Adventure Travel Photography Blog
Somehow we slept in a little and got a late start to the morning though it really didn’t affect our plans. We found a not so good coffee shop by the visitor center with good pastries (though I accidentally got an almond croissant filled with rhubarb) and bad coffee. Today we planned to visit a few castles including Christiansborg Slot and Roseborg Slot. Continue reading “Copenhagen’s Castles”
The forecast called for one decent weather day. It was supposed to be today, so we rented bikes from the hotel as how could we come to Copenhagen and not ride bikes given it has been voted Best Bicycle City in the World for two consecutive years. Well, we started out on our bikes beneath black skies in a light drizzle. At first we wondered what we got ourselves into as we precariously positioned ourselves to jump on bikes made for tall Danes. Suman had to get her pedals in a perfect position, while I went with a skateboard start pushing my bike forward with one foot. Continue reading “Cycling in Copenhagen”
Suman and I had travel karma today. We arrived at the airport to find no one at the counter, once we got over our initial nervousness that something might be wrong, we decided to wait at the counter in case Icelandair didn’t open the flight until two hours prior to departure. Within about five minutes, the agents arrived and we were first in line as a flood of people scurried in behind us. Security was uneventful which provided us plenty of time to grab dinner at Root Down located in a different terminal from which we were departing.
Icelandair is a food for purchase airline, so we brought snacks on board and snagged a bottle of water that they were providing at the entrance. At first I wondered if the plane was ever going to cool off, but once they closed the doors, not only was I not freezing like usual, I got to make the international journey with extra space. The middle seat next to me was empty! A few movies and a little reading later, we landed in Reykjavik to easily make our two-hour connection.
Another uneventful flight later, we were at the busy Copenhagen airport purchasing our train ticket into the central station known as Kobenhavn H. Though slightly challenged, we did figure out to buy a zone 3 ticket for 36 kronor and to go to track 2. Three short stops and 15 minutes later, we were walking along the wet sidewalk to our hotel. It had just finished raining. Surprisingly, we walked right by Brian and Erin who arrived on a separate flight just before us. Continue reading “Countless Places to Visit in Copenhagen”
Yesterday, so many people struggled with the wind during the climb up Cerro Negro that nearly half our group bailed on the hike up Telica Volcano. I wish they would have bailed before the guide, who listened to all the complaining about Cerro Negro, shortened our scheduled hike by three hours. But I think there were only two of us that voted against a shorter hike, so we were out-voted regardless of how many people ended up going.
The good news is this tour required an all wheel drive vehicle, and the tour provided two large vehicles for only seven of us, so we got quite a bit of space. Barb, Silvia and I traveled in one car while Connie, Isabella, Janet, and Linda followed behind us.
Once again we stopped for water at the market before we continued for at least an hour to Telica Volcano. We turned off the Pan-American highway and onto a dirt road. Amazingly, not only does this one lane, dirt road provide a way to the volcano, it is also a bus route! A school bus comes twice a day to shuttle the families who live in the area into town. I saw the bus pick up some riders, but there was not an official bus stop (as we would know it), so I am not exactly sure how the bus schedule works. Of course the road is also home to ox, horseback riders, and tourists too!
HAPPY HIKING!
Our group piled into the van and after stopping at a market for water, we took an hour ride out to Cerro Negro. Our drive took us from the paver streets to a dirt road that we shared with oxen, horse drawn wagons and more. On the way, we passed by peanut, sesame, and yucca farms. One peanut farmer was very resourceful. His family hung carved, painted airplanes on a wooden mannequin by the fence-line with a sign indicating the price, $5. Our driver honked to notify them that we wanted to support the local economy. The family also hung a cooler with bags of juices and tea for the locals.
EXPLORE!
After a thirty minute drive, we arrived in Catarina, a small town of 8,300 people located near the Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve. Catarina is known for its countless nurseries and art workshops. We arrived to the city quite early as we planned to hike down an extinct volcano for a swim in the Apoyo Lagoon, so we didn’t see many open businesses. But we did walk along one of its quaint streets to reach the trailhead at the top of the crater.
EXPLORE!
After breakfast, we packed up our bags, loaded in the van, and got to know our tour mates as we set out toward Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve. From Managua, located on the western side of Nicaragua and about 36 miles or so inland from the coast, the Reserve was located about 35 miles to the southeast and just south of Granada.
Despite being on the highway, it took at least an hour to get to the protected area due to sharing the road with horse drawn carts and industrial trucks. On our drive, we passed shanties, farms, markets and more. In order to reach the top of Mombacho, an extinct stratovolcano, we piled into a large, open air army truck that carried us up a road made of pavers.
Continue reading “Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve Near Granada, Nicaragua”Today is my first day to ever set foot in Nicaragua. I’m excited to be here, though I don’t have too much to report yet, as most of the day consisted of twelve hours of travel.
My first flight out of Denver to Miami was delayed an hour due to a broken A/C. Funny, the plane was plenty cool! But that is OK, it gave me time to knock out some Academy Award nominate movies. Originally, I had just planned to read my book, but the woman behind me was such a loud complainer both me and my seatmate had to resort to headphones. She is worth mentioning because it was so humorous!
Continue reading “My First Two Days in Nicaragua!”Well, hopefully my quick trip to Vegas with my sister-in-law for the last two Decembers will become a holiday tradition. We have such a good time in the action packed two days. Too bad Katie ended her trip with a long 18 hour travel day home! Thankfully, Southwest came through for me, and I only had a bumpy flight home. The icing on the cake in Vegas this year was being able to see my sister Liz. We didn’t know we were going at the same time!
Katie and I arrived Wednesday, checked into Bellagio, admired it’s conservatory beautifully decorated for Christmas before we found a place for a late lunch. Luckily, Katie is more in tune to the cooking channel than I am, and we tried a new hot spot, Giada. While the dining room was closed, the bar still offered a full menu until 2:30. We were seated just in time. Given I was ready to gnaw off my arm, we ordered the Pecorino cheese with apricot preserves as we expected the plate to come out quickly. With our expectations granted, we dove right in and were not disapointed! Our salads, which were a healthy size, came next and our empty bellies quickly expanded. I can see how the restaurant would be popular, especially in the evening with a view of the Bellagio fountains.
The rest of the afternoon included browsing the shops in Ceasar’s mall and taking a circuitous route off the strip to Treasure Island to pick up our show tickets to Mystere. We purchased tickets in advance, but let the show assign us seats. This provided a big savings online, and better yet, gave us 2nd row seats just to the left center of the stage! We could see the cirque performers shaking during their strength routines and adjusting with all their jumps. It was quite fun to get such a close up view and definitely made up for the mediocre dinner at Fix which was a slight disappointment, but still fun to meet Katie’s friend Beth.
While Katie attended the Expedia conference, I crossed the street to enjoy breakfast with Liz and Ron at Mon Ami Gabi. Liz’s mushroom brie omelet was tasty! We moved on to try our hand at Blackjack. Ellis Island is just a few blocks off the strip and offers $5 hands and pays 3:2 on blackjack. The only problem was the cards didn’t go our way, but at $5 a hand we got to play for a while. Ron bid us farewell while we went on to Tableau at the Wynn for lunch. Of course, the Wynn was basically at the opposite end from where Liz was staying so we spent the next hour or more walking all the way to the MGM Grand while taking detours through the Venetian and a few other places to enjoy the decorations and browse the shops.
As the sky turned dark (by 5 pm), Liz reunited with Ron, and I returned to the Bellagio to meetup with Katie for a final dinner. Katie picked the best restaurant I’ve been to in Vegas I think. Perhaps it helps to go without expectations. Yellowtail is a sushi restaurant in the Bellagio with a small patio that offers a spectacular view of the fountains. We arrived at the restaurant early (around 6) and got a premium table on the patio under the heat lamps. During our relaxing, dining experience we enjoyed about six fountain shows! And as much as I absolutely love the fountains, I think the food may have topped everything. The albacore pizza drizzled with truffle oil was true ecstasy.
Our night continued in the sports book where we caught the end of the football game and then we tried our luck at the poker slots. I won half the money back that I lost at Blackjack…not bad to go home with a pocket book only $25 lighter! We managed to stay up a bit later while enjoying a nightcap in the bar just near the guest elevators to the spa tower before we finally called it night to catch our morning flights. ETB
Check out the photographic note cards and key chains at my shop. Each card has a travel story associated with it. 20% of proceeds are donated to charity.
I wrote our final day in Italy as a guest post for Darjeelin…a French travel website. Here is the link with additional pictures below:
http://www.darjeelin.com/blog/how-to-do-rome-in-a-day#.U8aIgvldVlo
THE COLOSSUEM
THE FORUM
THE PANTHEON
TREVI FOUNTAIN AND FOUR RIVERS FOUNTAIN
THE VATICAN MUSEUM
ST PETER’S BASILICA
SPANISH STEPS
DINNER
Check out the photographic note cards and key chains at my shop. Each card has a travel story associated with it. 20% of proceeds are donated to charity.
