’s are good just not on a tour).  You are always going to be surprised and enlightened.  (In-depth info really makes you sound cool at cocktail parties.)

We have only had one bad experience with Context.  Our foodie tour of NY.  But he really ruined it for himself.  He speaks fluent Chinese, so in Chinatown he kinda didn’t pay attention to guide.

We have recommended Context to many friends and now our blog-followers! A friend recently went to Rome with her two teenage daughters. They used Context to see the Vatican and the Vatican Museum. My friend said her daughters even thought the guide was cool! Context really puts things in, well, “context.”

We HIGHLY recommend:

Context Travel

Scholar-led Walks of the World’s Greatest Cities

Context is an in-depth alternative to traditional tours. We are a network of architects, historians, art historians, and specialists who organize over 300 different walks in 12 cities around the world.


What distinguishes us: