Saturday, February 26, 2011

Random & Not So Random Thoughts

As an extended feature of future postings we intend to include a hodgepodge of:
·         Morning Messages
·         Did You Know?
·         Movies to View or Viewed
·         Music to Hear or Heard
·         Books to Read or Read
·         Travel Tastes and Culinary Adventures 
If any of you would like for us to add to the hodgepodge let us know.

Monday, February 7, 2011

READY . . . SET . . . PACK!!!




This will be an adventure in many differing climate zones. Evenings and mornings in the Himalaya region will be chilly, while mid-day temperatures and humidity in India and Thailand will be high. South Africa will be moderate to warm, while Japan could be cool and wet. It is always better to pack light, while it is nice to have enough to be prepared and comfortable. The safaris in South Africa and India require good insect repellant, sun block and light clothing that covers arms and legs. Mosques and various holy sites in Turkey, Israel, and elsewhere will require a head covering and long pants or long skirt. We plan to each take one 14" by 22" by 12" bag which we will check, and one carry-on duffel bag. So we will bring clothing that will layer and is of light-weight fabrics; it has to be bath tub washable and fast drying. We are also bringing a laptop computer, iPad, camera, adapters and the necessary thing-a-ma-gig chords and attachments. Naturally the total items that make it into our bags won't be complete until the morning of departure and the front door is locked behind us. Naturally, one of us thinks about packing a lot (perhaps too much) as do a good percentage of those who are reading this, and one of us won't think about it any more than HE absolutely has to.

Tentative Itinerary


 
Location
NightsCityCountry
1Travel: San Francisco to Cape Town
3Cape TownSouth Africa
0Travel: Cape Town to Johannesburg (fly)
1JohannesburgSouth Africa
0Travel: Johannesburg to Maun (fly)
0Travel: Maun to Khwai River Lodge (fly)
2Moremi Wildlife ReserveBotswana
0Travel: Khwai River Lodge to Eagle Island Camp (fly)
2Okavango DeltaBotswana
0Travel: Eagle Island Camp to Savute Elephant Camp (fly)
2Chobe National ParkBotswana
0Travel: Savute Elephant Camp to Kasane Airport (fly)
0Travel: Kasane Airport to Victoria Falls (road 1¾ hrs.)
1Victoria FallsZimbabwe
0Travel: Victoria Falls to Johannesburg (fly)
1JohannesburgSouth Africa
0Travel: Johannesburg to Pretoria (road 1 hr.)
1Blue TrainSouth Africa
4Cape TownSouth Africa
6Cape TownSouth Africa
1Travel: Cape Town to Istanbul (fly)
0Travel: Istanbul to Cairo (fly)
3CairoEgypt
0Travel: Cairo to Aswan (fly)
7Aswan to Luxor CruiseEgypt
0Travel: Luxor to Cairo (fly)
0Travel: Cairo to Tel Aviv (fly)
5JerusalemIsrael
0Dead SeaIsrael
3Tel AvivIsrael
0Travel: Tel Aviv to Istanbul (fly)
0Travel: Istanbul to Izmir (fly)
0Travel: Izmir to Selcuk (road 1¼ hrs.)
2Selcuk & EphesusTurkey
0Travel: Selcuk to Izmir(road 1¼ hrs.)
0Travel: Izmir to Kayseri (fly)
0Travel: Kayseri to Urgup (road)
3Urgup & CappadociaTurkey
0Travel: Urgup to Kayseri (road)
0Travel: Kayseri to Istanbul (fly)
5IstanbulTurkey
1Travel: Istanbul to Mumbai
2MumbaiIndia
0Travel: Mumbai to Aurangabad (fly)
2AurangabadIndia
0Travel: Aurangabad to New Delhi (fly)
3New DelhiIndia
0Travel: New Delhi to Udaipur (fly)
4UdaipurIndia
0Travel: Udaipur to Mumbai to Jaipur (fly)
3JaipurIndia
0Travel: Jaipur to Ranthambhore (road 3½ hrs.)
3RanthambhoreIndia
0Travel: Ranthambhore to Jaipur (road 3½ hrs.)
1JaipurIndia
0Travel: Jaipur to Agra (road 5 hrs.)
2AgraIndia
0Travel: Agra to New Delhi (road 4½ hrs.)
1New DelhiIndia
0Travel: New Delhi to Shimla (fly)
0Travel: Shimla to Wildflower Hall (road 1½ hrs.)
3ShimlaIndia
0Travel: Wildflower Hall to Shimla (road 1½ hrs.)
0Travel: Shimla to New Delhi (fly)
0Travel: New Delhi to Kathmandu (fly)
2KathmanduNepal
0Travel: Kathmandu to Mumbai (fly)
1MumbaiIndia
1Travel: Mumbai to Tokyo (fly)
2TokyoJapan
0Travel: Toyko to Kyoto (rail 2½ hrs.)
2KyotoJapan
0Travel: Kyoto to Tokyo (rail)
1TokyoJapan
0Travel: Tokyo to Bangkok (fly)
4BangkokThailand
0Travel: Bangkok to Koh Samui (fly)
5Koh SamuiThailand
0Travel: Koh Samui to Bangkok (fly)
2BangkokThailand
1Travel: Bangkok to San Francisco (fly)

Friday, February 4, 2011

Need to Know Before You Go


Passports - most of us know that a valid passport is required to enter and leave most countries. But, before you go, make sure that your passport: 
  • is valid for at least six months beyond the last date of the trip;
  • contains at least one remaining visa page per country to be visited (amendment, endorsement, or modification pages do not count) additionally, requesting and obtaining additional pages, on a non-expedited basis, can take as long as 4-6 weeks;
  • carry it, do not pack it.
Visas -many countries issue visas (commonly in the form of a stamp) to those holding normal passports upon arrival; however some countries require that a visa be obtained  from its Embassy or Consulate before entry. Careful review of country-by-country requirements is essential. Requesting and obtaining a visa, on non-expedited basis, can take as long as 6-8 weeks.
 
Immunizations  - are recommended for health protection for all travelers when visiting high risk countries and my be required for entry into certain countries. The following vaccinations were recommended, but none required, for this trip:  hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, seasonal influenza, H1N1 flu, malaria, polio, and tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis. Have your health professional fill out an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis for each traveler; carry it, do not pack it.

Medical Insurance - for most health insurance plans in the U.S. no benefits are provided for or incident to out-of-country services. The risk of medical emergency costs incurred while travelling, including the cost of air evacuation, should be insured against.

Medication - speak to your health professional about medications including, but not necessarily limited to, azithromycin (upper half of body) and ciprofloxacin (lower half of body).

Where in the World ???


Deciding where to visit has been daunting. Depending on who is counting, there are 195 countries on planet Earth. We have been to 23 of them. The US Department of State currently has travel warnings for 31 countries. Star Alliance (our frequent flyer program of abundance) with 27 airlines flies to all but 14 of them. What was our criteria? Our methodology? Our philosophy? Well, it really came down to:
  • The frequent flier miles that we had earned over the last 20 years were enough for two round-the-world tickets in business class. Sure, we had the miles and we had flights "available" to 181 countries but the restrictions of Star Alliance RTW SaverAwards are not insignificant. RTW Awards  (1) allow a maximum of five stopovers, (2) routing is defined as one Pacific and one Atlantic crossing, (3) the direction of the route must be consistently east or consistently west, (4) total miles eligible for travel is limited to 35,000 miles, (5) black-out dates are common and few seats are allocated to award travel these days, and finally (6) booking a reservation requires an algorithm worthy of Sheldon Cooper.

  • Security. We agreed that we would avoid any country on the US Department of State travel warnings list, as of the date we made our flight reservations (June 2010).

  • We agreed that "we would go where we had never gone before" with only a few exceptions (Joan had been to Israel and Egypt in the 1980s).

  • In the final analysis, the overriding philosophy came down to selecting destinations that were of people and cultures rather than of nations and flags. We were looking for places full of wonderful experiences and lasting memories. We wanted a trip, after we returned home, which we would be able to describe to each other as..."that was #*!@ing awesome".