All tagged Adventure

Custom Cruises

Custom Cruises

Victor Block
Featured, Travel

With cruise season here, many folks who love that mode of travel will be taking to the season mega-ships that resemble floating ‘round-the-clock buffets and offer shore excursions too brief to provide a real sense of the destination. Others will opt for vessels and itineraries which provide very different experiences. They include Civil War buffs Tom and Elaine Preston, who take to shore to wander through reconstructed forts and trenches where one of the most important battles of that conflict was fought. Betsy and Andy Cross follow a machete-wielding guide as he clears a path through a dense rainforest that covers an area the size of India. Fun, rather than tropical foliage, attracts Lauren Davis and Jim Goodman to a Go-Kart race track, a ropes course and an exhilarating water slide.

Floating Fun Central: British Columbia

Floating Fun Central: British Columbia

Steve MacNaull
Featured, Health, Play, Travel, Top Home

Sometime between being shot out of the waterslide like a cannon ball and jumping off the top deck into shimmering Shuswap Lake, we declare houseboating our new favourite way to vacation.

But, of course, there will also be simple lounging in the sunshine, awe-inspiring vistas around every bend, soaking in the top-deck hot tub, barbecuing on the front deck, outdoor showers on the back deck, wine at twilight and sleeping like a baby as the water gentle laps against the boat.

Sicily, Italy: What’s not on the itinerary is as important as what is

Sicily, Italy: What’s not on the itinerary is as important as what is

Fyllis Hockman
Featured, Travel

It happens all the time with Overseas Adventure Travel. I start out expecting to write about the trip itself – in this case, Sicily's Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions -- and I end up writing about all the things that are not on the itinerary – what OAT refers to as Learning and Discovery. Sure, I wanted to focus on the extensive ruins of the Greeks and Romans from the 8th century BC; the city market initiated by the Arabs in 900 A.D. which still operates today almost as it did then.  The Norman Church built in 1174 which was proclaimed by one of the trip participants as “The most magnificent cathedral ever!” and a boat ride to a Phoenician island dating back 2700 years. But that’s where the story veered into trouble… I found myself being equally surprised and delighted by all the little extra things we were seeing and doing -- and yes, often eating -- that were NOT on the itinerary, the L&D moments that reflect the culture and deepen the immersive experience already embodied within the OAT itinerary.

Kauai Lives Up to the Hype

Kauai Lives Up to the Hype

Fyllis Hockman
Travel

Remember when Maui was considered the undeveloped island of Hawaii, in the days before hordes of tourists -- and the commercialism that inevitably follows -- invaded its pristine coastline? Well quick -- before the same thing happens to Kauai, visit the Garden Isle, the lushest and prettiest of the Hawaiian Islands. Go before it loses its virginity to the ravaging developers already hovering about its shores. But more on that later.

Magnificence in Miniature

Magnificence in Miniature

Victor Block
Travel

The trail traverses one of the most dense and lush rain forests through which I’ve hiked anywhere in the world.   Only a trickle of sun manages to penetrate the thick tree canopy above, from which a virtual aviary of birds entertains with a symphony of song. Not far away, towering, snow-capped mountains stretch to the horizon, overlooking valleys so packed with sheep they almost hide the carpet of grass on which they graze.

Alaska: Big, Beautiful, and Salmon

Alaska: Big, Beautiful, and Salmon

Victor Block
Travel

When I began planning a trip to Alaska, two words came to mind. One was “big,” which many things there are. The other was “mystique,” a sense which pervades the image that people often have of that state. It’s the size of the “Great Land,” as the Aleutian people named the region, which makes the most immediate, and dramatic, impression. Alaska is twice as large as Texas and if cut in half, would be the first and second biggest states in the country.   Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in North America, and Denali National Park over which it looms is larger than Massachusetts.