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Travelistas! Tours/Trips/Getaways, Flights-of-Fancy Exclusively for Sololady.com Continuously updated to intrigue, inspire, and propel by Janet K. Rodgers
(For extensive, amazing past entries, ideas and links, please click here for our archives.)
Beluga Babies Churchill, Manitoba, sub-Arctic Canadian frontier seaport, is the perfect perch for polar-bear watching in the fall. And in summer, it is the perfect perch for another white wildlife wonder of the world— the beluga whale - when thousands of these playful and gentle giants migrate to Hudson Bay to feed, give birth, and sort of sing. Sign in at the Lazy Bear Lodge, which operates snorkeling tours from July to mid-August, to float belly-to-belly with the beluga babies. How? Don wet suits, board a small flat bottom boat and set out in search of a likely location for optimal beluga encounters. Don diving gloves, hoods, boots, masks and snorkels, then slip over the side of the boat into the clear water. Holding onto ropes tethered to the boat, snorkelers float face down, drifting with the current or being towed slowly over the surface for an otherworldly guided adventure. Call the Lazy Bear Lodge directly at 866-687-2327, or click: www.lazybearlodge.com. Rate is $204. pp for a 3-hour experience of a lifetime. Or contact Sea North Tours at 888-348-7591, www.seanorthtours.com. Their rate is $154 pp, for a two-hour snorkeling tour. _____ Dolly Llamas! well hello... Wild Earth Llama Adventures, a 16-year old tour company, puts a new twist on trek offering day-long hikes in New Mexico’s majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountains and/or Rio Grande Gorge accompanied by darling llamas who tote the gear. Hike together in small groups with experienced guides and wooly companions at your own individually adjusted to level of ability. (And the food is great.) A one day hike is only $99, and a 3-nighter start at $499. For all details, surf to: www.llamaadventures.com and see to their excellent menu of itineraries. Or call: 800-758-5262.
_____ Writing Chill for the weekend of August 13-16, 2009 at the Tofte Lake Center way up in wild old Ely, Minnesota on the Canadian border. Nicole Johns, author of the newly published memoir about eating disorder treatment, Purge: Rehab Diaries, will run this workshop, help you generate new ideas, and provide a supportive peer environment with one-on-one sessions. “Writing Women's Lives” will focus on challenges specific to women writing autobiographies. Tough issues are not excluded. Eight participants max and the $325 fee for the weekend includes housing in cabins with bathrooms and kitchens but meals are extra. Nicole Johns grew up in rural Western Pennsylvania, received her BA in English/Creative Writing from Penn State-Erie and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota. To know more, click on her site: www.purgerehabdiaries.com, or contact her at nicolejjohns@gmail.com. For more info on the creative retreat center, click: http://www.toftelake.com. _____
Solo women buckaroos! Here’s a great deal from The Brown Creek Ranch, way up and out there in Claresholm, Alberta Canada. Owners Shaunere and Brian Lane have created a 5-day/4-nighter called “Leather & Lace” featuring well-earned sleeps in a private log cabin, great meals, riding, cattle work, daily ranch activities. After a day in the saddle, relax with a glass of champagne and scented candles. And breakaway by heading to town for a cowgirl shopping trip and "real" afternoon tea. Package starts at $1,189 for a minimum of two and a maximum of four women. One date: September 19-20, 2009. _____
To work and play at the same time in a significant setting, and to maximize meaning in a cultural experience, consider the ever-growing wealth of volunteer travel programs. Think: conservation, teaching, community development … and think: hiking, rafting, horseback riding, swimming and language learnin’ too. For a big picture of volunteer vacations great for solo travelers throughout the whole wide world check the massive site: www.globalvolunteers.org More macro, check out Costa Rica’s number one volunteer tour operator, “Tropical Adventures,” for innovative trips using host families. Their Camaronal Sea Turtle Project, the Wildlife Rescue Center, the Indigenous Bambu, are highlights. They provide orientation and training, in-country support, meals, accommodations, medical insurance and activity planning assistance. For more, call them directly at 800-832-9419 or surf to www.tropicaladventures.com. “Destination Himalaya,” National Geographic Award tour winner in Calif., has started Volun-tours in India based on the lofty goal of integrating the best aspects of travel - exposure to culture, art, geography, history and recreation, with the best of human nature, the desire to connect and improve each other’s lives. Their “volunteer” groups work with visionary individuals who have committed their lives to meaningful community projects -- such as a school for disabled children in Kerala, a health clinic in the Thar Desert, a “medical boat” in the remote Sunderban Islands, or the first high school in a remote Himalayan valley. In the Azores, spend your sunny days on a cool 45-foot catamaran, photographing and recording whales and dolphins in an archipelago home to 3% of the world's known cetaceans. Biosphere Expeditions team members also track loggerhead turtles, collect sperm whale skin samples for DNA analysis, and snorkel to whale dive points. At night in the comfortable eco-lodge, the day's findings are discussed with supervising scientists. See: biosphere-expeditions.org _____ Happy (Solo) Campers Want to go to summer camp with Joan Lunden? For more than 15 years, Lunden, was a morning co-host on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and, not parenthetically, also raised 7 children. She is: www.joanlunden.com. Committed to helping Americans live healthier she is the visionary behind Camp Reveille, a women’s weekend getaway on the shore of Long Lake in Maine, north of Portland. For 4 days 3 nights, this year’s guilt-free weekend in camp is Aug. 20-23, 2009 for women ages 27-75. Although women are good nurturers, Joan says, they often do not take good care of themselves. Her Camp Reveille offers the place and time where busy solo women can reconnect, play, learn, meet, and relax. An apex experience for body and soul. Special recession price of $899 (instead of $1150) For more, contact Carol Godwin at carol@carolgodwin.com or 703-823-3291. And or click: http://www.campreveille.com
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Travel on the 118-passenger Clipper Adventurer, a small expedition ship operated by the venerable Canada specialist tour company, Adventure Canada, into, out of, and around the most remote reaches of the high Arctic. Zoom into small coastal towns and villages on swift Zodiacs to dramatically connect with the wildlife, culture, art and archeology. The mission of every expedition is to see “beyond the binoculars.” Is your image of the Arctic one big white blank? Well here’s your best shot to fill in the blank with such places as Kangerlussuaq, Sisimuit, Ilulissat, Qimusseriarsuaq (a.k.a.Melville Bay), Qaanaaq … and … you get the picture. One expedition is scheduled this summer: August 9 - 21, 2009. _____ Summer The 18-acre Essex Resort & Spa, 10 miles from downtown Burlington, VT and home to the world-renowned New England Culinary Institute, is offering a June-July getaway -- and at rate you can’t refuse. The $279-a-night covers a traditional room, two daily continental breakfasts, and their Spa Package (2-night minimum) tosses in $400 in extras: welcome spa gift, mani & pedicure, a choice of two Swedish massages or -- ladies, this sounds ultra-fab: their “Signature Transformational Facial.” What else? Complimentary airport shuttle, discounted recreational fees –tennis anyone? fly fishing, climbing, and their intensely popular Chef-In-Training cooking classes. The Links at nearby Lang Farm, a championship golf course, is also offering free club rental and a sleeve of balls with the purchase of 18 holes of golf with cart. For more on the resort, surf to: www.VtCulinaryResort.com, but to nab this great rate, call the Essex directly at 800-727-4295 and mention Travelista!! _____ Go Green Heads up solo women travelers. Consider a perfect 10-day loop in Ireland -- the Lakes of Killarney, the Dingle Peninsula, County Clare, walk (or pony & cart) across the Gap of Dunloe, Killarney National Park, ancient stone circles, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and Head Drive in Dingle. Lots of comfortable walking in the gorgeous, mysterious countryside. Sign up now and take advantage of a better exchange rate and a $150 discount off the tour price (if paid by the end of June.) Travel in southern Ireland during the perfect time of year - September 14-23, 2009 - and with the friends you will make in this small group of 14-16 women. For all alluring details call Lynn McBrien, student of Celtic Studies and Spirituality and owner of Vermont-based McCavan Journeys, who will also be your guide. Phone 802-253-3070 x2 or click: www.mccavanjourneys.net. _____ Gold Rushers “The Great River Journey” begins in the Yukon's territorial capital of (sub arctic) Whitehorse, Canada and courses over eight days and 600 kilometers of wilderness to recreate an experience of the trip made by Klondike gold-rushers in 1896 when vast riches were discovered…ending in tiny far-northern village of Dawson. Small groups (ten is max) travel in their own riverboat with a pilot and an experienced local guide who will focus on special interests such as wildlife viewing, nature photography, bird watching, hiking, paddling and cultural experiences. Travel also by float planes and sleep in luxurious tented cabins. Hang out in a Klondike Gold Rush encampment where log cabins, telegraph stations and shipwrecked paddle wheelers still remain. To know more, raft to: www.greatriverjourney.com. Hear awesomely seductive age-old music and watch their streaming Yukon River video _____ News: The Iranians Await Us! Yes. The land once called Persia whose history stretches back more than 3,000 years, is the wellspring of glorious achievements in art, architecture, poetry, philosophy, mathematics, and science, yet many are unaware of the extraordinary cultural treasures ancient Persia has to offer. The complex and fascinating society of modern Iran has been way off the radar to American travelers for years. The venerable travel company R. Crusoe & Son conferred with top brass in the U.S. State Department, got the green light and designed this unique cultural journey to Iran. And poof! Trip of a lifetime. Classy Crusoe’s small-group 15-day tour through Iran is scheduled for September 2009. Call them in Chicago 888-490-8046. Click: http://www.rcrusoe.com for details on their “Passage through Persia” tour. And don’t forget to ask for a real paper copy of their brochure -- the most artistic, charming and literary travel idea book out there. - See my friend Rebecca’s Letter on Iran in the Sololady Blog Spot. _____
Hands down Tel Aviv is the most fun city in the Mideast, undisputed queen of the seaside non-stop good living -- and now celebrating her 100th birthday -- April to December 2009. After the amped-up kick-off public parties, here are some of the upcoming highlights: -- June 17-18: Sister city Jaffa’s Blue Festival celebrates Mediterranean culture, music and food on the recently renovated port, parks and streets -- July 16: Verdi's Requiem - free - al fresco – performed by the prestigious La Scala Opera House in Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv -- August 4-6th: Zoom up to Jerusalem to check out the Israel Wine-Tasting Festival in the Israel Museum's marvelously panoramic Art Garden. Unlimited tastings of Israel's leading wines, live jazz music and admission to the museum galleries. -- August 11-12th: The Israel Museum will honor Tel Aviv's Centennial with a bigtime celebration of live Klezmer, world-musical Israeli and Arabic musical performances, and a celebration of Balkan-Gypsy music on wind instruments. -- September 1st and 2nd Madonna’s music-and-dance spectacle provocatively called “Sticky & Sweet” will also blaze in Hayarkon Park. Her 17-member dance troupe, a custom-designed stage, hundreds of costumes, and state-of-the-art special effects all come together, ultra-dramatically, in the pop superstar's second Israel concert. For hard-to-get tickets hit: www.012netvision.net.il. _____ Quetzal Quest Less-known to nature lovers and adventure travelers, Panama is often compared to neighboring Costa Rica for its similar landscape of mountains, beaches and jungles; trails to hike and rivers to raft. And Panama is the premier place for viewing the elusive Quetzal, the fabulously colorful Central American star bird (with a cute crew cut). Award-winning Aventouras, specialists in immersive journeys in Latin America, offers Panama trips that include hiking, snorkeling, rafting, and ziplining your way through the country. Hike the Sendero Los Quetzales to look for the resplendent Quetzal, raft the Rio Chiriqui, swim at waterfalls, enjoy morning birding walks with a naturalist guide, boat out to the San Blas archipelago and meet native Kuna, tour local coffee farms. No Ritz Carltons here. Accommodations are set in distinctive properties that work in partnership with local communities. One 8-day (small group) tour is left this year: Dec 19-26, 2009. Cost: $1998 (single supplement $350). Surf to: www.aventouras.com or phone 800-930-2846 in Colorado. _____
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An energetic world-wide traveler and guidebook author, Janet Kaplan Rodgers is a veteran public relations travel pro.
