I admit it—-this city girl (okay–suburban girl) has morhped into an adventure-travel afficianado! To be honest, I am a lover of “soft” adventure—where I can soak up the beauty of nature, all types of flora and fauna, as well as being able to sleep “off” of the ground, take a hot shower, and eat yummy food!

I’ve traveled through:  Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia—in the footsteps of Captain Cook; Antarctica; Alaska; Costa Rica; Peru; Ecaudor; the Galapagos; Argentina; Chile; Egypt; China; Indonesia; India; Fiji; the Amazon; Kenya; Tanzania; Botswana; South Africa; Zambia; Zimbabwe (when it was safe); Mauritius; Colorado; Arizona; New Mexico; northern Wisconsin; and southern Missouri (actually slept on the ground on the canoe trip—years ago!). 

I’ve sampled many wonderful adventures and now I want to let you know about one of our exceptional partners, Natural Habitat Adventures. NHA knows adventure—from soft to adrelin-flowing! They follow the same philosophy as Great Getaways, which is “Cookie cutter vacations are great if you are a cookie cutter!” We both specialize in experiential travel and both companies are committed to sustainable travel. NHA guides are experienced, well-trained, knowledgeable and professional.

The trips they offer are unique! Let me give you an example: I’ve been to the Galapagos twice and hope to go back again soon. Both times I was on a wonderful expedition ship with great naturalists and guides. What I’ve discovered is that I like “small” and that is what Natural Habitat provides. The yacht they use for the Galapagos holds a maximum of 20 people and they offer something quite special and unusual—you can elect to spend the night in the highlands of Santa Cruz in a safari tent or “tree house” amid an area known for its giant tortoises! Another special offer from NHA is their new land-based Galapagos expedition, in which you stay on 3 different islands, almost unheard of, don’t you think?

This year they’ve added a few new adventures—including the Wild Colorado, Alaska’s Secluded Southeast Coast, Yosemite and the California Coast, and the remarkable San Juan Islands.

Next month I’ll tell you about an exciting opportunity to win a journey to visit the Polar Bear Capital of the World, Churchill, Manitoba, courtesy of NHA, Great Getaways and Lifetime Fitness!

So, if you are an adventurer of any kind, from soft to rugged, contact me today to experience the amazing journeys we create with Natural Habitat Adventures!

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I know of so many occupations that develop their own lingo and the travel industry is no exception. Maybe these words, often acronyms, help us communicate within our chosen careers; however, when we inflict this type of communication on the unsuspecting public, we’ve left our good manners behind, and, flaunting our egoes, we open the door to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

Here are some examples:

Travel Advisor: Do you want a cruise with air?

Customer: Do I need to supply my own oxygen?—or—Aren’t most ships air-conditioned these days?

Travel Advisor—using an airline software program to reserve seats on airplanes: Let’s see here. Okay, you want to fly into San Francisco and return from Los Angeles. I’ll have to enter an ‘arnk’. (pronounced “arrunk”).

Customer thinks–Arnk? Are they dangerous? Do you enter alone?

[An itinerary containing an ARNK (arrival unknown, pronounced 'arunk') segment is one in which the traveler arrives at destination A but departs out of destination B. Since the arrival to destination B is unknown, hence the name arrival unknown. Without an ARNK, the computer software would respond with an error message]

Let’s go back to cruising one more time—Travel Advisor: Do you want an inside stateroom?

Customer: Yes, I want to be inside the ship and not sleep outside.

Last example is the travel advisor who tells you he specializes in F.I.T.s does not specialize in travel for the exercise buffs; rather, he focuses on Foreign Independent Tours (now also referred to as Fully Independent Tours).

I could go on and on but I think you get the point. As Professor Henry Higgins asked, “Why can’t the English learn to speak?”

Bye for now. I’m off to boot my computer and then ace a serve or two.

Virgin Galactic’s new mothership, the VMS Eve, took to the skies again on February 5th for her second successful test flight. She returned to her home at Scaled Composites after 1 1/2 hours in the skies over Mojave, California. Go Eve!

…And the purpose for Super Bowl is? Beyond the obvious–sports championship, great ads (although very, very expensive ones), do we need a media hyped event to eat too much and drink too much? Personally, give me some yummy fibers, knitting needles, and peace and quiet.

In the second half of life the necessity is imposed of recognizing no longer the validity of our former ideals but of their contraries. Of perceiving the error in what was previously our conviction, of sensing the untruth in what was our truth, and of weighing the degree of opposition, and even of hostility, in what we took to be love.

  – Carl Gustav Jung