Five traveling Files for Friday

Yes, I am trying to drive a communist car. It’s not easy. Especially when it is stuck in a communist museum. Where? Just outside of Budapest. How traveling has changed…..from minis that were only allowed to travel within their country to airlines that move travelers at the drop of the hat to airlines who don’t want to fly you anywhere unless you have a million dollars.

It’s airway robbery! We’ve all heard the lament before. “There’s never any food!” “We have to pay for blankets now?!?” “Why do I have to be charged for a bag? How exactly am I supposed to go to Miami without clothes?”

Yeah airlines have not made many friends lately, which is why travel file one this Friday is that airlines have found a HEART! Yes…who knew? Hurricane Earl is making life tricky for those trying to fly off the East Coast of the United States. Delta, Jet Blue and AirTran Airways are all canceling or reducing the change fees on their flights! Awww…they must still be recovering from the mayhem that was the Iceland Volcano.

Singapore's Symbol: Lion Mermaid

Not only are airlines changing their business plans so are airports. Wifi is free, bars are loaded and shops are in malls. Not so bad if you’re going to be stuck there because of Earl. So what are you going to do if you’re stuck in Singapore’s airport? How about slide down water?!?!

Singapore does nothing mediocre.

40 feet tall, and reaching speeds of around 19 miles per hour the slid sounds amazing and scary! Think I will stick to their butterfly sanctuary that is also contained in the Changi Airport.

Which is what I did when I was traveling solo around the world. I did it by plane. What if you want to do it by boat? Well you’re in luck. The Norwegian Epic has introduced Solo Sailing! Previously singles, like myself, had to book both beds….kinda a waste. Now studios are available at a substantially normal rate. Check out the Epic’s studios. But don’t worry, you won’t be alone for long. With entertainment such as the Blue Man Group and the Bliss Lounge forget finding a travel buddy! In Bermuda CTravel can help book your Norwegian Epic Cruise.

A cruise with a unique perspective. What about a hotel with the same intrigue? Yeah we can all go to Expedia.com or Hotwire.com, but these usually have deals with big name brands. What about finding deals on boutique hotels? Somewhere to stay with some grit? Well that’s where Tablet Hotels comes in. Finding great deals on beautiful and inspiring hotels around the world they are the site for the discerning traveler.

Helping a Turkish Lady get home safely

I wish I could say I have volunteered abroad….but I haven’t. I do try and help just like we did picking-up this Turkish Lady when the rain was pelting down and giving her a lift home. So what do you do if you want to volunteer? Well one of the problems in the past has been the amount of time it takes to become trained and the time they want devoted to the task.

No longer! The US Parks Service is now happy for a day or two from their volunteers. They advertise opportunities on Facebook. Check out more information about volunteering on vacation and other traveling trends on Time Magazine’s website.

And happy Friday!

Tis the season to sail?

Kayaking through Halong Bay, Vietnam

Sailing through the green mountains and kayaking around beautiful blue water was my way of finding a break from overnight bus after overnight bus in Vietnam. I found myself sailing on the traditional boats for three days in Halong Bay.

This beautiful bay is a UNESCO site and it is amazing. These limestone islands jut out of the water and offer visitors even a chance to see caves where Viet Cong used to, and stalactites do, hide. Throw some crab on my plate and garnish it with shrimp and I’m not sure why I left.

Or why you’re not going! And why not go for Christmas? For $5,999 you can sail on the luxury yachts of Seabourn around Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam for 16 days! The cruise departs on December 21 and will be the ultimate in luxury as it pulls-in to Hanoi and Bangkok to name a few of the stops. The cruise used to be $13,000 but if you contact CTravel they can help you book for the recently reduced price.

Or maybe you’re hoping to infiltrate a closed country? No I’m not talking about North Korea….it’s Bhutan. A beautiful and often forgotten country north of India. From yak herders, rhododendron forests, snow-capped peaks, alpine meadows, rare birds and animals, and intricate temples, Bhutan offers it all….but it also requires you to have a guide. Yep! Unfortunately there is no such thing as independent in this aggressively closed country.

Bhutan Trip with Zeghram and Eco

So why not join Gary Wintz and Zegrahm and Eco Adventures and spend 14 days trekking to ancient monasteries, nature preserves, and sacred spaces in a country nearly unknown to Western travelers.

Book with CTravel for your April 10 to the 23rd adventure in one of the most secret societies!

But Robyn, you say, you were going to tell us about travel deals in Europe! You’re right I was (I said so in yesterday’s blog for those who haven’t been ardently following). None of that is to say these deals are to be forgotten. Nope!

Instead Abercrombie and Kent are offering a trip through the Winter Wonderland of Prague, Munich and Berlin for nine nights at the price of six. When? Well for the winter markets of course. This includes Munich’s traditional market, which has been held on Marienplatz for 600 years where the festive Alpine music rings out and the mulled wine never ends! And Prague’s Old Town Square, which fills with festive market stalls and is overlooked by gothic buildings that ring with Christmas carolers.

Of course all of these deals are available by contacting CTravel (it is CTravel Thursday by the way). So get on the phone and get yourself on one of these amazing vacations!

Take your chances in Chile?

Patagonia, Chile

I landed in Santiago, Chile after almost 38 hours on planes and sitting in airports such as Singapore, Tokyo and Dallas. Actually Dallas included an unintended stay-over when I slept through my departure AT the gate. Should that have told me something? Yes. I needed more sleep.

Luckily I got it in a Dallas airport hotel and the next day flew to my intended first-stop in South America – ever – Santiago. Chile. I don’t speak Spanish and I didn’t have a guidebook, but I did have the name of my hostel and a taxi service.

Golden. But where was I going to go? Chile’s long and thin and difficult to navigate by land. Especially when I landed there in their spring (late September).

Eeny, meeny….miny….moe: Patagonia. Best decision I ever made as I witnessed glaciers for the first time in my life and the most spectacular scenery at the end of the world. Well almost.

I couldn’t quite make it to Ushuaia, which names itself the most Southern city in the world, thanks to bus schedules. So I stayed in Punta Arenas and almost made it to the tip of the world. But don’t let that stop you!

Punta Arenas in Patagonia, Chile

Why not combine spa with adventure and a chance to visit tuxed-out non-flying birds? Why not spend New Years’ Eve in the luxury of a high-end cruise that will depart from Ushuaia (in Argentina) deliver you to some glaciers, cross the straight of Magellan and visit Magdela Island where 120,000 penguins await?

If that’s not your cup of tea, Chile by Sportstour, which you can book through CTravel, also offers New Years Eve in Chile’s desert and the highest in the world – the Atacama Desert. With moon-like landscapes that will mystify why not try it? Make the New Years resolution.

New Years Eve may seem miles away as we enter August, but if you’re looking for a deal in December you need to book with Windstar Cruises for their 2-for-1 deals. Take a 15-day cruise to:St. Barts, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Curacao, Aruba
Transit Panama Canal, Isla de Coiba, Quepos, Tortuga Island.

If you book by August 14 (i.e. only nine days away) one person can sail for 15-days for :$3,575 pp. It was originally $7,149 per person. Can’t think of a nicer place to be spending Christmas!

Varanasi/Robyn Skinner

Or maybe you want something sooner? Something for September? Why not travel on the only Riverboat along the Ganges between Kolkata and Varanasi, India?

The next trip for the 56-person Bengal Pandaw river cruise is September 27th. There are only ten cruises a year! Each one is 11 days, but the entire trip includes stays in Kolkata for a night and Varanasi (the holiest city in India) for two.

For more information on the Bengal Pandaw Riverboat contact Carl Paiva, CEO of CTravel at 292-3033 and for the other deals check CTravel’s website or give them a call.

And as always: check the Travel Deals’ Page for more advice.

Travel with…..Baseball cards?

It’s Monday and time for another Rock Fever Column. Let me know what you think. Any of your own observations on fellow travelers?

With fellow travel buddies Oliver and Alexis in Singapore...a couple of friends who kept me sane.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – JRR Tolkien

When the rooster begins crowing at 4 a.m., and the dogs outside your window start picking on each other and you haven’t gone to sleep until 2 a.m. because the electricity went out and you couldn’t breathe … you start to wonder … why am I here?

At least I did, multiple times, while travelling through 24 countries in 12 months. Did I regret my decision to do it? Never. But did I get tired? Yes. What did I do on nights like the one above? My iPod became my best friend. In Thailand/Laos/Cambodia or Vietnam – Enya was the only thing that kept my sanity. In the morning I would find myself alive and twisted in my headphone cords with no recollection of actually falling asleep. Ahhh Southeast Asia.

The other way I would keep my sanity? Travel buddies. These came in all varieties and for various lengths of the trip. Some were better friends than others and more often than not, encounters were brief. What I noticed after a while was that fellow backpackers became like baseball cards (sorry for the American reference, but until cricket and dare I say football get these cards … baseball it is).

First you get the stats. “So where are you from?”

“Bermuda.”

“No way. Like the Triangle. Is that real?”

“No. And the shorts. Yes we are little and no we are not in the Caribbean. We are closer to New York.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way.”

Finally it’s time to move on: “How long have you been in: Vietnam/ Cambodia/ Thailand, Laos?

Obviously the answer varied on the country asked about.

“Where are you going next? What do you do? How long are you travelling for?”

Funnily, unlike baseball cards, the least important thing was their names. I have been on a slow boat between Thailand and Laos for two days chatting with people whose names I only found out after sharing a hotel room with them.

If these stats worked and the answers were right the travellers joined my card collection.

Other travellers never made it into my hand. Why? Sometimes they were just not on the same page. Like the backpackers in Europe. These guys are newbies. They are Americans taking time after/during college to break away from home. Dressed in collared shirts and jeans, roughing it requires making your own dinner in the communal kitchen.

These disappear by the Middle East. No great surprise there. Backpackers here are lost souls trying to ensure the countries of media-created nightmares are not so. Their clothes start becoming more tattered. The caravan tourists? You know what I mean? The middle-aged-escaping-from-their-cubicles-to-tell-everyone-they-made-it-to-Jordan tourists. These have covered themselves in khaki and their heads enshrined in Indiana Jones’ hats. They have yet to find the Lost Ark. On the flight East, hair grows, it gets matted or completely shaved off and suddenly clothes don’t fit. In India backpackers swim in their pants or wear barely any at all. Their attempts to understand poverty this way is lost on those who actually do not have the money for clothes. As you get to Thailand the tank-tops fall off tattooed shoulders, or the dresses barely cover the pale British bum. The dreadlocks sit in the corner chatting to the locals and giving the evil eye to the drunk, barely clothed gap year students. Neither can be bothered to just enjoy the experience of each other and the new culture they find themselves in.

Travel they might be doing, but sometimes it’s middle school again with cliques in their corners. By South America it’s filled with the adventurous side of Americans who have raided their local Patagonia store before actually heading to Patagonia. The other travellers – from South American countries. What a change from Asia. Here the economies are strong enough for internal travel. Brazilians seem to do the most and will enjoy taunting you over coffee in the morning as to why you chose Chile rather than their country. Hint: There is no good answer just say you’re on your way!

Finally … Africa … I haven’t been. Well besides Egypt, but even Egyptians would argue they’re not “Africa”. That’s the next stop … maybe. I will let you know when I go. Have you been? Tell me about it in 500 words and photos! I’m looking for the next Bermuda Abroad story. Do you have to be Bermudian? NO! Do you have to travel? Yes! I want to hear your take on a country – it will inevitably have some Bermudian reference just by virtue of you having spent time in Bermuda.

So check out my website: www.robynswanderings.com for more travel tips and tales.

E-mail me at robynswanderings@gmail.com with your own.

Until next week when we: Battle Boston: 24 hours in this gritty town that manages to throw punches and peace for a weekend.