Kathmandu, Nepal…how best to describe this crazy city? Chaotic, dirty, loud…but Kathmandu is also exotic, beautiful, and captivating. The streets are dusty and dirty. Even though you want to look up at the thousands of signs over your head and in the windows of the shops, you must always be looking down to avoid […]
Trekking to Everest Base Camp (EBC), a bucket list item for many travelers, is not just an adventure for twenty or thirty year olds. It is possible to trek to Everest Base Camp with kids, as we proved in October 2014. Tyler and Kara were 10 and 11 years old when we trekked to Everest Base Camp. Kara […]
Trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal was one of the highlights of our trip around the world. In fact, this trek was so important to us that we planned the entire year around this two week adventure. Trekking to base camp was more challenging than we anticipated, both physically and mentally, but was absolutely […]
Our visit to the United Arab Emirates was very brief, really just a layover between South Africa and Nepal on our trip around the world. The UAE is a country that Tim has always dream of visiting, these cities born from oil and paved with gold. We had three days of luxury before heading to […]
The Garden Route, a stretch of coastline along the southern coast of South Africa from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, is home to a huge number of game reserves and animal sanctuaries. These animal sanctuaries, similar to zoos, offer opportunities to get up close with their animals. Our animal encounters with the elephants, lemurs, ostriches, and […]
The hike around Robberg Peninsula is rated as one of the top things to do in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. It is a 9 km hike around a peninsula jutting out into the Indian Ocean. On this hike we climbed up and down the rocky coastline, hiked past a colony of seals, and wandered on […]
The Drakensberg Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, cut through the eastern portion of South Africa. The mountain range starts at Blyde River Canyon, located just west of Kruger National Park, and heads southward, through the smaller country of Swaziland, and ending near Lesotho. For four nights we stayed at the Umzimkulu River Lodge in […]
For some more adventure and a chance to visit another country, our family of four went for a drive over the Sani Pass into Lesotho. This mountain pass, not very well known by most in the US, is a big tourism draw for South Africa. The Sani Pass is a winding dirt road that takes […]
iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Africa, is located just north of St. Lucia, South Africa. We spent several days in St. Lucia, using one of these days to tour the park. This was a huge change in scenery from where we have been, as we were now staying on the […]
Kruger National Park, the largest national park in South Africa, and one of the largest parks in the world, is South Africaโs premiere safari destination. Spanning 200 km from north to south and 50 km from east to west, Kruger is home to the Big Five (elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, lion, and buffalo) as well as […]
The Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) is a very small country located entirely within South Africa. Eswatini is a monarchy, ruled by King Mswati III. Sadly, this country has the highest HIV infection rate in the world, with 27% of adults infected with HIV. It is a poor country, with many people living […]
While visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, we walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge into Zambia. This sounds easy enough to do, but while planning our trip there was a lot of conflicting information about what visas and vaccinations are necessary in order to do this. If you have the same questions, here is some information […]
Chobe National Park in Botswana is the place to go to see African elephants. We spent the most amazing three days here on safari. During the day we took boat trips on the Chobe River and went on game drives in the park, searching for elephants, lions, giraffe, and numerous other African animals. At night […]
The city of Johannesburg was our arrival point in South Africa. We had one day to spend here before traveling on to other places. Now we were a party of six, as Kathy and Valerie, our Moms, arrived in Johannesburg on the same day as us. They will be traveling with us for over two […]
Dachau Concentration Camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps. It is located near Munich, Germany. A visit here is an incredibly moving experience and a valuable history lesson. Here are some things you should know while planning your visit. Dachau was the Nazi’s first concentration camp and was the only concentration camp to […]
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a wonderful small town located in Bavaria, Germany, was our home base for one solid week. From Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we frequently day tripped to Austria, Liechtenstein, and other destinations in Bavaria. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a great place from which to explore southern Germany. It is located in the German Alps, just a few miles from the […]
Berchtesgaden, Germany…a small corner in southern Germany, tucked away in the Alps, is surrounded on three sides by Austria. This is the land of wiener schnitzel, lederhosen, and beer. We spent three wonderful days here touring all of the big sites and taking a day trip just over the border to Salzburg, Austria. About Our […]
The Puez-Odle Altopiano is a spectacular hike from start to finish. With jaw-dropping views of the Dolomites, fields of wildflowers, and endless alpine views, this is our favorite hike in the Dolomites. The Puez-Odle hike is a 10.6 mile hike along some of the highest mountain peaks in the Dolomites. The hike involves 850 meters […]