I'm dying to know where you've been and what you've seen and done. Stories from the middle east and africa will make me burst with excitement.

-- Christine (chris@gta.igs.net), January 31, 2000

Answers

One of the coolest places I went to was sort of a surprise which made it even better :) It started out as a really lame cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida.

The seas were pretty rough, so we were unable to go to our final destination. (the Abacos) We were given the choice of going to Nassau. (boo!) or to an uninhabited island. (yay!)

It turns out that the island was where they shot "Gilligan's Island". (how cool is that?) The cruise line had put up dozens of hammocks and had a shack where you could chow down on fresh fruit and salad and order fruity rum drinks.

Lots of people had opted to go to Nassau to shop and gamble and such, so there were very few people on the island. It was so unspoiled and lovely...I would've loved to setup a little shack and stayed. (sans Gilligan and the gang of course!)

Anyway that's one of my travel stories. I hope you liked it.

Seeya! Tree

-- Tree (manzella@peoplepc.com), February 01, 2000.

I've done the corporate travel thing with a big company I used to work for, and while it was fun to see Las Vegas, Acapulco, Barbados, New Orleans and a few other places on somebody else's bill, the best time I had travelling was when a buddy of mine and I backpacked our way around Europe for three months after we finished university. We biked for the first month, through England, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and took the train for the other two, south through Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. It's hard to pick a favourite location out of the trip, there were so many idyllic spots. I guess what I remember most is how unconcerned I was about anything, other than choosing something to eat and the next destination...

-- Michael (meaford@hotmail.com), February 02, 2000.

Tree,

A near empty tropical island...

I am -so- there.

-- Christine (chris@mail.gta.igs.net), February 02, 2000.

Well, I spent two years in Europe, and while I was there I did visit a lot of places -- mostly in Germany because that's where I lived. But also France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, England and the Netherlands. I have fantasies about retiring in Haarlem... I loved Holland.

As for Africa -- just to Kenya for two *amazing* weeks. I will never, ever forget it and I'll never regret it. We spent four days in Mombasa, well, at the beach actually, and the rest of the time on safari. I can't believe I actually did that! Wow. I met real Masai people, and was almost jealous of their natural lifestyle. Not the disease or poverty, of course not, it's just that they live _with_ nature in a way I never could. Even if I moved there, ya know? The animals, the weather, all of it -- has a direct effect on them.

I mean, there's a guy out there, protecting the cows from lions with a _spear_. I come from a country where farmers want the government to kill wolves for them.

But also there were the animals -- they were so beautiful and free. Yeah, they were on preserves and there are poachers and stuff, but they had so much room to just be. It totally ruined me for zoos and animal parks.

I got sunburned, met a lot of wonderful people, saw a real live cheetah, saw Mt. Kilimanjaro (why can't I spell that?), got my picture taken at the equator, had some woman read my cards, and couldn't give blood for 10 years.

Wow.

Thanks for asking!

-Louise

-- Louise Pohle (louise@muted.com), February 05, 2000.

On my first trip to Kenya my suitcase imploded somewhere between Nashville and Nairobi. The tour director and I drove into central Nairobi to the Swissair office with my mangled suitcase. While Ibrahim was upstairs persuasively explaining the absolute necessity of repairing my suitcase within 48 hours to the polite but complacent Swissair personnel, I stood on the sidewalk of Mama Ngina Street and watched the people go by. Veiled women from the predominantly Muslim coastal tribes mingled with men wearing European-style suits and white shirts uncreased by the equatorial heat. Women on their way to the market carried enormous baskets of fruit, vegetables, cloth and other goods on their heads, weaving expertly in and out of traffic. The ordinary buses and cars shared the road with overloaded matatus, that staple of African transportation consisting of minivans, buses and trucks lavishly painted with heroic or political mottoes and converted to haul as many people as could cram their way in or on the vehicle. Men shook each others hands when they met and when they parted. The colors were vivid, parrot-bright kinte cloth competing with shimmering silks and sober blue or gray wool. Above all shone the African faces, the beautiful endless variations in warm brown and black. I fell in love with Nairobi at once.

-- Lucy Huntzinger (huntzinger@mindspring.com), February 10, 2000.

What a lovely moment. And for some reason my eyes wanted me to notice again and again that Lucy is describing a memory of her first trip to Kenya.

My Travel Temptress (aka Erica) has been sending me the best travel links. I simply can't keep them to myself any longer:

Patrick Jennings' Travel Diaries includes trips to Australia, South East Asia and a six month bicycle tour of China.

Pakistan Chronicles

Heyoka in Morocco

And my own favourite site for a wide range of travel info: Lonely Planet.

-- Christine (chris@mail.gta.igs.net), February 10, 2000.