Features

September 2005 issue

Egypt — fulfilling a date with destiny

by Nili Olay, New York, NY

I believe I was always meant to go to Egypt...

I received my undergraduate degree in ancient Near Eastern Studies (Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, etc.) from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. I was married to an Egyptologist who, for a while, worked at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

But while he made frequent trips to Egypt, I was barred from entering the country — I had been born in Israel and the two countries were at war. Peace (of a sort) came, but life interfered in the guise of small children and a divorce.

So now,...

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January 2006 issue

Guatemala — exploring the land of the Maya
By Judith Anshin

—Story and photos by Judith Anshin, Contributing Editor

Guatemala, after suffering years of civil war, is now beckoning. Peace accords were signed with the guerrillas in 1996, and they have held to today. In the hope of attracting more high-end travelers, new hotels have been built in the Flores/Tikal area, the airport is being upgraded, and Continental Airlines inaugurated two direct flights a week from Houston to Flores/Tikal.

To familiarize travelers with the “new” Guatemala, INGUAT (Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo), the tourism agency for the country, invited travel...

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January 2005 issue

Connecting with the animals at Nepal’s Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge

by Jack Ogg, Houstin, TX

My wife, Connie, and I, in planning our Southeast Asia trip with our son Jon and his wife, Kendra, in late 2003, originally intended to include only Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia (the countries included in our special Cathay Pacific promotion) on our itinerary. However, the more we read, the more we wanted to extend the trip to Nepal. The very names Kathmandu, Mt. Everest and Tiger Tops conjured up our spirit of adventure. We were not disappointed.

Kathmandu

We flew Thai Airways to Kathmandu. The weather was idyllic and the...

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September 2010 issue

Touring and tasting in Argentina’s Mendoza wine region

by George & Elena Vander Voort, Wadsworth, IL

Argentine wines have improved dramatically over the past 15 years, moving from predominantly cheap, rustic vino de mesa (wine of the table) to world-class quality. In the late 19th century there were only about 6,000 hectares, or 14,830 acres, of wine vineyards in Argentina. Today there are about 208,000 hectares of wine grapes in over 26,000 vineyards, with about 900 actual wine producers.

The principal wine-producing bodegas are in the Luján de Cuyo region, just south of Mendoza City, although a number of superb bodegas...

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April 2005 issue

Exploring prehistoric caves and medieval towns in southwest France

We stood in rapt attention as our guide pointed out the figure of a bison on the cave wall. The artist had used the natural contours of the rock to give a 3-dimensional quality to the body of the animal. As the guide used his flashlight to outline the figure, we could almost imagine it was a torch like that used by a shaman or medicine man 15,000 years ago.

We were in Grotte Font-de-Gaume, a cave in the Dordogne, or Périgord, region of southwest France. This is one of the last caves with Cro-Magnon polychrome paintings still open to the public in Europe.

From Paris

...

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January 2011 issue

Cruising Australia’s Kimberley coast
A Zodiac inflatable boat at the headwater of the Horizontal Falls.
I was among a group of 81 Australians and two Americans who arrived in Broome, Western Australia, in June 2010 eager to embark on a 10-day expedition cruise along the Kimberley coast to Darwin aboard the MV Orion. The <em>Orion</em> is a purpose-built ship, capable of exploring the bays and inlets of this dramatically beautiful, unspoiled coastline, home of saltwater crocodiles, pearl farms and Aboriginal rock art.
July 2005 issue

Pleasant surprises on a carefully planned stay in Japan

by Larry Taylor, Fullerton, CA

Japan is a land of contrasts: temples and technology, kimonos and karaoke, Buddhas and baseball. . . My wife and I have always thought we would like to visit Japan, but we had heard stories about high prices and difficulties getting around in the congested cities. These perceptions led us to put off a visit.

But in spring ’04 we decided to spend four days in the Tokyo/Kyoto area after disembarking from an Orient cruise on the Crystal Harmony. We would “get our feet wet,” as they say, with this short stay. As it turned out, all our preconceived...

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May 2011 issue

The spectacular scenery of Namibia
Namibia may not be everyone’s idea of a safari country. It doesn’t have the variety, large herds or impressive migrations of animals one can experience in East Africa or Botswana. However, as my wife and I discovered in September ’10, Namibia impresses with spectacular scenery, wildlife that have adapted to the incredibly harsh desert environment, and the opportunity to meet native people little affected by the outside world.