By: Steve Clifford and
G Adventures
While most people save up for a week or two of adventure,
some people are lucky enough to head out on a grand adventure around the
world. RTW travel can free you up for a year to explore many places.
Here is a brief Top 5 list of top Round the World experiences from G
Adventures traveller Steve Clifford...
There were many highlights on my 10-month RTW journey but here are five memorable experiences from the Atlantic, England, Jordan, Syria and Nepal that I highly recommend to savour.
#5 Cross an Ocean by Ship — In the past most great adventures
began from the deck of a ship and I was determined, at least once in my
life, to unfasten my seat belt, look beyond my upright seat tray and
cross an ocean at sea level. I was the only passenger aboard a small
container ship sailing from Charleston, SC to Felixstowe, England, an
8-day crossing. In reality life aboard a working ship quickly becomes
routine, especially if you're the only one not working. However the
countless hours spent scanning the empty horizon are quickly forgotten
when you finally glimpse your destination and arrive ashore with a new
sense of scale and connectedness. (While you may not cross the Atlantic
on a Gap Adventures tour, consider a great voyage across the Arctic on
the M/S Expedition!)
#4 Ramble on in North Yorkshire — I've followed many a
footpath over the years but those that crisscross the moors and dales in
God's own country are hard to beat. The breezy North Sea coastal
footpath that winds its way between Staithes and Robin Hood's Bay is a
favourite, as are the green pastures and stunning panoramas that
surround you in Swaledale. Best of all, at the end of any walk, you'll
find a welcoming Yorkshire pub where you can enjoy a pint (or two) of
hand-pulled real ale. Suggested Gap Adventures trip includes Norwegian
Fjords & Polar Bears.
#3 Experience 40 winks in the land of 1001 Nights — Lying roughly between the ancient city of Petra and the Red Sea port of Aqaba
lay Wadi Rum, a vast and windswept lunar-like landscape of biblical
proportions. A lack of roads force Bedouin nomads and adventure
travelers along ancient routes used by Nabataeans and more recently,
Lawrence of Arabia. A visit to Jordan's Wadi Rum is an unforgettable
experience, one you'll ponder long after you call it a day and stretch
out on your camp cot under a blanket of stars. (Recommended tour to
Jordan is Highlights of Jordan).
#2 Clean up your act in a 500 year-old Hammam — Adventure travelers
are down to earth but some are more down to earth than others. All that
time spent at ground level can leave you dirty - but you don't know how
dirty until you've been exfoliated by a 300 lb. Turk with an attitude.
Hit a Turkish Hammam, a traditional public bath for a couple of hours as
it will cost you less than US$10 and includes wet and dry saunas, an
invigorating exfoliation, intense massage and, once pristine, a chance
to kick back and sip tea with businessmen and royalty. (Suggested tour
is Absolute Turkey).
#1 Stand at the foot of the Roof of the World — A trek in
eastern Nepal to the foot of Mt. Everest was the definitive highlight of
my 10-month journey around the world. The thin mountain air and the
dazzling Nepali smiles are as intoxicating as the homemade raksi and
chaang sampled along the way. I can still picture enthusiastic porters
digging into platefuls of their beloved Dal Baht while strains of the
Nepali folk classic, Resham Firiri, reverberated through the Himalayas.
(Consider Gap Adventures tour Everest Adventure).
Are you ready to head out around the world? Contact Travel Debi to start planning your great adventure!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sandals Halcyon
Sandals Halcyon, a set on Flickr.
Sandals Halcyon - St. Lucia - various photos of the resort
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Northen Europe and Ireland - Monthly Ezine
Fascinating Northern Europe and Ireland are the destinations for the E-zine this month. The Spotlight is on scenic, friendly Ireland while Cruising covers highlights and itineraries for the Baltic and Norway. You will find tips and recommendations for remote Iceland under Planning. This month, Travel Style is Active Vacations. Read about staying fit at sea and ashore and a variety of active vacation options on land. Do not forget to try the recipe this month, Prosciutto-Wrapped Filet Mignon. Yum! You will also find many excellent promotional offers which will make you start planning your next exciting vacation!
I look forward to helping you ... Debbie Mitchell (302) 629 9604
http://www.traveldebi.com/
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Cuba Vacation
A very good friend recently traveled from Russia to Cuba for vacation. Attached is the review she sent me upon her return. I am leaving this in her words so to not loose her personal enthusiasm. She granted me permission to repost.
Dear Debbie,
My boyfriend is a member of Aeroflot program, he has a credit card which gives him bonus miles for the amount of spent money (1 mile for a spent dollar). he managed to get enough miles for 2 free tickets!i mean he was spending money using his card and accumulated the amount of miles which were enough for 2 tickets. he was saving up those miles for 2 years! That's why we didn't have to pay for the tickets and this is probably the main expensive thing in going to Cuba. the only thing we had to pay for is tax.
Russian citizens don't have to get visa to go to Cuba, so we just got tickets, packed our bags, found some information about hotels and were ready to go))
the flight took us 14 hours! we were happy when we finally arrived in Havana!it was early in morning.
we took a taxi and went to a hotel we were reading about in the Internet, it was a cheap hotel, we spent just one night there because there were no hot water. we left the bags, took a COLD! shower and went sightseeing! The architecture is outstanding but everything looks very old and shabby, some buildings need very good and urgent reconstruction measures, people earn 20-30 $ a month and care about their family first of all and don't have anything left for the place where they live. when you go out and local people notice a tourist, they start talking to you with "where are you from" question, offering cigars or alcohol or smth else hoping to get money from you, first it seems funny but time after time when like 50 people during a couple of hours come to you, it starts getting frustrating!
There are two types of currency in Cuba - local peso and convertible peso for tourists which is called CUC by tourists, one convertible peso equals to 22-28 local peso, that's why local people are interested in dealing with tourists and at the same time it means you need to be very careful. when you get change, you need to recount it, when you want to buy smth, you need to ask about the price first. and it' s so sad that people have to do that because of the situation in the country.
Well, after the first night we started looking for a so called casa particular. this is a house of a local citizen who can rent you a room for stay. Casas are much cheaper than hotels, approximately 25-35 peso (one peso is almost equal to a dollar). people offer you a very clean and cozy room with a bathroom, if you want you can order breakfast or dinner but for extra money. so we spend three more days staying in such a casa and exploring Havana. we tried different food in different places, cocktails, and a dinner in a restaurant cost us most of the time 10-15 peso.
After spending 5 days in Havana we decided to move to a resort town called Varadero where we hoped to enjoy the sun at the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was windy, cloudy and not very suitable for sunbathing. were were able to spend maybe 2 or 3 days at the beach in comparison with 7 days!
Varadero is a small town for tourists, it differs from Havana a lot, it is full of hotels and restaurants and tourism is the main source of living for local people. We booked 2 hotels in Varadero while we were in Havana. Casa particulars are prohibited in Varadero. That's how the government supports tourist business. Most of the hotels are all-inclusive and we didn't want that, we wanted to eat in different places, try different things so booked an all-inclusive hotel just for 3 nights and then moved to bed and breakfast hotel. So we were enjoying the sun when we could, were walking, talking to the locals, watching their street shaw the rest of the days. Cuban people who live in Varadero are different from those who live in the capital as well, they are more sure about the future, they have better life conditions, so they don't bother you a lot while you are out of the hotel.
I liked the trip very much, i was enjoying every minute, Cuba is a very domestic and unique country, people are very friendly and hospitable in general, it was nice to get a chance to explore life of such a colorful country.
i hope this wasn't boring for you Debbie, i will download some more pictures today. if you have any questions, i will be happy to answer all of them))))
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