Where In the World Is Ilene?

TRAVEL TIP: The Art of Packing

2009-11-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

I get questions all the time on packing tips. Because I travel so much, people assume I’m an expert on packing. I’m learning, but I’m certainly no expert. I make the same mistake as everyone else--I pack too much and say a few choice words because my suitcase is too heavy to carry.

When my children were growing up, and packing for a trip, they used to ask me all the time, “Mom, can I take ‘this’ or ‘that’ with me on the trip?” My answer was always the same: “You can take whatever you want, as long as you can carry it.” My daughters, now young women, remember those words and repeat them back to me quite often, particularly when I can’t pick up my own suitcase because I over packed

I recently read an article in our trade magazine ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) that had some good pointers that might prove useful when packing for future trips. It is particularly important now when most airlines are charging for checked luggage. Cutting down is the name of the game.

Make a packing list so you don’t forget anything. This list could also help with repacking --not to forget anything hanging behind the bathroom door or a pair of shoes under the bed. Also, if you are one of those unfortunate few who have their luggage lost or stolen, you have a list of the contents for insurance purposes.

Think about where you’re going and plan your wardrobe accordingly. Are you going on a bicycle trip through France, a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean, a business meeting in Chicago or river rafting in Colorado? Consider the events you will participate in, both day and night, and write down what you will need for the different activities. Crosscheck your packing list to see if one piece can be worn with more than one outfit. Pick clothes that coordinate well together.

Over the years my travel wardrobe is basically black, with colorful accessories. Black hides a multitude of sins, and it also matches my shoes. I try hard to get away with two pairs of shoes: shoes for walking and a pair of sandals or flats to change into for the evening. Depending on the trip, I may include my hiking boots.

Since I often have to carry my own suitcase, I long ago stopped packing an outfit for every occasion. Also, since most of my trips are over two weeks, I have started using the hotel ‘s laundry facilities. It can get expensive, but it sure beats packing 14 different outfits. I always pack a windbreaker with a hood and a jacket/sweater. For outdoor activities I layer my clothes to be prepared for cooler weather.

By making a list, I have a good idea what I want to take. Next, I start laying everything out in my guestroom. Actually, I may start a week before the trip and when I remember something, I put it with the other items. Once everything is laid out, I go over my itinerary again and try to eliminate what I think I can live without.

Over the years I have tried folding my clothes, layering my clothes, and using those space-saver airtight bags. The article I just read suggests ironing everything first, then button all buttons, zip all zippers and fold your clothes like they do in the stores. Also, using a piece of tissue paper when folding your clothes helps prevent wrinkling. That seems like a lot of work to me. Again, check your itinerary and think chronologically, placing the items to be worn first on the top. Eliminate wasted space by possibly rolling t-shirts or putting socks and underwear in the insides of shoes.

Several months ago I found a great travel bag at a container store. This bag can be folded flat and has at least 15 pockets of different shapes and sizes. I have my toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, make-up, tweezers, aspires, band-aids, body lotion, liquid soap, deodorant, sunscreen, hair gel, hair spray, etc. This bag always stays packed and after each trip, I refill everything. Now, with the new rules about carrying liquids on board, I put this travel bag in my checked luggage.

Thank goodness for digital cameras. Not having to pack rolls and rolls of film saves me lots of room in my carry-on. I do pack my camera accessories, i.e. a battery charger and lenses and even my laptop computer in my carry-on. I used to carry a corkscrew, a Swiss army knife and razor in the bag, but that is now packed separately in my checked baggage and stays in the suitcase to be used on my next trip. I also keep a small umbrella and rain cape packed, just in case.

As for jewelry, leave the flashy stuff at home. Once again, it depends on where you’re going. In most deluxe hotels and on cruise ships, there is a safe in the room (or cabin), and expensive jewelry can be locked up. If you were going to a third world country, where there is lots of poverty, I definitely would leave my good jewelry home. It doesn’t pay to advertise, or better yet, don’t take what you don’t want to lose.

Always carry travel documents, medications, jewelry and your passport in your carry-on luggage. Label each piece of luggage, inside and out, with your name and telephone number, not your address. I actually put my business card in my luggage tag. Remove old airline tags to avoid confusion. I carry my passport, credit cards and cash on my body, in a holder that fits around my neck. There are several different types of travel holders that fit around your waist or under your arm. Find one that is comfortable for you and if there is not a safe in your room, I’d definitely carry my passport, cash and credit cards with me.

Throughout the years I have learned lots of tricks that make traveling a little easier. I always carry extra zip-lock plastic bags for a wet bathing suit or a bottle of lotion that might leak. I also use disposable shower caps to cover my shoes to protect my clothes. I bring pre-addressed labels that I can stick on postcards. I pack one or two wire coat hangers for drying clothes. I always carry a small bottle of anti-bacterial soap in my pocket.

If you have helpful hints on packing or information you’ve gathered over the years that could prove helpful, please let me know. I’ll gladly pass on your information.

Have a great trip.

TRAVEL TIP: Better Safe Than Sorry

2009-11-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

In the past few years I’ve written several articles on travel safety. Sometimes we get lax and in a rush to get ready for a trip, we sometimes forget the basics.

When I travel I tend to use credit cards and a debit card whenever I can. Before I leave home I always call my credit card companies and tell them where I am going and the dates I am traveling. I always take more than one credit card; if I should lose one I don’t want to be stranded far away from home without a credit card for unexpected expenses. I do not sign the back of my credit cards. Instead, I write photo I.D. required. That will certainly make it harder for someone to walk into Neiman Marcus in Dallas or Harrods in London and buy that diamond bracelet they always wanted! Seriously, every time you use your credit card having to show photo identification is an added safety factor.

I also make sure I have a photocopy of everything in my wallet--driver’s license, credit cards (both front and back,) insurance cards, etc. Not only will I have the account numbers if my wallet is stolen, I will also have the numbers to call to report the loss. I do not carry my social security card with me. Most of us know our social security numbers and that is not a valid form of identification. Someone who steals your wallet could do serious damage if they also have your social security number.

I recently read in a travel magazine that if your wallet is stolen and you lose credit cards, you should also call the three national credit reporting organizations (Equifax: 800-525-6285, Experian: 888-397-3742 and Trans Union: 800-680-7289) and place a fraud alert on your name as well as the Social Security fraud line (800-269-0271.) If thieves decide to buy a big-ticket item, this could prevent serious damage to your credit and stop the thieves dead in their tracks.

In many developing countries it isn’t always practical using credit or debit cards. In the larger cities there are ATM machines in most banks, but not in small, rural villages. Sometimes carrying cash is a necessity. When shopping at flea markets in Botswana or Honduras, it’s important to have cash in the local currency. Sometimes lots of one-dollar bills come in handy. When carrying cash I always wear a money belt. I do carry a small amount of money for purchases in my pockets or in a purse with a strap that goes across my chest. I also pin a small change purse to the inside of my jacket or blouse. I don’t ever open my money belt in public…that is asking for trouble.

If there is a safe in my hotel room, I leave my passport, but always have a copy with me. Depending on what I’m doing for the day, I will also leave my money belt, credit cards, airline tickets, etc.

Another safety tip I recently read about was locking your car with your automatic door lock on your key. Most of us get out of our car, key in hand, press the locking mechanism and walk away. Apparently thieves have discovered a way to clone your security code when locking your door automatically. This has been working well at tourist attractions and shopping malls when thieves know you will be gone for a while. The police suggest manually lock your car door by hitting the lock button inside your car or using the key itself to lock the door. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

A word about hotel reservations. I know many people like to wing it and don’t want to be tied to a set itinerary. However, trying to find a hotel room at midnight isn’t fun either. When my daughter Erin and I were driving across country several years ago, we arrived in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at 9:00 pm and there wasn’t a hotel room to be found. The entire city was sold out. When I realized we would have to drive to Madison, Wisconsin, a two hour drive, I picked up my AAA book and started calling major hotel chains, i.e. Days Inn, Holiday Inn, Courtyard, etc. There was very little available, but we did manage to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express, arriving at midnight. The moral of the story: once you decide on your destination for the night, go online or call ahead and make reservations. Most people stop between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm and hotels sell out. Guaranteeing your reservation to a credit card will guarantee you a place to stay, even if you arrive at 9:00 pm.

One quick word about jewelry…leave the good stuff home!! Seriously, if you are traveling to third world or developing countries, or anywhere, for that matter, there’s no reason to be flashing your two-carat diamond ring. I have had clients look at me and tell me they haven’t had their wedding ring off in 20 years, and they don’t want to take it off now. I understand the sentimentality, but wearing jewelry when traveling attracts too much attention and puts you and the group in a precarious position.

I think the best word of advice is to use your intuition and be smart. Be aware of where you are and who is around you. Traveling is fun and going new places is exciting. Be safe.

TRAVEL TIP: Health Tips for Traveling Abroad

2009-10-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

I realize I write a travel column, not a family column. However, when you are sidetracked with a knee replacement, and not traveling, a family column sounds pretty good. The “Cox” family have been in the paper several times this past month; thank you for all your wonderful comments and letting me share the happy events in our lives.

In the past eight years, the majority of my travels have been to developing or third world countries. I’m often asked if I experienced any health problems while traveling, and are there any “secret remedies” to avoid the usual travel maladies.

I have no secret remedies or family recipes to avoid the typical travel woes, but I do pass on lots of advice for those going to a developing country.

The first thing I suggest is to see your family doctor to make sure you have no health problems that would be difficult to treat far from home. Next, I suggest you go to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website: www.cdc.gov/travel/ to see if any vaccinations are needed. You can also check with a local travel clinic for the same information (Loma Linda Travel Clinic, 909-558-4594.) If vaccinations are suggested, it’s best to start several weeks or even months in advance. Some vaccines don’t reach their highest protection until six weeks after the injection. Some viral diseases, i.e. Hepatitis A, require multiple vaccinations at timed intervals. This is also a good time to update routine immunizations, i.e. polio and tetanus-diphtheria. Living in the United States, many diseases have been eradicated, however, that is not the case in many developing countries.

If you’re going to a country with a risk of malaria, the travel clinic, or your personal physician will prescribe anti-malaria medication. Remember to start taking your malaria medicine before you leave on your trip, take it during your travels and keep taking it after you get home. There are several different types of malaria medicine; some you take once a week, others you take daily. Tell the doctor your travel destination, which will determine the type of malaria medicine you need to take. Once you have all the required immunizations, make sure to keep your immunization record with your passport, in case you’re required to show proof of vaccinations in order to enter a country.

The most common problem when traveling in third world countries is travelers’ diarrhea. Even if you follow all the rules: drink only bottled water, avoid ice, don’t eat fruits or vegetables that can’t be peeled, use bottled water to brush your teeth, avoid eating foods from street vendors, don’t eat raw or undercooked seafood or meats, etc., etc., I’m not sure you can totally avoid a day or two of discomfort. It happens to the best of us. Eve John got sick in India and I managed to be down for a day in Vietnam. In both places we received excellent care and managed to be back with the group the next day. In most cases a little Pedialyte will help. I recently read that taking Pepto Bismol four times a day while traveling is a good prophylaxis for travelers’ diarrhea. My only other suggestion is to pack some Imodium and hope for the best.

Whenever I travel, I do have my own personal first-aid kit, which definitely includes both Imodium and Pepto Bismol. I also carry antacids, cough and cold medications, Tylenol, ibuprofen, a decongestant and antihistamine for allergies, some antibiotic ointment and hydrocortisone cream for bites, Band-Aids and moleskin for blisters. If you’re going on a cruise or even traveling on a bus over winding roads, make sure you have some Dramamine or Bonine for motion sickness. Also, I always pack sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, lip balm and a good insect repellent that contains DEET. I also carry anti-bacterial cleanser in my pocket, i.e. Purell, and use it throughout the day as needed. According to every article I’ve read on international travel, hand washing is one of the most important practices in preventing illness from infection. In fact, I’ve become so paranoid I even carry Purell in my purse at home and use it several times a day, particularly if I’m not near a restroom.

International travelers should be aware that medical care in some countries might only be available in larger cities and at private clinics. I do recommend buying travel insurance that includes trip cancellation for medical reasons, medical care in case of illness, hospitalization and emergency medical transportation. If you cancel your trip due to illness, or become ill overseas, you must see a doctor in order to be reimbursed for your trip, or the unused portion of the trip. Keep all your receipts.

If you take prescription drugs, make sure you pack enough for the duration of your trip, and have an extra prescription in case of emergency. If you have allergies or are allergic to certain medications, or have a medical condition, I strongly suggest wearing a medical information bracelet. One of my clients, highly allergic to peanuts, learns the word for peanut in the language of the country she’s visiting. In China, she had our guide write out a sentence, in Chinese, that let the restaurants know she could not have any foods with peanuts or peanut oil. If you wear prescription eyewear, make sure to bring an extra pair of contacts or glasses. I always pack two pairs of sunglasses. I found out the hard way that trying to buy a pair of sunglasses in the middle of the Amazon rainforest is impossible!

Traveling to third world countries is interesting, educational, fun and sometimes challenging. The joy of traveling to far off and exotic places is more than compensation for having to take a few vaccinations in order to make travel safer. My philosophy is, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Have a good trip.

Happy First Birthday, Sarah Bina!

2009-10-13T12:39:00.001-07:00

Over the years I’ve been known by lots of monikers--mom, chauffer, cook, circus club president, travel agent, Kiwanian, travel writer, mother-in-law and grandma, to name just a few. By far, grandma is my favorite!

I was on my way to Portugal, via New Jersey, when I received the call that my daughter, Heather, had gone into labor. I arrived at the hospital shortly after Sarah Bina was born and I knew then and there, she had my heart forever. It’s hard to believe it has been a year since Sarah Bina was born--October 5, 2008. I decided that being a grandmother definitely gives me bragging rights, so this column is dedicated to Sarah Bina’s first birthday. Sarah is my first grandchild and is named after my mother, who died in 2006. In this picture, my mother is framed by my daughters, Heather (left) and Erin (right) with me above.Among Ashkenazi Jews (Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe,) it is customary to name children after a deceased relative. This is a way of honoring that person and keeping their memory alive. Naming a child is one of the most important decisions new parents make. The Talmud (Berachot 7b) teaches that a Hebrew name has an influence on its bearer. Hence, it is extremely important to name your children after individuals with positive character traits who have led fortunate lives and have helped bring goodness to the world. My mother, who died at age 89, was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. Bina, her middle name, is a Hebrew name that means understanding, intelligence and wisdom.

Over the past year I have visited Passaic Park, New Jersey, where Heather, Rob and Sarah Bina make their home. Only 30 minutes from downtown Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel (20 minutes by train or express bus,) Passaic Park is an old town with beautiful, large, wooden-frame houses, parks, and shopping centers nearby. It is also a town in transition with a growing, young observant community. There are several synagogues and religious schools, a kosher market and a kosher bakery within a half-mile of their home. It is a common sight to see women pushing strollers to and from the main shopping area or out and about on “Shabbat” (Sabbat begins on Friday evening at sundown and is over on Saturday evening at sundown.) There are even three kosher restaurants in Passaic--a Chinese restaurant, a deli and a pizza parlor. Traffic in Passaic is light since most residents commute into Manhattan by bus or train. The biggest traffic jam I saw was the abundance of strollers parked outside the synagogue on Simchat Torah (The Joy of the Torah--the celebration of the completion of and the beginning of the “Reading of the Torah.”) It was definitely a joyous occasion and entire families were celebrating at the synagogue.

Most of my trips back east are in combination with groups I am taking to Europe. I usually go three or four days early and spend time with Sarah. When I’m not traveling, I go on the web cam every Sunday and Sarah and I “chat.” In the following photograph you can see her delight with the phone!I got to see when she first started crawling and when she pulled herself up on the bookcase. I’m waiting for her to start walking --that should be any day now. This year Sarah, along with her parents, visited California twice--the last time was this past September for her Auntie Erin’s wedding.

Happy birthday, Sarah Bina! I’ll see you in November for Thanksgiving.

Heather, Sarah Bina, and Rob Tzall:

Erin's Wedding

2009-10-13T12:31:00.001-07:00

You never know what will happen when you board an airplane.

These past several weeks have been hectic, to say the least. Closing my physical office, opening my cyber office and having to learn the technology that keeps me in continuous contact with my clients has been a challenge. (If cut you off, I do apologize.) Once I get my Blackberry in sync with my laptop and Bluetooth, I’ll be a happy camper.

Add a wedding and a total knee replacement to the mixture and my life has been a bit stressful. My knee surgery went fine (thank you, Dr. Gustafson,) and I am home recovering, learning to walk straight, and to bend my knee at a 120 degree angle. Another challenge.

But this article is not about my tech or knee problems, it is about a love story that culminated in the wedding of my youngest daughter, Erin Allison Cox on September 6, 2009. Erin grew up in Redlands and between the Great Y Circus and cheerleading at Redlands High School, was active in the Redlands community. Erin graduated from RHS in 1998, and continued her education at the University of California at Davis followed by four years of medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Like her mother and sister, Heather Cox Tzall, Erin inherited the “travel gene” and has worked and traveled in many third world countries, including, Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba and Uganda.

This love story actually began in June, 2007, when Erin, upon medical school graduation, was assigned by the US Army to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to begin her four-year residency in OB/Gyn. Earlier that April, knowing her assignment, Erin traveled to San Antonio to buy a small condo since she would be living there for at least four years. The condo was to be refurbished and available the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, when Erin and I planned to fly back to San Antonio to start the moving-in process. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) we received notice two days prior to our travels that the condo would not close until the Tuesday after the Memorial Day weekend. I could not go with her at that time so Erin changed her reservations and left on her own from Ontario on Monday. When she changed planes in Las Vegas, she sat next to a friendly couple from San Antonio: Denise and Joe Haley. They talked all the way back to San Antonio, and by the time the plane landed, Joe and Denise had taken Erin under their wing. They drove her to Ft. Sam Houston that evening, they waited for her household goods to be delivered a few days later when Erin was back in New York for graduation, and they helped her with the delivery of her new couch a week later. To Erin, and to me, 1500 miles away, Joe and Denise were a godsend.

Their friendship continued and three months after Erin moved to San Antonio, Denise asked her if she would like to be fixed up with the son of a friend--a young man who worked in the local DA’s office. The rest is history. On September 6, 2007, Erin had a blind date with Shane Patrick Keyser, an assistant D.A. with the District Attorney’s office in San Antonio, Texas.Shane was born and raised in the San Antonio area. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and, after traveling and working a couple of years, completed his law school education at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. Shane has a younger brother, Mike Keyser, and a younger sister, Erin Keyser Davis. His parents and grandmother also live in San Antonio.

After dating for exactly two years, Erin and Shane were married at the home of Bill and Marjorie Handel on Sunday, September 6, 2009. Bill performed the ceremony and, as expected, was full of humor and yet very sentimental since Marjorie has known Erin since birth and Bill has known her almost as long.Erin’s attendants included Heather Cox Tzall, New Jersey, Dr. Lisa Levine, New York, Rebecca Dengrove, New York, Cheryl Concannon Lynch, San Diego and Stacy Ellsworth, Redlands. Groomsmen were Mike Keyser, San Antonio, Chris Parker, Dallas, John Muller, San Antonio Patrick Ehemann, Virginia and David Deleon, San Antonio.
This is a love story, but also a story how travel can build new and long lasting friendships.

TRAVEL TIP: Working in Cyberspace & Luggage Update

2009-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

I first want to thank Janet Landfried for writing the Travel Tips column these past several weeks. Her articles on Southeast Asia were wonderful and it definitely makes me want to go back.I have moved from my physical office on State Street to a world of computers, Blackberry’s and phones that are not at all sure how and where they are suppose to ring and also seem to be dropping calls. The world of technology is still a mystery to me and I think at my age I’m on the downward slope of the learning curve. It’s interesting how a dot, dash, or slash communicates something totally different to the computer than I had in mind. And having to learn a completely new airline computer system has been a daunting challenge. For over 20 years I have worked on Apollo, the United Airlines network. Travel of America uses Sabre, a division of American Airlines. The only saving grace in the whole mess is the city abbreviations are the same in both computer systems: LAX is still Los Angeles, YUL is still Montreal and SMF is still Sacramento. (I always remembered that abbreviation because for many years I called the people working in our state capital Smurfs--little blue men from outer space.) But that is about the only thing that is similar!! Thank you for you patience during the changeover. If I’ve “dropped” your call, it isn’t that I don’t want to talk to you, it’s somewhere in cyberspace trying to find the right “static IP address.”
In many ways it’s been lovely. I can now take more time with individual clients, share a cup of coffee going over documents and have fun planning vacations and putting together new and different itineraries. With my daughter, Erin, getting married over the Labor Day weekend, it has definitely given me more time to help her and do a lot of the foot work. In June, Erin started her third year of residency in OB/GYN at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. As a Captain in the U.S. Army, Erin gets very little time off and since she is getting married in Los Angeles, I have done a lot of the calling, planning and running. All mothers of the bride will certainly understand!!!

I now sit in front of my world map and dream. Where next? I know people think I have been everywhere, but there are still lots and lots of places I haven’t been and would love to visit. I haven’t been to Japan. I haven’t been to Transylvania to see Dracula’s Castle. I haven’t been to Greenland, Iceland, or Norway. There is still much of South America I would love to see plus a Gorilla Trek in Rwanda is still a dream of mine. That actually may be possible in August, 2010. Mostly it’s been my knees preventing me from going. According to my daughter, Erin, who was on a trek four years ago when living in Uganda, it is rough terrain and can take from one to eight hours to get to the gorilla families. But, come mid-September I will have my first bionic knee and hopefully my second in December. By April, I’ll be ready for my Turkey group (visiting Cappadocia will be a breeze) and by August I’ll be ready for Kenya, with a side trip to Rwanda.

Several months ago, before my trip to Australia in April, I wrote an article on luggage and bought some new lightweight luggage for the trip. Since then I have received several calls about the luggage, asking me the brand name and where I purchased it. I purchased it through the Internet: www.DiscountLuggage.com. The name of the luggage is Hawa SUB -0-G.

It is lightweight. The 26” case weighs only 5.5 pounds compared to the same size luggage by Pathfinder, which weights 13.5 pounds. However, I did find some problems with the lighter suitcase and would not recommend it. I found the biggest problem to be no handle on the side. Usually a suitcase has a handle on top, along with a pullout handle to help with rolling the suitcase, plus a handle on the side to pick it up to put in a trunk or on a train, etc. When a suitcase weighs 50 pounds I found it awkward to pick it up by the top handle, particularly if you are short. Even at the airline counter, when I put it on the scale to check in, it was awkward for them to put it on the conveyor belt without the side handle.

There are other brands of lightweight luggage. The LA Times did an article on the Hawa luggage and I though it looked good. It does look good, it just isn’t practical for me or anyone under 5’5.”

I’ve also been asked about the next Bill Handel trip. We really haven’t set a date. Most likely it will be a river cruise between Amsterdam and Budapest in June, 2010. I should know more in the next few weeks and will put it on my blog--www.WhereInTheWorldIsIlene.blogspot.com. I’m also putting a link on my blog to Travel of America’s new website. They have some awesome specials on cruises. They even have a rail/cruise package for those people who like to cruise, but not fly to get to the cruise.

Speaking of cruises, even when we book your air as part of your cruise package, you still have to pay for checked luggage at the airline counter. Very few airlines have free checked luggage. Southwest, Alaska and Jet Blue were still allowing a free checked bag, but don’t quote me! Check with the airline before going to the airport. Rules and regulations literally change overnight. This topic came up several weeks ago when some clients were surprised they had to pay to check their suitcases. Get use to it --I don’t seen it changing anytime soon.

Another reminder. If you are going out of the country please call your credit card company. With all the fraud going on they want to make sure you are the one using your credit card. If all of a sudden a charge is made in Bogotá, Columbia, and no one notified the company of your vacation itinerary, I guarantee they will not let the charge go through. Save yourself time, call your credit card company before leaving home.

Take care over the Labor Day weekend!

TRAVEL TIP: Are You a Passport Procrastinator?

2009-07-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Not another column on passports! How many times can you tell people they need a passport to travel outside the United States? Apparently, it still hasn’t sunk in. Of course, it doesn’t help when the government keeps changing the rules.

The final phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect June 1, 2009. It very clearly states that U.S. citizens must present a passport book, a passport card or another document approved by the U.S. government when entering the United States by land or by sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

I’m not sure if it was the cruise companies or the cruise passengers that complained the loudest, but a tiny loophole was created. U.S. citizens who board a cruise ship at a port within the United States, travel only within the Western Hemisphere and return to the same U.S. port on the same ship may present government-issued photo identification (i.e. a drivers license,, along with proof of citizenship such as an original copy of his or her birth certificate, a consular report of birth abroad, or a certificate of naturalization.

This type of cruise is called a closed-loop cruise. So, for all you cruisers who love the three-, four- and seven-day cruises to Mexico out of Los Angeles or a short hop to the Bahamas out of Miami, or even a Canadian cruise (as long as it comes to the same port in the U.S.) have a temporary reprieve. However, keep in mind that you could be refused entrance into a foreign country without a passport card or a passport book. And, if there is an emergency and you need to fly back to the U.S., you will not be permitted to board the plane without a passport.

One day the government is really going to mean what it says--all U. S. citizens will need to have a passport if they plan to travel to foreign lands, including Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Save yourself a headache-- apply for a passport, or at least a passport card if you frequently go to Mexico or Canada. According to Ann at the passport office on Brookside, it is now taking four to six weeks to get a passport. A rush order takes two to three weeks. If you want to plan a trip or it’s an emergency and you need to depart within 14 days, you can make an appointment at the Los Angeles Passport Office (1-877-487-2778.) You will need proof you are leaving the country such as an airline ticket or trip itinerary. If you are really desperate you can contact a private company that will walk your application through, usually the same day. Be prepared to pay dearly for that service.

There are also some updated requirements for children and groups. Children under 16, who are U.S. citizens entering the U.S. by land or by sea from “contiguous territory” (Mexico or Canada,) may present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a naturalization certificate or a Canadian citizenship card.

Children under 19 traveling in groups, including school groups, religious groups, social or cultural organizations or sports teams, who are entering the U.S. by land or by sea from contiguous territory may present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a naturalization certificate or a Canadian citizenship card. Hopefully no one will need to fly back to the U.S. because without a passport, they will not be able to board a flight. These new regulations only apply when entering or leaving the U.S. by land or by sea.

Last week my article was about Redlands Travel Service moving from its present location on West State Street. I received several phone calls from clients who don’t own computers and still prefer to use a telephone or meet face to face. That’s great. Our phone numbers will not change and I always enjoy meeting with clients. You will receive the same personalized service plus enjoy the benefits of being affiliated with Travel of America. Between my computer and my cell phone, I can always be reached.

A Brighter Tomorrow

2009-07-10T08:50:00.001-07:00

For several months there have been rumors that Redlands Travel is closing its doors. That is not the case. Times are changing and so is Redlands Travel Service. On the first of August we are moving from our physical space to cyberspace. It simply makes more sense. We have found that the majority of our clients are already communicating with us online or by phone. Thanks to cell phones and laptop computers, we can now work from anywhere (my granddaughter, Sarah Bina, is growing much too fast and this will definitely enable me to travel to New Jersey every few months so she will know her grandma!)Don’t worry; you will still receive the same personalized service, the same quality products and the same expertise that has made Redlands Travel Service your choice to see the world. For our clients who enjoy meeting with us in person, we will gladly arrange a time to meet with you to review your travel documents, future travel plans, or to answer any of your travel related questions.In order to broaden our approach to travel and enhance future trips, we have affiliated with Travel of America, an agency with which we have worked on many occasions planning the Bill Handel trips. Travel of America shares our commitment to personalized service and uses many of the same companies with whom we have worked with for many years.We are also updating our website, www.RedlandsTravelService.com. On the site we are adding new features and information and will include the pictorial journal of past trips, formally seen on my blog, WhereInTheWorldIsIlene.blogspot.com. Click the comment box and let me know when you cyber visit.

I keep using the term we. Peggy Jacinto, whom I have worked with for over 20 years, will continue to work with me. You can still reach us at the same familiar numbers:

909-792-8100 and
800-339-8417.

My e-mail is ilenecox@hotmail.com.

Peggy can be reached at 4peggyj@verizon.net.

Our new mailing address, as of August, will be
700 E. Redlands Blvd., Suite U407,
Redlands, CA 92373.

I will still continue traveling and writing my Travel Tips column. Look for articles on Turkey in October, Whale Watching in Baja in February, a wonderful river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest (part of the Bill Handel series) in June and a Kenya safari in late August.We are excited about this next chapter in travel. We look forward to working with you on your future travel plans.

AUSTRALIA #8 -Farewell!

2009-07-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our last two days in Sydney. We were up bright and early for our outing to Featherdale Wildlife Park, the Blue Mountains and to Leura Village for lunch. Since we had already been to Kangaroo Island and saw an abundance of animals in their natural environment, we scoffed at the thought of seeing animals in a “zoo-like” environment. It was fabulous.

Kangaroos and wallabies were bouncing around the park and koalas were smiling for pictures from their perch in a eucalyptus tree. In one area you could actually feed and pet the kangaroos and wallabies. When they had “had it” with tourists, they bounced off to a roped off area where no tourists were permitted. We even saw a wallaby with a joey in her pouch, sticking its head out to check out his new surroundings. So cute!!!

We walked through the park, amazed at the abundance of animals and the interesting and well-kept areas in which they were housed. I finally saw a tasmanian devil…strange looking with a disproportionate head and prominent jaw and teeth.

I also saw an albino kangaroo for the first time. I didn’t even know they existed. And I finally saw a Glossy Black Cockatoo (we looked in Kangaroo Island but never did find one in the wild.) It was an amazing morning and none of us wanted to leave the park. If you’re planning an outing outside Sydney, Featherdale Wildlife Park is a must. If you’re an animal person plan for at least two to three hours, you won’t be disappointed.

Next on our agenda were the Blue Mountains and the famous “Three Sisters” rock formation. The Tree Sisters is one of several well-known natural attractions, a unique sandstone rock formation towering above the Jamison Valley at Echo Point. The name of the formation is from an Aboriginal legend about three sisters who fell in love with three brothers from another tribe, whom they were not allowed to marry. This caused a tribal battle. To make the story short, in order to protect the three sisters they were turned into stone by a witchdoctor. It was supposed to be a temporary spell, but the witchdoctor died and no one could reverse the spell. I love these romantic tales.

The Blue Mountain region is absolutely beautiful with many hiking trails, waterfalls and amazing rock formations. While most tourists come out to see the Three Sisters rock formation, there are lots of places to visit if you have the time and enjoy the great outdoors. On our way back to Sydney we stopped for a late lunch in Leura, a small village with quaint shops and a really nice restaurant, the Bon Ton.

Sunday, our last day in Sydney. Carolyn Groves and I walked down to the Rocks, near the base of the Harbour Bridge, to an artisan outdoor market that stretched on for blocks.

Several members of the group visited the Sydney Aquarium and spent the afternoon in Darling Harbour. And then there was Dave and Lisa Lunzer and Sabina and Alan Duke, who had reservations to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 11:00 that morning.

I’m glad to report that all went well and they had a great time on the climb. They reported in at 10:30, changed into the grey climbing suit and met with the other eight brave souls for an orientation meeting and a class on Bridge Climbing 101!!! According to the climbers, the view was magnificent, the climb down a bit scary, and the exaltation and realization that they actually climbed 440 feet above Sydney Harbour, priceless. Check out their smiling faces--they really enjoyed the climb. If you are planning a trip to Sydney the cost of the climb is $125 (AUS) per person and reservations are a must.
We met for cocktails at 6:00 that evening at the Shangri-La lounge to share our days’ adventures and then to the Summit Restaurant for our farewell dinner. The restaurant was delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed the revolving 360-degree view of the city skyline. According to Lisa and Sabina, it was a lot easier seeing the view from the restaurant and taking the elevator up 47 floors than it was climbing the bridge that morning!!!

Usually after a three-week trip I’m ready to head home. I wasn’t ready to leave Australia. The trip was wonderful from the rainforests and reefs of Cairns to the bright lights and excitement of Sydney. For nature lovers to city slickers, Australia has something for everyone.

AUSTRALIA #7 - Sydney, the Heartbeat of Australia

2009-06-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

We flew into Sydney in the late afternoon. I had mixed emotions. I didn’t want to leave Tasmania, yet I was excited to get to Sydney. It also meant our trip was coming to an end.
We stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel in the historic Rocks area overlooking Sydney Harbor and the Sydney Opera House. The view from our room was spectacular.Once settled in the hotel we walked down the hill to Circular Quay, a lively area with parks, boutiques and restaurants and a great place to people watch. It is also the transportation hub for ferries and trains coming into the city and is quite near the Opera House.

The following morning we were off early for a tour of the city. Our first stop--the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of Australia's most well known and photographed landmarks. It is the world's largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 440 feet above the harbour. The bridge opened for traffic in March, 1932. Four people in the group had reservations to climb the bridge the following Sunday. It was interesting to see their reaction as our guide talked about the bridge and the height over the water.Our next stop was Darling Harbour, a large recreational and pedestrian area near Chinatown in downtown Sydney. On my first trip to Sydney in 1999 we stayed in the Darling Harbour area and it was fun with all the restaurants and tourist attractions close by. Since 1999 the area has doubled in size. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, a venue for the 2000 Summer Olympic, contributed to the area’s popularity along with several other major facilities including the Sydney Aquarium, the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Imax Theater, among others.The last stop on our morning tour was Bondi Beach, well known among surfers worldwide. It became a household name during the 2000 Summer Olympics as the venue for volleyball. It has a beautiful white sandy beach and lots of cafes and restaurants, a popular nightspot for the younger crowd.Absolutely no trip to Sydney would be complete without a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It is probably the most recognizable building in the world as well as the most famous performing arts center in the world. The tour of the Opera House was wonderful.The planning of the Opera House actually began in the late 1940s. A competition was launched in September 1955 to find the best design for a multi-functional performing arts center. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000 and a small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses including full-scale operas, orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings, lectures, ballet performances and other presentations. The winner, announced in 1957, was Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect.The estimated cost of the project was seven million dollars with a time estimate of three years. The Sydney Opera House opened its doors on October 20, 1973, 93 million dollars over budget and taking 14 years to build. Jorn Utzon, the architect, was ahead of his time. His original design was structurally impossible to build. After several long and frustrating years Utzon finally altered his design and gave the roof vaults a defined spherical geometry. This enabled the roofs to be constructed in a pre-cast fashion, greatly reducing both time and cost.The construction problem’s continued and were compounded when a new government was elected in NSW (New South Wales) in 1965, partly on the campaign promise to "do something" about the cost overruns with the Opera House." The new government refused to agree to Utzon’s new design ideas and proposed construction methods. In February. 1966, Utzon was forced to resign as stage II was nearing completion. A team of Australian architects took over and after an extensive review of the proposed functions of the building, proceeded with its completion. Utzon went back to Denmark. He was not invited to the grand opening in 1973. In later years there was a reconciliation and Utzon was hired as a consultant for a new addition to the Opera House. In June, 2007, the Sydney Opera House was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jorn Utzon died in Copenhagen in November, 2008, at the age of 90, having never seen in person his masterpiece come to life for the world to enjoy.
The Opera House tour is an hour and cost approximately $25.00, less if you order online. Since we had tickets for a concert that same evening we strolled along the waterfront and had dinner at the very popular Opera House Bar, overlooking the Harbour Bridge.
The concert, Sense and Sensibility, from Bizet to Debussy, was fabulous and being in the Concert Hall made it even more special. A perfect ending to a wonderful day in Sydney.
Join me next week as we venture outside the city to Featherdale Wildlife Park and a tour of the Blue Mountains.

AUSTRALIA #6 - Cradle Mountain: The Great Outdoors in Tasmania

2009-06-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

When I first started planning my trip to Australia, the company I worked with suggested a week in Tasmania. I, of course, said no because there were just too many other places I wanted to see on the mainland. I should have listened--or at least spent more than four days on the island. Tasmania is beautiful with lots to see and do all year around.
After two nights in Hobart we left early in the morning for Cradle Mountain--Lake St Clair National Park, a World Heritage area in central Tasmania. After being on the move for the past two weeks the thought of a restful two days surrounded by Mother Nature was a real plus. From Hobart it took us about six hours driving through small towns and some beautiful wilderness areas.

We stopped for lunch in Sheffield, a small town with a nice restaurant for lunch and a great country store with everything from groceries to ski equipment. The weather had turned cold (not typical fall weather in Tasmania) and we took the opportunity to shop for scarves and gloves.
By the time we arrived at Cradle Mountain Lodge, the skies looked ominous but it wasn’t snowing, and for that we were thankful.We checked into our “cabins” and for the next two days we were free to do some hiking, mountain trekking, have a massage or just sit and enjoy the great outdoors.I learned that my good friend, Carolyn Groves, had been a camper in her youth and could actually build a fire in the pot-bellied stove in our cabin. I was impressed. We would have frozen to death if it had been left to me!!The group actually did it all. The park covers more than 650 square miles of wilderness area with stunning gorges, lakes, and mountains plus a vast variety of wildlife.There are hiking trails throughout the park, which you can pick and choose, depending on your fitness level. Carolyn and I did a combination tour and hike that ended at Lake St. Clair, Australia’s deepest freshwater lake.
The scenery was magnificent and we even saw a wombat and echidna scurrying across the trail. Wombats are marsupials and look like small, furry bears with short legs. For some reason I always thought wombats were like beavers and spent most of their time in the water. They spend all their time on land digging extensive burrow systems and are vegetarians.

The Echidna, which we first saw on Kangaroo Island, looks like a cross between a porcupine and an anteater. They are actually egg laying mammals and live on a diet of ants and termites, but are not related to the anteater species. Being an animal person I was really excited when our guide spotted the echidna.
We were actually on the lookout for a Tasmanian Devil (a carnivorous marsupial that smells bad, has a loud screech and is about the size of a small dog), but we never did find one, even on our nocturnal tour.

Day two we spent relaxing and enjoying the amenities of the lodge, including a massage in the spa adjacent to the lodge. For a long time I sat on the balcony of our cabin with my binoculars, hoping to do some bird watching. Apparently, when the weather turned cold the birds headed north (Southern hemisphere) and I mostly saw blackbirds, which I thought were crows but were actually Currawongs, not part of the Australian crow family (thank you Terry Davitt Powell and her knowledge of crows.)
In the afternoon, on one of the many trails around the lodge, we did find a wallaby taking a nap and enjoying the few minutes when the sun peaked through the clouds. He blended in so well we passed him.

The people behind us spotted him. After our hectic schedule in Hobart, Adelaide and even Kangaroo Island, it was good to have a day to ourselves.

In the evening we gathered for cocktails and dinner to catch up with the group and share the days activities. It was a great way to end a near perfect day.

Refreshed and ready to go, we packed up and headed for Launcestron Airport for our flight to Sydney. Join me next week as we explore Sydney, tour the Opera House and take a trip outside Sydney to the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park.

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

AUSTRALIA'S Tasmanian Devil

2009-06-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

After viewing this video from National Geographic, I'm glad I didn't stumble across one of these devils in the dark!

AUSTRALIA: One Meal We Missed--Not for Sheilas!!

2009-06-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

AUSTRALIA #5 - Hobart, the Heart of Tasmania

2009-06-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

I guess it’s a good sign when you’re not ready to leave a particular city or destination. That’s how I felt about Kangaroo Island; I could have stayed and watched the animals for several more days.

We left Kangaroo Island in the evening with a quick overnight in Adelaide before heading for Tasmania. Actually, the overnight proved useful. From all our hiking and outdoor activity on Kangaroo Island we had a lot of muddy clothes and it was nice to have a washer and dryer in our hotel suite. Not exactly an exciting evening in Adelaide, but it sure is nice to have clean clothes to wear!

It was interesting flying into Hobart. Like California, you are not permitted to bring plants or fruit products into Tasmania, and they are serious about checking both hand and checked luggage. I was glad I took the apples out of my suitcase when I saw the dog sniffing the luggage on the carousel.When I was researching Tasmania I found a hotel in Hobart that sounded absolutely fascinating--the Henry Jones Art Hotel.Standing on Hobart’s waterfront where Europeans first stepped ashore over 200 years ago, stands a row of warehouses dating back to the 1820s that have been transformed into a first-class, unique hotel and shopping area that showcases the work of Tasmania’s finest visual and performing artists. The hotel is a unique combination of antique and the ultra modern.In its prime the building was a jam factory and, in its conversion, lost none of the original charm. It still has some original staircases, brick interior walls and restored machinery along with a new, magnificent all-glass atrium that is used for major hotel functions. It lived up to all the hype--we all loved staying at the hotel.When we arrived in Hobart the weather had turned cool and none of us ventured far from the hotel. There were several seafood restaurants along the waterfront that turned out to be really good. We also discovered that Tasmania produces quite nice wines, particularly their Chardonnay and Riesling due to the cooler climate down south.

The following morning we took off for a full day tour of Port Arthur, the infamous penal colony that became the major center for punishment of convicts who re-offended after their arrival in Australia from Britain in the late 1700s.When you first look at the colony it looks quite tranquil: beautiful old buildings, manicured grounds with lovely gardens, a nice church and several beautiful homes once lived in by the administrative staff. Over the years, convict labor was used to develop the public facilities of the colonies--roads, causeways, churches, courthouses and hospitals. But the guided tour certainly dispelled any notion that this was a “walk in the park” for the convicts incarcerated in Port Arthur. According to our guide, convicts shared deplorable conditions.One convict described the working conditions as inhuman:

We have to work from 14 - 18 hours a day, sometimes up to our knees in cold water, 'til we are ready to sink with fatigue.... The inhuman driver struck one John Smith with a heavy thong.

The first boys' prison was built on Point Puer, two miles across Opossum Bay from Port Arthur. (Puer is the Latin word for boy.) It was for young boys, some as young as nine, like James Lynch, arrested for stealing toys. James Gavagan stole some umbrellas when he was 11 and was sent to Tasmania for seven years. He arrived at Point Puer in 1835. When he turned 17, he was sent to the main prison at Port Arthur. He was released in March, 1842.

The boys were kept away from the main convict area. About 3,500 boys were sent to Point Puer. Like the adults, the boys were given hard work such as stone cutting and construction. There was also a school run by two ex-convicts. There are only a few stones left on the island to mark the site of the boys' prison.Escape from Port Arthur was said to be impossible, often compared to Alcatraz. Some prisoners did try to escape. One prisoner, George "Billy" Hunt, covered himself with a kangaroo skin and tried to escape. The hungry guards on duty tried to shoot him for food. When he saw them pointing their guns, Hunt gave himself up. He was whipped 150 times.

I was glad when the tour was over. It was interesting, and is a significant part of Australian history, but I truly hate hearing about the terrible conditions and treatment the prisoners were subjected to.

On the way back to Hobart we stopped at a cheese factory and tasted some really interesting cheeses. My favorite was the wasabi cheese, strong with a real bite!Gus, our driver, took us on a city tour of Hobart, pointing out the downtown shopping area, the town hall, the large sports arena, the residential areas and other points of interest. Several of us got out and walked back to the hotel, after engaging in some shopping therapy! Actually, we went to a sporting goods store to buy some long johns --the weather report for Cradle Mountain was snow.

Join me next week on our adventures in Cradle Mountain.

AUSTRALIA #4: A Hop, Skip and Jump to Kangaroo Island

2009-06-06T16:45:00.001-07:00

This was the part of the trip I was most excited about--Kangaroo Island. I’m a real animal person and love seeing animals in their natural environment. I had read an article several years ago about the animals of Kangaroo Island and knew I had to go. Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third largest Island (after Tasmania and Melville Island) with a population of around 4,200 inhabitants. The island is 92 miles long and 35 miles wide with beautiful beaches and an abundance of wildlife. Several species of kangaroo and wallabies are native to the island along with the common brushtail possum, the New Zealand fur seal and the short-beaked echidna (a type of anteater that looks like a porcupine.) The koala was introduced to the island and has survived because of the vast numbers of Eucalyptus forests. More than half of the island has never been cleared of vegetation and a quarter of it is conserved in National Parks, Conservation Parks and wilderness area. I did my homework before leaving for Australia!!!

We left Adelaide in the early morning for the short flight (35 minutes) to Kangaroo Island.For this flight we had to pare down our luggage to 33 pounds, which wasn’t too hard since we were only staying one night. We were met at the airport by our naturalist guide, Brian, and immediately set off to explore the island. Brian told half the group to keep their eyes on the treetops and look for dark clumps (koala bears,) while the other half was checking along the highway for wallabies and echidnas. It didn’t take us long to spot our first koala bear--high up on a eucalyptus tree, sleeping. During our two-day stay on the island we saw several koalas, and only one was actually awake, eating.Koala bears, which are not really bears, but marsupials, may look cute, but have long claws and can be vicious when cornered. Apparently koalas sleep 75 percent of the time and the other 25 percent they spend eating eucalyptus leaves. Koalas have a slow metabolic rate due to their high-fiber, low nutrient diet. Because they store little or no fat, koalas must adopt strategies that conserve energy. Sleeping is one of them. Each koala eats over a pound of leaves a day.Not long after we arrived the weather cleared and the sun peeked through the clouds. With the sun came the wallabies. All along the road they were sunning themselves and trying to get dry like the rest of us!!They are so cute. Wallabies look like small kangaroos and come in a variety of sizes from the very small hare wallaby to the larger shrub wallaby. All wallabies are marsupials or pouched mammals. Wallaby young are born tiny, helpless, and undeveloped.
They immediately crawl into their mothers' pouches where they continue to develop after birth--usually for a couple of months. Young wallabies, like their larger kangaroo cousins, are called joeys. Even after a joey leaves the pouch, it often returns to jump in when danger approaches.

That first day we literally drove from one end of the island to the other. On the way to the North Coast we stopped at Lathami Conservation Park in search of the Glossy Black Cockatoo, a rare subspecies of cockatoo found only on Kangaroo Island. We never did see the elusive Black Cockatoo, but did see a pair of beautiful Crimson Rosella Parrotsand flocks of Galahs ( beautiful pink and grey parrots native to Australia,)and several kangaroos lounging in the grass.One in particular had quite a large joey in her pouch with the feet and tail sticking out--a funny sight to see.Our next stop was Seal Bay Conservation Park on the North Coast. On the way we stopped for lunch among a forest of Eucalyptus trees in hopes of seeing more Koalas. What we thought was going to be a quick lunch turned out to be a feast with fish cooked over an open grill, several different kinds of salads, yummy grilled potatoes, rolls, wonderful Australian wines and, of course, the local beer of the region--Coopers.Not only was Brian a fabulous naturalist guide, he was also a fabulous cook.We made it to Seal Bay and started our walk down to the beautiful sandy beach, home for a large family of sea lions. We were greeted on the path by a fairly large sea lion that came out of the bushes and “honked” at us for several minutes.
I think we disturbed his nap!!! We stood on the beach for a long time watching the sea lions play in the surfand chase each other around the sand.We checked into our hotel in the late afternoon. It had been a full day and we were looking forward to the nocturnal tour planned for that evening. Many of the animals living on Kangaroo Island are nocturnal--marsupials are mainly active at night. We did see some kangaroos and wallabies foraging for food along with a small group of Fairy Penguins nesting by the beach. Our guide did point out a brush-tailed possum, but he moved too fast for me to get a good look.

The next morning we were off again bright and early--our flight back to Adelaide wasn’t until 7:00 that evening so we had the whole day to explore the west end of the island. Our first stop that morning was Flinders Chase National Park--a vast wilderness area covering the entire west end of the island. At Cape du Couedic there is a large fur seal colony and we made a valiant attempt to climb down the path to Admirals Arch,
a spectacular coastal grotto where the fur seals congregate. The wind was fierce and at one time I was actually pushed up against the rail. I gave up the quest but several of our group did make it down. The pictures are courtesy of Dave Lunzer.
Another fun stop was the old Eucalyptus Oil Factory at Ridge. At one time eucalyptus distilling was one of Kangaroo Islands major industries with over 100 stills. Sheep farming took over being more viable for farmers, and thus eucalyptus distilling became part of history. Today Emu Ridge is the only commercial Eucalyptus Distillery in South Australia. We walked around the farm, visited with a pair of Emus, and did some shopping in the craft center adjacent to the distillery.
We continued our drive along the rocky coastline at the west end of the island to Kelly Hill Conservation Park. We had another late lunch and thoroughly enjoyed Brian’s “home cooking.” We walked through the park, on the lookout for kangaroos and wallabies, and was pleasantly surprised when a pair of kangaroos hopped across our path.

It had been a wonderful two days and I really didn’t want to leave. If you’re planning a trip to Australia, definitely consider adding Kangaroo Island to your itinerary.

Join me next week in Tasmania and our visit to Port Arthur.

AUSTRALIA #3: Adelaide

2009-05-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

None of us were ready to leave the outback; we loved our experiences at Uluru and at Longitude 131. Our aboriginal guides were terrific and really imparted the deep spiritual feeling the “rock” holds for the aboriginal people of the area.

We left Longitude 131 for the small airport at Ayers Rock for our flight to Adelaide, only to learn our flight had been delayed and that we were certain to miss our connection in Alice Springs.Depending where you are, missing connections is usually no big deal. However, when you’re in the middle of the outback with very few flights in or out, it can become a problem or in the least, a major inconvenience. Longitude 131 was wonderful. Since our flight was going to be delayed for several hours, they took us back to the camp and provided us full use of the facility including meals and beverages. It certainly made the wait a lot easier.

We ended up flying from Ayers Rock to Perth to Adelaide. That was the only flight the entire day, that would get us into Adelaide the same day--10:30 pm. If you’re not familiar with Australia, that’s like going from Chicago to Los Angeles to get to Dallas, definitely a long way around.With only minutes to spare in Perth we were met at the gate and escorted to our Adelaide flight. Our luggage even made it!!!

Kudos to Qantas Airlines. My gut feelings tell me if we were flying an American carrier we would still be waiting for our luggage!!!We finally made it to Adelaide and arrived at our hotel well after 11:00 pm, exhausted, but in good spirits, rain and all. Geologically speaking, Australia is 90 per cent desert and when it rains, Australians are happy. Adelaide has been in a drought situation for seven years and any rain was welcome, even on their parade on Anzac day (April 25th, a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand to honor members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I).

The next morning we were not up bright and early, but managed to meet our guide at 10:00 am for a wine tour of the Barossa Valley, one of the most popular and best-known wine regions in Australia.Lisa Lunzer, Carolyn Groves, Sabina and Alan Duke really enjoyed the wine.

The Barossa Valley is about 70 miles north of Adelaide and, according to Ana, our guide for the afternoon, is renowned for its opulent styles of Shiraz, as well as producing excellent examples of Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon and Chardonnay.After visiting three different wineries (Chateau Tanunda, Barossa Valley Estates and Langmeil Winery,) I agree with Ana, their Shiraz is wonderful, along with their Cabernet and Chardonnay. I don’t remember tasting any Semillon, but I’m sure it was good!!!They served a delicious lunch!Since our flights were delayed the previous day Ana graciously gave us a quick city tour of Adelaide. Adelaide is the capital and most populous state in South Australia, with a population of more than 1.1 million. I was impressed with all the parks and green areas set aside for recreation, which definitely gives the city a friendly feel. According to Ana, Adelaide is best known for its many festivals, its trendy food and good wines and its wonderful beaches. What’s there not to like!!?

The rain was with us on and off all day. Instead of walking around the city several of us opted to peruse the large central market in downtown Adelaide, across from our hotel. The stalls in the market sell everything from toys to food to freshly baked goods.You can get seafood with the tails twitching, meat that had breakfast that morning, and a lot of specialty mustards, jams, cheeses, nuts--you name it, they have it.There is also a large section of the market devoted to Asian cooking and other ethnic-style foods. I managed to find the Haigh Chocolate shop, a specialty of South Australia. I also discovered that Adelaide is the home of Cadbury Chocolate. As a journalist I felt it was my duty to sample the different brands of chocolate, and report my findings. The Haigh dark chocolate was divine, but my preference was the Cadbury milk chocolate. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it!!!!Directly across the street from our hotel was a lovely cathedral with an interesting story. It took 140 years to complete St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral. Since the parish lost many of its members (and their funding) due to the exodus to the goldfields in Victoria around 1851, the cathedral was designed to be built in 3 stages. Opened in 1858, the cathedral was finally dedicated in 1996.
You can’t write about Adelaide without visiting Glenelg or other beach communities close to the city. Glenelg is a popular tourist destination with its white sandy beaches, a variety of restaurants and a great place for clubbing. In fact, there is a trolley line from Victoria Square (the center of Adelaide) that takes you right to the main square in Glenelg for a mere 25 cents Australian.We managed a couple of hours in Glenelg and particularly enjoyed the museum in Heritage Hall.Glenelg dates back to the mid 1800s and is the oldest European settlement on the mainland in South Australia.

Our time was far too short in Adelaide. Because of the weather we didn’t do a lot of walking, which I think is the best way to become familiar with a city. It just means I have to go back and spend more time in Adelaide!
Join me next week on our adventures in Kangaroo Island.

AUSTRALIA #2: Beautiful Uluru

2009-05-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Cairns and were now well rested and on “Australian time.” The next stop on our itinerary was Uluru, the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock.We flew into the airport at Ayers Rock and drove to our "camp” in the middle of nowhere.Last year, as I was planning this trip, I found a camp in the middle of the Outback that featured views of “the rock” from every “tent.”I use the word tent very loosely. Longitude 131 is modeled after South African safari camps: elevated luxury tents with stone floors, ensuite bathrooms and all the comforts of a five star hotel, plus an awesome view of Uluru.I must say that waking up at sunrise and watching the rock change colors from shadowed hues to intense reds was magnificent and well worth the pricey accommodations.

One more word about Longitude 131: it is an all-inclusive camp which means all your meals, drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and many tours are included in the price of the accommodations. There are 16 tents, all offering unrivaled views of Ayers Rock.

We arrived at the camp in the early afternoon and after a delicious lunch had a guided tour of the area by our aboriginal guide, which included both history and geology lessons. The first question asked was about the name. Uluru is the aboriginal name and has been used by the local Pitjantjatara and Yankunytjatjara peoples for centuries. It has no particular meaning in their language; however, it is considered sacred by the aboriginal people of the area. In July, 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited Uluru and named it Ayers Rock in honor of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. Since then Ayers Rock became the more common name used by people living outside Australia. However, in 1993 the official name of “the rock” was changed to Ayers Rock/Uluru. In 2002 that was officially reversed and it is now called Uluru/Ayers Rock. A little trivia just in case you ever appear on Jeopardy!!

Geologically speaking, Uluru is a large sandstone rock formation located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 220 miles southwest of Alice Springs. It is the second-largest monolith in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia,) more then 986 ft high and 5 miles around. It also extends 1.5 miles into the ground. It has a plethora of natural springs and waterholes. It also has rock caves, ancient paintings and an over abundance of very annoying flies. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

For dinner that evening we had the unique experience of dining under the stars. At sunset we met for cocktails on a bluff overlooking Uluru and Kata Tjuta (large domed rock formations) and watched once again as “the rock” changed colors with reflections of the setting sun.Adding the sounds of a didgeridoo in the background was absolutely magical.

From there we were driven to a secluded campsite and sat down to a candlelight dinner under the stars.Even though it was autumn in Australia it was a warm night in the desert. After dinner the candles were extinguished and our guide oriented us to the southern skies and told stories from Aboriginal folklore about the different constellations. From all my trips to South America I actually found the Southern Cross with no problem; however, I’m glad I wasn’t tested on the other constellations.

The following morning we were up bright and early for an Uluru Sunrise Walk and again experienced the incredible changing colors of the entire desert landscape and the spectacular sight of Uluru and Kata Tjuta at dawn.We arrived at the base of Uluru as the sun began to rise and day was beginning in the Australian outback. Our group sat quietly listening to our guide share his personal experiences with “the rock” and the meaning of Uluru to the aboriginal people. A unique and wonderful way to start the morning.

That afternoon we toured the Cultural Centre with its impressive display of aboriginal art and literature. There was also an opportunity to shop and many in our group did buy ceramic works and paintings by local artists. Our guide finally managed to get us all out of the Cultural Center and we again traveled to Uluru. We took a short walk into Kantju Gorge where we were served drinks and hors d'oeuvres ‘inside’ Uluru, and watched the sun set over Kata Tjuta--an awesome site.We returned to our camp for another wonderful dinner and truly lamented the fact that we were leaving the following morning.

We all loved our two days in the middle of nowhere. Uluru is amazing and the camp and our accommodations were perfect. The only criticism I have is the pesky flies that followed us during the day. In the rooms were mosquito type nets to wear on walks that really helped keep the flies away from our faces. Check out the picture of Lisa Lunzer, Bonnie Roberts, Carolyn Groves and me in our stylish “fly netting.”Join me next week in Adelaide and for some wine tasting in the Barossa Valley.

AUSTRALIA #1: The Great Barrier Reef & Kuranda Rainforest

2009-05-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

I’m back from Australia and had a fabulous time. What a wonderful, vibrant country! I can’t wait to share my experiences with you.

Before I begin I want to give you an update on my new “featherweight” luggage I bought specifically for my trip to Australia. Given I could only take 23 kilos (50 pounds) on certain flights within Australia, I appreciated the lightweight feature. However, to help keep the bag lightweight (only 5lbs.10 oz. empty,) they did away with the handle on the side, which made it difficult to maneuver onto carts, for checking-in, taking off the conveyor belt, etc. Otherwise, it was fine and my luggage never exceeded 21 kilos.

We arrived into Cairns on April 16 (two days later than when we left due to passing over the international date line.) Even thought the actual flight time into Sydney is less than13 hours and another three hours to Cairns (in northern Queensland on the Coral Sea,) I felt like I had been on the plane forever. Thank goodness for movies. I caught up on all the good pictures I missed this past three months. Two thumbs up for Slum Dog Millionaire.

April is autumn in Australia (Australia is in the southern hemisphere south of the equator) and the weather was warm with a nice breeze. Instead of staying in downtown Cairns, I opted to stay in a small town in the Northern Beaches area, about 25 minutes north of Cairns. I immediately felt like I was on vacation. Everyone in the group decided to come in a day early to rest up from the long flight and get acclimated to a different time zone (Cairns is 19 hours ahead of Los Angeles.) We stayed at the Angsana Resort and Spa, right on the beach in Palm Cove.Surrounded by tropical gardens and palm trees, it reminded me of Kauai 25 years ago. For a day and a half we lounged, swam in the different pools, had massages and strolled on the sandy white beaches. When time came to play tourist, we were ready!Our first major outing was on the Ocean Spirit, a 100 ft. catamaran that took us out to Michaelmas Cay in the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world.The Great Barrier Reef is over 133,000 sq. miles and is composed of 29,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. Other than the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef is the most visited tourist attraction in Australia.

We had a ball. Most of us were snorkelers, but there were a few divers in the group. After we signed up for our respective groups, and picked up the appropriate gear, we set off for the beach. The water was clear and warm, really no need for a wet suit except for protection against jellyfish, which I never saw.I have snorkeled around the world including Hawaii, Tahiti, the Caribbean, Mexico, etc. and I was expecting really colorful coral and more brightly colored fish. It may be where we were snorkeling, because the divers, in far deeper waters, saw a much larger array of fish and types of coral. However, I did see blue coral, which I had never seen before,and giant, iridescent clams.I always enjoy my snorkeling experiences and was thrilled I had the opportunity to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef. We spent the entire day on the reef and by the time we returned to Palm Cove we were exhausted. I tell you, it takes energy to play tourist!!!

The following morning we were off to the rainforest, or, more accurately, the Rainforestation Nature Park in Kuranda. Even though it has tourist stamped all over it--it was fun and educational. There are three ways to reach Kuranda Village--bus, rail or skyway. Our package included the skyrail up to the village, a tour of Rainforeststation and returning by train.The Skyrail Rainforest Cableway glides over and through the rainforest stopping at two different stations where you can get out and take a short nature walk before reaching Kuranda Village. The “ride” takes over an hour and for someone who doesn’t like heights, I really enjoyed the skyrail. As you first ascend up to the canopy the views of the water and the valley below were absolutely spectacular.The “village” is cute and really has some nice galleries featuring aboriginal art. We spent about 30 minutes browsing through the boutiques and galleries before going into the nature park. The park is divided into three main attractions: the Aboriginal Experience, the Wildlife Park and the Army Duck Rainforest Tour.

The Aboriginal Experience was interesting; we tried our hand at boomerang and spear throwing, watched as the dancers told stories of the indigenous peoples and their culture,and listened as our guide played the didgeridoo, an ancient wind instrument of the Aborigines of northern Australia.Once we entered the Wildlife Park we didn’t want to leave. The exhibits were interesting, but the kangaroos and wallabies were wonderful as they hopped around the park “greeting” tourists from around the world. They are really cute and it was great fun being able to actually pet and feed them.We ended our tour of the park with a ride through the rainforest aboard an amphibious World War II Army Duck. Our guide, who truly loved his Army Duck, did point out the many different tropical plants and kept his eyes peeled for reptiles lying in wait in the tall grass. We never did see a crocodile, except for “Big Sam” in the Wildlife Park.We came up by the skyrail and down by the Kuranda Scenic Railway.The railroad dates back to the 1800’s. By shear determination 150 miles of track was laid along with 15 tunnels, a dozen bridges and over 90 sharp curves. It really is an engineering masterpiece given the rough terrain and no modern equipment.Another full day of touring. There really is a lot to see in and around Cairns. “I wish we had another day,” became our mantra throughout the trip. Join me next week as we journey to Uluru in the Australian Outback.

TRAVEL TIP: The Changing Face of Air Travel

2009-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

I can remember the days when we actually dressed up to get on an airplane, had lunch served and baggage checked for no additional cost and changing airlines in the midst of a trip didn’t up the price of the ticket. Those days are gone. The airline industry has definitely changed and even though many of the changes affect our pocketbook, they have come out of necessity to keep up with the changing economy. I’m not defending the airlines, I’m just stating the obvious facts. Can you imagine our life without air travel? Three days by train to Chicago, five days to cross the Atlantic from New York to Dover, England, and several weeks to get to Sydney, Australia. It takes 14 hours by air from Los Angeles to Sydney. So lets look on the positive side and figure out ways to make airline travel easier.

Today most airlines enable you to get your boarding pass online. Many airlines have made traveling more convenient through new features on their websites. Travelers can obtain their boarding passes from the comfort of their own homes up to 24 hours before the time of the flight. You can ensure that you will be in an early boarding group and can save yourself a step at the airport. Make sure to print out the boarding pass! Many concierge desks at leading hotels also offer this feature. Call ahead to see if the hotel you are staying at offers this option.

Another feature offered by some airlines is paying for that “extra” legroom. Are you the person at the counter negotiating for an exit row seat for each of your flights? If so, many airlines have new programs that guarantee a better seat at a better deal than paying for first class or business class. United Airlines offers its Economy Plus seating starting at $14 more per flight. For lots of travelers, it is a marginal fee to guarantee stretch room and extra comfort for a long flight.

To block out the noise of the plane I’ve started traveling with my own set of headphones. These headphones are great and effectively block out surrounding noise, and definitely help me sleep better on long flights. It’s also much better sound when watching the in flight movies or listening to music.

On domestic flights I’ve also started bringing my own food, or picking something up before I get on the plane. Most of the time the food is better and I definitely have more choices. The food on the plane is also expensive for what you get.

Wear easy to remove footwear for both on-flight comfort and breezing through the security line. It is now customary to remove footwear, jewelry and jackets or over sweaters before walking through security. Save yourself and the people behind you in line some time by wearing easy to remove shoes. They will be just as easy to slip off before you start dozing off on your flight.

Nothing can put a damper on travel plans more than missing a connecting flight. To avoid this, take the time and go online and check out the connecting airport and its terminals. Check out the airport's website to gauge how far you have to walk from your arrival terminal to your next departure terminal. Give yourself the extra time to make the flight, especially if you need to board a tram to travel from terminal to terminal.

Different airlines have varied rules on how much luggage can be carried on board. For certain airlines, passengers are only allowed one small carry-on and a personal bag. This means if you have a carry-on bag, a computer case, and a purse, you are out of luck. Be prepared ahead of time and not when you are at the front of the security line. Also, travel with only what you are able to comfortably carry, wheel or haul. If you are checking luggage, make sure you stay underneath the maximum weight or be prepared to pay a hefty fee.

Have a change of clothes handy. Don't let luggage woes ruin your trip. In case of a mix up with your luggage, keep a change of clothes and other important items such as a cell-phone charger and a spare set of contact lenses handy. This will help get your vacation or business trip off to a decent start even if your luggage is stuck in another city.

I hope some of the ideas that have made air travel easier for me will also help you. Enjoy your trip and make that changing face of air travel a happy face.

TRAVEL TIP: Using Your Frequent Flier Miles: Joke or Reality?

2009-05-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

For years I have been writing about frequent flier programs and was wondering how long it would take the airline industry to realize, and attempt to tame, the monster they created. American Airlines started their frequent flier program 25 years ago to attract loyal customers. The concept was simple, the more you flew on American Airlines, the more rewards you earned. Not to be left behind, other airlines created their own mileage programs. Then came the partnership programs, the alliances, hotel programs, car programs and the greatest earner of all--credit card programs. According to an article in Conde Nast Traveler (June 2008,) at the start of 2007 there were 180 million members of frequent- flier programs worldwide sitting on almost 10 trillion unused miles. To grasp that thought, “that’s more miles than there are stars in the Milky Way (about 100 million,) people on earth (6 billion) or U.S. pennies in circulation (8.23 billion in 2007.)” And you wonder why you have a hard time redeeming miles!!!

In the survey taken by Conde Nast Traveler, I was not at all surprised to learn that 70 percent of readers use their miles for free tickets as opposed to 27 percent that use them for upgrades. Based on airline ticket prices, which for business or first class can be more than 10 times the cost of an economy ticket—you get a better per-mile value by upgrading than by redeeming miles for a ticket, particularly on a long-haul flight. That may be true, but for those travelers that don’t fly frequently and get their miles through credit card purchases, a free ticket is far more important.

Only those clients that take multiple vacations to far off corners of the world realize the significance of saving miles to be able to upgrade to business or first class. They know the cost of business class tickets and they try their best not to pay it!! Beware that mileage programs are constantly changing. When I first started saving my miles for my Australian trip it was 100,000 miles for a “free” business class ticket on Qantas (using my American miles.) When I finally redeemed my miles it was 120,000, and I still couldn’t get business class on my return flight!

So, if I’m serious about using miles for either a free ticket or to upgrade to either business or first class, how do I compete with the other 180 million members of frequent flier programs? Following some simple rules won’t guarantee you a free ticket, but it will put you on the right track and increase your chances of being able to use your miles to your advantage.

---Focus on one mileage program. Figure out which airline you fly the most and try to stay with that airline. And check out the airline partnerships. Almost every airline is now part of an alliance: American Airlines is partners with Qantas, Alaska, British Air, El Al, Air Tahiti, etc. which means you can redeem miles on any of these airlines as long as they are in the alliance. Also, most airlines today issue credit cards that give you miles for dollars spent. Use your card for all your purchases: groceries, gasoline, the cleaners, restaurants, etc. You’ll be surprised how fast you can accumulate miles. I’m not suggesting you use your card indiscriminately. Make the same purchases you would normally and pay off your credit card at the end of each billing cycle. Also, know which partners will give you mileage credit. Which hotel and car rental companies are affiliated with your mileage program.

---Book early. On most airlines you can book your flight 331 days in advance. That’s how far in advance airline schedules are loaded into the computer system. I realize most people don’t plan their life 11 months in advance, but if you want to use your miles to popular destinations, you have to start planning ahead. Remember, frequent flier seats are very capacity controlled--you’re not the only one wanting to go to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year or to the Caribbean during Spring break.

---Be flexible. If you can’t get the exact dates you want, try other dates. Avoid weekend travel. It really is easier to redeem miles for flights in the middle of the week. Also, consider traveling in off-peak times. London may be cold in March, but there are no crowds and the Crown Jewels are indoors and will look the same.

---Don’t waste your miles. Look at the price of a ticket before using your miles. Though I’ve never seen the exact figures, I know the airlines equate dollars to miles when they set the number of miles needed to redeem a ticket. According to the article in Conde Nast Traveler, experts put the average value of a mile at about 1.2 cents. (It may be higher today since fuel prices are up!) If we use these figures, then to use 25,000 miles for a ticket that costs $250.00 doesn’t make a lot of sense. On the other hand, by redeeming 120,000 miles for a business class ticket that cost $6,000 is an excellent value. You just bought a $6000 seat for $1,440.

Most airline mileage programs now enable you to buy miles at an inflated price. Unless it’s really worthwhile, i.e. the $6,000 business class seat for $1,445 I don’t think it’s a good idea. Also, most mileage programs also have a gifting option--maybe your wife or son has miles in their accounts that can be gifted to you. The number of miles you can buy or gift is limited--check with your mileage program.

Remember, frequent-flier program rules keep changing. So keep track of the ones you join so that you can make the most of your miles. Two sites that can help: FrequentFlier.com and InsideFlyer.com. Also, if you absolutely cannot get any flights using your miles, think about using them for a hotel room or car rental for the week. If you’re going to have to pay for those services anyway, you might as well try to cut down costs and use your airline miles.

Good luck and happy traveling.

TRAVEL TIP: The Art of Packing

2009-04-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

I get questions all the time on packing tips. Because I travel so much, people assume I’m an expert on packing. I’m learning, and with every trip I learn something new (silver sandals go with lots of outfits.) I make the same mistake as everyone else--I pack too much and say a few choice words because my suitcase is too heavy to carry. It will definitely be easier with my new lightweight luggage (see April 19 Travel Tips,) but the tendency to take more than you need is inbred. And, with airlines charging for checked luggage, it’s even more important to pack light and stay under that 50 pound limit.

When my children were growing up and packing for a trip, they used to ask me all the time, "Mom, can I take ‘this’ or ‘that’ with me on the trip?” My answer was always the same. “You can take whatever you want, as long as you can carry it.” My daughters, now young women, remember those words and repeat them back to me quite often, particularly when I can’t pick up my own suitcase because I over-packed!

I recently read an article in our trade magazine ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) that had some good pointers that might prove useful when packing for future trips.

Make a packing list so you don’t forget anything. This list could also help with repacking---not to forget anything hanging behind the bathroom door or a pair of shoes under the bed. Also, if you are one of those unfortunate few who have their luggage lost or stolen, you have a list of the contents for insurance purposes.

Think about where you’re going and plan your wardrobe accordingly. Are you going on a bicycle trip through France, a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean, or a business meeting in Chicago? Consider the events you will participate in, both day and night, and write down a possible outfit for the different activities. Crosscheck your packing list to see if one piece can be worn with more than one outfit. Pick clothes that coordinate well together.

Over the years my wardrobe is basically black, with colorful accessories. Black hides a multitude of sins, and it also matches my shoes. I try hard to get away with two pairs of shoes: shoes for walking and a pair of sandals or flats to change into for the evening. Depending on the trip, I may include my hiking boots.

Since I often have to carry my own suitcase, I long ago gave up packing an outfit for every occasion. Also, since most of my trips are over two weeks, I have started using the hotel ‘s laundry facilities. On my most recent trip to Israel and Egypt, I had my laundry done every week. I also hand wash personal items and depending on the material, I will also wash t-shirts and blouses. Hotel laundries can get expensive, but it sure beats packing 14 different outfits. I also discovered that jeans can be worn several times and look none the worse for wear. I always pack a windbreaker with a hood and a jacket/sweater. For outdoor activities I layer my clothes to be prepared for cooler weather.

By making a list, I have a good idea what I want to take. Next, I start laying everything out in my guestroom. Actually, I may start a week before the trip and when I remember something, I put it with the other items. Once everything is laid out, I go over my itinerary again and try to eliminate what I think I can live without. I actually go through the elimination process more than once.

Over the years I have tried folding my clothes, layering my clothes, and using those space-saver airtight bags. The article I just read suggests ironing everything first, then button all buttons, zip all zippers and fold your clothes like they do in the stores. Also, using a piece of tissue paper when folding your clothes helps prevent wrinkling. Again, check your itinerary and think chronologically, placing the items to be worn first on the top. Eliminate wasted space by possibly rolling t-shirts or putting socks and underwear in the insides of shoes. A friend suggested putting a piece of cardboard (cut to fit your luggage) between layers. If you need to get what’s on the bottom you takes out the whole layer, get what you need, and replace the cardboard with all the clothes still neatly folded on top. I did that on my last trip and it worked well.

I usually have everything in my suitcase a few days before I leave. I now put most liquid products in my checked luggage, since all the new travel regulations on taking liquids aboard. Several months ago I found a great travel bag at a container store. This bag can be folded flat and has at least 15 pockets of different shapes and sizes. I have my toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, make-up, tweezers, body lotion, liquid soap, deodorant, sunscreen, hair gel, hair spray, etc. This bag always stays packed and after each trip, I refill everything. That’s the last thing I throw in before I close my suitcase.

My suitcase is packed; it’s now time for my carry-on. I no longer have to worry about film since I bought a digital camera, but I do pack my camera accessories, i.e. a battery charger and lenses, cell phone, and any other electronic device I made need. I used to carry a corkscrew, a Swiss army knife and razor in the bag, but that is now packed separately in my checked baggage and stays in the suitcase to be used on my next trip. I also keep a small umbrella and rain cape packed, just in case. And I always pack extra set of clothes, jut in case my luggage is lost. When I went to the Black Sea in July 2008 my luggage was “misplaced” in Frankfurt. It didn’t get to Istanbul until the following day and I was very happy I had a change of clothes with me.

Check on line, or give your travel agent a call to see what amenities are in your hotel room or cabin. Today, almost all four and five star hotels and most cruise ships have hair dryers. Many hotels even have an iron and ironing board in the room.

As for jewelry, leave the flashy stuff at home. Once again, it depends on where you’re going. In most deluxe hotels and on cruise ships, there is a safe in the room (or cabin,) and expensive jewelry can be locked up. If you are going to a third world country, where there is lots of poverty, I definitely would leave my good jewelry home. It doesn’t pay to advertise, or better yet, don’t take what you don’t want to lose.

Always carry travel documents, medications, jewelry and your passport in your carry-on luggage. Label each piece of luggage, inside and out, with your name and telephone number, not your address. I actually put my business card in my luggage tag. Remove old airline tags to avoid confusion. I carry my passport, credit cards and cash on my body, in a holder that fits around my neck. There are several different types of travel holders that fit around your waist or under your arm. Find one that is comfortable for you and if there is no safe in your room, check at the front desk. Make sure you get a receipt for what you leave in the hotel safe. As a last resort, I carry my passport, cash and credit cards with me, but that is definitely not my first choice.

Throughout the years I have learned lots of tricks that make traveling a little easier. I always carry extra zip-lock plastic bags for a wet bathing suit or a bottle of lotion that might leak. I also use disposable shower caps to cover my shoes in my suitcase to protect my clothes. I bring pre-addressed labels that I can stick on postcards. I pack one or two wire or plastic coat hangers for drying clothes. I always carry a small bottle of anti-bacterial hand wash in my pocket.

If you have helpful hints on packing or information you’ve gathered over the years that could prove helpful, please let me know. I’m always looking for ways to make travel a bit easier and safer.

Have a great trip.

TRAVEL TIP: Light Luggage and Locks

2009-04-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

As you read this article I will be snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. I have been to Australia before, but only to Sydney. On this trip I will be visiting Cairns, Ayers Rock, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Tasmania and Sydney. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Australia; so in about six weeks, start looking for articles on my adventures in Australia.

In preparation for my trip to Australia I actually bought new luggage. With the strict weight regulations on some airlines, I decided lighter luggage could mean an extra pair of shoes and another blouse, important items in any woman’s wardrobe.

In the LA Times Travel Section (March 22, 2009) I read about some new “feather-light” luggage that just came on the market. The article claimed it was the lightest luggage on the market with the 19-inch carry-on weighing less than 4.6 pounds and the 30-inch case weighing less than 6 pounds. Wow, that sounded impressive. I immediately went to the garage and pulled out my old faithful, 26-inch case that has traveled with me around the world. I knew it felt heavy, but I was surprised to see that it actually weighed 13.5 pounds, empty. If their big case weighs less that 6 pounds, the difference could mean more than just an extra pair of shoes and a blouse, maybe another pair of pants or even a sweater set.

I ordered the luggage. When it arrived at my office a week later the first thing I did was pick up the box. It felt light--the two together felt lighter than my one big suitcase. I took the cases out of the box and was amazed when I picked them up. They really are lightweight. I ordered the 26-inch case, which weighs 5.10 pounds and the 19-inch carry-on weighed in at 4.6 pounds, as was advertised. They are sturdy, according to the literature on the bags, they are made using ultra-light fiberglass frames.What did I pay for these lightweight, sturdy bags? The 26-inch bag was on sale for $99.95 and the carry-on cost $79.95. I ordered them online from discountluggage.com. They come in black and red. Neither case has the expandable zipper that lets you stuff those last minute souvenirs into your suitcase. You’ll have to do what I do, buy jewelry; it doesn’t take up any room at all!!!

My clients often ask me if I lock my bags. The answer is yes, and I use a TSA lock. TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has worked with several companies to develop locks that can be opened by security officers using universal "master" keys, so that the locks may not have to be cut. The locks are combination locks, either three or four numbers.

If you travel infrequently, you may be interested in some of the newer regulations concerning what you can and cannot take in your carry-on bag and checked luggage. The catchphrase for carry-on bags is 3-1-1: any liquid or gel must go into a 3.4oz. bottle or less, all bottles need to be put in a quart size plastic bag, one bag per person going through security.
Obviously, 3-1-1 is for shorter trips. Since most of my trips are two to three weeks I put most of my liquids in my checked luggage (wrapped in a plastic bag).

There are some exceptions to these rules: medications, baby formula and food, and breast milk are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint.

I would suggest having everything sorted and in the proper size bottles and bags before going through security--each time they stop the line to check carry-on items it causes a back-up and, from personal experience I can tell you that people tend to get cranky.

As of January 1, 2008, the Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) no longer allows loose lithium batteries in checked baggage. Keep batteries and equipment with you, or in carry-on baggage, not in your checked baggage! It has something to do with a fire hazard and the situation can be better controlled if the batteries are in your carry bag or purse.

In August, 2008, TSA came up with new guidelines for laptop computers. To help streamline the security process and better protect laptops the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow passengers to leave their laptop computers in bags that meet new "checkpoint friendly" standards. For a bag to be considered checkpoint friendly it should meet a designated laptop-only section:

The laptop-only section completely unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray belt,
No metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section,
No pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section, and
Nothing packed in the laptop-only section other than the computer itself

Since I finally entered the 21st century and will be taking my laptop on trips, I better go check and see if my laptop computer bag meets all the new TSA standards.

Have a safe trip and travel lightly.

VIDEO: Dolphin Bubbles: An Amazing Behavior

2009-04-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

I found this video fascinating and wanted to share it with you.

EGYPT #5: Coptic Cairo

2009-04-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Our last few days in Cairo were hectic. What we didn’t see at the beginning of the trip, Amr attempted to squeeze into the last two days.This morning we headed for Old Cairo, so named because it is the oldest part of Cairo, and, in fact, predates what is now Cairo. Some Egyptologists believe that there was a settlement here as far back as the 6th century BCE. Later, the Romans built a fortress here, which was called Babylon. Some of these Roman walls still exist. Later, it became a Christian stronghold, with as many as 20 churches built within an area of one square mile. Today there are only five churches remaining. Our first stop that morning was the Coptic Church of St. Sergius where it is said that Jesus and the holy family stayed after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.Continuing our ecumenical journey through the old city, we next stopped at Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Egypt. The building dates from the 19th century, but the land for the synagogue was purchased in 882 CE by Abraham ibn Ezra of Jerusalem.Not wanting to leave anyone out, we continued our journey to the Amr Ibn el Asse Mosque, the first and oldest existing Mosque in Egypt. For several centuries, this Mosque had been the religious and social center of the cosmopolitan city and the old capital al-Fustat. In 641 CE. Amr entered Egypt after the surrender of Alexandria. When the whole country became under Muslim rule, Amr chose El- Fustat as the capital of Islamic Egypt.

Next on our itinerary was the Citadel of Saladin built by Salah El Din El Ayyubi, founder of the Ayubbid dynasty. Looking like a medieval stronghold, the Citadel was started in 1183 CE. Six centuries later (1830 CE.). the impressive Mohammed Ali Mosque was built within the compound. Also on the site is the Jewel Museum, the Cairo Carriage Museum, and the Military Museum.According to Amr, our guide, the Mohamed Ali Mosque is amongst the most interesting Mosques in Egypt. It stands proudly on the highest point inside the courtyard of the Citadel of Saladin, and is also called the Alabaster Mosque. The architect was Yousf Boushnaq, a Turkish man who had come over from Istanbul to build this great Mosque for Mohamed Ali, the ruler of Egypt from1805 until 1849. In 1899, the Mosque showed signs of cracking and repairs were undertaken, but some of these repairs were not adequate. Therefore, in 1931, during the reign of King Fuad I, the big main dome, the semi domes and the small domes were demolished and then reconstructed according to the original design. The project began in 1931 and was finally completed in 1939.
It was an interesting morning. The Old City has a different feel than the more modern, cosmopolitan side of Cairo. It was even more apparent when Amr “let us loose” at the Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar, a major marketplace for both locals and tourists. The market was originally built in 1382 and has remained Cairo’s most important shopping area.
With camera in hand and lots of $1.00 bills, we ventured out to see what treasures we could find. Since several of us had recently been in the main bazaar in Istanbul a few months earlier, there really wasn’t a lot we wanted to buy. However, walking around the neighbourhood immediately surrounding the bazaar was wonderful--an insight into a way of life foreign to many of us: relaxing with friends over a Huka,buying bread on the street,and having lunch with a friend, curb side.None of us wanted to leave the bazaar,but it was time to get back to the hotel to finish packing and get ready for our farewell dinner.

It seems incredible that three weeks earlier we had arrived in Tel Aviv and sat down to our first Shabbat dinner. There were so many special moments in Israel:

our visit to Caesarea, the town King Herod built in the first century BCE,
going to Atlit, the Illegal Immigrant Detention Camp that tells the story of the struggle of Jews fleeing Europe from Nazi persecution and death,
visiting Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus,
watching the planes take off and having a special tour of Hatzerim Air Base,
crossing the Sea of Galilee,
walking the Twelve Stations of the Cross,
standing on top of Mt. Scopus and seeing the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple on the Mount as it dominates the skyline,
standing at the Kotel--the Western Wall,
crossing the border into Bethlehem and visiting the Grotto of the Nativity,
walking through the Children’ Memorial at Yad Vashem
and celebrating the B’not Mitzvah of Barbara and Pamela Handel and Zoe and Stacie atop Mt. Masada.

Egypt has its own memories:

standing in front of the Pyramids of Giza,
cruising the Nile, ballooning over the Valley of the Kings,
seeing the mummies at the Egyptian Museum,
walking through the great temples of Karnak and Luxor, and
visiting Abu Simbel was my dream come true. I had finally made it to Egypt.

It had been a wonderful trip with memories that will last a lifetime.

.............................................................

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

Want to join us on our next adventure?

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

Egypt #4: The Temple Ramses II Built

2009-04-06T09:32:00.001-07:00

After the Pyramids of Giza, probably the most recognized monuments in all of Egypt are the two Temples of Ramses II carved out of solid rock at a site on the west bank of the Nile, south of Aswan, known today as Abu Simbel. The temples are magnificent, but the fact that they were moved, actually dismantled and raised over 60 meters up the sandstone cliff from where they had been built more than 3,000 years before is even more remarkable. Once moved, they were reassembled, in the exact same relationship to each other and the sun.

I’m getting ahead of my story. It was our last day on the cruise,we were heading back to Cairo that evening for a New Year’s Eve celebration. We were up bright and early to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel. Before coming on the trip I had read about the reconstruction of the temples and knew they had to be relocated due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. I was excited to see this remarkable feat.
The temples were built by Pharaoh Ramses II (1279-1213 BCE) over a 20-year period beginning in 1244 BCE and dedicated to the sun gods Amon-Re and Re Horakhte. Known as the "Temple of Ramses, beloved by Amun", it was one of six rock temples erected in Nubia during the long reign of Ramses II. With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand. The temples were actually discovered by a Swiss orientalist, JL Burckhardt, in 1813, but it wasn’t until 1817, when Italian explorer, Giovanni Belzoni, traveled to the site and was able to enter the complex that their existence became known. Belzoni took everything valuable and portable with him. Tour guides at the site relate the legend that "Abu Simbel" was a young local boy who guided these early re-discoverers to the site of the buried temples, which he had seen from time to time in the shifting sands. Eventually, they named the complex after him: Abu Simbel. True or not, it makes a good story.

The massive facade of the main temple is dominated by the four seated colossal statues of Ramses. These familiar representations are of Ramses II himself.Each statue, 67 feet high, is seated on a throne and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Each are sculpted directly from the rock face. The thrones are decorated on their sides with Nile gods symbolically uniting Egypt. I can go on and on about the various statuary, the bas-relief that frames the entrance and much of the interior that tells stories of the marriage of Ramses to battle scenes and military champaigns. It was a wonderful morning and if you ever have the opportunity to visit Egypt, visiting Abu Simbel is a must.

We flew back into Aswan and since we still had several hours until our flight back to Cairo we took a motorboat to the beautiful island of Philae. Philae Temple was also dismantled and reassembled in the wake of the High Dam. The temple, dedicated to the goddess Iris is in a beautiful setting, which has been landscaped to match its original site.

For a change of pace (after four days of visiting temples I was templed out!!!!) we stopped at a wonderful perfumery on the way back to the ship.The owner of the factory explained the use of oils and aromatherapy by the ancient Egyptians, who distilled essential oils for cosmetic purposes as well as to treat all manner of illnesses.Oils were also used in religious practices and in preserving dead bodies for the afterlife. According to our presenter, essential oils of different flowering plants cure everything from heartburn to headaches to insomnia. Since I’ve been an insomniac for years, I bought the magic elixir (oil of lavender) in hopes of getting a few hours of sound sleep. The verdict is still out!We made it back to the ship for a late lunch, said our goodbyes to the ship’s captain,gathered our mountains of luggage, and headed back to the airport at Aswan for our flight back to Cairo. It was New Year’s Eve. I had arranged for a special dinner at the Villa D’Este, a wonderful Italian restaurant in the Conrad Hotel. Because of the horrendous traffic in Cairo we didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 8:00 p.m. We managed to stay awake long enough for dinner, but faded fast after a couple glasses of champagne. So much for whooping it up in Cairo for New Year’s!!!

The job of a tourist is never ending. Amr, our guide, did let us sleep in, so to speak, but by 9:00 a.m. we were heading out of Cairo to see the Pyramids of Dahshur and the soaring Step Pyramid, the first stone structure ever erected and a prelude to the Pyramids of Giza.The earliest Egyptian pyramids were actually step pyramids. During the Third Dynasty the architect Imhotep built Egypt's first step pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, by building a series of six successively smaller mastabas (an earlier form of tomb structure), one atop of another. But, by the Fourth Dynasty, plans had changed into the transformation of the "true pyramid". The earliest smooth-sided pyramids are those found in Dahshur.At the archaeological site of Dahshur are some of the oldest pyramids in Egypt, including the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid.
Also at Dahshur are several minor temples and tombs, some constructed during the Middle Kingdom.

We headed back to Cairo in the late afternoon with a brief stop at a local carpet factory.Having been to carpet showrooms and factories in Turkey, it was interesting to compare the types of carpets made in Egypt. From what little we saw at the factory, I definitely prefer Turkish carpets.Join me next week in old Old Cairo visiting the beautiful Coptic Church of St. Sergius and the century old Ben Ezra Synagogue.

EGYPT #3: Edfu and the Aswan Dam

2009-03-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

The ladies on a felucca with the Redlands Daily Facts

This was our second day on the Nile--I can’t think of a more relaxing way to travel. If you have never been on a river cruise in Europe, China, Egypt, South America or Asia, put it on your list of “things to do.” It’s relaxing, entertaining and educational. In many countries, including Egypt, the river is the sustaining source of life--it provides food, water for washing, drinking and bathing, transportation and business. People all over the world find enterprising ways to make a living.

We had visited the Temple at Luxor and the Temple Complex at Karnak and were planning a visit to the Temple of Horus in Edfu that morning, but were waiting for a group of adventurous souls to come back from their hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings.The pictures, courtesy of Marjorie Handel, tell it all. According to Marjorie, the pilots were wonderful and flew low over the Valley of the Kings, pointing out tombs and monuments, many places we had been the previous day.
Also, skimming over small towns got lots of smiles and waves from the villagers. At one point we got so low we could actually see them cooking breakfast over an open fire. It was great.

Once the group returned to the ship we were off to Edfu, a town located on the West Bank of the Nile between Aswan and Luxor.The Temple itself is dedicated to Horus, the falcon headed god, and was built during the reigns of six Ptolemies.We have a great deal of information about its construction from reliefs on outer areas. It was begun in 237 B.C.E. by Ptolemy III Euergetes I and was finished in 57 B.C.E. Most of the work continued throughout this period with a brief interlude of 20 years while there was unrest during the period of Ptolemy IV and Ptolemy V Epiphanes.Edfu Temple is not only one of the best preserved ancient temples in Egypt, but is the second largest after Karnak. It was believed that the temple was built on the site of the great battle between Horus and Seth. According to the ancient myth, the falcon god Horus fought a fierce battle with his uncle Seth who had cruelly murdered Horus’s father Osiris. Like politics today, there was always a lot of drama in the early days of the Egyptian dynasties. The current temple is the last in a long series of temples built on this location.

In my last few articles I talked very little about shopping, an important part of any Bill and Marjorie trip. Everywhere you stop there are vendors. At the major temple complexes you can’t leave the site without passing dozens of vendors in strip-like malls, but not quite that modern.
The biggest difference, comparing the vendors to those in China, Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba and India, is that the Egyptians understand the word “no.” They don’t give you a hassle. Bargaining is part of their culture so be prepared to spend time if you plan to buy something.

One of the more memorable parts of the cruise was the vendors on the boats that came out to greet the ship. Talk about entrepreneurial.We were on the top neck and they would throw their merchandise, wrapped in plastic, up to the deck --- tablecloths, shawls, galabiyyas, blankets, etc. If you wanted what came flying up, you would start the bargaining process. Once you agreed on a price, you wrap your money in the plastic bag and throw it down.If you didn’t want the goods, you throw the goods back down. Most of the time they landed in the boats. It really gets chaotic when you can’t remember who threw what and things are flying every which way. This “shopping spree” went on for 20 minutes and would have lasted longer but we were heading into a lock.

Jim Felber found the perfect galabiyya.

The following morning we disembarked for our visit to Aswan and the world famous High Dam, an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960’s.The dam provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt. Together with the original Aswan Dam, built by the British between 1898 and 1902, it has regulated the flow of the Nile and increased agricultural production throughout Egypt.Here I am at the Aswan Dam with friends, Marjorie and Judith.

Unwillingly, we went back to the ship to get ready to leave the following morning. Once back on the ship several members of the group took advantage of the free-time to start packing for our trip back to Cairo. It was a beautiful afternoon, too pretty of a day to be inside and just perfect for a sail aboard one of Egypt’s famous Feluccas (sail boat). What fun. I can see why so many Californians get hooked on sailing.Join me next week for our visit to Abu Simbel and our trip back to Cairo.

EGYPT #2: Valley of the Kings

2009-03-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

After two days in the hustle and bustle of Cairo traffic, I was ready to leave Cairo for our Nile Cruise. We took a very early morning flight---arrived in Luxor and hit the road running: our first stop--The Valley of the Kings.Located on the west bank of the Nile, the Valley of the Kings was the necropolis (cemetery) of the New Kingdom pharaohs. By digging their tombs in a remote area deep in the Theban Hills, pharaohs, beginning with Tuthmosis I (c. 1500 B.C.E.), hoped to stop the grave robbers from stealing the priceless possessions buried in the tombs. The idea was good, however, it didn’t work. Despite their hidden locations, every burial chamber was raided, except for three--Yuya and Tuya, the great-grandparents of Tutankhamun, and Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in 1922, with all its treasures intact.To date, 62 tombs have been found in the Valley of the Kings; all numbered in their order of discovery. Because of the vast number of tombs, not all are opened to the public at the same time. We visited three different tombs: Tawosert- Setnakhte (11-85-1182 B.C.E.), the largest tomb in the Valley. It has double burial chambers, one used for Queen Tawosert, the other for King Setnakhte. We also visited Ramses VI and the tomb of Tutankhamun, the most famous of all the tombs.

To describe each tomb would take several articles. What I found most amazing were the wall decorations and the vividness of the drawings after three thousand years. In most instances the walls and passageways were decorated with scenes that are guides to the afterlife for the pharaoh. They depicted the gods he would meet and the perils and trials he would face in his quest for immortality.
We continued our journey through the Valley of the Kings to the Temple of Hatshepsut, a stunning sight nestled at the foot of a sheer limestone cliff. Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt (1479-1457 B.C.E.). According to our guide, Amr, she was one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an Egyptian dynasty.The Valley of the Queens lies to the southwest of the Valley of the Kings and holds the tombs of many royal wives and children. Of the 80 tombs that are in the valley, the most popular is that of Queen Nefertari. From everything I have read, the tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses II, is regarded as the most beautiful tomb in Egypt, decorated with scenes evoking the ritual journey of the soul to the underworld.

When we arrived at the tomb we discovered it was closed for a renovation project. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

Seeing all the tombs and learning about Egyptian history and archaeology is absolutely fascinating , but after three or four hours, my brain goes on overload. I was ready to go to the ship. However, Amr, our guide, wasn’t quite ready, so we did make one more stop at the Colossi of Memnon. Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) built a mortuary temple in Thebes that was guarded by two gigantic statues on the outer gates. All that remains now are the 75 foot high, one thousand ton statues of Amenhotep III, known as the Colossi of Memnon. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive.We made it to the ship by early afternoon and settled in for our four-night cruise up the Nile. After our hectic schedule I was truly looking forward to some lazy days on the river. As much as I was looking forward to being lazy, it never happened. There is just too much to see along the Nile.

Before leaving Luxor the following morning, we visited the Karnak Temple Complex, a group of ruined temples, pylons, buildings and other monuments that showcases some of the finest Egyptian designs and architecture.The Karnak Temple is the largest temple complex in the world and is dedicated to Amon-Re, the pre-eminent got of the New Kingdom. From Karnak we continued on to the Temple of Luxor and the amazing Avenue of the Sphinxes. Like the Temples at Karnak, it lay buried until the mid-19th century, and excavation has been ongoing since then.

Luxor Temple is about two miles from the Temples of Karnak, and the two sites were once connected by an avenue of sphinxes.Much of the Luxor Temple was built by the New Kingdom pharaoh Amenhotep III. Today, it is a beehive of activity, with the Luxor bazaar directly behind the Luxor Temple and all sorts of shops and tourist restaurants nearby. The Temple of Luxor is not as large a site as Karnak, but the statues, hieroglyphics, pillars, and obelisks are just as impressive.
Once back on the boat we set sail for Edfu. The weather was warm and it was great sitting on the upper deck watching life along the Nile pass us by.
Actually, it’s the other way around--we passed them by, but it was fun watching the fishing boats and feluccas sailing along with us.In the evening we had our” Welcome to Egypt” party and “dressed” for the occasion. It really was fun and I now have a great costume for Halloween or Purim!Join us next week as we explore the Temple of Horusin at Edfu, considered the best preserved of all the large Egyptian temples.
....................................................

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

Want to join us on our next adventure?

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

EGYPT #1: Visiting the Pyramids of Giza

2009-03-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Christmas morning we were up bright and early to board our Egypt Air flight to Cairo. Since full diplomatic relations were established between Israel and Egypt in 1979, both El Al and Egypt Air (called Air Sinai when it flies in and out of Israel as to not infuriate other Arab countries), have regularly scheduled flights between Tel Aviv and Cairo. I was so excited…I was finally going to Egypt to see the Pyramids of Giza, the Nile River, mummies, the real tomb of Tutankhamen, Abu Simbel--I couldn’t wait to see it all.

Driving into Cairo from the airport was like driving on the 405 during rush hour. Unbelievable traffic.Cars, trolleys, donkey carts, horse-drawn taxis and bicycles were all jockeying for the same space. However, for once I didn’t mind being caught in traffic, it was like watching a three-ring circus in slow motion.An hour later we arrived at the Conrad, a “luxury hotel” overlooking the Nile River. The hotel is really quite nice and our rooms had spectacular views, but unfortunately, not a great location for walking or shopping. As it was raining when we arrived in Cairo, we really didn’t mind having a quiet dinner in the hotel (several very good restaurants to choose from) and get ready for a marathon of sightseeing the following day.

First on our agenda was the Egyptian Museum that houses the greatest collect of Egyptian antiquities in the world--the sheer volume blows your mind.Amr, our guide, an Egyptologist trained at the University of Cairo, was a walking encyclopedia and guided us through the various exhibits at record speed.He did slow down at Tutankhamon’s treasures, the jewelry display and the Mummy Room, a real showstopper.
We were actually at the museum for over three hours. Three days wouldn’t have been long enough, but impossible for most tourists to fit into their schedule.

Our next stop--the Pyramids of Giza. Some landmarks characterize a country. I didn’t feel like I was really in Paris until I saw the Eiffel Tower or in China until I climbed the Great Wall. For me, the Pyramids of Giza meant I finally made it to Egypt, and I was ecstatic.The Valley of Giza-- with its wonderful monuments-- is truly a marvel of architectural prowess. The three largest pyramids located in the valley consist of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Kafhre and the Pyramid of Menkaura. Each Pyramid is a tomb dedicated to a different king of Egypt.King Khufu was “the father” of pyramid building at Giza and ruled from 2551 – 2528 B.C. He built the Great Pyramid between 2589 – 2566 B.C.E.

Kahfre, the son of Khufu, ruled from 2520 until 2494 B.C.E. and is responsible for the second largest pyramid complex at Giza, which includes the Sphinx, a Mortuary Temple and a Valley Temple. This pyramid was built of red granite and limestone between 2558 – 2532 B.C.Menkaure, also known as Mycerinus, ruled from 2490 – 2472 B.C.E. His pyramid is the smallest of the three pyramids at Giza and he is believed to be Khufu’s grandson. The dating of this pyramid has not yet been officially determined.Another part of the pyramid complex, on the south side if the Great Pyramid, is the Solar Boat Museum where, in1954, two rectangular boat pits were discovered containing the dismantled remains of two boats.The boat played a special part in funeral ceremonies in ancient Egypt. It is thought that these boats transported Khufu's body to his pyramid, since it was common practice to bury all items connected with the Royal Funeral, close to the final resting-place of the king. One of the boats, made up of 1,224 separate parts, was reconstructed by being stitched together using ropes made of vegetable fibers. After its reassembly, the boat measuring 43.3m (142ft) long was housed next to the pyramid in the Solar Boat Museum.They did an amazing job of reassembling the boat and it is interesting to see this boat, dating back to the 2566 B.C.E. after seeing the Jesus Boat, dating back to the first century C.E., two weeks earlier in Tiberius.
Just as the Pyramids of Giza are part of Egypt’s national treasure, the Great Sphinx, the first truly monumental statue in Egypt, is also considered Egypt’s national symbol, both ancient and modern.The Great Sphinx sits to the northeast of Khafre’s pyramid, in the middle of what used to be a quarry. According to our guide, Amr, it is believed that Khafre's workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face over 4,500 years ago. Khafre's name was also mentioned on the Dream Stele, which sits between the paws of the great beast. However, no one is completely certain that it is in fact the face of Khafre, and it is still a topic of discussion among both Egyptologists and archeologists.I was told no trip to Egypt would be complete without a camel ride.My last encounter with a camel took place in India when he ran off with Marjorie and me, along with Romain and Sigrid Mees, in the back of a cart and didn’t slow down for five miles. It was definitely an E-ticket ride. I had no desire to repeat the experience and since then have successfully managed to stay clear of all camels. My luck finally ran out, and there I was, atop a rather surly looking camel with bad teeth and a poor disposition.I’m not sure who was happier when “the ride” ended; I was definitely glad to be on firm ground.

Join me next week as we fly to Luxor and board the Movenpick Lily for our cruise along the Nile.

ISRAEL #7: High Atop Mount Masada

2009-03-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

The initial planning for the trip to Israel in December, 2008, actually started 13 years ago when Bill and Marjorie Handel became the proud parents of twin daughters, Barbara Leah Handel and Pamela Joelle Handel. It was an auspicious occasion in the Handel household and both Bill and Marjorie were committed to give the girls an understanding and appreciation of their Jewish heritage, not only within their family, but also through education.The girls have attended a religious school since the age of three and before their 13h birthday became a B’not Mitzvah (plural for Bat Mitzvah). According to Jewish law, when children reach the age of majority (generally thirteen years for boys and twelve to thirteen for girls) they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.” In most Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate their Bat Mitzvahs at age 13, as do the boys. Prior to this, the child's parents are responsible for the child's adherence to Jewish law and tradition, and after this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, traditions, and ethics and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life. The term Bat Mitzvah literally translates to “daughter of Commandment” and implies “responsible female.”

Even though Barbara and Pamela celebrated this important event with a religious service and party in May, celebrating with family and friends in December atop Mount Masada, in Israel, took on special significance.“After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, hundreds of Jewish refugees escaped from Jerusalem and fled to King Herod`s abandoned fortress-palace atop Mount Masada, near the Dead Sea. For three years, the refugees, known as "the Zealots," lived, farmed and prospered atop the mountain, taunting the Roman besiegers from its summit. When the Romans finally breached the refugees` stronghold in the year 73 CE, they discovered that 970 men, women and children had taken their own lives rather than becoming slaves. Masada was excavated in 1964 and has become one of Israel`s most prominent and most visited sites. For Israelis and for post-Holocaust Jews everywhere, it is a symbol of Israel`s self-reliance and determination that such atrocities will "never again" be committed against the Jewish people. Bat Mitzvah ceremonies atop Masada are held in the remains of the Zealots` Synagogue, arguably the world`s oldest synagogue still in use.”Joining Barbara and Pamela for the ceremony were Stacie and Zoe Kellner, long time friends of the Handel family. Stacie, Zoe’s mother, decided to learn Hebrew and study to become a Bat Mitzvah with a group of other women at her synagogue just last year. Zoe also became a Bat Mitzvah last year with the traditional service and party.

We left Jerusalem early in the morning to be atop Mount Masada by 8:00am. The rabbi met us on top and after a brief discussion with the families began the service. The setting was wonderful and profound. The rabbi told the story of Masada and related it to present day circumstances. Barbara, Pamela, Zoe and Stacie each read from the Torah, and related their personal reasons for wanting to celebrate their Bat Mitzvah in Israel.

As I sat in the audience I felt immense pride in the responsible young women they have each become and their dedication to the Jewish community around the world. It also brought back memories of my daughters, Heather and Erin, as they celebrated their own Bat Mitzvahs many years ago. At the end of the service there were hugs and kisses all around and then off we went to tour Masada. What a wonderful way to start the morning.
The site of Masada was identified in 1842 and extensively excavated in 1964 by an expedition led by Israeli archeologist Yigael Yadin. Due to the remoteness from human habitation and its arid environment, the site has remained largely untouched by humans or nature during the past two millennia. The Roman ramp still stands on the western side and can be climbed by foot. Many of the ancient buildings have been restored from their remains, as have the wall-paintings of Herod's two main palaces, and the Roman-style bathhouses that he built.The synagogue, storehouses, and houses of the Jewish rebels have also been identified and restored. Inside the synagogue, an ostracon bearing the inscription Me'aser Kohen (title for the priest) was found, as were fragments of two scrolls. Archaeologist Yigael Yadin's excavations have so far uncovered the remains of 28 people at Masada. The remains of three people, a male 20-22 years of age, a female 17-18 and a child approximately 12 years old, were found in the palace and the remains of 25 people were found in a cave at the base of the cliff. Carbon dating of textiles found with the remains in the cave indicate that they are contemporaneous with the period of the Revolt. All the remains were reburied at Masada with full military honours on July 7, 1969.No Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebration would be complete without some type of party, and this was no exception. Last year, when I toured Israel prior to Heather’s wedding, I stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Ein Bokek, a small resort town on the Dead Sea, quite close to Masada. Bill and Marjorie hosted a luncheon at the hotel, not quite as elaborate as the dinner they had in Los Angeles last May, to thank everyone for joining the Handel family for this very special celebration.We then spent the afternoon “playing” and “floating” in the Dead Sea.It was a wonderful afternoon and a great way to end this very special and memorable day.Join me next week as we leave Israel and start our adventures in Egypt.

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.
Want to join us on our next adventure? :

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

ISRAEL #6 : Exploring Jerusalem

2009-02-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

The old city of Jerusalem is divided into four “neighborhoods,” which are named by the ethnic affiliation of the people living in them: the Arab or Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. The entire area of the Old City is only one square kilometer (less than half mile square). This alone should be a testament that people with different beliefs can live together peacefully!!

Our first day in Jerusalem was spent mostly in the Arab and Christian Quarters exploring the narrow streets and alleyways and walking the Via Dolorosa (the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, which is said to trace the last steps of Jesus Christ). My knowledge of both the Old and New Testament is limited, but I love all the biblical stories and seeing places mentioned in either version of the bible. It is thrilling, and for many, quite emotional.

The next day was another full day in the Old City of Jerusalem. This time, we entered through Dung Gate, into the Jewish Quarter. The Western Wall, or Kotel, in Hebrew, is part of the remaining wall of the Temple Mount built by Herod the Great, and is one of the most sacred places of worship for all Jews from around the world.In the 1800’s, Jerusalem scholars were already trying to determine the length and measurements of the Western Wall and learn more about the construction. However, not until after the Six-Day War in 1967, did archeologists begin the project of exposing the entire length of the Western Wall. Almost 30 years later (1996), the tunnels were opened to the public revealing a stretch of the wall more than 1000 feet long, exactly as constructed by Herod. It’s amazing when you realize you are walking on the original pavement of the Second Temple period (537 BCE – 70CE).Before leaving the Old City for other parts of Jerusalem, Shmul, our guide, walked us over to the Cardo with a stern warning--no shopping today!! The Cardo was Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare in the Byzantine era. The stone street was originally laid by the Romans, and then extended in the 4th century as Christian pilgrims began to flock to Jerusalem.Today, the Cardo is a high-end shopping area featuring art galleries, jewelry stores and gift shops.It was difficult, but we heeded Shmul’s words and did not shop, concentrating on the historical significance of where we were standing!

As we were leaving the Jewish Quarter we made a brief stop at the Davidson Center and the Southern Wall Excavations, considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in all of Jerusalem.To date, excavations have uncovered remains dating back to the First and Second Temple periods through Byzantine times to the Omayyad era. The Davidson Center presents a multi-media introduction to the site and provides a perspective to the ongoing excavations.

Next on our agenda was Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial that commemorates the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the years 1933-1945.Many years ago, on my first trip to Israel, I visited Yad Vashem-- a one-room memorial spotlighting the different concentration camps and the number of people killed in each. Today, Yad Vashem is by far the most comprehensive Holocaust Memorial I have visited anywhere in the world, and, the most emotional. Yad Vashem tells a story of life in Europe from the turn of the century through WWII. The exhibits, the multi-media presentations, the photographs and the videotaped testimonies of survivors are incredible. Once you begin the tour there is no going back --you’re caught in a wave of people, twisting and turning following the displays, much like the Jews were caught on their way to the death chambers.

Yad Vashem also commemorates the heroism and fortitude of the Jewish partisans and the fighters in the Ghetto revolts as well as the non-Jews who saved the lives of many Jews. The Avenue and Gardens of the Righteous Among the Nations
honors thousands of non-Jews “who acted according to the most noble principles of humanity and risked their lives to help Jews during the Holocaust.”

We had three hours at Yad Vashem and it wasn’t enough time. Before leaving the complex, Shmul made sure we all visited the Children’s Memorial. He said it shouldn’t be missed, and he was right. It’s unique--“hollowed out from an underground cavern, it is a tribute to the approximately 1.5 million Jewish children who perished during the Holocaust.” Memorial candles, a customary Jewish tradition to remember the dead, are reflected infinitely by mirrors in a dark open space, creating an impression of millions of stars shining in the sky. The names of the children, their ages and countries of origin are recited in the background. It’s a somber reminder of mans’ inhumanity to man.

In the same vein is the marvelous bronze of a man in the midst of children. The name of the sculpture is The Hero and it depicts Dr. Janusz Korczak, a physician in an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto, who chose to stay with the children when they were deported to the death camp at Treblinka and perished alongside them.Beside the sculpture stands a sign that reads: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

After lunch we headed for our final stop of the day, Bethlehem. Shmul, an Israeli citizen, could not go with us into Bethlehem since it is in Palestinian territory. He brought us to the border where we boarded another bus with a Palestinian driver and guide and drove into Bethlehem.

From looking at all the souvenir shops and taxi drivers, I would guess Bethlehem’s economy is based on tourism.Our guide, Mohamed, was fluent in English and was excited to learn we came from the Los Angeles area. He had a cousin living in San Diego and had heard wonderful things about California. We reached the Church of the Nativity and were then turned over to another guide, who escorted us into the church.

Situated on Manger Square, approximately 5 miles from Jerusalem, the church is built over a grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have given birth to Jesus.According to our guide, the church's large fortress-like exterior stands as a testament to its turbulent history. For centuries, it was one of the most fought over holy places. It was seized and defended by a succession of armies - including Muslim and Crusader forces. It is now controlled jointly by three Christian denominations - the Armenian Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church.

The first Church was built over the Grotto of the Nativity in the 4th century AD under the patronage of Emperor Constantine's mother Helena, but it was later destroyed. In the 6th century, Byzantine Emperor Justinian built a new and more elaborate church on the site, and the present structure is basically the same as it was then.

The Altar of the Nativity sits below a silver and gold chandelier.A stairway on the right side of the altar leads down into the Grotto of the Nativity, said to be the site of Jesus’ birth; a 14-point silver star embedded in white marble marks the exact spot.The star was installed by the Catholic Church in 1717, removed by the Greeks in 1847 and replaced by the Turkish government in 1853, and bears the inscription, Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est – “Here Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary.” Of the 15 lamps burning around the recess, six belong to the Greeks, five to the Armenians and four to the Roman Catholics. In another corner of the grotto, down three steps opposite the Altar of the Nativity is the Chapel of the Manger where Christ was laid.The tour was good. Our guide certainly knew his history and the bible. Once we were upstairs, he showed us the different churches and then escorted us outside to our waiting driver, Mohamed, to take us back to the border. I kept wondering, with all the souvenir shops and a captive audience, why weren’t we stopping. I didn’t have long to wait. We stopped at a shop off the beaten path owned by one of the few remaining Christian families (the majority of the population in Bethlehem is now Muslim). It was a nice store and I’m happy to report our group helped out the slumping economy in Bethlehem. It was a week before Christmas and we definitely made their holidays a little brighter.It had been a long day. I was happy when we crossed the border back into Jerusalem. I think we could spend an entire month in Jerusalem and not see all there is to see. Join me next week on Masada as we celebrate the B’not Mitzvah of Barbara and Pamela Handel, Stacie and Zoe Kellner.

Any questions? Click "comments" at the end of the column and type them in.

Want to join us on our next adventure? :

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

ISRAEL #5: Jerusalem, the Heart and Soul of Israel

2009-02-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem is the heart and soul of Israel. Jerusalem--a holy city to three faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Jerusalem--the capital of the State of Israel, its seat of government, and the holiest city in Judaism. It is also Israel's largest and most populated city.

Since 1004 BCE, when King David established Jerusalem as the capital of his kingdom, there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Following the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the designation of other holy sites by Constantine the Great in 333 CE, Jerusalem became a destination of Christian pilgrimages. During Umayyad rule from 661 to 750 CE, the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque were built on the site where the Jewish Temples had once stood, and Jerusalem became the third holiest city in Islam.

As we drove into Jerusalem, I had fond memories of my trip last year for my daughter's wedding: Attending an Orthodox Jewish Wedding. As we stood high on Mt. Scopus, overlooking the city, I was excited to be back and couldn’t wait to take the group to the Old City, the heart of Jerusalem.

We drove into the center of town, checked into our hotel and took off on foot to the Old City. Our plan this afternoon was to follow the Via Dolorosa, the route Christians believe Jesus traveled carrying the cross from his trial to the place of his crucifixion, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered by Christians as the site of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Via Dolorosa, better known as the Twelve Stations of the Cross, winds through the Old City starting in the Arab Quarter. Here is a picture of the Fourteenth Station.Today, the Old City is divided into four neighborhoods, which are named by the ethnic affiliation of the people that live in them: the Arab or Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. The entire area of the Old City is one square kilometer (not even a half mile square).Over the centuries the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The building that stands today dates back to the 12th century and according to our guide, Shmul, is zealously guarded by four different religious denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, Armenians and Copts (members of the Coptic Church--mostly Egyptian Christians.)What I found fascinating is that due to the squabbling of the different religions, which unfortunately is still going on today, “the key to the church” was entrusted to a Muslim family. Nine centuries later, the 10-inch metal key is still safeguarded by the Nuseibeh family. Every morning at dawn Wajeeh Nuseibeh, who took over the job of doorkeeper from his father 25 years ago, picks up the key and opens the church doors. At 8:00 pm, he returns and locks them. I love stories like this. It’s part of the magic of traveling to so many different countries and learning about so many different cultures. I’m a real whiz at Jeopardy!We continued walking through the narrow alleyways of the Arab Quarter lined with shops selling all types of souvenirs from scarves for head coverings, to wood carvings, jewelry, pottery and lots of religious paraphernalia. It was hard not to stop, but it was harder getting out of the shops--bargaining is definitely a way of life in the Old City.It’s obvious when you come to the Jewish Quarter, all foot traffic stops and all your packages, purses, etc. are x-rayed and you walk through a metal detector, just like at an airport. We walked through the Jewish Quarter, past the Cardo, which was a Byzantine Road, roughly the equivalent of an eight-lane highway that ran through the heart of the city. Next we entered a large plaza and then we were, in front of the Western Wall and looking at the gold dome of The Temple Mount. It’s a remarkable sight.When Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E., only one outer wall remained standing. The Romans probably would have destroyed that also, but since it was not part of the actual Temple itself, they thought it was insignificant. For the Jews however, this remnant of what was the most sacred building in the Jewish world quickly became the holiest spot in Jewish life. For centuries, Jews throughout the world traveled to Palestine and immediately headed for the Kotel (The Western Wall) to thank God. The prayers offered at the Kotel were so heartfelt that non-Jews began calling the site the “Wailing Wall.”

The area around the wall is open 24 hours and is usually filled with worshippers. The Wall is divided by a fence, with a small area for women on one side, and a much larger area for men on the other. If you go up close to the Wall you’ll notice rolled up pieces of paper stuck into the Wall--these are messages and prayers that people write and put into the Wall, hoping their prayers will be answered.

Standing by the Western Wall is an awesome experience. Tourists from around the world still flock there, mingling with the pious and truly religious. The men in black coats with their wide, black rimmed hats and payot (side curls), standing next to the Israeli soldier, gun slung over his shoulder, standing next to the tourist wearing shorts is quite a sight to see.

Several women in our group walked over to the women’s side, with our own rolled up pieces of paper, to place them alongside the hundreds of other prayers and wishes fervently placed there by women from around the world. It felt good being back in Jerusalem.

Join me next week as we continue our tour of Jerusalem including Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial), the Garden of Gethsemane, Bethlehem and the Israel Museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls are on exhibit.

ISRAEL #4: Back to Biblical Times at the Sea of Galilee

2009-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

After a long day of “playing tourist” we arrived in Tiberias in the early evening ready for dinner and a good night’s sleep. Tiberias is the largest town on the Sea of Galilee and is considered a resort town with a main shopping area, lots of small restaurants, several hotels and lakeside beaches. It’s amazing how a little time for shopping and wandering can revitalize the spirit!In the morning we boarded our boat for the requisite ride across the lake. Actually, the Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias) is Israel’s chief source of water fed by the Jordan River to the north. Since biblical times the lake has been famous for its abundance of fish. Many of Jesus’ disciples were fisherman here, and he did much of his preaching by its shores. No respectable “tourist” could visit the area without having the famous local fare for lunch--St. Peter’s Fish.

After crossing the lake we headed north toward the infamous Golan Heights. The Israeli Army has a definite presence on the Golan. We climbed up to a bluff overlooking the valley below--to one side is Syria, the other Lebanon. It’s eerie to look at the Syrian boarder (with a pair of binoculars) and see their boarder patrol looking back at you.On our way back south toward Capernaum, we took a short detour for the wine lovers in the group --- a tour and wine tasting at the Yarden Winery. Yarden has two large wineries in the Golan and exports quality kosher wines worldwide. The wine tasting was fun, even at 11:00 in the morning.Capernaum, a town first mentioned in the New Testament, is reported to have been the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew, and where Jesus went after leaving Nazareth. According to biblical history, Capernaum was inhabited from 150 BCE to about AD 750 and was considered a large fishing village and busy trading center on the Sea of Galilee. The ancient city of Capernaum was abandoned about a thousand years ago, but was rediscovered by archaeologists in the late 1800’s. Today it is a major archeological site and is reported to have actually been the home of Jesus himself. According to Luke, "Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum," and a building, which may have been a synagogue of that period, has been found beneath the remains of a later synagogue.We left Capernaum, with our stomachs rumbling, for lunch --- St. Peter’s Fish, at a local seaside restaurant. I remember ordering the fish on my last trip to Israel in 2007 and complaining about the number of small bones. The common name for the fish is musht or tilapia. This time I asked the waiter to fillet the fish--it made no difference, it was still full of bones.

After lunch we continued our drive around the lake. Many in our group, well versed in the New Testament, were enthralled as we drove along the lake shore and stopped in the towns of Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene and Tabgha, the traditional site of the Multiplication of the Fishes and Loaves. Not far from Tabgha is the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. Israel is really a very small country geographically: only 150 miles from north to south, 28 miles wide at the Sea of Galilee and 54 miles west to east at the Dead Sea. When you look at a map, all the towns, Nazareth, Capernaum, Tabgha, Magdala and Yardenit are probably not more than 10 miles apart.Shmul actually let us sleep in--our wake-up call was 7:00,on the bus by 8:00. We were heading for Jerusalem, with several stops on the way. Our first stop was Beit Shean, considered by many to be the best-preserved Roman-Byzantine city in Israel. First inhabited 5,000 year ago, it became the most important city between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean during the Egyptian occupation. Falling to the Philistines in the 11th century BCE, it then became part of Solomon’s kingdom. After the conquest of Alexander the Great it was renamed Scythopolis, and became a flourishing Hellenistic city. In the 1st century BCE the Romans reined over Scythopolis. The Roman conquest brought Scythopolis to new heights and economic importance under the Byzantines, becoming one of the 10 city-states of the Decapolis and a major center for Christianity. An economic collapse, then an earthquake in AD 740, brought an end to one of the most prosperous civilizations along the Mediterranean.

The site is amazing. It’s hard to believe some of the structures date back 5,000 years. I can’t imagine anything we build today could last 500 years, let along 5,000 years--earthquake or no earthquake.

We continued heading south to Qumran, best known as the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. In 150 BCE to AD 68 Qumran was the home of a radically ascetic and reclusive community known as the Essenes who believed the arrival of the Jewish Messiah was imminent and spent their days fasting and participating in purification rituals. The Essenes largely vanished from history until 1947 when a Bedouin shepherd boy, looking for a lost goat happened upon a cave full of jars. These jars contained a precious hoard of 190 linen-wrapped scrolls that had been preserved for over 2,000 years. Today some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, thought to contain the oldest existing version of biblical scriptures, are on exhibit in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The story of how the scrolls were reconstructed is definitely worth a visit to the museum.
We arrived in Jerusalem in the afternoon--a breathtaking sight from high atop Mount Scopus. The Dome of the Rock shines brightly in the afternoon sun. Join me next week as we begin our exploration of Jerusalem.

ISRAEL #3: Sightseeing Adventures

2009-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is the third article on my trip to Israel and Egypt with Bill and Marjorie Handel and their family and friends in December, 2008.

Israel is really an extraordinary country. There is so much to do and see, so many temples and archeological sites that represent many different religions, there never seems to be enough time to see it all. One of the best things about having your “own group” is the itinerary can be changed, and that’s exactly what happened when we left Haifa on our way to Nazareth. We had been “on the go” from morning ‘til night (Marjorie hates the thought of missing anything!) and Shmul, our guide, sensed we needed a break from archeological digs and antiquities.

We left Haifa in the early morning and made a quick stop at the site of the beautiful Persian Gardens at the Baha’i World Center, the headquarters of the Baha’i Faith. The gardens are magnificent and have become a landmark and tourist attraction in Haifa.We then headed north, up the Mediterranean coast, to see the famed grottoes of Rosh HaNikra, located on the boarder of Israel and Lebanon.

The Rosh HaNikra grottoes are cavernous tunnels formed by the action of the sea slamming against the soft chalk rock for thousands of years.At one time the only access to the grottoes was from the sea, but in1968, a tunnel was dug from the shore to the natural grottoes. The tunnel was constructed slightly above the sea surface. A cable car now descends to the shoreline where visitors can explore the grottoes.
The grottoes are wonderful. We took the cable car down, which offered a spectacular panoramic view of Haifa Bay, the hills of the Galilee and the Mediterranean. Apparently winter is the best time to explore the grottoes when the wave action from the sea is the most intense. We made our way through the tunnels, got wet more than once, and took lots of pictures.Since we were right on the Lebanese border, we walked over and talked to several Israeli soldiers on boarder patrol and even managed a picture or two.
We then headed northwest to Nazareth, considered one of the most important Christian sites in the Holy Land. In the New Testament, Nazareth is known as the boyhood home of Jesus and has been an important Christian pilgrimage site since the 4th century. Today, Nazareth is an Arab city with a population of 60,000, mostly Muslim.Our first stop was the Basilica of the Annunciation; a modern Catholic Church built over the remains of Byzantine and Crusader churches, and considered the traditional site of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the savior. According to biblical historians, the cave that is enshrined inside the basilica was identified no later than the 4th century as the place of the Annunciation. It is not known when the first church was built here, but one probably existed by the early 4th century.As we walked back to the bus, our guide pointed out Mary’s Well, now located in the center of downtown Nazareth, on the main road.The Well is positioned over an underground spring that served for centuries as a local water source for the local Arab villagers. Renovated twice, once in 1967 and again in 2000, the current structure is a symbolic representation of the structure that once was in use.

Our final destination that afternoon was Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. Along the way, we visited the town of Safed, best known, in ancient times, as one of the four holy cities of the Talmud (Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberius are the others). Today it remains an important center for Jewish religious studies, but is also well known for its Artist’s Quarter. In the narrow streets and alleys between the area’s picturesque houses, there are many shops and galleries where artists display their paintings, sculptures, woodcarvings and jewelry.By this time, Shmul knew our group well; so before he showed us the Artist’s Quarters (where we could shop), we walked through the old city to the Synagogue Quarter to visit Abuhav Synagogue, built in the 16th century and named after Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav, a renowned 15th century Spanish Rabbi and Kabbalist.
The bima (the pulpit) stands at the center of the synagogue and the benches for the congregation are arranged around it, as was customary in ancient synagogues. The interior of the synagogue dome is decorated with depictions of musical instruments that were used in the Temple in Jerusalem and symbols of the tribes of Israel.Finally, a time to shop. Shmul actually gave us an hour of free time to wander through the narrow streets and wonderful shops and galleries. Marjorie Handel bought an unusual Chanukah Menorah and I bought a unique mezuzah made from a tree branch for my house.

We arrived in Tiberius in the late afternoon and made one last stop at a museum near Kibbutz Nof Ginnosar to see “the Jesus Boat”. I visited the museum when I was in Israel in 2007 and insisted it be included in the tour this year. The story of the “Jesus Boat” is wonderful.
A harsh summer in 1985 and a lack of rainfall in the fall of that year created a drought in Israel. Water was pumped from the Sea of Galilee to irrigate parched fields. As the water flowed south, the level of the lake took a nosedive creating vast expanses of mud flats. While of great concern to Israel's residents, for whom the lake serves as a primary source of fresh water, the disaster proved a boom for archaeologists.

Late in January 1986, between the ancient harbors of Gennosar and Magdala, two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, discovered a faint oval outline of a boat in the muddy lake bed. As one brother later explained: "It was little more than a curving arc of wood, flush with the surface of the ground, but we immediately realized that this was the uppermost plank of a boat that was entirely buried by the mud."

Before the water level returned to normal, it was cleared of mud, enclosed in polyurethane foam and floated across the Sea of Galilee, to be placed in a conservation pool at the kibbutz's recently completed Yigal Allon museum. Conservation treatment of the boat consisted of impregnation with a special wax material for 9 1/2 years. In 1995, the pool was drained and the boat was revealed.

According to Carbon 14 dating, the so-called "Jesus Boat" was constructed in about 40 BC and was in use into the 1st century AD. During this period, the lakeside communities witnessed the ministry of Jesus and the unrest of the Jews under Roman control. The Jewish historian of the period, Flavius Josephus, described a fierce sea battle between the Jewish rebels of Magdala and the Roman legions in 67 AD in which the Jews were crushed and the beaches "were thick with wrecks." The boat was probably sunk at this time.

The boat is 26 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet high, and it was probably of the Sea of Galilee's largest class of ships. Apparently, a master craftsman built it to last. It was made with different kinds of wood taken from other boats. First, the outside planks were assembled with mortise and tenon joints, then the frames or ribs were nailed inside. Its fore and aft sections were most likely decked and it probably had a mast, meaning it could be both sailed and rowed. Studies of ancient ships suggest this vessel had a crew of five (four rowers and a helmsman). Flavius Josephus referred to such ships holding 15 people. Skeletal remains from Galilee during this period indicate males averaged 5 feet 5 inches tall and about 140 pounds. Therefore it was large enough to accommodate Jesus and his 12 disciples.

Join me next week as we visit Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes and the Golan Heights.

ISRAEL #2: Caesarea,the city King Herod built

2009-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is the second article on my trip to Israel and Egypt with Bill and Marjorie Handel, their family and friends, in December, 2008.

We left Tel Aviv in the early morning and drove a short distance to Jaffa, an ancient biblical port city near Tel Aviv where Jonah set sail and where Peter had his housetop experience at the home of Simon the Tanner. Today, the two cities have merged to form one municipal area, but they are very distinct in character. Tel Aviv is a modern metropolis that dates back to 1909. Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be the oldest in the world dating back three thousand years. Parts of the Old City have been renovated, turning Jaffa into a tourist attraction featuring old restored buildings, art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, restaurants, sidewalk cafes and promenades. As we walked along the cobblestone streets it was hard to visualize what it looked like 3000 years ago.
We drove along the beautiful Mediterranean coast to ancient Caesarea, a walled city and harbor built by King Herod over a twelve-year period between 23-13 BCE. Since my visit last year a new exhibit opened--The Caesarea Experience, a multi-media presentation that takes you on a journey through Caesarea's history during which you are introduced to the various civilizations that controlled the city from Herod's time, to the Roman Period; from the Byzantine Era, the Arabs, to the time of the Crusaders.The history of Caesarea is fascinating. King Herod wanted to build a monument to show his gratitude to his Roman patron, Caesar Augustus. In the year 10 BCE, he launched one of the largest building campaigns ever conducted, turning Caesarea, named after the Roman emperor, into one of the most striking cities of its time in the world. When the Romans assumed direct control over Judaea in 6 CE, Caesarea became not only the capital of the province (a role it played for the next 500 years), but the headquarters for the Roman legions stationed in Judaea. Caesarea is an important site in both Jewish and Christian history.We toured the Crusader fortress, the aqueduct (originally built by Herod in the first century BCE, which conveyed water to the city from springs at the foot of Mt. Carmel, over 7 miles away),and the ancient amphitheater where concerts are still being held on a regular basis.Caesarea is truly a tribute to Herod’s skill as both an engineer and architect.

After a quick stop for lunch at a local falafel stand (more Israeli fast food,) we continued north toward Haifa. Our next stop was Atlit, a former detention camp used to intern Jewish immigrants deemed illegal by the British authorities.The Atlit "Illegal" Immigrant Detention Camp tells the story of the struggle of Jews fleeing Europe from Nazi persecution and death, trying to reach British controlled Palestine, only to be incarcerated in camps similar in appearance to the concentration camps of Europe. In 1939, in the wake of a four-year Arab uprising, the High Commissioner of the British Mandate issued a "White Paper" severely limiting the number of Jews permitted to enter Israel, in an effort to pacify the Arab leadership's demand for a halt to Jewish immigration. This camp was used to hold “illegal” immigrants known as Ma’apilim in Hebrew. From 1946, similar detention camps were established in Cyprus to which another 50,000 immigrants were held.

In October 1945, a daring military operation headed by Nahum Sarig and the young Yitzhak Rabin, later Israel's Prime Minister, broke into the camp and freed the 208 detainees. The camp continued to operate as a detention site until the end of the British mandate period in 1948.
Atlit was a real eye opener. I had read stories of ships carrying Jewish immigrants from Europe being turned back before reaching Palestine, but I had never heard of Atlit, and was not aware there were actual detention camps in Israel. When Israel became a state in May 1948, Atlit was used as a processing center for thousands of Jews immigrating to Israel.

We arrived in Haifa in the late afternoon and barely had time to change before we were off for dinner in Osafia, a Druze village 30 minutes east of Haifa in the Carmel Mountains. We were welcomed into the village and invited to the home of the mayor, who also owns the restaurant where we were having dinner. Bill Handel and the mayor got along famously.I was not at all familiar with the Druze religion and was surprised to learn that over 100,000 Druze live in Israel. They have Israeli citizenship and even serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (the Israeli army). According to our guide, the Druze religion was founded in the eleventh century by al-Hakim, 6th Fatimid Caliph, as a reform movement within Islam. The Druzes are strict monotheists. They revere Hakim as an incarnation of God, and expect him to return one day. Druze are also unitarian, believing all mankind to be divine. They believe in reincarnation and the spiritual superiority of women. One must be born a Druze in order to be initiated. One cannot convert into the religion.

The food, mostly salads, humus and freshly-made pita bread was wonderful. Several members of the family joined us for the meal and we were able to ask questions about their lifestyle and religion. Basically, Druze accept the Koran, the Judeo-Christian bible, and the writings of Hakim as meaningful.

It had been a long day and we were all more than ready for a good nights sleep. The next day we were off to Nazareth.

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.
Want to join us on our next adventure?

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

ISRAEL #1: Tel Aviv

2009-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

This trip had very special meaning to me. Not only did I finally get to visit Egypt, a country that has been high on my wish list for several years, but also, I was back in Israel with my dear friends Bill and Marjorie Handel, celebrating their daughters’ B’not Mitzvah on Mount Masada. It was a fabulous trip. We visited places in Israel I did not visit last year, including the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv, Hatzerim Air Force Base near Be’er Sheva, Atlit, a former detention camp used to intern Jewish immigrants deemed illegal by the British authorities, and the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. Egypt was beyond my expectations: the Pyramids at Giza, the Valley of the Kings, the Nile River cruise and our visit to Abu Simbel was a dream come true. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For the next several weeks I invite you to travel with me on my incredible trip through Israel and Egypt.

By December 12th our group of 30, all friends and family, had arrived into Tel Aviv. Since it was a Friday night, we welcomed in Shabbat with a lighting of candles and a special dinner, a wonderful way to start the weekend.Since most stores and public places are closed on Saturday, we started the morning with a walking tour of Tel Aviv, a modern metropolis located on the Mediterranean coastline.Tel Aviv is Israel’s second largest city and its financial capital (Jerusalem is the political capital.) According to our guide, Tel Aviv attracts youth with its active nightlife, great clubs and restaurants and lively beach scene that draws tourists year round. The weather in Tel Aviv is similar to Southern California with mild weather in the winter months and hot in the summer.I was pleasantly surprised as we walked along tree-lined boulevards and parks filled with families enjoying the mild December weather. A highlight of our walking tour was the beautiful buildings and stylish architecture along Rothschild Boulevard. According to Shmul, our guide, Tel Aviv has over 5,000 Bauhaus style buildings, the largest concentration in any one city worldwide. In recent years the city has undergone a massive re-construction/preservation effort, which has earned it a "world heritage site" by UNESCO. Also known as the “white city" because of the bright colors of the building style: white, off-white, light yellow. The Bauhaus building style was actually imported from Germany where it came to an abrupt end with the Nazi rise to power.Sunday morning we were off bright and early for Hatzerim Air Force Base near Be’er Sheva. Visiting an Air Force base is not a normal tourist attraction, but a good friend of Marjorie’s and Bill’s is a flight instructor at Hatzerim and invited us to tour the base.

Hatzerim is home to the impressive Air Force Museum as well as being an operational base, home to various training squadrons. The museum occupies a corner of the sprawling base where over 140 perfectly restored and preserved aircraft are orderly laid out in rows. The range of aircraft on display covers the entire story of air warfare in Israel, from the light singles and Rapides used by the Sherut Avir in Palestine to the Spitfire, Mustang, Mystere, Mirage III, Kfir, Phantom II and A-4. I hate to be sexist, but I will admit that the men in the group were a lot more excited than the women over the vast display of aircraft on the field.
After our tour of the base and the museum, we were invited to the airfield to watch several F-16’s take off on a training mission. The photographers and the plane enthusiasts in the group went wild as the planes roared off the runway. It was an exciting morning.After a quick lunch stop--Falafel and shwarma tucked into a pita with chopped salad (Israel’s version of fast foods,)we headed back into Tel Aviv to visit the Palmach Museum. The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the “Hagana," the underground military organization of the Jewish community prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Palmach was founded in May, 1941, in order to help the British to defend the country (then Palestine) against the approaching German armies. In the fall of 1942, as the threat of invasion receded, the British authorities ordered the dismantling of the Palmach, which caused it to go underground. It became a fully mobilized military force consisting of six platoons of young men and women. The Palmach units were stationed in Kibbutzim, where they underwent military training, and also worked on the farms 14 days out of the month to support themselves.

From the summer of 1945 until the end of 1947, when the British administration suppressed the Jewish settlement movement and blocked Jewish immigration into the country, the Palmach was engaged in bringing 65 ships with tens of thousands of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors from Europe.

Following the UN decision on November 29,1947, to partition Palestine, Arab armed gangs blocked the roads and besieged Jewish towns, including Jerusalem. At the time 2,200 Palmach fighters were the only force ready to engage in battle, though they were poorly armed. As the War of Independence unfolded, they operated all over the country, liberating Jerusalem and other besieged towns, conquering territories, opening roads, and, with the newly organized “Hagana” troops, defeated the invading armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. They fought valiantly, but suffered many causalities--over 1,168 died and many were wounded.

The Palmach Museum brings the visitor into their story brilliantly. Visitors to the museum join the group of young Palmach recruits from its establishment, and advance through the story of the Palmach until the end of the War of Independence. It is called a museum, but there are no displays or documents. It’s more of an experience, being part of the group as they take you through a series of rooms set up to represent various stages of the development of the Palmach and the War of Independence, including a battle zone complete with virtual bombardment, a warship, a campfire at a field camp, etc. It is actually more of an enactment than an exhibit. It’s a unique interactive experience and I highly recommend you visit the Palmach Museum when you visit Tel Aviv.

Join me next week as we travel north and visit the ancient city of Caesarea and the newly opened Caesarea Harbor.

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

Want to join us on our next adventure? :

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

Charles Darwin's Birthday, Feb 12

2009-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

is today. Since I'm a big fan of the Galapagos, and that's where Charlie ran into all those finches, I wanted to thank Google for commemorating the day. (don't you love how they do that?)

My Wish List

2008-12-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to one and all!

Bill Handel and Ilene toasting in Odessa.

When this article appears on Sunday, December 28th, I will be in Egypt visiting the Pyramids of Giza, one of my long time dreams. I am joining Bill and Marjorie Handel, their family and friends, on a trip to Israel to celebrate Barbara and Pamela Handel’s B’not Mitzvah on Mt. Masada. From Israel we will fly into Egypt to see the Pyramids of Giza, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Abal Simbal Aswan, Luxor and a Nile River cruise. Egypt has been high on my “wish list” for many years and I am very excited that I’m able to share this experience with my dear friends, Bill and Marjorie and their family.

I realize that travel is not high on anyone’s list this holiday season. I understand. However, life goes on and we have to be optimistic and be thankful for what we have. I am thankful that I have been able to travel and see the world. But most of all I am thankful for good health, a wonderful family and many good friends. With the support of family and friends, we will get through this difficult time.

Every year at this time I make a “wish list,” for places that I want to visit in the coming years. I first started making my list as the millennium approached; I wanted to expand my travel horizons, seeking out different cultures and seeing how people lived in other parts of the world. I was a sociology/psychology major in college, and always enjoyed reading about other cultures, mostly in non-westernized countries. So I’m continuing my tradition and thinking positive. I’m not ready to stop traveling. There are still so many places I want to see.

I am happy to say, that since 2000, I have been to all but one of the places on my original “wish list”: I traveled from Beijing, China to St. Petersburg, Russia, aboard the Trans-Siberian Railroad; I climbed the Great Wall of China and visited Emperor Xin’s great army of terra cotta warriors; I cruised down the Amazon; I walked among the penguins on the Antarctic peninsula; and I visited Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park. When I visit Egypt the end of this month I will have completed that original list.

Marjorie Handel and Ilene, cold but happy at Neko Harbor.

Every year I stand in front of my world map and look at all the places I haven’t been, and dream. Every year my list changes.

Ilene Cox, Cal and Marti in Lima, Peru.

After my original list I added Cuba, Peru, India, Southern Africa, The Galapagos Islands and Tahiti. By 2006 I had completed that list and started a new wish list.

Marjorie Handel and Ilene resting at the Salt Flats, Sacred Valley, Peru.

The list I started that year was a bit more exotic. I added Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, Viet Nam and Cambodia, the Russian Far East, Bhutan, Tibet and Lapland. I also added the Polar Bear migration in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.I’m still working on Bhutan, Tibet and Lapland, but I did make it to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year plus visited the fabulous temples in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Redlands Travel group in front of Anghkor Wat, Cambodia.

The Russian Far East was great fun and I ‘m probably one of the few people who have actually visited the islands of Little and Big Diomede off the coast of Alaska. I also got to see the Polar Bear Migration in October, 2006.

The best part of these trips is that I get to travel with family and friends. My sister and her husband have been with me in China, Peru and Russia.

Marti, Ilene, Cal, Heather and Erin in Moskow.

Between semesters and in the summer, my daughter, Erin managed to join me on my cross-country trip to Yellowstone National Park and Mt. Rushmore,

Ilene and Erin at Mount Rushmore.

on a Russian river cruise, and China. Heather, my oldest daughter, also is fond of traveling joined me in Ecuador for a trip to the Galapagos Islands,

Heather, Ilene and Galapagos Tortoises.

Tahiti and for the riverboat cruise in Russia. And the three of us all managed to be together in Israel for Heather’s wedding in November, 2007, along with my friends Marjorie Handel and Carolyn Groves and my cousins, Irwin and Josephine Furman.So, the moral of this travel log is--count your blessings and dare to dream. Enjoy making your own wish list--you never know what tomorrow will bring. Have a happy and healthy holiday season.

Ilene preparing to board a Zodiak.

Erin, Ilene, Heather Cox in Peterhof, Russia.

Erin and Ilene Cox in Nicaragua

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

What's on your Wish List?

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

PORTUGAL #4: Cruising the River Douro

2008-12-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is the fourth and last article on my trip to Portugal in October 2008.

We continued our trip through the Douro Valley stopping at towns and villages most of us never heard of. We stopped in Lemego,to visit the pilgrimage church of Santuario Nossa Senhora dos Remedios. Within the town, there is a magnificent baroque staircase with 14 Stations of the Cross that leads up to the 18th century church.Every year, at the beginning of September, thousands of pilgrims gather to seek healing and consolation. The church was beautiful and the altar really interesting, like stairs up to heaven.It must be a Portuguese custom since I have never seen that in churches in other parts of Europe--and I have been in lots of churches in Europe!

The small town of Pinhão is the epicenter of the Port wine making area, and a place where the soil and climatic conditions are considered to be at their very best. Located at the confluence of the Douro and Pinhão rivers, Pinhao is a mecca for wine lovers. We docked early in the morning and were off the ship by 9:00 am for a visit to the Wine Academy at the Vintage House Hotel. It was a great seminar and I’m becoming a real expert on port wines!!!Really off the beaten path was Castelo Rodrigo,a small village located on the top of Serra de Marofa that provided protection for the surrounding towns after the Romans arrived in the early part of the 13th century.

We walked around the fortress,and stopped at the church in the center of town before heading back to the ship for an afternoon of cruising.We docked in Vega de Terron and boarded a bus to cross the border into Spain for a visit to the university town of Salamanca. Since the European Union was created, there are no longer actual border crossings--you just drive from one country to another. Over the years I had been to Spain several times, since both my daughters, Heather and Erin, went to school in Spain. Salamanca is considered to have the purest form of Spanish spoken today and you can actually hear the slight difference in accent between Heather, who went to school in Sevilla, and Erin, who studied in Salamanca.Erin truly loved Salamanca and I can understand why. Salamanca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, offers a walk through Europe’s history of architecture. It has it all, Romanesque, Plateresque style, Renaissance, Gothic and baroque. The University of Salamanca is Spain’s oldest university and like many college towns, has a youthful vibrancy. We were in the middle of Plaza Mayor, when groups of students ran by in costume celebrating the beginning of the new semester.Like many European cities, the best way to see it is to walk around. We started our tour at the Plaza Mayor, the main square in town, and a great place to sit to people watch. The plaza is famous for its beautiful sandstone buildings and baroque-style architecture from the 18th century.

Next we headed toward the University and Casa de las Conchas, or ‘House of the Shells.” The house gets its name from the golden stone scallop shells that cover the walls.Today, the Casa de la Conchas is a modern library, but was once a Palace of Rodrigo Maldonado, a knight of the Santiago Order. We continued on to the university where the guide pointed to a very ornate facade that is a premier example of Plateresque architecture from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Our last stop on the tour was the New Cathedral, started in 1512 to help stabilize the deteriorating Old Cathedral.If you’re into architecture this is a must. It has a little of everything: Gothic, baroque and Renaissance touches can all be seen. Today, the New Cathedral is the only entrance to access the old Romanesque Cathedral Vieja, built in the 12th century.It was a fun afternoon and we all thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Salamanca.

Our trip was coming to an end. I was surprised that northern Portugal was not at all touristy. In fact, I didn’t do any souvenir shopping in Lisbon because I wanted to see the crafts offered in the towns along the Douro River. I never found any shops selling local crafts--and believe me we looked. The big draw in northern Portugal is Port wine.We cruised leisurely back to Porto enjoying the beautiful scenery along the river. In recent years several dams were built to prevent the valley from flooding and ruining the precious vineyards that terrace the entire Douro Valley.Portugal is a great tourist destination. Even though they use Euros, prices seem to be lower for meals and hotels than in other European countries. They have beautiful beaches, interesting cities, good food and great wine--all the essentials for a fun vacation.

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

Want to join us on our next adventure? :

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

PORTUGAL #3: A Taste for Port Wine

2008-12-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

We left Lisbon and headed north to the city of Porto where our ship, the Douro Queen, was waiting. I love when someone else is doing the driving--it’s a great way to see the countryside. Our guide, Pilar, was wonderful and gladly answered a multitude of questions on the political and economic situation in Portugal, as well as questions about health care schools, salaries, etc.

For lunch we stopped in Coimbra, a university town halfway between Lisbon and Porto. Coimbra is the home of Coimbra University, the oldest university in Portugal dating back to 1290.
After lunch we toured the university grounds and the Biblioteca Joanina, the jewel of the university. The library holds over 300,000 volumes, including some from the 12th century. Built in the 18th century, the library is a magnificent example of Baroque architecture and is definitely worth the stop.

We arrived into Porto in the late afternoon and were welcomed aboard the Douro Queen, our “home” for the next seven days. If you have ever been on a riverboat, you will understand when I say the rooms are well designed but quite compact. Unpacking proved to be somewhat of a challenge, but Carolyn (Groves) and I rose to the occasion and finally managed to find room for everything. After unpacking, it was definitely time to head down to the lounge for a welcome cocktail and orientation.Porto is Portugal’s second largest city, the city from which port wine derives its name. All the major vineyards have port houses here (Taylor, Graham, Fonseca, etc.), and can easily be spotted by their trademark red roofs, and the vintage signs on the sides of the warehouses. For hundreds of years, the vineyards throughout the Douro Valley have brought their wine to Porto to age in oak barrels before being bottled and sent to marketplaces around the world.We spent the night aboard ship in Porto and early the next morning crossed the bridge for a walking tour of the city. Located on the northern bank of the Douro River, just in from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, Porto has always been a city of commerce and trade.
The town actually dates back to Roman times (5th century), but like many European cities, there has been a constant battle for dominance and the architecture of the city is predominately Moorish, with a little Gothic and baroque thrown in over the centuries.

We spent the morning walking around the city and found some really cute stores, as well as the local marketplace with wonderful displays of fruits and vegetables. Thanks to Carolyn Groves, we had fruit to spare!We visited the main cathedral, but my favorite church was the Old Carvalhido Church in downtown Porto. The tile work on the front is magnificent.
No trip to Porto would be complete without port tasting. Prior to the trip I knew very little about port wines, except they were too sweet for my taste. After a tour of the warehouse, a tutorial on the different varieties of port wines and then tasting some different types, I discovered a whole new world of wines. Joe and Nancy Mandelbaum agreed.Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine from the Duoro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, but also comes in dry, semi-dry and white varieties. It is most often served as a dessert wine, but the white port is served chilled as an aperitif. Wines in the style of port are produced around the world in several countries---most notably Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, Argentina and the United States. But under the European Union guidelines, only the port wine from Portugal may be legally labeled as Port.

Our first day of sailing. Most of us were on deck as we left Porto, passing under bridges, through locks, by small picturesque villages right out of a tourist brochure.
As we continued upstream it was obvious we were in wine country--port wine country with stone terraces generations old that give the vines a sheltered hold on the steep rocks. It’s an amazing sight, so different from the wine regions in California.
In the early afternoon we docked in Regua, the center for port wine in the upper Douro Valley. The excursion for the day was a visit to the Mateus Palace and Gardens--the same Mateus as in Mateus Rose. The palace became famous worldwide for being featured on the label of Mateus Rose wine.

Built in 1745, the palace is a wonderful example of baroque architecture with an “impressive façade made up of beautiful pinnacles on the roof and an ornate balustraded stairway,” all reflected off the pond in front. Behind the palace is a delightful garden with box hedges, statues and lovely topiary work.We returned to the ship in time for cocktails and dinner. It had been a wonderful relaxing day along the Douro River. Join me next week as we continue upstream toward Salamanca, Spain.

PORTUGAL #2: Sintra, A Medieval Town in a Romantic Setting

2008-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is the second article on my trip to Portugal this past October.

After spending two days in Lisbon we took a tour outside the city to see the surrounding countryside and visit the towns of Sintra and Cascais and drive along the Estoril coastline.Sintra is a small town that dates back to medieval times, but has a sound footing in the 21st. century. Narrow streets lined with small boutiques, gift shops and outdoor cafes add to the allure along with wonderful palaces and castles that give the town a fairy tale-like feeling.In the center of town, in the main square, is the National Palace, dating from the 14th century. Its two gigantic conical chimneys are the town's most recognizable landmarks.
Originally built under Moorish rule for sultans spending summers in the temperate climate surrounding Sintra, the palace has been remodeled and altered by successive residents. Though predominantly Manueline and Gothic in architecture, the original Arab style still prevails in some parts of the building. Inside, the labyrinth of rooms are unique and possess what is said to be the most extensive collection of Mudejar Azulejos (colored glazed tiles) in the world.

But the most famous building in Sintra is Pena Palace, an extravagant yet relatively modern building, erected in the 19th century in accordance with the whims and romantic fantasies of Ferdinand de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the German husband of the then Queen Maria II.A true mixture of styles (Renaissance, Baroque, Moorish, Gothic and Manueline) adorn this enormous construction which occupies the site of a 16th century Hieronymite monastery, proudly sitting atop the hill with a wonderful panorama of Sintra, the valley below and the Atlantic Ocean.

The outside looks like a castle in Disneyland with its pink and yellow towers and domes, drawbridges, sculptures and detail that one can only imagine exist in fantasy.Inside has been kept very much as it was left by its last royal occupant, Queen Amélia, who, fearing the inevitable downfall of the monarchy in Portugal, fled the palace and the country in 1910.

We took a tram to the top and walked around the outside in utter amazement. We couldn’t wait to see the inside. The extravagant interior is decorated in late Victorian and Edwardian furnishings, rich ornaments, paintings, and priceless porcelain preserved just as the royal family left them.

Surrounding the palace is the mystical Pena Park, filled with a variety of trees and exotic plants from the former colonies of the Portuguese empire, ponds, fountains, and black swans. There is also a charming lodge hidden among the trees that can be visited. Pena Palace is unbelievable and not to be missed if you’re traveling to Portugal.

We drove from Sintra to the seaside resort of Cascais. A former fishing village, Cascais gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal family in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Nowadays it is a popular vacation spot for both Portuguese and foreign tourists.The town is a typical resort area with lots of hotels, tourist apartments, restaurants and shops.We found a cute outdoor cafe for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful assortment of fresh shellfish along with a great bottle of wine.We drove back to Lisbon along the Estoril coast with its beautiful white, sandy beaches and the beautiful blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. We made several stops along the way as our guide pointed out Cabo da Roca, Europe’s Western most point and the Estoril Casino and Gardens, the largest casino in Europe (according to our guide). It had been a most enjoyable day.

Join me next week as we leave Lisbon for Porto (Oporto), home of some of the finest Port wine houses in all of Europe, and where we board our small ship as it makes its way north along the River Douro through the magnificent wine growing region of Northern Portugal.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Care to comment? Click "comments" at the end of the column.

Want to join us on our next adventure?

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

VIDEO: 6 Minutes in Sintra

2008-12-02T11:46:00.001-08:00

Before I relate the details of my trip to Sintra, have a look at this video---you'll want to join me next time! (and thanks to the YouTube Turismo em Sintra moviemaker.)

PORTUGAL #1: The Charm of Portugal

2008-11-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

It has been many years since I visited Portugal and the charm of the country had left an indelible impression on me. With all my other travels, I never managed to find time to go back, until this past October when Uniworld, a company specializing in river cruising, offered a cruise through the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, from Porto to Salamanca in Spain. It was perfect, my last trip I spent most of my time in the Algarve, the beautiful beach area of southern Portugal.

I flew nonstop from Newark, New Jersey (I had to see my new granddaughter who lives in Pissaic Park, New Jersey,) into Lisbon and met my friends Carolyn Groves and Jerry and Debbie Baker, who had flown in from Los Angeles. The rest of the group was not arriving for a few days and the extra days gave me an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the city. The cobblestone streets and old neighborhoods are still there, along with new high-rise buildings and major shopping centers. Lisbon is growing and becoming a modern metropolis. Built on seven hills, along the sloping banks of the Tagas River, Lisbon has a special feel all it’s own.

The capital of Portugal since its conquest from the Moors in 1147, Lisbon is a legendary city with over 20 centuries of history. At one point, it was one of the most important capitals in the world, when the Portuguese owned the seas, circumnavigating the globe and opening the world up to trade.

Once the group arrived we were off at a hectic pace. We started our morning in the historic district of Belem. Our first stop, Belem Tower, a fortress built in the 16th century to keep careful watch over the great navigators who left Portugal to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
Close by the Tower is the Monument of the Discovers, built in honor of Henry the Navigator, considered a primary pioneer of the exploration of the oceans. Next on our itinerary was The Royal Coach Museum, but we got waylaid by the delicious smell of Portuguese pastries from a cafe across the street.

One of the typical pastries from Portugal is the Pastel de Nata, a custard cup with a crisp, golden topping. It was wonderful and definitely worth the stop.We walked across to the museum, housed in the old Horse Riding Arena of the Balem Palace. Created in 1905 by Queen Amelia, the museum houses an extensive collection of carriages belonging to the Portuguese Royal Family and nobility.
It was interesting to see the development of carriages from the 16th century through the 19th century. The changes, particularly in comfort, were dramatic.

Continuing our exploration of the Belem district, our next stop was the Monastery of Jeronimos (also known as the Hieryonimites’ Monastery), a masterpiece of Manueline architecture and, along with the Tower of Belem, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built during the 16th century, the Monastery is beautifully decorated with sculptures, Gothic scroll work and intricate designs.Our stomachs were telling us it was lunchtime, but Pilar, our guide, insisted we take a stroll through the Alfama district, the oldest district in Lisbon. Walking through this Moorish neighborhood is definitely a step back in time. It is actually a village within a city made up of narrow streets, tiny squares, small mom and pop shops, churches, and whitewashed houses with wrought-iron balconies adorned with pots of flowers, drying laundry, and caged birds. Picturesque is the best way to describe Alfama. I’m glad we didn’t miss it.
Our last stop of the day was the Rossio, the liveliest square in the city, where people stop to sit and relax, have a drink or lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes surrounding the square. And that’s exactly what we did.We had lunch at the Café Nicola and did some serious people watching. The square is full of entertainers and people wanting to be noticed. I can see why it’s called the liveliest square in Lisbon. It was a fun but exhausting day --- it’s hard playing tourist!

The day wasn’t over yet. Part of the fun of traveling is eating the local cuisine and trying new foods. If you enjoy seafood, Portugal is the place for you. Fish is served every which way--grilled, boiled,poached, fried, stewed and roasted.Restaurants in Lisbon abound from the traditional Portuguese cuisine to international fare, from the very high-end to the small, family run restaurants. Almost all the restaurants we selected were a la carte; you are charged per dish. Also, when they serve the bread, and special cheeses, it is not part of the meal, you are charged.

The happening place in Lisbon is Barrio Alto, for both locals and tourists. Behind colorful and graffiti-ridden facades, off alleyways and cobblestone lanes, are a variety of excellent traditional and international restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
Another fun area to go for dinner is the Alcantara, the principle pier of Lisbon, with an abundance of restaurants (mostly seafood), bars, discos and pubs. We were there on a weeknight and I was amazed at the crowds. It’s definitely a popular place.

Lisbon was fun--a great city to walk and explore. Three days was not enough to see and do everything I had originally planned. I guess that makes for a good reason to go back.

Join me next week as we leave the city for a day trip to Sintra, Cascais and Estoril.

The Joy of Passaic Park

2008-11-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

My column is usually about travel, places I visit or helpful hints to make travel easier. I have been traveling and recently returned from two weeks in Portugal and two weeks in New Jersey.

I realize New Jersey is not one of my usual travel destinations, however, this trip was for a most auspicious event--I am now a grandmother. Sarah Bina Tzall was born on Sunday, October 5tth at 7:30 a.m. in Passaic Park, New Jersey. The proud parents, Heather and Rob Tzall are tired, but doing well.I decided that being a grandmother definitely gives me bragging rights, so this column is dedicated to Sarah Bina. Sarah is my first grandchild and is named after my mother, who died in 2006. Among Ashkenazi Jews, (Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe,) it is customary to name children after a deceased relative. This a way of honoring that person and keeping their memory alive. Naming a child is one of the most important decisions new parents make. The Talmud (Berachot 7b) teaches that a Hebrew name has an influence on its bearer. Hence, it is extremely important to name your children after individuals with positive character traits who have led fortunate lives and have helped bring goodness to the world. My mother died at age 89 and was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. Bina, her middle name, is a Hebrew name that means understanding, intelligence and wisdom.

Sarah was actually born a week early, which I appreciated since I was flying into New Jersey on October 6th on my way to Portugal. I got to see Sarah when she was less than 24 hours old and then spent two weeks with her on my way home. Sarah was only 6 lbs,1 oz. at birth and 21 inches long; tiny in comparison to her mother who was over 8 lbs. at birth.This was my first trip to Passaic Park since Heather and Rob moved (from Israel) this past June. Only 30 minutes from downtown Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel (20 minutes by train or express bus, ) Passaic Park is an old town with beautiful, large, wood frame houses, parks, and shopping centers nearby. It is also a town in transition with a growing, young observant community. There are several synagogues, religious schools, a kosher market and a kosher bakery within a half-mile of their home. It is a common sight to see women pushing strollers to and from the main shopping area or out and about on “Shabbat” (Sabbat begins on Friday evening at sundown and is over on Saturday evening at sundown.) There are even three kosher restaurants in Passaic--a Chinese restaurant, a deli and a pizza parlor. Traffic in Passaic is light since most residents commute into Manhattan by bus or train. The biggest traffic jam I saw was the abundance of strollers parked outside the synagogue on Simchat Torah (The Joy of the Torah--the celebration of the completion of and the beginning of the “Reading of the Torah.” It was definitely a joyous occasion and entire families were celebrating at the synagogue.)The very best part of my trip was sitting and rocking this new bundle of joy. Heather’s sister, Erin (now known as Auntie Erin,) was able to come from Texas for a long weekend and joined us in Passaic for a family reunion. I don’t think Sarah was ever put down the entire weekend!!!I’m now part of a select group of very important people--Grandmothers. I think it’s the best “club” ever!!!!

Would you like to see their beautiful orthodox wedding? Click this link: Heather and Rob's Wedding.

Join me next week in Lisbon, Portugal for a few days of sightseeing on our way to Porto.

ANTARCTICA #4: Deception & the Drake Passage

2008-11-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

This is the last article in my Antarctica series. Bill and Marjorie Handel loved this trip and Bill is considering doing another group in December 2010. It might be a good time to go-- before it melts away.Day nine. We were on deck early, as we passed through Neptune’s Bellows, the narrow, shallow channel concealing the entrance into Deception Island. Once a haven for whaling ships and international research stations, it is now a haven for tourists wanting to take a dip in the thermal waters.

Deception Island is actually the sunken caldera of a semi-active volcano. In the early 1920’s, the volcanic eruptions caused considerable damage to the whaling station when the water in the harbor boiled and stripped the paint off the ships’ hulls. Between 1967 and 1969, volcanic activity on the island completely wiped out both the Chilean and British research stations. The most recent eruption was in 1992. Today, there are no human inhabitants on the island, only large colonies of Chinstrap Penguins on the exterior coast.
We sailed past sheer cliffs streaked with varied hues of red, black and gold, into the harbor surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The morning was overcast and the temperature outside was a cool 42 degrees; the water temperature, a very cold 38 degrees.

The zodiacs were lowered into the water and the staff was literally giddy at the prospect of soaking in the thermal waters. Since we were the late group for this landing, I decided to wait and hear the tales from the returning passengers. Everyone returning raved, just like being at a first class spa. I was still skeptical, but several members of our group donned bathing suits and headed for Pendulum Cove. I donned my same Michelin Man look and my camera and headed off with them. According to the group, once you found the “right spot,” and mixed the incoming cold water with the hot thermal waters, it was truly wonderful. Even though I didn’t take the plunge, I did tiptoe in and was surprised how hot the sand felt between my toes.While the others were relaxing in the thermal waters, I walked up the hill to what remained of the Chilean research station. The twisted steel and the burnt out shell of a boat tells the story of a hurried evacuation. Along the shoreline you can still see numerous whalebones partially submerged in the volcanic cinder and the burnt frame of an old whaling station.

Back on the ship, toasty warm and thoroughly relaxed from soaking in the warm waters of Pendulum Cove, the group headed for the Veranda Lounge for a congratulatory drink, and to finish their scrabble game. We left Deception Island in the early afternoon and headed due north toward the Drake Passage. The waters were calm, and I was hoping they would stay that way.

Unfortunately, the waters did not stay calm very long. Once we neared the Antarctic Convergence (where the warm waters from the north meet the cold waters from the south) the water was choppy and the ship was rocking. I immediately headed for my cabin. First a new patch (medication), second I put on the wristbands, and third I gulped down a Dramamine, just to be sure. By early evening the sign on the purser’s desk read: Moderate and heavy swells. Please hold onto the banisters as you progress down the halls and stairs. I had to laugh; the British certainly have a way with words. Walking was difficult at best, almost impossible if you couldn’t hold onto the banisters or walls.

The seas remained rough and I was told we had 29-foot swells. I marveled at the waiters as they “walked” across the dining room carrying heavy trays. More than once through dinner a wine glass tipped or a plate slid half way across the table.

The rocking and rolling continued the following day as we crossed the “dreaded Drake.” I was beginning to understand how early Antarctic explorers felt as they sailed the Southern oceans in their quest to reach the South Pole. I still can’t believe Shackleton and four other men actually crossed from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island in a rowboat, in a storm, and lived to tell about it. And without a “ patch” or wristbands!

A feeling of melancholy settled over the group. No one wanted the trip to end. The scenery was spectacular, far beyond any of our expectations. And the penguins were absolutely delightful. Going to the Penguin Encounter at Sea World will never be the same. Even Elephant seals, with a face only a mother could love, have a special place in my heart.Day 10. We woke up to the announcement that land had been sighted; we were approaching the infamous Cape Horn. I was amazed how much calmer the water was. The lecturer the previous evening had talked about gale force winds and 65 foot waves that had “done in” many a ship that attempted to round the Cape going from the Atlantic waters to the Pacific waters. It was a beautiful morning: blue skies, calm waters, with only a slight breeze in the air. The guide on deck said that was the first clear sighting of Cape Horn that season; it’s usually surrounded by a fog layer and impossible to see. I had read and heard about all the devastation associated with ships sailing around the Cape, it was hard to believe we were talking about the same Cape Horn.

We arrived back in Ushuaia in the late afternoon and walked into town for some last minute shopping. Packing became a real challenge --- where to put the red parka in an already full suitcase! The group was heading to Buenos Aires and the temperature was in the mid-80s.

I accompanied my group to the airport and said a tearful goodbye. I was staying on in Ushuaia to meet my next group. As the new group came through customs, their first question was, how was the Drake Passage? I only smiled….

Contact me at Redlands Travel Service for information about Bill Handel's trip over the winter holidays in 2009/2010:

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

ANTARCTICA #3: A Beautiful Day in Antarctica

2008-11-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

This article is a continuation of my trip to Antarctica in 2004 with Bill and Marjorie Handel. Antarctica is incredibility beautiful and was one of my favorite travel destinations.

It was another beautiful day in Antarctica---blue skies, puffy cumulous clouds, and an outside temperature of 46 degrees…summer in Antarctica. We disembarked in Neko Harbor on the Antarctic Peninsula. Marjorie Handel and I marked the occasion with this photograph:

I must admit, I did feel a certain sense of elation. I still can’t believe my travels have taken me to all seven continents. When I look at a map, there are still so many places I want to go-- it’s a big world out there. We had our obligatory pictures taken with a sign welcoming us to the Antarctic continent and headed up the hill to the Adelie Penguin colony overlooking Paradise Bay.
The penguins were nesting and the baby chicks were still under the protective care of mom or dad--it’s hard to tell the difference. Prior to my trip to Antarctica, my knowledge of penguins came from visiting the Penguin Encounter at Sea World. I was fascinated to learn that penguins spend 80 percent of their life in the water, only coming ashore for courting, mating, nesting and the incubation period that consists of warming and hatching the eggs.To my surprise, most of the penguins had two chicks. Penguins live in a very democratic society. The mates share the duties of incubating the eggs and feeding their young. Baby chicks are so cute. They’re born with a thin layer of downy feathers and look absolutely nothing like their parents. The funniest behavior is when the parent comes ashore to feed their young. It calls its chicks and waits for an answering call from the offspring. Apparently, parents and chicks can recognize each other’s calls, enabling each parent to locate and feed the right chick. The chicks run after the parent until the parent finally stops and regurgitates the partially digested food into the chick’s mouth.Yum! It certainly doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it’s fascinating to watch. What’s even funnier is when chicks, not belonging to a particular penguin, join the chase. If chicks are hungry, and their parents have not returned with food, they look for any port in the storm, or any penguin that has food.

I never realized that penguins were so vocal or so loud. At one point, a Brown Skua (a large gull-like bird) flew over the colony, and all hell broke loose. Apparently, Skuas prey on penguin eggs and chicks, and the nesting penguins were not happy.

We spent the morning enjoying the penguins. Several members of the group hiked up to the top of the ridge that provided a panorama of Paradise Bay. I had to laugh. I was used to seeing little black dots of far-off penguin colonies and now I was seeing little red dots, as the hikers, in their red parkas, got closer to the top.
In the afternoon we were off again for a Zodiac cruise around Paradise Bay, a protected natural harbor surrounded by hanging ice cliffs and huge mountains of ice. We cruised around the harbor as the guides pointed out several ice caves in the glacier face. The shades of blue on the glacier ice are unbelievable, from a light turquoise to deep cobalt. As we sat for a few minutes to appreciate the shear beauty of our surroundings, we could hear the thunder and cracking of glacial calving. For a moment, I felt I was watching a National Geographic special and someone had turned up the soundtrack.We were on the lookout for wildlife, and weren’t disappointed. Our guides pointed out a colony of blue-eyed shags nesting on the cliff ledges. We saw several different types of seals including the Weddell seal, a Crabeater seal and a Leopard seal. Seals are solitary mammals and spend the majority of their life at sea. For most seals, their diets consist of krill and fish. The Leopard seal also eats penguins and other seals. According to our naturalist guide, the Leopard seal has gotten a bad rap. Even though they lay in wait for penguins as they swim to and from their colonies, only a small percentage makes this a habit. I’m sure the penguins appreciate that.

On my second trip to Paradise Bay, several days later, we encountered a pod of Minke whales that seemed to be playing a game of cat and mouse with the Zodiacs. Once the whales were sighted, several Zodiacs came into the area. The whales were delighted with the crowd and performed magnificently. Even the Zodiac drivers and guides were duly impressed.

Back on the ship, we changed from our “Michelin Man” look to less cumbersome outdoor attire. Karen Mahmoudi and I took advantage of the photo op:It was so beautiful outside, the dining room staff decided to have a barbecue dinner on the pool deck. As a native Californian, I don’t exactly consider 46 degrees Fahrenheit barbecue weather, but I thoroughly enjoyed the barbecued ribs, chicken and steaks, taking my plate inside to find a place to sit in the Veranda dining room.

We continued south and were up bright and early the following morning to enjoy the scenery as we sailed through the Neumayer Channel on our way to Port Lockroy (on Wienke Island), the home of the British Research station.
The British established Base A at Port Lockroy in 1944 to support geological and geographical fieldwork in the region. Abandoned for many years, the British returned in 1996, repaired the station, and established a museum to provide visitors an impression of life and conditions at an Antarctic station in the early 50’s and 60’s.
The station is staffed only during the summer months.

Port Lockroy was a favorite stop for the group. There is a large colony of Gentoo penguins that nest very close to the British station. The penguins are accustomed to the presence of humans and we were able to get right next to the penguins and their chicks.

Also, Port Lockroy has a post office; this is the place you mail postcards postmarked Antarctica. And, they sold souvenirs. It had been several days since the group got to shop and they were delighted. We all got into the swing of things and purchased pins, patches and maps of the area.Our excitement for the afternoon was watching the captain navigate through the narrow Lamaire Channel. On the previous cruise, there had been too much ice and their way was blocked by a huge tabular iceberg. The rock walls of the channel were steep, rising almost perpendicular to the narrow channel. Growlers and bergie bits (icebergs that have melted into smaller ice flows) were all over the place. Once through the channel, I felt I had entered a white fairyland. Icebergs of all sizes and shapes were everywhere. It looked surreal and reminded me of a Salvador Dali panting. It’s even more amazing in a Zodiac; you feel microscopic next to an iceberg the size of a football field or a three-story building, and that’s only what we see above the water line.

At our furthest southern point (our latitude was 65-07S) we were near Peterman Island at the southern end of the Lemaire Channel. For a point of reference ,the Antarctic Circle is at latitude 66-33S.

As we turned around and exited the channel, I felt a sense of sadness. The trip was already half over; we were now heading north toward Deception Island. Join me next week as we take a dip in the thermal waters of Pendulum Cove and continue our way north back through the Drake Passage.

Want to join Bill Handel on his trip to the Antarctic? We are currently taking reservations:

www.RedlandsTravelService.com.

ANTARCTICA #2: Heading South to the Shetlands

2008-10-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

This article is a continuation of my trip to Antarctica in January 2004.

We were leaving the main lounge after listening to a lecture on Sir Ernest Shackleton and his fantastic voyage aboard The Endurance, when the captain announced the first iceberg had been sighted. We all grabbed our cameras, binoculars and parkas, and headed to the Promenade Deck.

It’s truly an amazing sight--off in the distance it looked small and insignificant. As we got closer, we realized it was a large iceberg--the size of a five-story building. The naturalist guide on deck called it a tabular berg, a flat, table-topped berg that had broken off from the ice shelf,
different from more irregular shaped icebergs that calve from glaciers. What’s even more amazing is that only one-fifth of an iceberg’s height and one-eighth of its volume floats on top of the water. This thing was gigantic.

Not long after we sighted the iceberg, we sighted land--we were approaching Elephant Island, the northernmost island in the South Shetland chain.Elephant Island became famous after the crew of The Endurance landed there in April. 1916, after their ship was crushed in the ice of the Weddell Sea. Shackleton left Frank Wild and 22 men on the island while he set out with five men for South Georgia Island. It took them sixteen days, in a small lifeboat, over treacherous seas, to reach the whaling stations at South Georgia, and another four months to finally rescue his men after several unsuccessful attempts. The story of Shackleton and his incredible journey of survival is well worth reading. It has a happy ending--all 27 men survived and several even volunteered to go with him on another expedition five years later.Early the next morning we arrived at King George Island. I couldn't wait to go ashore. We put on several layers of clothes, beginning with our thermals and ending with our red parkas, waterproof pants, rubber boots, a hat and gloves. We “waddled” down to the boarding deck and off we went on our first zodiac ride to shore.Our welcoming party was a group of Adelie Penguins--all dressed for the occasion. They are so much fun to watch--like miniature Charlie Chaplins on their way to the beach for a swim.

We were free to walk around, as long as we stayed away from the areas designated as a Sight of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Polish Research Station, Arctowski, established in 1977, has been studying fragile plants and mosses as well as the behavior pattern and interaction of three different types, or species, of penguins --- the Adelie, the Gentoo and the Chinstrap Penguins.Let me backtrack for a moment. Geographically, Antarctica is the continental landmass surrounding the South Pole. Politically, Antarctica is considered a “no-mans land” and falls under the jurisdiction of the Antarctic Treaty. Basically, the Antarctic Treaty is an international agreement enacted in 1961, that provides a framework for “cooperation and management of Antarctic concerns.” The intent of the treaty was to provide freedom for scientific investigation and cooperation and very strict guidelines regarding wildlife conservation. It even covers tourism, the number of people on an island at any one time (100), not removing anything from the land, not polluting the waters, keeping a safe distance from the animals, etc. As the naturalist guides like to say, “take pictures and leave footprints.”

Throughout the islands off the Antarctic Peninsula, several countries have established research stations: Brazil, Korea, Great Britain, Argentina, the United States, China and Chile. Some of the stations are staffed year-round; others are staffed only in the summer months, between late November and March. We had the opportunity to visit several of the stations, check out their living conditions and hear about their scientific projects.Back on the beach, we found a “clump” of elephant seals. Describing them as a clump may not sound very articulate, but that’s exactly what they looked like. During the summer months, the elephant seal comes ashore to molt and is very lethargic. Males can weigh up to 11,000 pounds; females are smaller and average around 1,800 pounds. They look like giant slugs--not the most attractive of the Antarctic pinnipeds (fin-footed ones.)Hard as it was to leave our newfound friends, the penguins, the weather had turned windy and cold and it started to snow. We boarded the zodiac, took a short excursion around Admiralty Bay, and headed back to the ship.

As we headed south, the waters were calm, and the air temperature averaged a mild 40 degrees F. (I attribute the description of the weather to the naturalist guide from upstate New York, where the temperature was in the low teens during my first week in Antarctica.)

As we continued through the Bransfield Straits toward the Antarctic Peninsula, we continued to watch for whales and attempted to identify the birds following the ship.
I was happy the afternoon lecture was on Antarctic birds; it would certainly help me put names to the birds flying overhead. I was fascinated to learn that there are over 50 species of birds living in and around the Antarctic waters. Most Antarctic seabirds, such as Albatrosses, Petrels and Penguins, spend their lives on the open ocean, out of sight of land. They come to land only to breed and rear their young. These birds nest from late October to late February on land that is free of snow and ice (not always an easy task). Once the brief summer ends, they return to the sea, living around the pack ice or migrating north to more temperate environments.

We were up bright and early the next morning. The 168 passengers had been divided into two groups, for shore excursions and Zodiac outings, and we were the early group that day. Our destination was Neko Harbor on the Antarctic Continent. There was definitely a sense of excitement in the air. For many passengers on the ship, this would be their seventh continent, myself included.Join me next week as we visit the penguin colonies in and around Neko Harbor on the Antarctic Peninsula and venture into Paradise Bay, famous for its scenic beauty and abundant wildlife.

ANTARCTICA #1: A Look Back

2008-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

With all the news broadcasts and magazine articles on global warming and its effects on wildlife around the world from the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, to the elephant seals and penguins in Antarctica, the climate is warming and it is affecting the environment. Whether the changing temperatures are due to man or nature, I really don’t know, however, I do know that the ice shelf in Antarctica is shrinking at a dramatic rate and it is affecting the animal (and bird) populations. We (Bill Handel and family) will be doing another group to Antarctica in December, 2009. I will be anxious to see the differences from my last trip in January, 2004.

On our next trip we will also be going to South Georgia Island, where I’m told elephant seal pups are friendly and slide right up to you for a little TLC. It is also where Ernest Shackleton finally reached land again to save his men stuck on Elephant Island, much further south.

Following is an excerpt from Ilene's travelogue from our trip in 2004. Enjoy, and sign up to come with us next year! ~Bill Handel

Heading South to Antarctica

As we boarded the plane in Santiago, I could feel the sense of excitement among the group. Now the real adventure would begin---we were on our way to Antarctica. We arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina, in the early afternoon and had a brief tour of the city before boarding our ship, the Explorer II.

I had selected the Explorer II because of its size. I had read about the infamous Drake Passage and I did not want to be on a small ship. The Explorer II, an exploration class ship with an ice-strengthened hull, has a passenger capacity of 398 guests. However, in the Antarctic, they limit the number of passengers to 198 to increase the number of Zodiac and shore excursions available to each passenger.

After settling into our cabins, we set out to explore the ship. The main dining room, the lounges, the theater and library, the “gym” (one treadmill, two bicycles and workout bench,) two small gift shops, a beauty salon and spa--this was definitely expedition cruising in style.As we headed out the Beagle Channel, we stood on the Promenade Deck, watching the sea birds as they flew overhead. The weather was balmy, in the mid-fifties with a slight breeze and blue skies. We were on our way to the Falkland Islands, the first leg on our Antarctic adventure.We arrived in Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands,two days later. Crossing the Scotia Seahad been relatively calm, 8 – 12 ft. waves, according to the captain’s log. Most of the group fared very well and commented how the movement of the ship helped put them to sleep. I, however, not having my sea legs yet, was thankful for the “patch” my doctor had prescribed and added my wristbands for extra measure. At that time, I had no idea what was to come.

Being the middle of summer, the weather in Stanley was quite mild, in the mid 50’s. The Falkland Islands, consisting of over 700 small islands, have a population of 2900 people, of which 1900 live in Stanley. As an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, the language is English and the currency is the Falkland Island Pound, equivalent to the British Pound. The town is really quite charming with its timber-framed buildings with corrugated iron roofs that are painted beautiful shades of yellow, blue, green and scarlet.The Falklands are really off the beaten path. If you look at a world map, you really are in the middle of nowhere. Most of us would probably have never heard of the Falkland Islands had it not been for the Falkland War in 1982, between Great Britain and Argentina. Argentina had claimed the islands, known as the Malvinas, since 1820.
However, Britain had occupied and administered the islands since 1833. In April of 1982, Argentina invaded the capital and took control of the islands. Apparently that did not sit well with Britain, and war was declared. Argentina finally surrendered on June 14, 1982. From start to finish,the war lasted 72 days.
However, remnants of the war still exist. We took a tour to Lagoon Bluff, about a 45-minute drive outside of Stanley, to see some of the countryside. Our guide briefly recounted the story of the war and pointed out several areas, marked with bright orange flags, of minefields left behind by the Argentines. Apparently the mines are not easily detectable due to plastic, not metal casing, and have not been removed.

We spent the afternoon in Stanley, shopping for souvenirs,enjoying a pint at the local pub and visiting some of the local landmarks. By 6:00 pm we were back on the ship, ready to head south toward the Antarctic Peninsula.When I awoke in the early morning hours, I knew immediately we had entered the Drake Passage. “Rock and roll” took on a whole new meaning. I managed to get dressed and made my way to the Purser’s desk. The sign on the counter made me laugh: Sea conditions---Rather Rough. As far as I was concerned, that was atypical British understatement---the seas were very rough with waves reaching between 25 and 30 ft. (On my second crossing, I would rethink the meaning of rough when waves reached 41 ft.) I was thankful that I remembered to change my patch the night before, adorned my wristbands, and took a Dramamine for added protection.

I had breakfast in the main dining room where all the chairs are chained to the floor. I watched the waiters with absolute amazement, and admiration. How they carried the heavy trays, one-handed, over their heads, Will never know. I couldn’t walk across the dining room without holding onto something for dear life.

After breakfast I went upstairs to visit my friend Carolyn Groves, whose cabin was on the top deck. I stayed for less than five minutes --- the difference in motion on the upper decks is astounding. Anything not chained down or put in drawers or closets, ends up on the floor. Luckily, Carolyn is not prone to seasickness. I was thrilled my cabin was on the lower deck.

By mid-afternoon, we passed the Antarctic Convergence, the dividing line between the cold southern waters that encircle Antarctica and the warmer northern waters; the temperature dropped to a cool 36 degrees. Most of us spent the day in the main lounge listening to the lectures. I particularly enjoyed the talk on early Antarctic exploration and was thankful I was on the Explorer II, not the Endurance.By the following day, the seas had calmed down (12-15 ft),and we were out on deck watching the Wandering Albatross and Giant Petrels that follow the ship, and keeping our eyes peeled for whales and icebergs. We were getting close to Elephant Island.Join me next week as we enter the South Shetland Islands,sight our first iceberg, and take our first shore excursion in the Antarctic waters.

If you'd like to join the Christmas 2009 tour with Bill Handel and family, get in touch with me at Redlands Travel Service. Click the link below or give us a call at 1-800-339-8417.