The Joys of Travel

I love to travel. And my travels have brought opportunities to do some things I never have done before.

Here are some of my top experiences (in no special order).

• Ride a camel (in Jordan and in Morocco at sunset)
• Go snowshoeing in Yellowstone National Park
• Touch a baby elephant
• Get 'kissed' by a Rothschild giraffe
• Have tea with a Bedouin family
• Fall asleep to the sounds of lions roaring, hyenas laughing and hippos snorting
• Hear wolves howling from both sides of a road
• Ride in a helicopter over northern Kenya with the side door open
• Visit the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza, Egypt
• Stand just yards away from a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs
• Do a service project at Auschwitz death camp
• Visit the Church of the Nativity in the Palestinian Territory
• Ride in a restored, hot pink 1957 Chevrolet in Havana, Cuba 
• Walk on Omaha Beach, France, scene of the D-Day landings in 1944
• Sit among a large group of gelada monkeys in Ethiopia
• Watch a tiger from just a few yards away
• See two lionesses catch and kill a wildebeest (not something I want to see again)
• Spend days learning about the Auschwitz death camps and going behind the scenes to learn about preservation and archive efforts
• Be in a 4x4 vehicle as it was chased by an angry bull elephant
• Live in a private home with a Cuban family
• Stand just a few feet above polar bears in Churchill, Canada
• Serve as a perch for meerkats in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana
• Tour Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey
• Photograph endangered Ethiopian wolves
• Visit the American Military Cemetery in Normandy, France
• See the aurora borealis in far northern Canada
• Visit Jerusalem's Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
• Complete 50 miles of the Camino de Santiago in Spain
• Walk on a glacier in New Zealand
• Visit the Wansee Center, where Heydrich, Eichmann and their fellow Nazis planned the 'final solution' to rid Europe of all Jews
• Stick my foot into the Jordan River in Israel, then see the river again from the Jordan side
• Walk among the magnificent ruins of the ancient city of Petra
• Visit ancient Roman ruins in Turkey

Yes, it's expensive and sometimes exhausting to reach some of these places. But the experiences I have had while traveling are priceless. My travels also have allowed me to make some good friends. I can't wait to see what 2020 will bring.

2017 On the Road

This year was good for travel. 
 
In January, I braved the snow, winds and very cold temperatures to make a return trip to Yellowstone National Park. The focus was on photography. We saw otters at play on a frozen river, bald eagles perched high in a tree, bison, elk, a red fox, coyotes and enjoyed the rare sighting of a bobcat hunting geese on a river. Sadly, although we spotted some wolf tracks in the snow, we didn't see a wolf.



February marked my first trip to Cuba, another photography outing. It was a wonderful experience and a welcome relief from cold weather. We spent time in Havana and in

Classic American cars are common throughout Cuba

Trinidad, where travelers were assigned to stay in privately owned homes. My hostesses were an adult woman and her mother. They don't speak English, and I don't speak Spanish, but somehow we were able to communicate. Despite the differences between our governments, the Cuban people are warm and friendly. Cuba is definitely a place I would return to. 




 
I missed a photo safari to Tanzania in April due to issues with my vision that required surgery on both eyes. I have signed up for this trip in 2018

The American military cemetery at Omaha Beach, France

I made my first trip to France in May, hiking in Normandy and Brittany, then spending a couple of days in Paris. It was extremely moving to visit Omaha Beach, where the main D-Day landing took place on June 6, 1944. I also saw Utah Beach, where my father's destroyer was sunk in the early hours of the invasion. From there we visited the American military cemetery high on a bluff overlooking the ocean. France donated the land for the cemetery, where some 9,387 American servicemen were laid to rest. It was a very emotional visit.

 

Black rhinoceros

The highlight of my travels this year was a three-week journey to Kenya. I was joined by friends from Scotland and England whom I met in Kenya last year. The animal sightings and photography opportunities were the best of all my five trips to Africa. We stayed in four different camps, each offering a unique experience. I also got to visit one of the orphaned elephants I sponsor at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi. And while at the final camp, I was able to meet the Kenyan student whose high school education I am sponsoring.

 
My trip to Germany and Poland for a service project at Auschwitz was cut short due to yet another eye problem that required me to fly home for emergency surgery. I won't know until next summer what the vision will be like in that eye.

Fisher Towers

Utah was the setting for a photography trip to Arches and Canyonlands national parks. I love the austere beauty of the American West, and spending time photographing it with two instructors and like-minded photographers was a treat.

 




My second trip to Africa in 2017 took me to the northern African country of Morocco, a country that is far removed, both geographically and culturally, from the south African countries I have previously visited. The highlight of this trip was a sunset camel ride, followed by a night in a tent in the Sahara desert. Morocco is a progressive country with an ancient history and warm, friendly people. As a former French colony, French is spoken as much as Arabic, along with numerous tribal languages such as Berber.

The year's travel itinerary wrapped up with a short trip to Palm Springs, California, for a hiking trip that included a long hike in Joshua Tree National Park. I was pleased to see that I was able to do 10-1/2 miles of hiking one day. I was very tired and a bit sore the next day, but I survived to hike again!

I have put together a full travel schedule for 2018, including to several places I haven't yet visited. See you on the road!

19th Century Wisdom

The great 19th century American author Mark Twain once wrote:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

I believe this statement is just as true now -- perhaps even more so -- than when it was published in 1869, in his book The Innocents Abroad. We now have a president who seems bent on curtailing America's involvement with the rest of the world, and who has already taken steps to limit the programs set in place by his predecessor to increase people-to-people interactions between Americans and Cubans.

I am a well-traveled person. I have visited Africa several times, as well as Europe and the Middle East. I haven't yet made it to Asia or South America, but those places are on my list of places I hope to visit. I learn something and I make friends wherever I go. I have Facebook friends -- people I have met in person -- from Turkey, Russia, Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, England, Germany, Costa Rica, Spain, Chile, Botswana and France.

By visiting these and other countries, I have gained a better understanding of other cultures and people. I am more informed when I see a news story about something that happens in one of those countries. When I heard about another attack on a French police officer on the Champs Elysees, I knew where that is because I walked down that well-known Paris boulevard a month ago. When I heard about a military action against protesters on Istanbul's Taksim Square, I can relate because I was there just two weeks previously. When a story surfaced about a knife attack at Jerusalem's Western Wall, I can see the wall in my mind, as I visited Israel three years ago.

Travel provides a real life education and broadens one's horizons. It has increased my self-confidence and ability to be flexible and to take things as they come. The rest of the world doesn't necessarily do things the way Americans do. Although I usually travel with a group, I also spend time exploring on my own. Yes, a friend and I were lost in Istanbul; neither of us knows a word of Turkish. But we found our way. 

Traveling makes me see more similarities and fewer differences in people regardless of where they live. People care about the same things regardless of where they call home: family, education, food, shelter and safety.  Don't we all want those things, regardless of where we live? 

I travel with a variety of companies and for a variety of reasons: photography, adventure/hiking and just plain tourism. I wish more Americans had the opportunity to travel abroad and experience other cultures. One culture is not 'less than' or better than another. Our American isn't better than the cultures of Peru or Kenya or France. Learning about other countries and cultures can broaden our horizons and make us better informed citizens of the world. And the more we know about other lands, the less reason there is to fear them.

Be A Traveler, Not A Tourist

Recently I was asked to take part in an online interview about women's adventure travel by a well-known travel magazine . As a long-time adventure traveler, my name was put forward by one of the organizations I frequently travel with as an appropriate person to answer a few questions.

 
I began my adventure travel journey with Country Walkers, a Vermont-based hiking organization, more than 20 years ago. At that time, I met up with a friend from the other side of the country and we went hiking in Glacier National Park. Then we took other hiking trips together, meeting once a year. Then I started finding other places I wanted to visit, and without someone to travel with me (my friend and I had a falling out), I realized I had a choice of either going by myself or staying home. Clearly, staying home wasn't an option for me. Once I retired and my daughter was old enough to be left on her own, my adventure travels really took off. I usually take eight to 10 trips each year, to both domestic and international destinations.

I believe today's women have more financial opportunities to travel than ever, as well as the self-confidence to travel without a male companion. We realize that we can travel and go on adventures with or without a man, or even without a female travel partner. Women are an integral part of the workforce, and although the glass ceiling still limits our upward mobility at the very top, many women now have successful, high-paying careers. I have met numerous attorneys and physicians on my trips, as well as women with lower-paying jobs who nonetheless enjoy an adventure trip every year.

Organizations such as Country Walkers, Backroads and Natural Habitat Adventures, all of which I have traveled with repeatedly, provide us solo women with safe, well-organized adventure travel opportunities. I love to travel to other countries, but I wouldn't feel comfortable going to Turkey, for example, since I don't speak Turkish. But going with two experienced, English-speaking Turkish hiking guides takes away the worry. Even going to countries where many people speak English, I prefer adventure travel with a group so I don't have to worry about the logistics, finding the best places to hike or visit, where to stay, etc. Women have finally come into their own and want to enjoy the same experiences as males, and the numbers seem to prove it..

I was asked what the experience of being a woman on an adventure trip was like. My experience on more than 20 adventure travel trips has been wonderful. I never have had a bad experience. Some places and some guides I like more than others, but I keep going back for more adventures. I have taken 11 trips with Country Walkers, and I have a 12th trip coming up in a couple of months. I recently signed up for my 9th Natural Habitat Adventures trip, and I have traveled with Backroads at least twice, with another trip planned for later this year.

I always feel safe and well cared for with these groups. I appreciate knowing ahead of time what to expect as far as hike difficulty, mileage, etc. On my first overseas trip with CW, I met another American woman who was traveling solo and who was at the same hiking level as I was. We hit it off, stayed in touch, and have returned to Africa together for the past three years. (She can't go this year due to a health issue). Last year, while on a safari in Kenya organized by a London-based travel agency, I had a tentmate from Scotland. Again, we hit it off, and we will be returning to Kenya this summer, along with a British couple we met during that safari. And we have plans for a trip to Brazil in 2018.

I am an introvert, so sometimes it is a bit uncomfortable at first being with a bunch of people I don't know. But there have always been people who invited me to join them for dinner, or with whom I spent time on the trail, so I usually wasn't alone for long. On one trip three Jewish women took me under their wings. And I have met people who have become friends. I also stay in touch with some of my guides, both domestic and international. 

Solo travel requires a certain amount of pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, and a willingness to try new things, meet new people and experience places that may be completely different from what one is used to. It also requires the willingness to be flexible and to 'go with the flow.' I heard an expression during my first trip to Africa that pretty well sums up the experience: "It is what it is." We shouldn't expect things to be just the way they are in the US. Customs differ, the sense of time differs, the food is different. But that's part of the allure. I am hooked on adventure travel, whether I go alone and meet up with a group, or whether I go with a travel partner. 

Had I not gone on any of these trips, I wouldn't have been able to visit Petra or watch elephants swimming in Botswana, or heard an elephant trumpet just a few feet from my tent one night. I have had so many amazing adventures.

I also was asked why I want to go on an adventure trip rather than just on a vacation. For me, regular vacations are pretty boring. I don't enjoy visiting museums or looking at art or sitting on a beach. I am not one to 'sleep in' even if I could. I don't want to be part of a group of 40+ people. I like a more intimate experience. The camp where I stayed in Kenya last year has just six tents. I want to see new things, have new experiences, explore new places and try different foods. I want to go off the beaten path and be a traveler, not just a tourist. My adventure travels take me most often to places where I can get out of the rat race, enjoy nature and wildlife, and experience things such as river rafting.

I am an active person and I like to be on the move, whether hiking someplace new, going on safari in Africa, or walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. These adventure experiences not only expose me to new and different things in a novel way, but the experiences make wonderful memories. During part of my trip to South Africa last year, our group spent a few hours walking and getting as close as was safe to rhinoceros and elephants. We spent one night sleeping on a raised platform under the stars and hearing the animals at a nearby water hotel. This was a trip for travelers, not for tourists. I don't care about staying in a fancy hotel or going to a spa. Sleeping under the stars and falling asleep to the sounds of Africa is just fine with me.

And as an avid amateur photographer, adventure travel lets me capture things up close and personal. I have some amazing photos of an elephant emerging from the forest in the early morning light, and I have photos of elephants bathed in the golden light of the setting sun reflected in the clouds of dust they stirred up. I have the memories of finally spotting a cheetah family heading out for its evening hunt. I got to watch a family of elephants swimming in Botswana, something I had never seen, much less thought about, before. I saw a Bengal tiger in India carrying off the spotted deer she had just killed early in the morning.

These are adventures. They have opened my mind to a whole new world and made me so much more aware of what is going on in other countries. When I read about the problems of cattle invading the elephant habitat of Lakipia, Kenya, I can relate, because I flew in a helicopter -- with the door open -- over that area. When our helicopter landed on a sand dune in Turkana, Kenya, and we were approached by three AK--47-toting local men, our group leader (who is fluent in their language) was able to communicate with them and then explain to us why they were questioning our presence. One doesn't get this kind of experience from a simple vacation.

As chef and television personality Andrew Zimmern said: "Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you."

For me, adventure travel is the only way to go!