I talked to another friend who went to Antarctica just this January (the one we considered going with). She said it was her number 1 trip she’s ever been on, and she’s been to lots of great places. (She used to get to go on “free” trips to exotic places through the company she bought products from).
When I mentioned some not getting to go on the island she said “yeah, it’s all about the weather…”.
They had the “Drake Lake” one way, and the “Drake Shakes” (40 foot swells) the other. She said she could live without doing that again, but it was an experience she’s glad she had.
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I’ll take the Drake Lake over the Drake Shakes any day of the week, but I guess you can’t know which you’ll get! I had a friend who went on a smaller boat, and she said that people onboard even broke bones. Haven’t heard that about the Scenic Eclipse, fortunately.
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The African safari was my absolute favorite trip. Australia and New Zealand was a close second. The far east trip was third. It was ok but didn’t find it all that wonderful.
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I would absolutely love to go to Africa, Australia or New Zealand, but Africa sounds the most interesting.
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I’m taken with a sudden urge to see Machu Picchu but have concerns about how difficult the walking is (would take transport to get to the site) and also oxygen. In the past, I was fine almost to the top of Pikes Peak but definitely felt the effects at the summit (14,000) and that was after several days in the mountains.
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LOL - We live at mile high location in Colorado, and we felt the effects at the summit (and heck, we were 25 years younger then).
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Machu Picchu is about 8,000 ft. We didn’t have much of an issue. We didn’t run around but walking was ok. We also didn’t climb the really high steep part but that was more knee related. The rest was fine.
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H and I talked about doing a European river cruise, but it didn’t happen. Just booked one today- S is going with me. ( and yes we know he will be 30 years younger than anyone else on the trip). He is fun to travel with and I get to do something I’ve wanted to do for awhile.
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We’ve done 2 river cruises, on both of them there were younger people. Some couples, more often extended family
Glad to hear your son and yourself are going!
What river are you doing?
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We are going on the Rhine ( my choice) in the fall. I’m very excited.
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We loved both of these trips! And we did both in our winter…which was their summer! Perfect. Bought ourselves a little extra summer both times.
Australia and New Zealand were amazing. Africa was too, but very different.
Where next? I’m looking at Bangkok, Bali and Beyond (Indonesia, and Malasia included). It would be a trip down memory lane for DH who lived in those places.
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We did the Rhine, loved it.
If you have the chance, spend a few days in Switzerland, see the Alps, they are magical!
We also loved Amsterdam.
It was one of our all time favorite vacations.
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On our recent trip there, it didn’t seem like much exercise, but there were some stairs. You can go at whatever pace you want. As others have mentioned, it’s not that high an altitude, however, you’ll fly into Cusco, which is over 11,000 ft. Our trip, they immediately bussed us down to Sacred Valley, which is a couple thousand feet lower. Definitely I would do that, and not stay in Cusco.
There was oxygen in Sacred Valley, that one of our group used. We stayed at Tambo del Inka, which is within the Marriott resort system and was quite lovely. They had their own private train that went up to Machu Picchu.
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Israel and Egypt have long been on my bucket list. I was booked to go on a “Following in the Footsteps of Jesus” group tour in spring 2024 that was cancelled after the Gaza War started. I’ve also booked a Viking Nile River cruise for November 2027 and now I’m wondering if that will happen. Viking just cancelled their Nile cruises for this March.
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@Corinthian I hope you get to do the Nile cruise sometime. Friends of mine did it last year and loved it.
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We took our kids on a Viking river cruise after my youngest kid’s graduation from college. Even though they were the youngest on board, they both loved it! They were both in their early 20’s. You will all have a fabulous time.
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It’s been so long since I have flown anywhere! Do you still have to take off shoes and limit liquids to little see-through bottles?
Shoes stay on unless they are very bulky or have extensive embellishments like buckles etc. but liquids are still limited to 100 mL.
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We just got back from flying, and we noticed that they allowed our large tube of toothpaste to go through, along with our big sunscreen bottle and hiking poles. Never gotten away with this before, so I was wondering if they’re just busy, not cracking down as much, have an imminent rule change, or if we just got lucky.
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Bit of a dilemma here, anyone have any thoughts?
I booked an Antarctica trip and made a deposit. The rest of it is due in a month. The remainder we have to pay is 32K, and with what’s happening in the world now, I don’t know if I feel good about spending that kind of money on a trip. Another issue is that I’ve become very interested in doing a Tanzania/Kenya safari, more interested than going to Antarctica. If I was to pick one big trip in the year, it would surely be that, and it’s cheaper.
So, if I wanted to, I could apply the deposit towards the Africa trip and come up with a lot less money than Antarctica. Or I could go with a different travel group and use the deposit for somewhere else with the original line (have to use the credit in two years).
Both trips seem epic, but if I was to choose one, it would be Africa. Then again, it would be in late September (supposedly a good time to go to those countries), but my husband is talking about going to Colorado than.
I’m in a quandary, as this is not clear.
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