With about 6 weeks before departure, we're finally making some progress on reservations and narrowing down what we are planning to do.
For China, we have the hotel in Beijing and I just made reservations at the Li River hotel in Yangshuo. That leave Xian--we may wait until we get to Beijing to make that move. So much will depend upon being able to get the "soft-sleeper" train from Beijing to Xian and again from Xian to Guilin. While I love the idea of traveling by train for both of those legs, they don't open up reservations until 4 days prior to departure. The soft-sleeper is a compartment with 4 bunks and a door, as opposed to a hard-sleeper with 6 bunks and a curtain. I don't mind sharing with a couple of other folks (in fact would like that) but if our only option is a hard-sleeeper or a chair, we might just fly. Yes, we are a bit spoiled.
We've gotten the Kenyan camp issue resolved as well. For the first leg of the trip we'll be at Joy's Camp--it's built on the site of Joy Adamson's home. For those of you old enough to remember, she wrote/lived "Born Free." It looks beautiful, but then I was reading how she was murdered by a disgruntled employee, and her husband was murdered a few years later as he was trying to rescue some tourists from poachers. Hmmm.
Well, back to obsessing about packing.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
This is why we have trip insurance
We've made progress on booking some hotels. I really don't want to spend a lot of time going from place to place, and when you can get what sounds like a great place in Beijing for $38 how much more of a bargain are we really looking for?
The last few mornings I've been waking up around 4:30 and while trying to go back to sleep will sometimes listen to BBC news radio and NPR. For once, it paid off. I heard reports yesterday of massive flooding in Kenya (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8550840.stm). Looking into it further, the Samburu park was pretty hard hit, with most of the safari camps being washed out--think helicopter rescue from rooftops. This particular flood didn't result in any deaths, but sadly, I've read that other flooding of villages has taken a toll.
After hearing about the Samburu floods--one of the parks we are scheduled to visit on the safari--we contacted the tour company and did a bit of research. Turns out the camp where we have reservations was one of the ones hit, and is pretty much gone. In fact, of the 10 camps in the park, only three are remaining. None of the damaged camps are expected to open until at least July 15, and perhaps not until next year.
So, we wait. Mike, the tour operator, is suppose to be trying to find alternative arrangements. We are suppose to be sending the last payment next week and don't want to do that until we see what we are getting. On the upside, the three camps still standing look even better than the one we had booked.
The last few mornings I've been waking up around 4:30 and while trying to go back to sleep will sometimes listen to BBC news radio and NPR. For once, it paid off. I heard reports yesterday of massive flooding in Kenya (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8550840.stm). Looking into it further, the Samburu park was pretty hard hit, with most of the safari camps being washed out--think helicopter rescue from rooftops. This particular flood didn't result in any deaths, but sadly, I've read that other flooding of villages has taken a toll.
After hearing about the Samburu floods--one of the parks we are scheduled to visit on the safari--we contacted the tour company and did a bit of research. Turns out the camp where we have reservations was one of the ones hit, and is pretty much gone. In fact, of the 10 camps in the park, only three are remaining. None of the damaged camps are expected to open until at least July 15, and perhaps not until next year.
So, we wait. Mike, the tour operator, is suppose to be trying to find alternative arrangements. We are suppose to be sending the last payment next week and don't want to do that until we see what we are getting. On the upside, the three camps still standing look even better than the one we had booked.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Reality is setting in
We've realized two things: from yesterday until the day we leave will be just how long we will be gone (giving a bit of perspective on just how long this trip is), and this time in two months we will be sitting someplace in Beijing, likely having tea.
While buying the tickets was certainly a reality check, for some reason it is now starting to feel bit more imminent. I think part of it is that we've finally told just about everyone we work with that this is happening. And we are realizing how much there is to do between now and then. Trips to visit family, still looking for the perfect pair of shoes (though that one may be in the bag for me), taking a first aid and CPR class, need to get one more shot and packing still seems impossible.
It seems like we've been doing the planning for months--wait, we've been planning for more than a year--and we still don't have a single hotel reservation. We do have a house in Spain, where friends and family will be joining us late in the trip, and the Kenyan safari is taken care of, but everything else? Nada (just practicing my Spanish ;-) ).
The hotel thing is kind of tricky. Many times in the past we've just made sure we have a place the first and last night and wing it inbetween. Apparently, in China the way to get the best deal--40-50% off--is to not make reservations and just make the deal on the spot. In lots of ways this is very much the way we like to travel. On the other hand, how much time do we really want to spend trudging from hotel to hotel to guesthouse to find a place?
And all of it is going to be a bit arbitrary. Aside from a recommendation from friends for a place in Istanbul, I'm mostly relying on travel books and Trip Advisor. Anyone out there been to Dublin? How about Split, Croatia?
While buying the tickets was certainly a reality check, for some reason it is now starting to feel bit more imminent. I think part of it is that we've finally told just about everyone we work with that this is happening. And we are realizing how much there is to do between now and then. Trips to visit family, still looking for the perfect pair of shoes (though that one may be in the bag for me), taking a first aid and CPR class, need to get one more shot and packing still seems impossible.
It seems like we've been doing the planning for months--wait, we've been planning for more than a year--and we still don't have a single hotel reservation. We do have a house in Spain, where friends and family will be joining us late in the trip, and the Kenyan safari is taken care of, but everything else? Nada (just practicing my Spanish ;-) ).
The hotel thing is kind of tricky. Many times in the past we've just made sure we have a place the first and last night and wing it inbetween. Apparently, in China the way to get the best deal--40-50% off--is to not make reservations and just make the deal on the spot. In lots of ways this is very much the way we like to travel. On the other hand, how much time do we really want to spend trudging from hotel to hotel to guesthouse to find a place?
And all of it is going to be a bit arbitrary. Aside from a recommendation from friends for a place in Istanbul, I'm mostly relying on travel books and Trip Advisor. Anyone out there been to Dublin? How about Split, Croatia?
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