My New Updated Travel List

 

My updated list of places to see

• Australia/New Zealand - snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
• Halong Bay, Viet Nam
• Take the Moonlight walk at Iguazu Falls, Argentina
• Canal barge trip in France with a visit to Monet's home
• Stay at Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• Go zip-lining in Costa Rico
• Night skiing in the Alps on a ski bicycle
• Go to Cuba
• A tall ship cruise to the Virgin Islands

Tall Ship in the Caribbean

My husband and I just returned from a 3 week trip to Africa.  While there we went to Victoria Falls, and then a 12 day safari through Kenya and Tanzania.  The safari included a balloon trip over the Masai Mara.  I know that my list did say that I wanted to take a balloon trip over the Serengeti, but my main objective was a balloon trip over a wildlife area in Africa, and the Masai Mara certainly fulfilled the requirement, and we did visit the Serengeti, which was wonderful.  We could have booked another balloon trip there, but felt it would be anticlimatic after just having done it.  We then went over to the island of Zanzibar for a couple of days, to relax before heading home.  Because of this trip I have crossed off the top 2 things on my previous list. I always add something new when I cross off something I have done.  I am now adding Cuba and a tall ship cruise to the Virgin Islands to my list.

If you would like to read about our African Adventure, I will be posting that with pictures to this blog in the next few days.  Give me a few days to catch my breath and get unpacked and then it will be posted.

My new updated Travel List

"Goals that are not written down are just wishes."

 Unknown
 

To my readers who have been following this blog, you know I have a list of 10 Places To See or Do Before I Die.  But I don't just keep deleting as I do things, until I run out of things to do.  Instead, as I do things on my list, I cross them off and add new places.  That way there are always 10 things to see or do.  Well, we just got home from a cruise, which we took to celebrate our 45th anniversary.  We actually flew to Buffalo, New York, went over to Niagara Falls for 2 nights, then drove up to Montreal and got on our Holland America ship, the Maasdam.  The ship sailed up the St. Lawrence River and stopped in Quebec, Charlottetown on Prince Edward, Sydney, Halifax, Bar Harbor and ended in Boston.  On my list of "10 Things to See or Do" I had both Niagara Falls and Quebec listed.  So those 2 things are coming off my list and here is the new list:

Iguassu Falls, at night

My (Updated) List of Places to & Thing To Do Before I Die

1.  Tanzania & Zanzibar - balloon trip over the Serengeti

2.  Victoria Falls in Africa

3.  Night skiing on a ski bicycle in the Alps

4.  Australia/New Zealand - snorkeling the great barrier reef

HaLong Bay, Vietnam

5.  HaLong Bay, Viet Nam 

6.  Take the Moonlight walk at Iguazu Falls, Argentina

7.  Canal barge trip in France with a visit to Monet's home

8.  Stay at Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu

9.  St. Petersburg, Russia

10. Go zip-lining in Costa Rico

 

 

Balloon over the Serengeti

We are currently making plans to do the first 2 things on the list next year.  All three places can be combined on one trip to Africa.  So hopefully, those will come off next year.

 

 As we have done with all of our recent travels, my husband writes emails home to family and friends and when we get home we put that into a report with pictures.  If you would like to read about our most recent trip to Niagara Falls and our cruise on the St. Lawrence, which took us to Quebec and other places, go to the side bar under Trip Reports of Trips we have taken and it is the last in the list.  Or you can click on this link and it will take you to it.
http://havelistwilltravel.blogspot.com/p/trip-to-niagara-falls-and-st-lawrence.html

 

Language - Don't be the Ugly American

"There are no foreign lands.  It is the traveler who is foreign." 

Robert Louis Stevenson



Eiffel Tower, Paris

I have had clients who were nervous about going to a foreign country because they don't speak the language. I tell them that they would be surprised how many people in the world speak English. It may not be their first language, but especially in Europe, most people speak several languages and English is usually one of them. That doesn't mean that you should assume that they do. Even if they do speak English, they may refuse to if you just assume that they should.

One of my fellow travel agents at AAA used to tell people that they didn't want to go to France because the French people were rude. We got into an argument about that. I have been to France several times, and I can tell you that most French people are not rude, they just find Americans to be rude, because we expect everyone to bend over backwards for us. We don't take the time to be polite to them, so they don't feel the need to be polite to us. All they really expect from you as a traveler is a polite greeting in their language - “bon jour”. And then ask them (again in their language) “parlez vous English?” You are asking them if they speak English. 95% of the time they will then gladly switch to English as you have shown them that you are willing to make an effort.

So whatever country you decide to visit, my advice is to learn a few basic sentences. You should learn the local greeting, how to ask them if they speak English, and how to say thank you. Another good sentence to learn, is to ask where the bathroom is. A note on that, in England you should ask where the loo or water closet is. I asked a lady in London where the restroom was and she thought I needed to lie down.