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Hakuna Matata: Zanzibar

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Back to Humans: Planeterra Project and Arusha Day Tour

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Ngorongoro Crater: A World Of Its Own

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Lions and Leopards and Giraffe, Oh My!

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the delayed post! (You’ll understand by the 3rd paragraph.) I will have an aditional post soon. Leaving Mto Wa Mbu we drove past lake manyara National Park and stopped at an overlook of the lake and valley below. The steep slopes of the mountains, homing Lake Manyara’s tree climbing lions, make the beautiful greenery feel sinister. Photos were taken, hagglers dodged, and…

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Where the Wild Things Roam: Lake Manyara

The morning started with the sense of adventure. All my camping gear that had been in my check on was redistributed on, in and around my backpack, a blue rain cover providing a small amount of protection from the dust we were told we would be encountering on the way. Checking out of the Outpost Lodge, our group convened in the small parking lot where two pop-top safari vehicles waited. Our…

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Nairobi to Arusha: Border Crossing Adventure

Its up! the next leg of the journey! Nairobi - Arusha via the locals bus with GAdventures!

Our team had made it down to Arusha on a public bus, all of our gear strapped under tarps on the roof at the Heron Hotel in Nairobi, picking up a few people at the local stop before making our way out of Nairobi and to the Tanzanian border. At the boarder we debussed and followed the assembly line, Departures from Kenya, Vaccinations, Arrivals, and Visa. The Covid vaccination requirement had…

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East African Adventure : Nairobi

It was 3 days of pure travel. DEN to NBO via Dallas and Qatar. It was only during that last lag from Qatar to Nairobi that I realized that the trip I was taking landed me almost smack on the other side of the world. In flight movies and the super power of sleeping on planes allowed me to set my ‘sleep schedule’, and when I arrived in Nairobi, was able to sleep when I got to my hotel. At first…

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Preparation for East Africa: The planning of an epic trip

1st Blogpost about my East African Adventure is up!

It all started with a notification that there was an open spot on a tour through east Africa. Arriving Nairobi, camping in the Serengeti of Tanzania, and ending beachside in Zanzibar. The Classic Serengeti and Zanzibar tour was the icon of my childhood dream of east Africa. When I was 4 I had a Lion King birthday party, by 10 I started teaching myself Swahili, and at 19 I was taking a sign…

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If everything went as planned, we wouldn't have adventures.

If everything went as planned, we wouldn’t have adventures.

A sim card that works in Europe, Check. Camera lenses, Check. Journal, Check. A timelapse of my suitcase packing itself, Check.

I was ready to go to Europe weeks in advance. This would be my big trip ending with the milestones and the age “30 by 30”. My 30 countries by 30 years old.

There were rumblings through the news of some strange virus spreading into and through Europe, Covid-19. Two weeks…

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Jump back in

Balam at Loch Ness

I am approaching the benchmark that society has been telling me to fear. The big 3-0. The era of the end of youth rates for travelling, and being grilled at every potluck by women twice my age why I don’t have a husband/kids/house.

That was never my goal for 30.

Instead I have been in the search for an adventure. An epic tale where I fall off the earth and into the stories…

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Iceland: Fire, Ice, and Elves

Iceland: Fire, Ice, and Elves

The last stop on our Round-The-World-From-Scratch included a week in Iceland. Iceland Air offers a deal, when traveling from North America to Europe, to have a free stop over for unto 7 days. Making the most of our time there, while still allowing ourselves to relax and enjoy the last of our travels, the Reykjavik city pass allows you free entry to some of the city hot pools and many of the…

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West Norway; Bergan to Myrdal and the Flam Railway

West Norway; Bergan to Myrdal and the Flam Railway

After Bergen we needed to make our way to Flam, where our reservation was for the night. We needed to make the trains that the previous day we were told were booked out. Arriving at the train station early, a Bergen-Oslo train was leaving in a few hours, and it was a train that didn’t require a booking. We booked our onward tickets, strapped on our bags and began the next leg of our journey. The…

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Getting to Norway

The journey to Bergen was a 36 hour whirlwind adventure. We left Hirtshals Denmark on the “short ferry” to Kristiansand. Originally our plan was to take the overnight ferry to Bergen, and pick up there to continue traveling. A few days early I go into the information centre and ask if the clerk can help me book some of the journey that requires booking, such as our ferry to Norway and first few…

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Time Traveling in Denmark: Ribe

Time Traveling in Denmark: Ribe

Ribe is a virtually untouched historical city that has maintained its character over the last century. Boasted as Denmark’s oldest town, Ribe (said as “Reeb”) has nightly Watchman tours that leave from the charming inn/restaurant, Weiss Stue. The old town hall doubles as a small city museum, with information and artefacts from the towns colourful history. Across the street from the train station…

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Time Traveling in Denmark: Roskilde and Lejre

Time Traveling in Denmark: Roskilde and Lejre

A 30 minute train from Copenhagen brings you to the quite town of Roskilde. It is easy enough to stay at your accommodation in the city and make the day trip, however we found that if we did the trip again, we would have stayed at the Danhostel in Roskide and taken a day trip to Copenhagen. The hostel, which was more of a hotel, is located about a hundred meters from the Viking Maritime Museum.…

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Copenhagen

First impressions of Copenhagen, after having just left Stockholm, was a little underwhelming. Coming out of central station the litter and homeless that crowded the exit made us worried that we weren’t going to enjoy Copenhagen as much as Stockholm. Our hostel was only a few blocks away, but the feeling in the area was very different. The old buildings bright colours had faded but still looked…

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In the middle of the Baltic is the isle of Gotland. The largest town, Visby, has a rich history as a trade port that used to be as important as London or Paris back in ‘ye olde times’ when trade across the baltic was best done by boat as opposed to the newer methods of trains and planes.

From Stockholm, we took the bus connection to the ferry from Nynäshamn. The trip was fairly uneventful other than the doppelgänger of Rollo from Vikings, or Brock O’Hurn, across the isle from us. Oden bless the Scandinavians.

When we arrived, we had missed the bus to the resort, and decided to keep our gear as we wondered around the narrow, winding, cobbled streets of Visby. The whole island had an air of ‘vacation’ with tourists of Sweden and foreign vacationing the island. The old buildings had been repurposed, with a church ruin playing host to a cafe’s outdoor seating.  Other ruins allowed you to walk up stairways and across catwalks, and into dark crevices of the historic structure.

The town, which is only about 20 minutes to walk across, provided plenty of sights for us to visit while lugging our bags around. Under advisement from the tourist information desk we cut through the botanic gardens and went up one of the lookout towers that remain on the old city wall that has been standing since the 13th century.

When we were done poking around the town, we caught the bus to the resort south of Visby, where we stayed the night. The resort hosts two theme parks (a water park and giant ‘playground’ with mini-putt, bumper cars, and go-charts), and Pippi Longstocking’s house.

The accommodation, which was cabin/camp style, was reasonable for the proximity it provided to the attractions.

The busses don’t run as frequently to the resort, and don’t start till late morning, so if visiting overnight like we did, a taxi is an option.

Visby… Or ‘Breckenridge: the Island’ In the middle of the Baltic is the isle of Gotland. The largest town, Visby, has a rich history as a trade port that used to be as important as London or Paris back in 'ye olde times' when trade across the baltic was best done by boat as opposed to the newer methods of trains and planes.