Best Of
Re: Highlights of our excellent Namibian adventure
Sandyfeet - great report, makes want to visit Namibia. Thank you.
Re: Air Travel to Tanzania
Dogdoctor, Thank you for that detailed explanation. I was just discussing the possibility of an overnight stay, if we must. I have a favorite hotel in Doha, away from the airport, but still...staying at the hotel has it's advantages. The dates are still out of the range of both Tauck and Qatar, so it's a guessing game for now. I wouldn't mind staying the night in Doha, what a vibrant city.
Hulka
Re: Broken Foot
I am back from our Elegant South Africa adventure. What a fabulous trip with an amazing tour director, Dumay, and a great group of travelers! I am happy to report that my foot did not impede me at all. The first two full days of the tour in Cape Town required the most walking. My foot got a little tired/sore at the end of those days. Otherwise, I had no issues. The TD arranged for me to have rooms that minimized walking to restaurant and lobby.
Thank you to everyone for their input and positive thoughts when I raised my concerns. I am so happy that I did not postpone this trip.
The weather was fantastic, except for 2 days of rain, which did not impact any of our activities. We just wore rain coats. This is the best vacation that I have ever taken, as I enjoyed the mix of culture, history, nature, wildlife, etc. We saw the Big 5 and all the other animals that I hoped to see. We learned about apartheid and the current struggles in South Africa and Zimbabwe. We enjoyed vibrant Cape Town, beautiful Victoria Falls and touching/feeding the elephants. The various guest speakers were very moving and inspiring.
Arriving two days early, we were able to visit Robben Island, which I highly recommend if you have the time. Very worthwhile and memorable.
I did need a full day to recover when I arrived home yesterday due to the pace of the trip, with its early starts and long days. But what a fun adventure.
With all of the above said, I would not recommend taking the trip if someone is on crutches or struggling to walk with an injured foot. But, if you are in a walking boot and getting around well at home, you very likely will have no issues with the trip if my experience is any indication.
Deb66
Re: Air Travel to Tanzania
@Hulka - we are flying on Qatar this July as well. I know you are looking for no overnight layovers, but be sure to consider 2 points.
If you fly Qatar (advertised and operated by Qatar) - certain flights and and certain classes are eligible for a complimentary overnight stay in a hotel. Stopover for the Purpose of Connection. The first set of criteria listed are that N class tickets and above costing USD 400 each way qualify, and that there are only 4 economy ticket fare buckets that never qualify for free STPC (out of 14 economy fare buckets in total), and those are O, Q, T and W. The second criteria needed is that the stopover must be 8 hours or more and there could not have been a shorter connection that was available. From what I have read people have been put up in the Oryx Garden, Oryx (standard), and Warwick (20 min outside the Airport).
We specifically chose a longer layover (flying with younger kids), booked via American (codeshare) for the loyalty points, and economy seats (hey, it's what we can afford - but I like that AA status lets me pick premiums economy seats), so we weren't going to be eligible anyway. That said, you can still book your own room and the Oryx Airport hotel is an excellent value if you want to crash for the night, wake up refreshed and continue on your journey. For our family of 4 it was an excellent option and we booked the hotel both ways. You never even leave the airport so you don't have to clear security or worry about getting a Qatar transit visa.
My in-laws are flying Biz on Ethiopian Air through Addis Ababa - pricing was the best for them coming out of Chicago, O'Hare. Since we are out of Boston, Qatar was a no brainer.
Re: Welcome to Tauck's River Seine: Châteaux, Impressionism & Normandy Forum
Normandy is an emotional experience. We have been there twice, and my wife has shed many tears there.
Sealord
Re: Non Disclosure of total costs- AWFUL!
It still goes on today. Companies come to most large universities to recruit the graduates - mostly in STEM fields. In the year I graduated, I think every EE graduate had a job before graduation. I see graduates in Computer Science getting starting offers of around $200,000 a year. It was much less in my day.
@British - while "living your passion" can satisfy some people, I feel that students should be told, in advance, that there are not many job opportunities in their field and that they may have to work in some other, lower paying, field after graduation.
The amount paid to a person for the work they do generally reflects the value in that work, and the number of people willing (or able) to do it. A programmer can produce code that allows the company to sell a lot of a product. Someone driving a limo is essentially selling their time on an hourly basis, and there's a lot of people who can drive a car.
As Mae West said: "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better."
Re: Morocco during Ramadan
Here's what another traveler posted about that - https://awaywiththesteiners.com/ramadan-in-morocco/
Re: Air Travel to Tanzania
We flew in business. Good service. They have a mix of aircraft and have a bunch of newer wide body Boeing 787- 8 and 9 and Airbus A350-900. Addis Ababa can be a little eye opening but not too bad. It is the airline’s HQ in the capital. Not a place I would want to overnight. ET has a somewhat of a checkered past- e.g. 737 Max crash.
AlanS
Re: Morocco during Ramadan
I’ve been through Ramadan in Saudi Ariabia a couple times. I would not recommend it.
Sealord