Best Of
Re: Canadian capitals with Niagara Falls
Our preference is to travel in either spring or fall. We did this trip in Sep/Oct and the weather was beautiful. That was quite some time ago, however. It was one of our favorite tours. Enjoy.
kfnknfzk
Re: Ha Long Bay
I just returned from this trip.
It is absolutely worth a day trip to Ha Long Bay.
We didn’t arrive until around midnight on the day before the tour start date. We booked a day trip that left the hotel at 10am. Two others in our group arrived at a much more reasonable time and they booked a day tour the same day with a 6am pickup. We both arranged our tours with the concierge at the Metripole. The pearl factory stop was maybe 20 minutes and was basically a way to take up a little time before our cruise start time which was noon. We told our guide we needed to be back by 530 to have a little time before the welcome dinner and they had us back by 515. That didn’t shorten the cruise portion of the trip at all.
As in MikeHenderson’s blog, we had the entire boat to ourselves.
Our guide was personable, friendly and informative. We stopped at the same cave first and basically had it all to ourselves. Several boats showed up as we were leaving. Our guide said the afternoon tours tend to start with lunch which is why they delay lunch until after the cave. We then cruised around the bay. We had a little rain but there is a covered area at the back of the boat and it made for un otherworldly and beautiful afternoon.
Venice & Dalmation Coast September 17, 2025 on the L'Austral...
My wife and I will be going on the Venice and Dalmation Coast trip on the L'Austral on September 17, 2025 with another couple. Just wanted to say 'hi', if you will be on that trip. 🛳️ 👏🏼 😊
JoeMc
Re: Best way to get there and home?
Fly to Arusha going direct.. Fly home direct from Nairobi
British
Re: Small ship tours question
Done this one in 2023.
Strenuous enough that only two people signed up for the bike ride and five signed up for the advance hike. Sea kayak was cancelled due to lack of interest. Very few people did the national park and the city wall. The fit and athletic ones hang out together and kept themselves very busy. There was enough free time to do very strenuous hikes in Hvar, Dubronik and Miljet National Park both by yourself and as planned.
The TDs have recommended more advanced and optional routes for the truly fit and athletic to take.
She can walk up and down the stairs every morning and before dinner. There were multiple flights of stairs.
Re: Small ship tours question
We took this cruise itinerary in September of this year and concur with the limited outdoor space for walking or running. There is a fitness center onboard with exercise bikes and treadmills -- it is a nice size center and much larger than those found on the river cruises. As for other outdoor options, early morning port access is not available as many stops are tender ports. There are several excursions that are activity focused, such as hikes, that may appeal to you or you could do a bit more exploring in the ports during your free time.
A reminder to me to post our trip report that is still in a draft folder.....
Re: Malaria precautions
Go to a travel clinic to get the information and then to Walgreens to get the vaccines. You’ll save an incredible amount of money.
Re: Getting a China Visa
I see the paperwork I sent to Visa Central, and it has a rate of $95 for a service fee and $140 for a consular fee on it. And it is specific to Tauck China and has an account number to reference, plus it includes as a whole kit the itinerary and other items for attachment. I do see that I provided a credit card number and see it on my statement. But at the same time, I have an invoice from CIBT showing no fee or balance, and it has the name and address of someone at Tauck HQ. In my filename I noted that Tauck covered the invoice, so I am not clear what happened - it may be that there was enhanced service that Tauck covered. Anyway the fee was modest, and the Tauck specific kit from Visa Central helped identify exactly what was needed. Ultimately it was doable. I found Tanzania and Kenya, done by myself, to be more of a pain.
Re: Small ship tours question
There really isn’t anywhere to walk, the lounge is not what I call large at all, if you are a walker like me, you would find it useless.
I have used the small pool on the ships. There is a ‘jet’ you can swim against. There is a gym, it will be small, I haven’t used it. We tend to forego extra exercises apart from swimming on Tauck tours, because there isn’t time when you have to leave so early in the morning for touring, although the ship tours don’t leave so early.
I have to admit that all their tours, we get less exercise than we do at home. It’s nice to just relax a bit more on tours and get right back into exercise when we get home.
British
Re: Vietnam Visa
voikk32 - I have an iMac and this is what I do.
a) open the file in Preview
b) in the File menu, select the Export... option
c) in the popup observe the File Size
d) slide the Quality slider to the left and observe how the File Size is reduced
e) resave the file with the desired File Size
This approach has worked for me with Passport photo submission in the past.
If you've already tried this, sorry, I'm at the end of my suggestions.
