I read the letter from, and had a different view than, the traveler who came away with a negative impression of Turmenistan (March ’14, pg. 23). I too did the 5 ’Stans, traveling as part of a group with Zegrahm Expeditions (888/979-4421) in May 2006.
18-day/15-night tour of INDIA, May 21-June 7, 2014. Highlights: Explore Old Delhi/castles and temples in Alchi/monasteries at Leh/tea gardens in Palampur/Tibetan Children’s Village/Dolma Ling Nunnery/browse local market, shops, galleries in Heritage Village Pragpur (silver jewelry, hand block-printed fabrics, woven wools)/colonial-era British architecture, horseback riding, spa in Shimla. Land, $9,970. Single supp., $3,970. Zegrahm Expeditions (Seattle, WA; 888/979-5836).
18-day / 16-night tour in INDIA, May 22-June 8, 2013. Highlights: Red Fort, Qutab Minar in Delhi / Leh, Ladakh / 11th-century monastery in Likir / temples in Kangra Valley / Dharamsala, home to the Dalai Lama / crafts, jewelry in Pragpur market / Chandigarh, “The City Beautiful.” Land, $10,980. Single supp., $3,980. Zegrahm Expeditions (Seattle, WA; 800/628-8747).
The lonely, obscure islands in the 878,000-square-mile Bering Sea — situated between Alaska and Russia — had always drawn me, but the difficulty and expense of visiting them had kept me from making the trip. However, when I discovered that Seattle’s Zegrahm Expeditions (800/ 628-8747) was offering its “Wild Alaska” trip, which included many of these islands, I signed up for the June 18-July 2, 2010, cruise.
Have you “been there, done that” with big-ship cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska and the Mediterranean? Maybe it’s time to try one of the most exotic cruises on Earth, with Zegrahm Expeditions aboard the intimate Clipper Odyssey, from New Guinea to Vanuatu across the southwest Pacific Ocean.
This is the South Pacific at its finest, with gorgeous coral atolls, visits to tiny, isolated villages little changed since the time of Captain Cook, lots of World War II history, and great snorkeling, diving, natural history and bird-watching.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, part of The Russian Federation, extends from the northeastern end of Siberia, thrusting down to divide the Sea of Okhotsk from the Bering Sea. It is one of the few truly unexplored wilderness areas left in the world. Sharing a latitude with Alaska, it is remote and difficult to get to. Conditions are so harsh there for most of the year that the human population is sparse and primarily concentrated in Petropavlovsk, its capital. A few small fishing villages exist on its shores, but the interior of Kamchatka remains largely unexplored.