Antarctica
We spent a recent milestone birthday on Milos, Greece. Photo by Clark Norton
Our family has long tried to celebrate milestone birthdays and anniversaries with a major trip.
I won’t specify which birthdays or anniversaries, but these celebratory trips have taken us to Paris, Alaska, Norway, Greece, and Antarctica, among other far-flung destinations.
Sometimes you just need a good excuse to travel. (Other times, not — whatever works.)
So I was intrigued to come across this list of suggested milestone birthday celebratory trips from the folks at Wilderness Travel, which has been taking adventurous travelers to remote regions of the globe since 1978. (It was named AFAR Magazine’s World’s Best Tour Operator for 2017.)
Baby boomers have… Continue reading
An iceberg off Antarctica. Photo by Catharine Norton.
An iceberg is born as a roar, as a huge chunk of ice splits from a glacier and plunges into the sea.
But the iceberg’s story is far from over — these drifting islands of ice have much to tell us about our planet. An iceberg — which takes its name from the Dutch ijsberg — or mountain of ice — may lead a surprisingly long and rich life.
Depending on conditions like their size, water and air temperatures, icebergs may survive for days or even years. Eventually they break up and melt — often far from where they originated. Icebergs, in fact, can drift six miles a day or more.
Icebergs are found where glaciers — rivers of ice that flow slowly from mountaintop to sea — predominate: most commonly off the coasts of Antarctica, Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. When… Continue reading
Penguins are funny creatures, especially when out for a walk or a run. Photo by Catharine Norton
Having just returned from an unforgettable Antarctica cruise aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s five-star expedition-style ship Hanseatic, I experienced first-hand the fact that penguins are very funny animals.
Penguins are ubiquitous in many parts of Antarctica and on the many islands of the Southern Ocean, including South Georgia, where we spent three amazing days gazing at penguins as far as the eye can see.
They walk funny, then talk funny (some of them sound just like braying donkeys), they even stand funny (especially the poor fellows who are molting and look totally morose because they can’t go in the water at that time).
And they’re particularly funny when they run, especially when the penguin chicks are chasing their parents for food.
It’s possible that this parent thinks it’s time junior went out on his own… Continue reading
This is one of the beautiful images you’ll find on StrideTravel.com. Photo by Dennis Cox.
“The Savvy Path to Breathtaking Travel, Without the Hassle”
“Less Planning, More Experiencing”
“A Journey of a Thousand Smiles Begins With a Single Click”
These are some of the taglines that express the essence of the new travel website, StrideTravel.com, where I worked for more than a year as Content Director. (My job is now in the capable hands of Content Coordinator Samantha Scott, who, together with co-founders Gavin Delany and Jared Alster, comprise a formidable team.)
In practical terms, Stride aspires to be — and in many ways already is — the best place on the Web to survey the wealth of multi-day, pre-planned trips that are now available from hundreds of travel suppliers around the world.
“Pre-planned trips” may encompass guided group or private tours as well as independent journeys… Continue reading
A Hurtigruten vessel makes its way through the Antarctic ice. Photo from Hurtigruten.
Since one of my favorite cruises ever was the Hurtigruten voyage along the coast of Norway, and Antarctica is currently number one on my bucket list, I thought I’d pass along this news from Hurtigruten about big price cuts in some of their upcoming Antarctica cruises, even though you may beat me to a cabin I’m eyeing myself.
You can currently save up to $7,820 per person on a 10- to 19-day voyage to the White Continent, with the new fares running as low as $6,081 per person, double occupancy. While that may not seem cheap compared to, say, a Caribbean cruise, a trip to Antarctica is typically a once-on-a-lifetime experience, and it just got thousands of dollars cheaper on a very experienced expedition-style cruise line:
* The 10-day “Land of the Penguins” voyage is available from… Continue reading
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