Experience Summary
Summary of our 3 Month Spring Adventures: We have now returned from our 3-month Spring travels. We loved “living” in Bangkok for a month and seeing Kelvin, Chris, Ron & Tod plus their 3 children, as well as Vorapak & Jaa. As I previously wrote, Bhutan was such a moving experience and one we cherish...
Cadiz, Spain
Today we were in Cadiz for the third time in the last couple of years. Unfortunately this time we couldn’t catchup with David’s old friend, Pete, who was out-of-town. Today we walked the streets of the old town with Colleen & Steve. The weather was sunny and breezy. Not too hot or too cold. It’...
Funchal, Maderia, Portugal
Today we were in Funchal, Maderia. This is our third time here in the last couple of year. However, for the first time we took the gondola up to the top of the mountain for beautiful views. The Funchal Cable Cars ride is 3.2 km long and takes 18 minutes to reach the top of the mountain. http...
Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain
Today we were in Santa Cruz de la Palma. What a breath of fresh air! We were so glad to be back in Europe after the interesting but taxing experiences of West Africa. Clean air, clean streets, sunshine and cool breezes were a big relief (more on our overall impression of West Africa later). In...
Porto Grande/ Mindelo, Island of Sao Vincente, Cape Verde
Today was our second visit to Porto Grande/ Mindelo on the island of Sao Vincente in Cape Verde. Cape Verde is an archipelagic country in the central Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa. It consists of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about 4,033 square kilometres (1,557...
Dakar, Senegal
Today we visited another country that wasn’t ever on our bucket list- Senegal. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi) and has a population of around 19 million. The name, Senegal, is believed to come from the Wolof phrase sunuu gaal, meaning "our canoe". Frenc...
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Abidjan, Ivory Coast was again a new experience. We had expected a modern city as they call it the shimmering “Manhattan of Africa”. True there are some modern buildings, and they are building the tallest building in Africa, but it was not shimmering at all. Our disappointment began when we saw a...
Sekondi, Ghana
Today was Takoradi, Ghana , which continued with our recent experience of new countries. In our head we expected a modern, progressive country because we have met a few people over the years from Ghana, which led us to believe this was a more developed country that was able to send out people into...
Cotonou, Benin
Benin, again, was a new country for us. Today we docked in Cotonou. Cotonou is the largest city and seat of government of Benin. The population here is over 2 million. The country has a population of about 15 million and the average age is 18. Benin covers an area of 112,622 km 2 (43,484 sq mi)...
Sao Tome, Sao Tome & Principle
Sao Tome of Sao Tome & Principle , while again a new country for us, more closely aligned with our expectations of West Africa. São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea , off the western equatorial coast of Centra...
Luanda, Angola
Angola was both a new experience and a bit of a surprise. We did not expect to see a modern city filled with cranes building new high rises. The city was clean with good roads and trimmed gardens. That said, as the ship gained entry to the harbour the water shimmered with oil on the surface....
Walvis Bay, Namibia
Namibia was a first visit for us. Fascinating to see the sand dunes almost up to the sea as we sailed into the harbour at Walvis Bay. Namibia was originally a German colony which Germany lost in World War I. They then became administrated by South Africa until their independence on March 21, 199...
Cape Town, South Africa
A huge storm system was developing along the coast of South Africa that would interfere with our sailing, so it was announced that we were going to try to outrun the storm and this necessitated skipping the ports of Durban and Mossel Bay. The upside is that this would allow us to arrive in Cape Town...
Richards Bay, South Africa
As we entered Richard’s Bay the shore was lined with sandy beaches with trees almost touching the sea. Unlike other recent stops the terrain is rather flat. From here we moved into a circular harbor where cargo boats were docked around the perimeter. Unfortunately we were docked near piles of c...
Maputo, Mozambique
For two days we sailed through the Mozambique channel. The first day we had very rough seas. We even put on our pressure bands to ensure we didn’t get seasick. Fortunately we ride the waves well. Today we were in Maputo, Mozambique. That is a place I never anticipated I would be writing ab...
Mayotte, France
Today we were in Mayotte, France. The people of Mayotte voted to remain part of France and became the 101st department of France (Fifth French Republic) on 31 March 2011 and became the outermost associated region of the European Union on 1 January 2014, following a March 2009 referendum with an...
Nosy Be, Madagascar
Today we were in Nosy Be, Madagascar. The word means “Big Island”. It is a volcanic island off the main island. The main city is Hell-ville (perhaps prophetic?). The island has an area of 320 km2 (123 sq mi) with a population of 200,000. The population is the first point we noticed. We arriv...
Seychelles- La Dique & Port Victoria
We visited two ports in the Seychelles. Day one was in La Dique which is the third most populated island of the country with a population of 2800 in a space of 10 square kilometers. We took a boat from our boat to shore to catch a boat….. our goal today was snorkeling. The tour was very disor...
Male, Maldives
Today we visited the Maldives, a new country for us. Malé is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. It has a population of 211,908 in 2022 in a coterminous geographical area of 8.30 square kilometers (3.20 sq mi) that makes Malé one of the most densely populated cities in the world....
Incredible India- Cochin, Mangalore & Goa
Incredible India is still the chaotic, colourful, disorganised wonderful mess we remember and love from our many prior trips (the last of which was 10+ years ago). Cochin/ Kochin has grown significantly since our trip in 2003. Yet, that nutty charm remains. Here we first took a traditional large...
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Our overall impression of Sri Lanka is as quite poor. This is borne out by the following income statistics: Average Monthly Salary: Generally ranges between LKR 48,000 (15 USD) for labor roles to over LKR 334,000 (1000 USD) for top-level executives. Household Income: As of late 2019 data, the averag...
Galle, Sri Lanka
Galle, Sri Lanka is a small quiet town. Here instead of spending time in the city we drove an hour out to a tea plantation. In addition to tea this planation also grows cinnamon, vanilla and pepper. There are three main tea growing regions in Sri Lanka. These are, Low grown teas which are teas grown...
Singapore- Ritz-Carlton's "Above & Beyond"
We had chatted with Kate and Thiasha at check-in about our upcoming Regent cruise. Two days later they surprised us by arranging a very special experience at the bar of the hotel. They reviewed our itinerary and made cut-outs of many of the countries we would be visiting. Then on each country th...
Overall Impressions of Bhutan
Bhutan March 14-24, 2026 Visiting Bhutan was a unique and special adventure. Beginning with the lodges, Six Senses exceeded all our expectations. Each of the five lodges had a distinct design yet retained essential features making it feel like coming home. The furnishings were similar with touche...
Day 10- Paro
Rather than an early rising we were able to sleep-in and have a leisurely breakfast. First we went on a hike above the Dzong. While stated as a short and easy hike it was 1.5 hours with enough rising terrain to get our heart beating rapidly. That said it is wonderful to smell the pines, be in nature...
Day 9- Bumthang to Paro
The sun came out today! It was a glorious morning and the planes were flying. Phew. A 35 minute flight versus an eight our bumpy, windy drive. And we didn’t have to get up for a 630 am flight). We checked in at the airport at 10 am, and had to be physically weighed. That is us, not the bags! it was...
Day 8- Bumthang
First up was a short drive to the Dzong for Bumthang- Jakar Dzong. It is located on a ridge high above Jakartown in the Chamkhar valley of Bumthang. It is built on the site of an earlier temple established by the Ralung hierarch Yongzin Ngagi Wangchuk (1517–1554) when he came to Bhutan. Jakar Dzong...
Day 7- Probjikha to Bumthang
We loaded up at 9 am for our six hour drive. First we reversed our drive from two days prior back up to the Lawala Pass. This means going along the newly widened dirt road again. Bumpity bumpity. More oyes. We did enjoy pulling over as a shepherd drove a herd of yaks along the road. Many times along...
Day 6- Phobjikha/ Gangtey
The view from our room is beautiful and expansive across the entire open valley. Since the center of the valley is a protective area for the cranes there is little development and the cows and yaks roam freely, and the view is open and wide. On cows, apparently they are milked in the morning and the...
Day 5- Punakha to Probjikha/ Gangtey
First was a short drive to the suspension bridge. Punakha Suspension Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in Bhutan measuring 180 m in length. From the bridge, you get a spectacular view of the Po Chhu river (male river) and the valley. I enjoyed the walk across but David felt it was a bit too wo...
Day 4- Punakha
Today we visited Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten. Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten, also known as Nyizergang Chörten and Punakha Zangdopelri) was built in 2004 by HM The Queen Mother, Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck, in Nyizergang — about a forty five minute walk uphill from the footbridge in Yepaisa V...
Day 3- Thimphu to Punakha
The team at the Six Senses wished us a successful onward journey and presented us with string bracelets based on our year of birth (one of us is Wood and one is Iron but we cańt confirm which is which). Just as we began our two our drive through the mountain passes we stopped to look at Simtokha Dzo...
Day 2- Thimphu
Today we had a wonderful breakfast before leaving at 9 am for the Big Buddha. Great Buddha Dordenma is a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue celebrating the 60th anniversary of fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The statue houses over one hundred thousand smaller Buddha statues, each of which, like...
Day 1- Landing in Paro, on to Thimphu
An annoying sound jolted us awake at 5 am today. Not enjoying early mornings encouraged us to stay at the Hyatt at Bangkok’s airport so we were assured of a short walk to the airport check-in counter rather than be forced to wake at 4 am and hoping for no traffic on the road from our hotel in the ci...
Marrakesh and More
David and I arrived after a two-hour flight into Marrakesh. While the city has an attractive modern airport (about 12 years old), flights from discount airlines such as Ryan must walk down the stairs and into the hall. It took probably 45 minutes to go through immigration, no time to wait for our...