Explore Blogs

What a tour!  Full on & so many adventures!

Amongst the many highlights were the Taj Mahal. Still one of my favourite buildings in the world. Built by Shan Jahan, a Muslim man for his favourite wife, Mumtaz!!  Sunrise is a particularly beautiful time to visit so we were up early & took cycle rickshaws along the crazy back streets.

In Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, went to a beautiful cinema to see a Bollywood movie.  The audience participation during these 3 hr long films is just as fun to watch. Then we took our auto-rickshaws to the Rajbagh Palace Hotel, a former Maharaja’s palace for a nightcap in the Polo bar. We also celebrated India’s win over England in the cricket match played that day in Jaipur.

Did a 3 day cruise along the holy river Ganges to the most holy Hindu city in the world Varanasi, ancient Benares.  After the hustle & bustle of the towns it was so peaceful drifting along the Ganges.

Varanasi is a fascinating & colourful place. To see the hundreds of pilgrims & Sadhus who visit this city every day to bathe in the holy river & to drink the water to cleanse them of their sins! Incredible & shows such devotion.

We were also lucky enough to witness Diwali, the most holy Hindu Festival of the year, in the most holy Hindu city.  Also known as the Festival of Lights. Many buildings are decorated with colourful lights.  The celebrations last for 5 days.  On the third day, Diwali itself, fireworks went off from sunset to the early hours of the morning.  It was like being in a war zone!

From Varanasi we crossed the border into Nepal & headed into Royal Chitwan National Park.  During our two day stay we rode elephants into the jungle & had excellent sightings of the one-horned rhinos grazing on the grass, took dug out canoes along the river to view crocodiles & bathed with the elephants & got completely soaked as they sprayed us with water form their trunks. Lots of fun!

In Kathmandu most of us flew to Mt Everest & back on a scenic flight, awesome!  A flight I will treasure for ever.  

Overall we travelled in 13 different modes of transport, ate some delicious cheap curries, stayed in some excellent accommodations & had some interesting evening entertainment including a puppet show, Kattak dancing with sitar playing & stick dancing by the Tharu people of southern Nepal!

Find out more about Explore’s Dehli to Kathmandu 19 day overland tour

It’s a rather quiet start for our Tailor made holidays team as there has not been too much fan fare about their launch into action as yet (although I expect more soon). However they have now started taking quotes for tailor made holidays to:

Namibia
Uganda
Tanzania
Ethiopia

Thailand
Cambodia
Vietnam

Egypt
Jordan

Cuba
Ecuador and Galapagos
Peru

So, for all your tailor made holiday needs, backed up by all the experience of Explore, but in a non-small group tour way, go and have a look at the Tailor made approach to holidays and let us know your feedback!

Etna is now exploding!! Pressure is building up so I’m waiting patiently for The Big One!!

Despite the wonderful variety of vegetables in the local markets they are not served in the restaurants! It is considered peasant food. However surprisingly we were offered raw broad beans for breakfast in one of our hotels!

When asked where I live back home many people (my generation & older) know the Isle of Wight as a 60’s Italian band called ‘Dik Dik’ released a popular song about the Pop Festivals of the late 60’s/1970 & every other word is Hippies!!

Sicily now has a new president, Berlusconie. The last one was a naughty boy & his term finished two years early. Elections were held peacefully on 13th & 14th April.

The sirocco wind has been blowing from the SE (Sahara) which brings with it a fine pink coloured sand which obscures the views but brings the heat. Fortunately it doesn’t often last for long. Then the Mistral blows from the NW bringing clearer but cooler weather.

Since I first arrived I’ve been asked directions in Italiano! Must be that tour leader look on my face! The other day I discovered how to say nudist beach as I was asked where the spiaggia nudista was!!

May is the season of weddings. Couples get married every day of the week except Sundays. Saw several weddings in Syracuse & Taormina with brides wearing beautiful dresses & bridegrooms in flashy Italiano label suits.

On Oritiga Island (the original settlement of Syracuse) we also witnessed an Initiation Ceremony in a church for the Knights of St John.

The durum wheat which is grown everywhere is now being harvested so the lushness of the island is disappearing. The spring flowers are also beginning to fade although the poppies are now at their best, such a vivid red.

Although it’s been a great time of year to visit Sicilia with the flowers, blossom, lushness & reasonably good weather it’s also the time of incredibly noisy school groups!!

The education system in Sicilia is the same as mainland Italia except the schools have a longer summer holiday due to the long hot summers so they break up end of June for 3 months!! This means they have shorter Easter & Christmas holidays & no week off in February for skiing!

Several Greek theatres are used from May. In Syracuse the season of Greek plays began on 8th May until end of June. In Taormina the famous Film Festival is held from June plus many different concerts for all musical tastes. In recent years Elton John & Lisa Minelli have performed here.

Occasionally the audience is treated to an amazing concert in a Greek theatre with Mt Etna erupting in the background!

Went up Etna again Saturday morning. The guide told us how a week ago the volcanoligists thought there may be an eruption due to the build up of pressure but she had calmed down. There was a lot of white steam being emitted but we were told when it’s white it’s OK. You only start panicking when it turns blue!

Later that evening we enjoyed our Last Supper on the seafront of Giardini Naxos. At 21.30 volcanic ash started raining from the sky! Etna was erupting!!!

What a finale!

Ciao from Sicilia!

The largest island in the Mediterranean.

Where everything is so green, the blossom is out & the spring flowers sway in the gentle breeze!!

My first impressions of Sicilia are good. Not only does it boost one of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mt Etna last erupted in September 2007 & I’m hoping it will erupt for me whilst I’m here!! There are many quaint medieval towns with Baroque buildings (17th & 18th centuries), cobbled streets & piazzas to enjoy a cafe whilst watching the world go by & some of the most important classical sites: Agrigento, Selinunte, Segesta & the Roman villa at Casale to name a few.

Sicilia has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any where else in the world so there has been a lot of restoration & excavation work in recent years.

Thanks to Euro money there are some amazing roads with some of the highest bridges in Europe spanning across vast valleys & long tunnels through the mountains.

Sicily was one of the breadbaskets for the Roman Empire & still today the island is famous for its citrus fruits, almonds, pistachios, wines & olives.

90% of all Italy’s pistachios are grown on the northern & western slopes of Mt Etna.

The best almonds are grown around Agrigento & when the trees are in blossom in February an annual Almond Festival is held.

Ever tried the sweet Marsala wine? Discovered by an English man, John Woodhouse in the late 18th century. Made in a similar way to sherry in Jerez, Spain. Salute!!

Sicilian cuisine is renowned for being amongst the best in Italia.

Plenty of pasta, pizza, tasty meat, fish & seafood including sea urchins. The swordfish is particularly good at this time of year. Oranges & lemons have three crops a year so they are always in season.

Ice –cream may have been invented in Sicily as snow was brought down from Etna to which honey & orange & lemon juice were added to create a wonderful dish.

Another local delicacy is brioche con gelato, basically an ice-cream butty which business men & children alike love to have for breakfast &/or lunch!!

Everything stops for the afternoon siesta then everybody comes out for the ‘passeggiata’. Men are seen sitting/standing around watching the world go by!

Plus for the time of year 20 degrees & sunny is very pleasant & it’s only going to get warmer!!

I am pleased to say that I am off with my family on a trip to Iceland next week with Explore. I’m really looking forward to it, especially after one of our approved Travel Agents, Lee Harrison, owner of Select World Travel, went on a recent agents’ trip with his daughter on the same tour - Land of Ice and Fire (Family Adventures).

You can read all about Lee’s trip on the Select World Travel site.

I am really looking forward to seeing this beautiful waterfall, and the wildlife and the geysers!

SELJALADSFOSS WATERFALL by Lee Harrison

Explore spend a lot of time looking at Responsible Tourism and supporting charities in the UK and around the world. The ethos and practice of the company is also for individuals here, at Nelson House, to do something as well. Usually there is someone raising money for charity and this month has been no exception.

Some people that impressed me (because I can’t stand heights) however, were my colleagues who jumped out of an aeroplane to raise money for the Mufinidi Orphange in Tanzania.

Debbie and Michelle

Our Commerical Assistant in Marketing, Michelle takes up the story:

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One of the wonderful people I have met on Explore trips is Anne Fairlie. She works for our Canadian agents, Trek escapes and regularly goes on an Explore trip (at least once a year). She recently went to Laos, on our Spirit of Laos tour, and has written up an account of the trip. This happens to be my favourite bit as its show what a difference a ‘responsible’ tour leader can make, on a very micro level:

Our Explore tour leader had been working in Lao for about 5 months. She would take pictures of the people she met in the villages, get them printed on her days’ off in Bangkok, and then hand out the pictures the next time she passed through. What a treat this was for the villagers as in one of two instances, someone had died, and she was able to provide a picture of the person for their loved one to treasure.

Anne also took some pictures at one of the SOS orphanages in Laos, where Explore tours generally visit.

I’ve replicated Anne’s report below in full.

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Knowing our people in reservations, I can honestly say that they do try very hard to put customers first and be as friendly as possible. After all, what’s the point of going on a wonderful holiday if you don’t have fun from the out-set?

I’m very pleased to see that one of our sister companies, Keycamp are also getting acknowledged for having ’service with a smile’.

Diane Coleman on the Travel Weekly blog comments:

Like Keycamp for instance… I’m sure they have a smile on their face.

Fantastic! Its always nice to get a pat on the back from another professional in the industry and even better from a customer.

Jo Baldwin, an Explore tour leader, talked to Alastair at the Destinations travel show, in London, about tour leading in India. Jo describes herself as a one woman Indian tourist board and her enthusiasm certainly shines through. You might also have seen Jo at one of our recent Evening of Adventures where she was presenting with Kate who we featured previously (have a read here).

Kate Plummer (left) and Jo Baldwin (right).

 

 Jo Baldwin on Tour leading and Kerala [3:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1326)

I wanted to share with you some pictures taken by a fellow passenger on my recent trip to India.

John Patterson took the following wonderful shots on the extended version of the tour I went on, which also includes Moghul Highlights as well as Rajasthan.

John and his wife Kay are extremely keen walkers, and John even leads walking tours in the UK. He has a great eye for ‘photos’ and he kindly sent me through these great pictures.

The Amber Fort, Jaipur

Also the Amber Fort, Jaipur

Meherangarh Fort in Jodhpur

Jain Temple at Ranakpur

Traditional Cattle powered pump for irrigating the crops.

Gateway to the Fort at Kumbalgarh

All photos © John Patterson 2007.