A hundred years ago, when I opened The Joy of Travel, you could travel to Mexico and the Caribbean with just a valid drivers license and your birth certificate. Remember those days?
We had charter flights from both TUL and OKC and when those weren’t full, boy oh boy, the last-minute deals really were a steal. Almost every trip I booked from 2005-2008 was traveling in 60 days or less.
Read MoreMy oldest grandson graduated from High School. Has there ever been a better excuse for everyone to get together and celebrate? Especially on a fabulous beach attached to a gorgeous all-inclusive resort, right?
We had ages 11, 12, 18, two in their 30’s, one in his 40’s, one in his 50’s, three in their 60’s and one 70-year-old. 11 total. All coming to the experience with a different set of needs and expectations.
Read MoreDid you know The Joy of Travel began in a beautiful little two traffic light town in Eastern Oklahoma? That’s right. My hometown of
Read MoreDid you know there are incredible opportunities on European Rivers for as few as 3 nights?
I know all you hear about are the 7-10-14 night cruise options, but in an effort to be more accessible to more people, our favorite river cruise companies now offer shorter itineraries at some really enticing price points.
Read MoreLeopard, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Lion. Originally, they were the five most dangerous to hunt on foot. They tell us now that these are the five most endangered. (fyi the Maasai men are no longer required to kill a lion in order to prove their entrance into adulthood).
By February 15 we had seen hundreds if not thousands of four of the big five. Only the leopard had eluded us.
Read MoreWe entered the Serengeti in one of the driest, most inhospitable areas we’d seen yet. Only Amboseli was dryer. Very little wildlife, a few Thompson and Grant gazelle’s. Very sparse vegetation. Not a tree in sight. If we had to slow down for a particularly rough spot the dust we were kicking up enveloped us. Our eyes and teeth were gritty.
But then, the magic. . .
Read MoreThat’s what we said, and that’s what we did last week in Budapest. I hope you were following our social media pages and got to share in the adventure.
Read MoreEvery single day we woke up, loaded up, and said “surely today is the day we will be disappointed” and at no time, on no day, did that prediction ever come true. Every single day was amazing and exciting in a new and unique way. The Ngorongoro Crater was no exception.
Read MoreOn February 14th we left Lake Manyara an headed toward the Ngorongoro Crater. On the way, we stopped at the Tloma Primary School. This is a public, not a private, institution.
Read MoreAs you know, we had already spent most of our tour on very rough dirt roads. But as we were leaving Amboseli, our driver/guides let us know we’d be crossing a dry lake bed this morning on our way to Tanzania, and then it was going to be the roughest road of the trip.
Read MoreHave you ever looked down at a landing strip and noticed that there were animal dung deposits all along the runway? That was our welcome to Amboseli.
Read MoreIt’s a nomadic life on safari. You have one carry-on bag and one backpack, 33 pounds total, and you literally throw it into the back of your land cruiser every day or every other day as you move across Africa. The lack of “stuff” was a liberating experience.
As we left the Lake Nakuru area and headed to the Maasai Mara, a few things caught our eye.
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