Well, as you can imagine I am asked a lot “What is your Favorite Destination”? I thought I’d write about that, more specifically why I can’t pick only one, for many reasons. So for fun, I thought I’d discuss unique, fascinating locations and why and how they each affected me. Important to note however, every person has their own travel MO (modus operandi). As you can imagine also, because of the different ‘feelings’ or preferences by different personalities, that it can be difficult to match a vacationer with a product or service. Especially for new couples traveling together. The purpose of this article (and the additional follow-up in a sequence) is to whet the appetite of those various personalities: Romantic, Adventureous, Philanthropic, Health oriented, History buffs, even Architecture, Photographer buffs and so much more. This article I will be sharing my Personal Preferences, along with comments that you as a reader may have a different opinion about it. I would love to hear from any of you about your favorite locations and why. I can write a future article sharing some of the special locations you guys reading this article have experienced, good and bad. Think about it O.K.?

To begin, as a travel consultant, I’ve learned since the beginning that I should/must try to experience the different types of travel. I had to understand products offered. What vendors might be better than others. Also, assess how each vendor deals with different traveler types. What I am talking about and referring to is desirable budget ranges, quality of services desired, and VALUE received. I can’t get out of my head a saying that stuck with me for years. “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know” and “Cheap doesn’t always cut it”. I’ve heard that a lot. For the most part, a bad trip is one that disappoints because of high expectations. It is true there are bargains out there that can exceed expectation, but I can tell you that VALUE is the key, NOT JUST THE PRICE. There are so many aspects of a trip that must be thought about. Sometimes it’s a BUCKET LIST trip…price is a consideration, but it is the EXPERIENCE that one is looking for is most important. Believe me, You want your vacation to be memorable for all the right reasons . Also remember, “You will always remember and talk about that special experience, and not how much you paid for it”… unless it was a bad experience..

I, and my husband have had wonderful opportunities to visit the world since 1975. Some were escorted, some were hosted (we were more on our own but planned) or Independent travel. We’ve tried them all and there are pros and cons for all three. But how does this relate to destinations?

Some are tremendously more expensive, and maybe, my opinion, they weren’t worth it. Some instances were so wonderful you couldn’t put into words. The consequence has been, we started out in the beginning quite differently than we had currently as expectations and desires, needs and wants. Maybe because we are older, not interested in keeping busy constantly, or even taking pictures like we used to. We’ve come to believe the memories were most valuable. Generally speaking No One is interested in seeing your pictures unless you’re a photographer or maybe making money off them HA. Or spending valuable time shopping to buy nicknacks for family and friends, rather than experiencing the different cultures. That’s where our head is anyway. You may not agree.

As an example, back in the 80’s we took our 1st international trip. We were so excited and I was also scared to death of the long flight SFO to LON. In fact, I had nightmares about it, seriously! It didn’t help that when we arrived at the airport gate, watching all the huge airplanes coming and going, here our plan shows up as a smaller skinny plane that we learned had been stretched, you know, cut in half and extended. I still got on it but can understand anxiety, believe me. Since then, many, many flights later, I’ve learned a lot about flying. I think I’ll write an article about airport and airplane etiquette in the future.

There are two (2) destinations that both Ron and I found to be fascinating. That would be Africa and Vietnam/Cambodia, each for very different reasons.I’m going to start with AFRICA. This article is going to be a tad longer than I anticipated so I am going to write a sequential series. I hope you enjoy it.

Ron and I have been fortunate enough to do an Independent trip/hosted trip (though sponsored for a short part of it). We traveled for nearly 2 ½ weeks, visited 7 countries in Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Madagascar. Animals were different, history, food, lifestyle, religion, so many things.

One of the most interesting visits was to see the Bush People, living in huts with dirt floors.

The evening following our visit there was a major storm and I thought about those families, not lights, mud and all, sad, I thought, but it is a way of life for those people. They appeared to be genuinely happy. Very special to see smiles. These people live in such hardship, by my standards, but a very happy group. We saw unbelievable landscapes, the great migration, the Chobe River. Madagascar was another highlight, quite different than the rest of the countries. At least the ones we had visited as yet. But, great food and colorful culture.

In Zimbabwe we visited a family in their natural habitat. The head of the family was in his 80’s, but had 8 wives aged 17-70 and a ton of kids. When we were there, there were a couple of newborns and mostly pre-teens.. The kids were playing soccer with balls made with plastic bags knotted and tied together in a ball. I had a camera and the kids would gather around us for pictures and fascinated with seeing themselves. We learned that a new wife in a blended family is traditionally required to built the living hut for herself and future offspring, usually with weeds and manure. All the wives cared for all the kids. When we visited the Serengeti, I still have nightmares about finding a young child, probably 3 years old <> along side of the road, not an adult in sight. Our guide told us that there was an adult somewhere around and we continued onward. Finally, about ¼ of a mile down the road we saw a young man under a tree (assuming his father). We spoke to him briefly enough to learn that he didn’t know his age! Unbelievable huh???? We met another young man out in the open space, alone, and hunting. Only carrying a boda bag and a weapon of some sort. Our guide told us that the men may go away for long periods with only the boda with milk mixed with blood as nutrition during their hunts. Weird but the guy did speak broken English and told us he was working to get game or whatever for the DOWRY. He needed to meet some kind of goal to win over the girl he loved, parents. Yes, apparently, dowrys’ still exist in some cultures.

Sometimes, unfortunately, there is also tragedy. We heard of a rollover in a top-loaded jeepfrom a supplier group not far ahead of us. The involved vendor takes vacationers with camping equipment from place to place to set up camp every night (not my cup of tea thank goodness not our group). We learned it was reasonable, but I have to tell you.

The vast valley of the Serengeti does temp drivers to drive quickly…and that’s what happened.

Unfortunately, one of the travelers died in that accident. We felt relieved and a little spoiled that we had luxury tents along our tour itinerary. A better way to relax for sure.

So you can see why I write that Africa has varied cultures, food and experiences. Luxury tent trips, or roughing it through building your own camp each night. But it was the animals that drew us to Africa, ended up, it was the people and the culture that intrigued us the most. That was surprising.

The entire experience from food, to rivers, to Bush People, to the Muslim communities in Madagascar. We would return for sure to visit more of the countries within Africa. It was truly life changing. An experience I will never forget, images that will always be with me.

If you are a primarily beach type person, all-inclusive party type, I’m not so sure this would be the trip for you. But to sooo many, it is dream trip. It can be expensive, though it can be done reasonably. I would Not recommend trying to do such a trip totally independently. To travel there with a guide, whether independently contracted or an organized group tour, the trip will cost you less in the long run. You will learn more and discover experiences where a guide helps you to not miss anything. Sitting around a campfire in the evenings with other folks, we learned that if you decide to ‘wing it’ in Africa it would be opportunities missed that you didn’t know were out there. Having shared experiences allows us to learn doesn’t it?To be continued next month – the rest of our Africa trip Plus our Vietnam/Cambodia trip with some

American veterans who wanted to pilgrimage/return after so many years.

Happy Travels

(And don’t forget to send me your favorite vacation experiences for me to share in a future article)