Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Hiking/Trekking, Horseback Riding

I visited with the trip to visit India,Bhutan and Nepal,To visit forests,mountains and many more sight seeing.

We visited Thimpu and phontesholing.Bhutan is the tiny Himalayan Kingdom and having monarky (King Jigme Singe Wangchuk).We met his highness and the we visited some villages and moountains area .Also we visited the Buddish temples.

The main attraction for me was their culture,way of living,eating and clothes too.Such a beautiful country but donot have much resources.

I visited different places and did tracking,swimming and went to the small villages,streets to meet peoples and know their way of living.

I am very satisfied and happy to have such a memorable journy.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Walking

Vacation paid by offspring for our 50th wedding anniversary, for a week in a timeshare condo in Marco Island, Florida Michigan City, IN to South Bend IN private auto.

South Bend In to St Louis Mo via TWA

St Louis Mo to Fort Myers Florida Via TWA

Fort Myers Florida to Marco Island Florida via rental car (Alamo)

Return reverse of above.

Fantastic two bedroom condo at the Radisson Resort at Marco Island; auto trip to Everglades Natioal Park, for an airboat ride and an excellent tram ride into the glades. Excellent visit with wife’s brother and in-laws in Naples.

Long delay in St. Louis on return trip due to mechanical problems with aircraft. delay announced every 20 minutes for over two hours. couldn’t chance going to eat or elsewhere.

Not particularly happy with TWA. No inflight meals, and snacks were barely that. Seats too narrow, even for coach class.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Horseback Riding, Walking

Best time to go to Alaska is early September when the tourists have mainly left, but the weather is still decent. Need to make it early though, so you won’t miss Denali National Park! 

Drove from Anchorage up Parks Highway to Fairbanks, then 4 1/2 hrs. on dirt road (Elliott Highway) to Manley Hot Springs. Then flew to Kodiak Island, flew back to Anchorage, and drove down Kenai Peninsula.

Palmer is very pretty — also the site of the Alaska State Fair; make sure to take Hatcher’s Pass

Talkeetna is a very cool place, just off the Parks Highway a funky town!

Manley Hot Springs: see below!

Kodiak Island is much like Ireland–green hills, black beaches, filled with wildlife–salmon are in every stream, river, even the ditches!

Take a 4 1/2 hour drive up a dirt road to Manley Hot Springs. We stayed at the Manley Roadhouse — one of two places to stay in town unless you are camping. This is true “Northern Exposure!” The Roadhouse is the main hub in town–restaurant, bar and hotel. The men in the bar were mainly hunters when we visited–had long beards and hadn’t bathed in a couple of weeks. There are lots of interesting characters that live in Manley, even active gold miners. The food is excellent at the Roadhouse and the bar has over 260 liquors, giving you some idea of how some Alaskans spend their time in the winter! The springs are located on private property — make a reservation. The springs are in a greenhouse and are three cement baths: temperatures are hot, hotter and hottest. We picked ligenberries on a hike we took in town and came back with two bags full of berries.

Cooper Landing-The Hutch, great accomodations

Driftwood Inn-Homer, inexpensive, good view

Winter’s Garden B&B in Fairbanks-pretty and inexpensive

Iditarod House B&B in Palmer–Best place we stayed. The woman who owns it was in the race in 80-81. Ask her about it!

Destination visited:

Activities included: Beaches, Birdwatching, Hiking/Trekking

My wife suggested that we pull over to get this picture. I was out of film and really hadn’t used my new camera, but this is one of my best pictures of nature. It is in the rain forest of Puerto Rico, overlooking the ocean. 

Additional Notes

Get a good map of Puerto Rico. The map from the rental car company was not easy to read. We took the long way to get to the rain forest.

Just a bit of sunshine. I love the branches of the tree on the left and the detail in the feathery leaves of the tall tree are magnificent.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Walking

In July 98 I spent nine days in Honduras visiting a friend in the Peace Corps. We covered a lot of ground and I did, saw, and experienced so many new things. For a city girl whose international travel had been pretty cush (Europe, Caribbean cruises) this was the trip of a lifetime. I loved it and as a result I’d like to grab my backpack, hop on a bus, and explore more of Central America very soon.

Flew into Tegucigalpa on one of the shortest (if not the shortest) runways in the world perched on top of a mountain. It was a toilet-bowl effect kind of descent and then a very abrubt landing. Commercial pilots are required to have aircraft carrier experience to land there…Spent 1 day in Tegucigalpa, 3 days at her site in La Union in the rural mountains, 2 days in La Ceiba on the Caribbean coast, 2 days in Copan Ruinas along the Guatamalan border, and the last day in San Pedro Sula (where I flew out).

La Muralla National Park (in Olancho, near La Union); the Butterfly farm in La Ceiba; and the Mayan ruins at Copan. If you like Copan, Tikal in Guatamala isn’t too terribly far away if you want to see more. And if you get a chance, spend some time in the rural areas. It’s not necessarily safe or easy, but you get to experience real life and meet some wonderful people.

The best way to get around is by [old American school] bus–bus stations are everywhere and the fare was usually about $4 per leg of a trip. There’s no direct route anywhere, but you get to see a lot more of the country that way and you change busses in towns that aren’t even on the map. Makes it interesting. They’re usually quite crowded though. One time I spent 3 hours sitting on a bucket in the back of the bus with the luggage next to the rear door that was tied shut with twine across from a woman with a live chicken on her lap…while we were going about 75mph on a winding dirt mountain road.

I ate seafood on the coast. I recommend you don’t. I had problems for 3 weeks…

And if you’re a woman, be prepared for a very strong machismo attidude.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Scuba Diving

Ed. Note: This trip report was previously submitted by Ekkehard Kuppel.

The Galapagos is the best nature experience I’ve had, with very close contact to wildlife, great instruction – this is the real thing.

I’d advise people to take at least week to get a good balance between logistics and enjoying the time there.

Make sure you get to remote Islands.

The diving.

Every excursion on Galapagos has a professional tour guide. Their knowledge is crucial to get the most of the visits; I used to think that watching birds is boring, but being so close and able to understand behaviour and meanings was a totally fantastic experience.

It is not cheap, by any means.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Mountain Climbing, Walking

My Aunts husbands father had just passed away. She, along with the other members of the family had decided to scatter his ashes in New Mexico. Along with his son’s. So we all set out for the west. I had never been passed Oklahoma City, so this was a very interesting trip for me.

We arrived late at night. We had spent the night at a freinds of the families place. Very sucluded and practically in the middle of no where. I slept in the top room. When I saw that the sun was slowly creeping up, I crawled out of bed with the my blanket securly raped around me and made my way to the balcony. As I stood there looking out at this beautiful land tears rolled down my checks. It was the most peaceful and soothing thing I had sceen in a long time. The rolling hills, the sun breaking over the cliff, the last fading colors of night in so many shades i couldent count.

While in New Mexico we got to visit other little towns here and there that were on the way Toas, Albacuky, Angel Fire, and more along that similar line. We stopped at a river along the street, it was full with tourist doing the same thing we were, taking pictures. My three year old cousin and I played in the river. I know she might not remember the trip as she grows older, but I know she had a blast.

I was at peace with myself around 90% of the time. The other 10% was sleeping. I would recomend New Mexico to any and everyone. To me its my own garden of eden.

My Aunt wanted us kids to have fun even though we were suposed to be in morning. Most of the children were to young to understand the meaning behind the trip. She also knew that my grampa wouldent have wanted us to be sad- to enjoy life to the fullest. Well thats what we did.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching, Walking

We went with a group of travelers to Zermatt, Switzerland.

Take the mountain tram up to Zermatt, stay in a beautiful youth hostel, and explore the town for a few days

They have a wonderful open air carriage ride through out the town. It is beautiful. Everyone is very friendly there.

The pharmasies are very helpful (especially with “montazumas revenge”). If you order pizza there (which is wonderful) it is made so each person gets there own pie. A wonderful place to by coo-coo clocks!! Skiers paradise – this is the home of the REAL matterhorn.

Destination visited:

Activities included: Birdwatching

Arrive San Jose then to Manuel Antonio for a hike through a private rainforest of over 200 acres with waterfalls and exotic wildlife.

Florsent tree frogs, jesus lizards and fantastic waterfalls

The weather was hot humid and raining but worth it.