Cruise West Guests Rave About Inaugural World Voyage

Small-ship, authentic exploration, big adventures

Seattle, WA – Cruise West, the world’s leading provider of small-ship explorations to the most fascinating destinations on earth, is receiving rave reviews from world voyage guests. “The included Ultimate Explorer Experiences (noteworthy shore excursions) were so incredible that I will remember them forever. So great, that I am rejoining the voyage later this year,” said Susan B.

The line created an amazing array of included shore excursions designed to highlight the magic of each destination. Blog Ahoy, Cruise West’s world voyage blog with submissions coming from guests, talks of adventures and memorable experiences. Guest Susan P. remarks on the blog, “One of the greatest blessings about going on an excursion like we are doing with Cruise West is the opportunity to experience a culture, climate, religious beliefs, and terrain that, for most of us, is so different from our own. One of the best ways to appreciate all that we are getting to see and do is to soak it all in and realize that here in Oman, or anywhere else, things are not necessarily better or worse than our ways, just different.”

“Today onboard the ship, Dr. Jenifer Neils, who is a professor and Smithsonian speaker, spoke about the Gifts of the Nile this morning, preparing us for our excursion to Egypt. We learned the chronology of Egyptian rule; the geographical and political separation of the Upper Nile (which is called that because it is higher in elevation) and the Lower Nile; insight as to the many gods of Ancient Egypt; the art work produced using a specific grid for drawing humans (which explains the uniform look of their paintings); that the main crop grown in ancient times was barley (for bread and beer); and about mummies,” mentions another guest.

Another guest comments, “Cruising on the Voyages of the Great Explorers world cruise is not just about the cultural experiences and unique destinations, it is also about meeting interesting passengers and enjoying fabulous food together. Doesn’t food bring the world together…especially desserts?”

Voyage of the Great Explorers is a series of 24 separate and unique cruises to Southeast Asia, North Africa, the Mediterranean, Greek isles, East Coast Canada and USA, Australia and the South Pacific that combine to form a 335-day circumnavigation of the world along the major routes inspired by history’s great ocean explorers. The world voyage began March 5, 2010, and is sailing ever westward, returning to Singapore on February 3, 2011. The second edition world voyage for 2011/2012 has been announced and is also accepting bookings. Voyages range from 9 – 19 nights and may be purchased individually or in multiple segments.

There is still time to book a world voyage for 2010 and 2011 onboard the 60-suite Spirit of Oceanus. Prices start at $6,545 per person. To book a Cruise West voyage for your client or for more information call 1-800-689-1783.

Mountain Lodges of Peru Join Forces with Rainforest Alliance

Hundreds of Inca trails connect Cusco and Machu Picchu, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and trekkers can now enjoy breathtaking views of glaciated Andean peaks, soaring condors, as well as villages and archeological ruins along the way.

Mountain Lodges of Peru has built four small eco-friendly lodges at a day’s walk distance from one another on the Salcantay Trail to Machu Picchu, crossing a 15,000’ pass between the sacred mountains of Humanay and Salcantay.

Mountain Lodges of Peru offers an extraordinary six day trek, with first class lodgings, gourmet cuisine, and the services of the best guides in the region. Besides working with local communities to promote sustainable tourism and conservation projects, Mountain Lodges of Peru has joined forces with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure the natural and cultural heritage of the region is preserved for centuries to come.

The Rainforest Alliance, an international conservation organization, works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. The Rainforest Alliance provides tourism businesses – like Mountain Lodges of Peru – with training and technical assistance, helping them to continually improve their environmental and sociocultural practices. By working with hotels, local and wholesale tour operators big and small, the Rainforest Alliance helps bring responsibly managed tourism services to the global market, encouraging and enabling consumers worldwide to travel sustainably.

To learn more about the Rainforest Alliance, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org. Also visit www.mountainlodgesofperu.com.

AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: South West Coast Path, England (Rolf van Dijk)

Walkers on England’s 630-mile South West Coast Path have 19th century coastguards and customs men largely to thank for the stunning cliff- and beach-hugging route that runs from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall to finish at Poole Harbour in Dorset.

Coastguard paths in smuggler-infested areas were subsequently linked together and added to create a classic walking experience that encompasses diverse sea and coastal landscapes.

Moods vary from crashing Atlantic breakers beneath towering cliffs on the north coast, sub-tropical gardens on the gentler, more sheltered south coast, and a quality of light and shade that has attracted artists for generations. The path passes through two Unesco World Heritage Sites—the Jurassic Coast in Dorset and East Devon and the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape—plus five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 17 Heritage Coasts, and a National Park.

This is no walk on the beach, however. The down and up climbs to and from every river and stream that make their way to the sea means the total height climbed is equivalent to four Mount Everests! Quaint fishing villages and more substantial surfing and beach resorts offer the full range of accommodation and, from this year, a baggage moving service is available along the whole length of the path.

Walking vacation experts since 1984, British-founded and -owned The Wayfarers offers hiking vacations with an emphasis on culture and fitness, exclusive entrées into homes and gardens otherwise closed to the public, graceful accommodations, outstanding cuisine, and meetings with local residents. Walks are rated easy to energetic and span 14 countries, ranging from 5 to 12 days. The Wayfarers is proud to be a member of Trusted Adventures, an alliance of independently owned and operated small adventure travel companies recognized for their mission to provide the finest active vacations around the world.

A Lifetime of Trips

There are a few enduring phrases that have become permanently etched in our collective consciousness when we talk about or plan travel to places remote and often exotic. And the one phrase that must surely be at top of anyone’s list is just five words. But oh my, the power of those words: once-in-a-lifetime-trip.

I must confess I have always had a big problem with that phrase. And frankly, I hope you do, too. Why? Because it implies one trip, a singular one-time experience. Now maybe it’s just me being too literal, but I think we should all bid adieu to the word “once”. And change the whole thing to read: one-of-my-lifetime-trips. Ahhh…doesn’t that feel so much better? It’s still just five words. But the ‘s’ tacked onto the word trip is huge. It takes the pressure off; it’s not like you and I have to make the perfect choice and that if we don’t we’ll end up regretting it for the rest of our lives.

And even if you somehow truly know you have just taken the so-called trip-of-a-lifetime, if you are like most adventure travelers chances are you’ve still got lots of places on the globe you want to go and will go. The world awaits you…so let’s get started.

Just in case you need a little inspiration, here are some of the key findings from a recent survey titled “The Trip of a Lifetime Travel Report 2010″. Ugghh, there’s that pesky phrase again. But the goal of the study, conducted by GeckoGo, iExplore and Lasso Communications, was to obtain a snapshot of consumer attitudes from travelers worldwide about taking “lifetime” trips, what destinations are considered, the importance of travel companions, price and duration.

So where do most people want to go and what do they want to do? 70% of the respondents said they are most interested in visiting natural and man-made wonders such as the Pyramids, Machu Picchu or Victoria Falls. Beyond that, 53% want to go on safari and 42% want a rainforest expedition. The top ten destinations:

1. Around-the-world
2. Australia/New Zealand
3. Africa (overland)
4. Antarctica
5. Egypt
6. Italy
7. Peru
8. India
9. South Africa
10. Greece

And what do you think is considered THE most important consideration in planning a lifetime trip? Yep, it’s who you go with. 50% said “who I travel with” is very important, followed by “being able to fulfill a personal goal (45%). The length of the trip and how challenging it is were of only moderate importance.

If you’re one of those who thinks a lifetime trip has to be costly, you might want to reconsider. Nearly 30% of the respondents reported they are willing to spend between $2,000-$3,999 (excluding airfare) and 25% are willing to spend between $4,000-$5,999. The survey reveals planned trips tend to both longer and more costly than actual trips, reflecting the obvious constraints of time and money. But do you really need an over-the-top uber-luxury safari camp? There are literally hundreds of amazing lodges and camps that are affordable and quite honestly provide a much more authentic and often intimate Africa experience.

So where will you go next? And next? And next after that? We all have our life list and I’d love to hear from you with your trips-of-a-lifetime list. Me? I’m still at the very beginning of the alphabet with places that end in “a” – the Atacama & Bolivia, Cuba, Zambia, Mongolia, Petra, Slovenia and Sri Lanka. Guess I better get packing.

About the author: Proof that following your passion is always a good road to travel, Mark has been blessed to work for some of the world’s best travel & hospitality companies including Mountain Travel Sobek, Virtuoso, TCS Expeditions and Kimpton Hotels. As the founder of Solaia Consulting he now offers marketing, branding, operations and general management expertise to his clients. He resides in Seattle with his wife, two boys and their Bernese Mountain Dog.

Earth Month with Planeterra – A 10% Discount on All Voluntour Travel Booked in April and Gold Sponsorship of 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards

TORONTO, April 8, 2010 – Celebrating sustainable communities around the world and travelers’ opportunities to give back globally, Planeterra Foundation (http://www.planeterra.org/), a global non-profit dedicated to sustainable community development through travel and voluntourism, announced an Earth Month campaign that provides a 10 percent discount on all new bookings for its voluntourism programs made from now through April 30 for travel departing before Dec. 31, 2010.

The non-profit also believes in supporting organizations that foster the well being of global tourism. Planeterra was recently announced as the Gold Sponsor for the upcoming 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards to be presented at the Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Beijing, China May 25-27.

In 2009, Planeterra, together with its founding organization, Gap Adventures, were finalists for the coveted award in the category of Global Tourism Business.

“We have tremendous respect for the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. With our ongoing mission to present our own triple bottom line business as a successful model that mainstream tourism can emulate on a larger scale, we’re continuing to reach out to the largest tourism organizations with that message through our major Gold Sponsorship this year,” said Planeterra’s Director Richard G. Edwards.

The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, now in their sixth year under the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) stewardship are aimed at recognizing best practice in sustainable tourism within the Travel & Tourism industry worldwide. Given the growing concern about natural and cultural resources, these Awards are particularly important to WTTC and provide the Council with the opportunity of promoting and partnering with the industry leaders in responsible tourism, highlighting the prime examples of best practice.

Each year, winners and finalists are honored at a special ceremony during the Global Travel & Tourism Summit – one of the highest-profile events in the industry, facilitating dialogue between decision-makers, and thus influencing future action in one of the world’s largest industries – Travel & Tourism.

In observance of Earth Month and to stimulate travelers to experience the benefits of voluntourism, Planeterra will be offering a special 10% Discount promotion for any voluntour booked during April.

A complete listing of the 19 global projects offered in 2010 can be found at: http://www.planeterra.org/pages/voluntours/4.php. Programs are offered in 15 different countries in the regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Planeterra Foundation is a global non-profit dedicated to sustainable community development through travel. It was founded in 2003 by Gap Adventures. Planeterra evolved out of a long history of travelers committed to finding ways to give back to the people and places they visit.

For information on Planeterra please visit: http://www.planeterra.org/ or call: 416-260-0999.

Interact with them on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Planeterra-Foundation/54886669998?ref=ts

Follow them on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/PlaneterraCares

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For more information, interviews and photos please contact:

Sara Widness / 802-234-6704 / sara@widnesspr.com or

Dave Wiggins / 303-554-8821/ d.wiggins@comcast.net

Website: http://www.travelnewssource.com/

Of Guides, Artists & Linchpins

“Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient.”
- Seth Godin

I just finished reading Seth’s latest book, Linchpin – Are you Indispensable? It’s a challenging and  inspiring call-to-arms for each and every one of us to become a linchpin…”the people that invent, lead, connect others, make things happen, create order from chaos, figure out to do when there’s no rule book, and delight their customers and peers. Linchpins love their work, pour their best selves into it and turn each day into a kind of art.”

It was when I read the word last word line paragraph above—art—that I thought of guides…the trip leaders who I’ve traveled with that made my journey one that exceeded my expectations, surprised me, delighted me, changed me. Their joy, passion and enthusiasm were immense…and genuine. The best guides are ones who routinely and seemingly without effort are able to elevate their work into an art form. And it made me realize that given an identical itinerary, you could have a very different experience depending on your guide.

With good reason, the best tour operators obsess over selecting, training and nurturing their guides. After all, once the trip departs, the operator’s brand is embodied and delivered by the guides and other field staff assigned to the trip. Here’s how Kurt Kutay, who along with his wife Anne are the co-founders and owner of Wildland Adventures, define what makes an exceptional guide:

“Being a really good Wildland guide is a really easy job (hah!). Actually, it requires a knowledge of history, ecology, archaeology, or other areas of expertise, first-aid training, in addition to having leadership skills and being a good communicator and a great listener. But the most important thing is to be, and to share, your genuine Self! If Wildland travelers are the initiates who seek to connect with the people and the places we visit, then our guides are their best friends who take them down new pathways by encouraging, sharing and supporting the traveler to be open-hearted and open-minded to new experiences.

Our goal is to share a real world without artifice, that craves our understanding and compassion rather than our judgment; a world that seeks to welcome us rather than entertain us. And to accomplish this, above all other factors, it’s the guides: guides are the catalyst between travelers and their experience.

Having the right guide that creates the ‘Wild Style’ experience is the difference between magic and mediocrity in travel. There are many trained naturalists, excellent tour escorts, and knowledgeable historians and archaeologists, but we seek native guides with the requisite wide range of skills and character: a sufficient command of multiple languages, the requisite knowledge and the skill to impart the information, the experience to lead, but above all else a personality that is open to sharing a part of themselves, and their personal beliefs and values, which creates an opening that induces heart-to-heart interactions between travelers and their hosts.

With guides like this, who bring with them a smile and good-natured sense of humor, our guests go farther in their journey to know a place deeper, to discover themselves better, and to develop closer emotional ties to others they meet along the way. Therefore, it’s not just about the ability to transmit information succinctly and quickly to the traveler, but more importantly to create experiences unwritten in a published itinerary that often become the most meaningful and memorable simply because they are real, unplanned and in-depth.

The criteria for excellence in guiding have changed from knowing the place to facilitating the most profound and meaningful experiences that travel can provide. This is only accomplished by knowing the individual traveler; not only from knowing what the individual traveler wants, but knowing what the individual traveler should want and how to artfully deliver it.”

Godin says “If art is a human connection that causes someone to change his mind, then you are an artist.” In my experience, an artist guide is the catalyst that sets the stage for the magic of travel that transforms and inspires us as we celebrate and embrace the incredible diversity of our planet and its peoples.

In a future article, I will share with you the key questions you’ll want to ask an outfitter before you entrust them with your money and precious vacation time.

Paddling with Southern Right Whales in Argentina

Why this trip: THE best time and place to paddle with southern right whales and their babies: Oct through Nov in Peninsula Valdes in Argentina’s Patagonia.

PUERTO MADRYN, ARGENTINA – Sea Kayak Adventures Inc is proud to unveil a new trip – southern right whale watching by sea kayak and skiff in sheltered lagoons on fully catered guided tours each October through November. The tours are suitable for novices in good health

“The two lagoons on the Peninsula Valdes are to Antarctica’s southern right whales what the lagoons of Baja are to the California gray whales, providing sheltered calving grounds in warmer waters” states Terry Prichard, founder of Sea Kayak Adventures, Inc, who has been running sea kayak and whale watching tours in Baja since 1993. “The right whales feed in the rich waters of Antarctica the rest of the year, so this is a perfect window of opportunity to view them.”

The company’s associate in Argentina has exclusive use to private land access to a remote, sheltered part of the lagoons, which are federally protected and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “We could see the mother and baby whales right from our beach camp” exclaimed Terry Prichard. “On two mornings the water was calm as glass, and we could see the babies breaching and tail slapping, and even hear the babies vocalizing – a soul-rejuvenating moment for me. In our kayaks we drifted along silently 70 meters away from a mother and baby as they were resting. These whales are much larger than the gray whales we see each Feb in Baja, so that felt quite close enough!”

Intineraries range from three to nine days of paddling, whale watching and birding by kayak; mostly camping, with some hotel nights. To the kayaking can be added a 2-hour skiff cruise among the whales at the end, visits to a penguin colony and park headquarters. Guests will camp on beaches lined with cliffs full of fossils, view unique mammals guanacos and maras right from camp, as well as the mom and baby whales.

Other trip highlights are the knowledgable local guides, delectable and bountiful camp meals including local specialties of lamb, seafood, beef, cheeses, baked goods, mate tea and Malbec red wine. Tour prices range from $850 through $1450/person US dollars, and do not include airfare to Trelew, Argentina. The company will assist travelers with securing air travel to Trelew. It ishighly recommended to book well in advance. The Oct-Nov 2010 tours sell out fast.