Best Of
Re: Watermark pictures
Why are so many worried about piracy? I can understand if you are a professional photographer or in some way earn money from your unique photos. But if it’s just for your ego to lay claim that your pictures of the lion are so much better than the 500 pictures that others took of the same lion, I don’t understand why it is such a big deal.
BSP51
Re: Watermark pictures
OK, Mil. I will fly cover for you. These were taken on the same trip one week in front of you. The thieves can steal these if they like and perhaps leave yours alone. WARNING one shot is not for the sensitive.
rwilso15
Re: In the Serengeti now
@British you misunderstand. i was not “complaining” or saying that I have medical problems or even that I was not enjoying the trip. I thought the purpose of this forum was for information sharing for potential travelers. I was sharing information abt this particular tour group. Our flight was with Qatar and although long, it was fine. Others in this particular group we are in have expressed how long and hard their flights were. We are down to abt half of us doing the two safaris/day. It’s too hard for some of the folks who are here. They had only read abt how cool the trip is. They didn’t factor in how much energy they were able to expend in getting here and doing the activities. I thought by sharing info abt this current tour those who come to this forum for information might see more than the glowing accts of those who are travel junkies. But, it seems that anyone who says anything that others disagree with is immediately discounted.
CaraBethP
Re: In the Serengeti now
Isn’t 71 is the new 41; maybe 51. I’m right behind at a young 70. As the expression goes “a body in motion, stays in motion. Here’s to years of travel.
OurTravels34
In the Serengeti now
We are beginning day 5 today. A few things in my perspective- if dry bothers you, bring saline nasal spray and some good in scented lotion.I am having a lot of bloody noses. As repeatedly said, you don’t need many clothes, especially if what you bring is the light weight stuff. You can wash it in the sink and it will dry out overnight. Most ppl on our trip are just doing cell phone pics, so don’t let camera or no camera worry you. It’s a tough trip but worth the hardships. 
CaraBethP
Venice & the Dalmation Coast September 2022
My wife and I just returned from celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary with an extraordinary tour of Venice, Croatia and Montenegro aboard the Jacques Cartier small cruise ship. This was our first Tauck tour, and it exceeded our expectations in every way. Nick and Mateo went out of their way to ensure that we would have the active experience that my wife and I were seeking. We love hiking, biking and sea kayaking, and the tour included all three options. Nick even organized a guided rigorous 8.5 mile hike in Montenegro for us that we never would have been able to pull off without Tauck's expertise.
Thank you Tauck, for helping us to celebrate our anniversary in such a special way!
John_Z
Re: Switzerland crown jewel
We just returned from this tour yesterday ( Sept 10, 2022 start date). We had an incredibly organized, detail oriented tour guide ( and a totally wonderful person), Petr. His recommendations for clothes were 6 “ smart casual” dinners. The hotels were fancy ( eg, the King of Jordan sat next to us at breakfast at the Lausanne Palace), so having some nicer clothes to wear for dinners was absolutely appropriate. For a few of the smart casual dinners ( the tour director termed these “fluffy” ) about 1/3 of the men wore sport coats. Footwear - sneakers with tread are fine for the times on the mountains. Mind you, nothing is going to keep your feet warm in the ice bar on Jungfrau! The temperatures ranged from the 70s ( Lugano and Lake Como) to the 30’s on Jungfrau. The day we were on Jungfrau there was a snowstorm up there with white out conditions ( yes, in September). It added to the experience and was fun. This was a great trip. The scenery was spectacular, and the hotels wonderful. A few of our rooms were really stand outs (large suites with terraces).One was lacking ( parking lot view in St. Moritz). The trains are really fun! Every day was sunny and gorgeous , except for Jungfrau and the snowstorm was fun.
MotherOfPoodles
Re: Kingdom and Dragons
Nancy, In Indonesia it is the Rupiah
We have just arrived in the Four Seasons Bali Jimbaran resort
We have a view over the bay and the room is stunning. Mr. B has been presented with his third birthday cake of the tour, just eaten!
Our tour comes to an end tomorrow, but we are staying on two extra days.
Our thoughts on the tour..
We have really enjoyed this tour, it goes towards the top of our favorites
For those who put great importance on the hotels, the ones here, apart from a one nighter, chosen for its convenient to the airport, rival the hotels on the India tours.
Our TD has been kind. efficient and extremely ‘over and above ‘ in everything and extra she has done for our group.
Fitness to do this tour….this tour requires people be excellent at climbing large numbers of stairs and uneven surfaces. For example, this Four Seasons has numerous steep stone stairs just to get to the reception area.
You have to be agile to get in and out of small boats bobbing up and down at a jetty before getting onto your ‘schooner’ to go to the Komodo island. On arrival there, you have to get out of the small boat to climb up steep narrow steps with no rail to the jetty, the same returning. And in the case of our trip, have to transfer from one boat to another on the middle of the sea when it broke down.
I have heard a bit of buzz about disappointment on ‘Komodo day, some thought that a 4 plus hours on a boat to the island was too long, we actually enjoyed the scenery of all the islands we passed, the foot and leg massages on the return, the relaxation down time and the chatting to others. I do tend to agree a little that the 90 minutes or so on the island only covered a fairly short distance because the rangers stopped quite a bit to tell us about the dragons when we might have made more progress. But I do think they were keeping different groups separate from each other every time a dragon was spotted. Our group was not split up into smaller groups. It was very hot on the island
We took far too many clothes. Our suitcases weighted far below the limit as most of our clothing was very light weight. No one dressed up on this tour. I think I was the only one who wore a floaty dress most evenings for dinner at the resorts, I only put on makeup once. One couple just had carry on luggage, I envied them. This was a wise, well traveled group of people who frankly did not care about dress, wish we had known this as groups vary so much and we have encountered very dressed up people in the past.
That’s all for now, got to skinny dip.
British
Spain health form - no longer required
From the Spanish Ministry of Health website:
As of Tuesday, 20 September 2022, the Spain Travel Health (SpTH) portal, both the website and the mobile applications (APPs), will no longer be operational. It will no longer be necessary to complete the health control form to travel to Spain nor to show the SpTH QR code at the airport of arrival.
Not that it was a particularly tough requirement but one less thing to do.
Claudia Sails
Re: Another "dress for dinner" question...
Excellent post, Sealord. I agree that people should review the itinerary, hotels and restaurants beforehand and then decide the appropriate attire to take with them.
I absolutely love your term, "the respect of dressing." Some might snicker at this, but I was always taught to show the utmost respect to the host/hostess who invited us into their home. This applies to travel. We need to show respect to the country/countries who have invited us to be their guests. Old school thinking? Absolutely, and I thank my deceased parents often.
I'll spare you my grievances about those who enter houses of worship looking like they were going to a sporting event.
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