Last Updated on June 24, 2019 by PowersToTravel
Dreaming?
When one shops for greeting cards one reads so many trite sayings about following dreams, and making “it” happen.
That certainly has not been the case for me. I can’t remember ever having a list of dreams.
I’ve always wondered what I should be wondering about. I’ve seldom carved out a dream, and then dreamed of how to make it happen. Here I am on my first day of Retirement still wondering what I want to be. I’ve had a career and been a professional, but feel no more accomplished than when I was twenty-five years old and wondered what I should “be.” I put my nose to the grindstone and it has been ground down for thirty-four years. Suddenly, I am Retired! What should I be?
Antarctica Dreams?
Had I dreamed my entire life of strolling among the penguins, and seeing the polar ice? Hardly.
Back in 2007, I suddenly came up with the idea to take my parents to Antarctica for their 50th wedding anniversary. Antarctica had not been a life-long dream. Instead, I read about a cruise ship that had accidently taken a wrong turn at Neptune’s Bellows on Deception Island and caused a nasty oil slick. The one article provoked my usual spidering of interest until I finally read a blog about someone’s experience deciding on an Antarctic adventure cruise.
Within a couple of months I had reserved a cabin aboard the Polar Star for my parents and I. I’ve always been uncomfortable in cold weather, with poor circulation priming painful toes and fingers. However, none of those discomforts bothered me in Antarctica, as I brought along my warmest mittens, hand and toe warmers, and layers and layers of socks, to find the temperatures only about 32 degrees warm.
Amazon River Dreams?
The Amazon River was another never-dreamed-of-in-my-lifetime experience.
Bugs. Bigger Bugs. Spiders. Poisonous snakes. Humidity. Microbes. Bacteria. Bigger spiders. Digestive issues. The list of reasons not to go to the Amazon is endless. The Amazon to me was like the jungles of Borneo – not a place to be spending my valuable brain cells even thinking about as a destination. I’d also read that the variety of wildlife which can be seen by the average Amazon tourist is limited, when compared to such locations as Costa Rica, which we have visited.
Danger on the Internet
The Internet is also a dangerous place – dangerous to the finances. It was after our Galapagos cruise that I looked for other interesting small boat tours that might compare. It was then that I started to educate myself on the varieties and locations of Amazon cruises. One of the most dangerous thought-provoking activities for me is classification. Provide me with one or a few options and I am quickly bored. Offer me four or five cruise departure cities, with as many and more different national reserves with varieties of wildlife and environment, then add the unique qualities of high and low water, and you have the makings of our next vacation.
People often ask me, “How do you plan your vacations?”
Have you heard of Google? The answer is that simple. I google and google and wander the web, spidering out from site to site looking for information. I cut and paste into my vacation document. It grows and grows.
I begin to see patterns beyond the simple “Weather”, “Cities to Visit”, “How to get there” categories. For the Amazon cruise, categories emerged such as “High and Low Water seasons” in each of the destination ports/parks. I created a table of contents. I began to create matrices of cabin features, such as “Air-Conditioning!” and “Double Bed!”
Fine details emerged: Air-conditioning may not be available all day, or in all locations of the vessel. Don’t look at anyone’s list of features and trust the simple checkmarks. Read the forums. Embarcation and debarcation times also can disguise the value of the trip. Five Days! and then you find that on the first day the cruise departs at 5pm and arrives on the final day at 9am.
I research each feature on multiple travel agent websites, blogs and forums. More attributes need to be tracked, and the list to date may need to be re-researched as these details emerge from the huge volume of data.
I copy URLs and note which travel agent websites provide me with the best information. The value they provide me in my searches, combined with reviews, often determines who I do business with. I found a lot of information on http://thinkjungle.com, however can’t yet recommend them, as they did not offer the ship which I ultimately decided upon, so I never did business with them.
I don’t just search websites like Expedia or Kayak for possible air options. I search the name of the airport, and view its arrival and departures traffic live feed to see what airlines fly in and out. There are many smaller airlines in these foreign countries which are not on our US radar. There are also many ways to get to a location besides the layovers recommended by Kayak. I begin to draw a visual map of that region to find the best way in and out, with possible interesting layovers. Surprisingly Wikipedia helps identify the airline companies which fly to particular destinations.
But I digress; back to 2015, the Amazon and a fantastic dream my analytical mind created out of water, mud and bugs …
Check out this article of mine too:
Peru Travel Blog – Itinerary, Reviews and Diabetic Travel Tips
