As for suggestions on finding someone to care for your pet while you’re traveling, here’s what we can offer.
Check with your veterinarian. He or she may have other clients who do pet sitting or will know of reliable companies that will provide in-home care. (We happen to be lucky. Our vet has teenage daughters who, when we’re away, love earning money by coming to our house every day to feed, pamper and clean up after our cat.)
13 days, 10 nights through Oct. 2015. Highlights: Around Cape Town in SOUTH AFRICA, great white shark cage dive, private tour of Cape Winelands, Cheetah Outreach center/daily game drives in Kapama Private Game Reserve/at Victoria Falls National Park in ZIMBABWE, sunset cruise on Zambezi River and elephantback safari; bungee jump or helicopter ride. Land, ppdo, $5,325 through May, $4,995 June-Aug., $5,525 Sept.-Oct. Great Safaris (Glendale, CA; 800/409-7755, www.greatsafaris.com).
I traveled to Kenya, June 12-24, 2014, with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768, www.roadscholar.org) and I want to commend the company for not canceling this tour even though there were only four of us. Apparently, there had been 16 people registered for this trip, but 12 canceled because of perceived danger in Kenya.
All of the promised accommodations, safaris and lectures (a hallmark of Road Scholar trips) were exactly as promised.
10 days, 9 nights. Tented camp pitched at each location. Full mobile kitchen with chef. Highlights: Hotel night in Entebbe/drive to Budongo Forest to walk in chimpanzee sanctuary/boat trip in Murchison Falls National Park/game drives in Kidepo Valley National Park home to zebras, giraffes, lions, elephants/Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Land, $3,640. Bahr El Jebel Safaris (Calle Benito Juarez 35, Alamos, Sonora 85760, Mexico; phone +52 647 428 1493, www.bahr-el-jebel-safaris.com).
Despite lifelong interests in wildlife, my wife and I had never been to Africa. After looking through a variety of safari brochures, we found it was easy to become overwhelmed by the many travel options.
by Sharon VanDewark; San Diego, CA
Visitors to the Cebu Zoo (Woolbright Dr., Beverly Hills, Cebu City, Cebu 6000, Philippines; phone +63 32 414 7103) can each experience a massage from giant pythons.
For only the price of admission — PHP25 per adult or PHP10 per child (near 60¢/23¢) — a brave volunteer can lie under four pythons, with a combined weight of 550 pounds, and let their writhing bodies rub the stress away.
9 days, 8 nights, Feb. 5-13, 2015, and Jan. 8-16 & Feb. 5-13, 2016. Highlights: Lodge near Arusha/fly to Serengeti National Park/Alabama Reserve/in southern Serengeti, follow wildebeest, zebra, etc., in Great Migration during birthing season/stay in luxury camps. Land, $9,995-$10,195 ppdo. Single supp., $995. (Balance due 90 days before departure.) Natural Habitat Adventures (Boulder, CO; 800/543-8917, www.nathab.com).
I’ve read with interest the articles in ITN about traveling with grandchildren. One appeared in the November 2013 issue.
While planning the trip on which I would be taking my grandchildren in late 2010 (we left right after Christmas), I found that the most important consideration was not how old they should or should not be or how many children I should take at one time but whether the trip’s activities would be exciting enough to hold their interest.
by Yvonne Horn, Contributing Editor