Seeing Wild Animals

On Apr 28, 2:20 pm, Brian K wrote:
On 4/27/2008 10:28 PM plucked Senior Frog's
Magic Twanger and said:

On Apr 24, 6:45 pm, Rosalie B. wrote:

I think the next grandchild I take will be a girl who will be 13 in
July 2009. We will probably travel in the summer of 2009 - mostly
likely June, because I don't think she's a good enough student to take
her out of school.

She is interested in animals (and boys of course). Ideally I'd take
her where my mom took her dad - on African safari. But I don't think
I want to go to Africa ATM. I'd like to stay in this hemisphere if
possible. I've been to Costa Rica and Belize. If that was the only
option, I'd go back, but I'd rather go somewhere different.

SO - What would be the best bet for acruisein about June 2009 for
seeing animals with a young teen and her old grandmother?

Is there an Alaskancruisethat we could take? How about someplace in
Central or South America? Or theGalapagos? Or Hawaii?

I would recommend taking a cruise to the Galapagos because it is so
endangered and unique. There is enough activity to keep the teen
happy, plus the grandmother can hang out on board or just sit in the
sun on the island and watch all the wildlife go by. The cruise I took
was with Quasar Expeditions, and it was great - see
http://www.galapagosexpeditions.com/...n.php?activo=2. The
Galapagos is a real treasure, but might not be around by the time the
teen becomes the grandmother.

Actually, the Galapagos Islands are starting to feel the impact of the
rise in ecotourism. There's been talk of limiting the number of people
who can go ashore.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page:http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

This is part of the reason to plan to go to the Galapagos earlier than
later. I suggested the Quasar Expeditions cruises because they offer a
lot of activity for a teenager - snorkling, dinghy rides, hiking,
diving -- while at the same time the ships are comfortable enough for
a grandmother.

By the way, Brian, I LOVE your sig file.

Hi Rosalie,

Well, as I said, it was just a thought. Yet, after reading your explanation,
I would tend to agree. I do however thank you for at least taking the time
to response, and also, to fully explain your situation. As for other
alternatives/suggestions, I will keep my ears open. Yet, I can see a few
others have already been pretty through with in their suggestions. However,
you never know.

Thanks again,

Happy sailing...
John Sisker - SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY (sm)
(714) 536-3850 or toll-free at (800) 724-6644 & (Agency ID: 714.536.3850)
www.shiptoshorecruise.com




"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
"John Sisker" wrote:

Rosalie,

Just a thought, but have you considered a Disney cruise/land package?
Seven
days will bring you a 3 or 4 day cruise to the Bahamas, including Disney
private island of Castaway Cay, plus a 4 or 3 day stay at the Walt Disney
World Resort itself. The cruise aboard the Disney Magic has all types of
kids and/or adult programs, so she is sure to meet some boys. And even
through not a real safari in the traditional sense, Disney's Animal
Kingdom
at Walt Disney World does feature live animals from all over the world,
plus
loads Disney entertainment. Likewise, as a package deal, the total cost is
still within reason.

I have considered Disney and discarded that idea immediately as both
too expensive and too tame. I don't want a location that the child's
dad can drive her too. After all I took her brother to Ireland. I
don't think Disneyworld would compare.

I've done the Animal Kingdom thing and was not impressed, and I've
done the Bahamas from a real boat. The cruise that my other grandson
took was to the Bahamas and he hated it although it probably wasn't
Disney. If I were going to do a Disney cruise it would NOT be to the
Bahamas.

Rosalie B. wrote:
Cal Ford wrote:
You will probably have a maximum window of
8 nights but it is possible to work out a
schedule that would include a short Galapagos
Cruise along with a visit to Machu Pichu in Peru.

Having done both the Galapagos and Machu Picchu, I would not try to do
both in only 8 days, as a lot of your time is simply spent
travelling.

When we did our Galapagos cruises, the travel advice was to allow for a
24+ hour long layover at Ecuador's mainland connection, due to very poor
performance in checked baggage delivery. As it worked out, we had a ~28
hour layover (technically 2 hotel room nights = $600) on the way down
and a ~20 hour layover on the return (1 night, another $300).
Your international flight to the mainland's gateway city will either be
to Guyaquil along the coast, or Quito in the mountains. Each has its
advantages & disadvantages: Quito is an ancient Inca city and generally
more interesting, but its then a longer flight to/from the Galapagos,
with frequently a stop in Guyaquil en route...and Qito is at a 10,000ft
altitude if that's a concern. There's also some sporatic volcanic
activity near Qito that occasionally puts up enough smoke & ash to
completely shut down the airport for a week.

FWIW, here's a few Galapagos critter photos:
http://www.huntzinger.com/galapagos.html

If you go, ask me about camera gear, for I had a few unexpected
surprises, such as minimum focus distance with my telephoto lens.
There's no doubt that you'll see critters up close and personal in the
Galapagos.

For Peru & Machu Picchu, the flight from the USA is similarly long, and
one hotel night in Lima is typically recommended before then taking the
domestic flight out to Cuzco (11,000+ft altitude), which is the gateway
to then get to Machu Picchu. Same situation for the return, although
IIRC, the flight home was like ~10pm, so technically, one could do it in
one day if you're willing to risk leaving all of your checked baggage
behind, hung up between two different airlines.
For flying from Ecuador to Peru, I don't think that overnights in both
Guyaquil and Lima would both be necessary, so I think that you might be
able to save a day here...ie, go from the Galapagos to Cuzco in only 2
days instead of 3 days by overnighting only in Lima. Naturally, it will
depend on specific airline schedules.
For heading homeward, the train Machu Picchu from/to Cuzco is pretty
much the better part of a day (supposedly 4 hours; felt like more), as
is also the flight Cuzco to Lima and (probably) Lima to USA. As such,
if you left MP on a Monday, you would arrive in Cuzco monday night,
overnight in Cuzco, fly on tuesday to Lima, and either catch a late
flight out of Lima and get back to the USA on Wednesday, or overnight in
Lima and leave on Wednesday AM and gethome get home sometime very late
on Wednesday (or Wednesday PM and arrive Thursday by noon). Again, it
is all depending on specific airline schedules and your tolerance for
lost checked baggage for how much of a layover you choose to build into
your connections.

I am not sure that I could physically handle the
altitude in Peru (?).

Cuzco is 11,000ft. Machu Picchu is actually a bit lower...around 8,000,
which surprisingly is a noticable difference.
Its generally a good idea to spend a day or two acclimating to the
altitude in Cuzco before taking the train out to Machu Picchu, plus its
generally recommended (again, to let lost checked baggage catch up), but
it also makes the train connection easier.

FYI, if thin air is a big concern, I believe that most hotels that have
O2 available, and at the 5-Star Hotel Montasario, they actually offer
entire rooms that have extra O2 piped in (think 'Nitrox' from Scuba
Diving) so that you don't have to be uncomfortable wearing an O2 mask
while you sleep. Just be aware that this is an expensive option to
what's an already expensive hotel room.

Nevertheless, my general recommendation would be to get out and exercise
now, ask your doctor and do it before you're much older. You'll also
find that the Galapagos isn't a picnic either, as you need to be
somewhat of a "Billy Goat" for the shore excursions there ... there's
wet landings and dry landings, which are then typically followed by 3-4
hours of walking on sometimes rough trails. Its not a stroll down the
Atlantic City Boardwalk, so this is another "Do it NOW, before you're
too old!" destination.

Why do you say a window of 8 nights?

IMO, way too short. Adding up what I outlined above:

USA -- Ecuador Mainland
Mainland -- Galapagos
(cruise duration)
Galapagos -- Mainland, then to Lima (same day)
Lima -- Cuzco
Cuzco -- MP
(MP visit; probably staying in Aguas Calientas)
MP -- Cuzco
Cuzco -- Lima
Lima -- USA

Thus, you're probably looking at 8 days worth of travel, in addition to
actual time spent at the intended primary destinations, which IMO should
be a week on a Galapagos cruise, plus an extra day to see Cuzco and at
least 2 days for MP would be 8 + 7 + 3 = 18 day duration trip,
door-to-door.

Plus there's other things to consider seeing while in Peru (Rain Forest,
Nazca, etc), which is part of the reason why we did it as two trips,
each of which was roughly of two weeks duration.

I discarded Celebrity's weekly Galapagos
cruise because there are only 100 pax and
it did not seem as though there would be many
young people. Perhaps I will rethink that.

As was stated, 100 is pretty much the largest ship and IMO, I'd look for
an even smaller boat, probably around 50. Main reason here is that all
of the land excursions require being tendered in on small boats that
only take 10-20 pax, and even if they have a large enough fleet of small
boats to minimize waiting, you can easily end up with a crowd ashore
that overwhelms the shore destination. Even the small ones will
typically have two daily (morning/afternoon) itineraries, one of which
will always be an island wildlife hike and the other could be time on a
beach, kayaking, etc.

Also, be aware that different boats run different itineraries and don't
all cover the same islands. There are some subtle differences and its
just one more thing to sort out. For example, look for an itinerary who
visits the Darwin Station (where the big tortoises are) on one of the
mornings where they get fed (only 1x or 2x per week), as they're more
active and interesting. I've done both a "feeding day AM" visit and a
generic PM visit and they are different.

In general, a lot of these transit hassle issues can be smoothed over
through the selection of a good travel consolidator company...these
airports aren't particularly "First World". For Peru, we used
'Southwind Adventures'; I forget who we used for Ecuador. In general,
you'll pay a bit more, but you'll have a handler meet you at each
destination and it will also cover skycaps to carry your baggage, which
is worth every penny in the high altitude cities, as if you're coming
from living at Sea Level, it will definitely knock you for a loop (the
first hour in particular), until you learn to slow down. BTW, the Cocoa
Leaf Tea that's commonly offered does "reportedly" do a good job at
minimizing altitude-related headaches, and if you're retired, you don't
need to worry about any potential implications of an employer's drug
test upon returning home.


-hh

-hh wrote:

Thank you VERY MUCH for this detailed explanation of what would be
involved. Cal was thinking that I had to do the trip during spring
break like with the last boy I took, but this girl is going to be
going during the summer, so I don't have the time constraints for her
that I did for him. And due to heat concerns, going to the southern
hemisphere (or to Scandinavia) would be one way to deal with that.

I don't know if the altitude will be a problem or not, but I do know
that I am NOT any kind of billy goat. I have no problem with heights,
but I do have occasional attacks of vertigo.

Rosalie B. wrote:
Cal Ford wrote:
You will probably have a maximum window of
8 nights but it is possible to work out a
schedule that would include a short Galapagos
Cruise along with a visit to Machu Pichu in Peru.

Having done both the Galapagos and Machu Picchu, I would not try to do
both in only 8 days, as a lot of your time is simply spent
travelling.

When we did our Galapagos cruises, the travel advice was to allow for a
24+ hour long layover at Ecuador's mainland connection, due to very poor
performance in checked baggage delivery. As it worked out, we had a ~28
hour layover (technically 2 hotel room nights = $600) on the way down
and a ~20 hour layover on the return (1 night, another $300).
Your international flight to the mainland's gateway city will either be
to Guyaquil along the coast, or Quito in the mountains. Each has its
advantages & disadvantages: Quito is an ancient Inca city and generally
more interesting, but its then a longer flight to/from the Galapagos,
with frequently a stop in Guyaquil en route...and Qito is at a 10,000ft
altitude if that's a concern. There's also some sporatic volcanic
activity near Qito that occasionally puts up enough smoke & ash to
completely shut down the airport for a week.

FWIW, here's a few Galapagos critter photos:
http://www.huntzinger.com/galapagos.html

If you go, ask me about camera gear, for I had a few unexpected
surprises, such as minimum focus distance with my telephoto lens.
There's no doubt that you'll see critters up close and personal in the
Galapagos.

For Peru & Machu Picchu, the flight from the USA is similarly long, and
one hotel night in Lima is typically recommended before then taking the
domestic flight out to Cuzco (11,000+ft altitude), which is the gateway
to then get to Machu Picchu. Same situation for the return, although
IIRC, the flight home was like ~10pm, so technically, one could do it in
one day if you're willing to risk leaving all of your checked baggage
behind, hung up between two different airlines.
For flying from Ecuador to Peru, I don't think that overnights in both
Guyaquil and Lima would both be necessary, so I think that you might be
able to save a day here...ie, go from the Galapagos to Cuzco in only 2
days instead of 3 days by overnighting only in Lima. Naturally, it will
depend on specific airline schedules.
For heading homeward, the train Machu Picchu from/to Cuzco is pretty
much the better part of a day (supposedly 4 hours; felt like more), as
is also the flight Cuzco to Lima and (probably) Lima to USA. As such,
if you left MP on a Monday, you would arrive in Cuzco monday night,
overnight in Cuzco, fly on tuesday to Lima, and either catch a late
flight out of Lima and get back to the USA on Wednesday, or overnight in
Lima and leave on Wednesday AM and gethome get home sometime very late
on Wednesday (or Wednesday PM and arrive Thursday by noon). Again, it
is all depending on specific airline schedules and your tolerance for
lost checked baggage for how much of a layover you choose to build into
your connections.

I am not sure that I could physically handle the
altitude in Peru (?).

Cuzco is 11,000ft. Machu Picchu is actually a bit lower...around 8,000,
which surprisingly is a noticable difference.
Its generally a good idea to spend a day or two acclimating to the
altitude in Cuzco before taking the train out to Machu Picchu, plus its
generally recommended (again, to let lost checked baggage catch up), but
it also makes the train connection easier.

FYI, if thin air is a big concern, I believe that most hotels that have
O2 available, and at the 5-Star Hotel Montasario, they actually offer
entire rooms that have extra O2 piped in (think 'Nitrox' from Scuba
Diving) so that you don't have to be uncomfortable wearing an O2 mask
while you sleep. Just be aware that this is an expensive option to
what's an already expensive hotel room.

Nevertheless, my general recommendation would be to get out and exercise
now, ask your doctor and do it before you're much older. You'll also
find that the Galapagos isn't a picnic either, as you need to be
somewhat of a "Billy Goat" for the shore excursions there ... there's
wet landings and dry landings, which are then typically followed by 3-4
hours of walking on sometimes rough trails. Its not a stroll down the
Atlantic City Boardwalk, so this is another "Do it NOW, before you're
too old!" destination.

Why do you say a window of 8 nights?

IMO, way too short. Adding up what I outlined above:

USA -- Ecuador Mainland
Mainland -- Galapagos
(cruise duration)
Galapagos -- Mainland, then to Lima (same day)
Lima -- Cuzco
Cuzco -- MP
(MP visit; probably staying in Aguas Calientas)
MP -- Cuzco
Cuzco -- Lima
Lima -- USA

Thus, you're probably looking at 8 days worth of travel, in addition to
actual time spent at the intended primary destinations, which IMO should
be a week on a Galapagos cruise, plus an extra day to see Cuzco and at
least 2 days for MP would be 8 + 7 + 3 = 18 day duration trip,
door-to-door.

Plus there's other things to consider seeing while in Peru (Rain Forest,
Nazca, etc), which is part of the reason why we did it as two trips,
each of which was roughly of two weeks duration.

I discarded Celebrity's weekly Galapagos
cruise because there are only 100 pax and
it did not seem as though there would be many
young people. Perhaps I will rethink that.

As was stated, 100 is pretty much the largest ship and IMO, I'd look for
an even smaller boat, probably around 50. Main reason here is that all
of the land excursions require being tendered in on small boats that
only take 10-20 pax, and even if they have a large enough fleet of small
boats to minimize waiting, you can easily end up with a crowd ashore
that overwhelms the shore destination. Even the small ones will
typically have two daily (morning/afternoon) itineraries, one of which
will always be an island wildlife hike and the other could be time on a
beach, kayaking, etc.

Also, be aware that different boats run different itineraries and don't
all cover the same islands. There are some subtle differences and its
just one more thing to sort out. For example, look for an itinerary who
visits the Darwin Station (where the big tortoises are) on one of the
mornings where they get fed (only 1x or 2x per week), as they're more
active and interesting. I've done both a "feeding day AM" visit and a
generic PM visit and they are different.

In general, a lot of these transit hassle issues can be smoothed over
through the selection of a good travel consolidator company...these
airports aren't particularly "First World". For Peru, we used
'Southwind Adventures'; I forget who we used for Ecuador. In general,
you'll pay a bit more, but you'll have a handler meet you at each
destination and it will also cover skycaps to carry your baggage, which
is worth every penny in the high altitude cities, as if you're coming
from living at Sea Level, it will definitely knock you for a loop (the
first hour in particular), until you learn to slow down. BTW, the Cocoa
Leaf Tea that's commonly offered does "reportedly" do a good job at
minimizing altitude-related headaches, and if you're retired, you don't
need to worry about any potential implications of an employer's drug
test upon returning home.


-hh

Rosalie B. wrote:

Thank you VERY MUCH for this detailed explanation
of what would be involved. *

My pleasure.

FWIW, my online Peru photos are still pitifully unorganized, but
here's the directory in which you can find them:

http://www.huntzinger.com/photo/2004/peru/


Cal was thinking that I had to do*the trip
during spring break like with the last boy
I took, but this girl is going to be going
during the summer, so I don't have the time
constraints for her that I did for him. *
And due to heat concerns, going to the
southern hemisphere (or to Scandinavia)
would be one way to deal with that.

Well, the Galapagos literally straddle the equator, so if there are
'heat concerns', you'll probably want to check a bit further.

My recollections are that we went in late November (Thanksgiving
week), which reportedly was a bit cooler as it was just at the end(?)
of the Rainy season...but it was still pretty warm on land (the
water's always cold, which is why it is so rich in sea life).

Peru's further south of the equator, so the seasons are flipped (May =
Fall)...one of my recollections was on our last day on our hike into
MP, we were at around 7500ft, and it was around 80F-85F on the (dry)
sunny side of the mountain, but then when we turned the corner and
went around into the (damp) shady side of the mountain, it dropped to
a bone-chilling-in-shorts 50F-55F. After another 20-25 minutes of
walking, we came back out into the sun again and it promptly was dry
and back up into the 80's.


I don't know if the altitude will be a problem or not,
but I do know that I am NOT any kind of billy goat.
*I have no problem with heights, but I do have occasional
attacks of vertigo. *

The walking isn't generally all that "billy-goat-y" insofar as rock
scrambles (Galapagos or Peru) - its more that one needs to expect to
be on hiking trails, not smooth paved sidewalks, for probably a 3-4
hour stint.

Thus said, this doesn't mean that there were absolutely zero "dicey"
areas...there more certainly were. In the Galapagos, there are some
'dry landing' locations that are fairly dicey for the first 20 feet,
although the guides are generally good in providing a supporting hand
getting on/off the boat, etc. In Peru, there's a respectable number
of places where you can choose to walk where there's no safety
handrail and perhaps a 50ft (or more) vertical drop if you go off.
Stick to the inside at let the OTHER tourist pass on the outside :-)

Overall, my primary "age-based" concern is to be aware that one should
being fit enough to be comfortable to be out on a walk on such trails
for ~3 hours, carrying your own fanny pack with water, etc, with the
sun beating down, few places to sit for a rest, etc. Having one or
two collapsable hiking poles are a good asset, but you do need to
practice with them at home first...if you're not already used to using
hiking poles, I'd recommend at least 20 hours worth of practice.


-hh