Snorkeling with sea lions, beach bonfires, cocktails to celebrate the full moon, stand up paddle boarding on glassy blue water, desert mule rides and not a port of call in sight. This is not a cruise. It’s an Un-Cruise. Unhurried. Unconventional. Unbelievable.
Discover ten trip highlights and the essence of Baja’s magic and the Un-Cruise experience in the following photos and videos.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Can’t stop searching for the next mind-blowing destination or exciting new adventure? Me neither. From once-in-a-lifetime dream trips to absolutely doable, here are 10 extraordinary adventures currently topping my Wanderlist —and why I want to go.
What about you? What places and experiences do you dream of? Where next?
Cartagena, Colombia
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Don’t let cold, snowy weather keep you from getting away. Say goodbye to the winter blues, gather the gang and head for Grand County, Colorado.
When a friend, who’d landed in Grand County twenty-five years ago and stayed, called to invite me to join her there for a winter girl’s getaway, I jumped at the chance.
Situated only 67 miles from Denver’s highlife, come-as-you-are Grand County bundles a world class ski resort, spas, yoga, alpine pursuits, and stunning mountain scenery into one of Colorado’s hometown favorites.
Take a little inspiration from these Grand County discoveries and launch your own escape.
WINTER PARK
Local knowledge
For 30 years, Winter Park residents have fueled up on hot coffee and breakfast at Carvers Bakery Cafe. Rustic and relaxed, the homey eatery boasts the convivial sounds and baked-goods aroma of a small town favorite. Try the sumptuous cinnamon rolls and homemade bagels. 93 Cooper Creek Way.
Home sweet vacation home
Buying a vacation home might be out of the question (damn the recession), but renting someone else’s luxury mountain house, is not only budget friendly, it’s fun! You may think you’ll be missing out on hotel services. Not true. From arranging welcome meals and in-home grocery stocking, to lift tickets and rental equipment, The Grand Concierge service by Destinations West will coordinate your transportation, plan special activities, and customize an all-inclusive vacation that IS all about you. www.mtnlodging.com
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
bodacious: adj. excellent, admirable, or attractive. ORIGIN: Boldacious. Blend of BOLD and AUDACIOUS.” - Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition.
“I’m off to the Bugaboos.” Just saying it, feels bodacious; though I am neither bold nor audacious by nature. What I am, unfortunately, is heavier than I’d like (thanks to a love affair with chocolate), and I can rationalize my way out of a morning run faster than you can say Mocha Grande. So why am I traveling solo to the Canadian Rockies for a Bodacious Girlfriend Getaway heli-hiking and yoga vacation. Why not?
The simple purity and intense beauty of the West has long been a place where dream seekers can indulge such brazen fantasies unfettered by the hard facts of reality. Turning intimidating concepts into inspiring life-enhancing adventures, in fact, is what Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH), has been doing since 1965 when they first started ferrying skiers by helicopter into the remote mountains of British Columbia.
“Welcome to my office,” says Lyle Grisedale, a professional CMH hiking guide and designated ‘bodacious bro’ on our women-only getaway. A courteous bon vivant with enough Irish devilment in him to fit right in with the girls, Grisedale is equal parts superhero, spiritual guru and mountain goat. Beyond his outstretched arm, tower the wild and jagged peaks of the Bugaboos –a granite mountain range in the Purcell Mountains of eastern British Columbia. A stunning land-sea of serrated ridges, turquoise lakes, lush meadows, and blue-tinged glaciers surround us.
Only a few hours earlier, I’d scrambled aboard a twin-engine Bell 212, 14-passenger helicopter at the CMH helipad (near Radium Hot Springs) after a scenic two-hour drive from Banff. The ten-minute flight to the Bugaboo Lodge, one of 11 self-sufficient, eco-sensitive lodges run by CMH, provided a thrilling, IMAX view of snow-capped peaks, evergreen forests, glistening snowfields, and wildflower-filled valleys sandwiched between rocky ridges. By comparison, it would have taken two full days of hard walking to cover the same distance.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
If you picture a Cabo vacation as a tequila infused episode of Girls Gone Wild, think again. Sure, you can find that scene if Animal House revelry is what you’re looking for. But, what Cabo does best these days is high-end hospitality – the whole enchilada from innovative cuisine to body, mind and soul pampering. Add in Windex-blue seas, a stunning desert landscape, lavish resorts and spas, golf courses, marinas and some of the most amazing marine life this side of the Galapagos and it’s no mystery why Cabo is Celebrity Central. And a Baja vacation need not be limited to Los Cabos – San José del Cabo + Cabo San Lucas. Be sure to check out Todos Santos and La Paz while you’re in the hood
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Forget the megaships. The best way to experience Alaska’s watery wilderness up-close-and-personal is aboard a luxury yacht.
The company tag line reads “Luxury in the Pursuit of Adventure.” They got that right. Our week-long voyage aboard American Safari Cruises’ new flagship vessel, Safari Explorer, served up plenty of luxury and adventure.
Here’s their winning formula:
Take 36 curious travelers age young to young-at-heart, 18 expert and friendly crew and put them together for 8 days aboard an elegantly outfitted yacht. Add in all-inclusive extras such as adventurous activities, gourmet meals, premium wines and spirits, on-deck hot tub and sauna, massage treatments and Tempur-Pedic mattresses. Then top it off with plenty of bears, whales, bald eagles, seals and sea lions, and float them among shimmering icebergs, beneath thundering waterfalls, and to the lip of calving glaciers. Oh, and demand nothing of them but that they have fun.Think you could stand it?
Click here to view a full gallery of photographs from the voyage.
Still not convinced? Read travel writer (and fellow passenger) Suzanne Wright’s day-by-day accounting of the cruise atwww.wanderwomanonline.com.
Ready to hop aboard but craving a warm-water destination? Come join me in Mexico’s nature-rich Sea of Cortez March 8 - 15, 2009 aboard American Safari Cruises’ 22-passenger luxury yacht, Safari Quest. I’ll be aboard as ‘photo host’ providing one-on-one field instruction to help you bring back vacation photos that will make your friends and family feel like they’ve come along for the ride.
So, get your digital equipment ready. Polish up your SLR. Dust off your vintage Brownie. Or-if you aren’t a photographer at all-just pack up your sunglasses. This promises to be an extraordinary adventure.
Check out my online gallery featuring last year’s fun-filled AMS Sea of Cortez photo cruise.
To learn more, click here. For booking and reservations, contact American Safari Cruises toll-free at (888) 862-8881 or visit their website at www.amsafari.com.
Hope to see you there!
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
On the west side of the famed Teton mountains, the living is easy at Teton Springs Lodge & Spa.
Each year, more than five million visitors succumb to the scenic allure of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, cranking its tourist trade – and accommodation prices - into overdrive. Thankfully, I recently discovered, just over the mountains, on the west side of the Tetons, slower ways and budget-friendly hospitality can still be found.
But that doesn’t mean you’re in for the cheap-seat treatment. Concierge service, 300 count Italian cotton sheets, high speed wireless Internet, gas fireplaces and fully equipped kitchens come standard in the one or two bedroom suites at Teton Springs Lodge & Spa, a 52-room luxury base camp ideally situated for exploring the surrounding Teton Valley.
The friendly local staff, however, is the real amenity. They suggest the best restaurants, arrange fly fishing and horseback riding adventures, create gourmet meals and lead morning yoga sessions, custom created to limber you up for a trek in the forest or day on the slopes. And, here’s the rub, when you’ve had enough, their Stillwaters Spa therapists will rub, scrub and massage the life back into you so you can do it all again the next day.
Think Teton Valley is only a summertime destination? Think again. My October visit was perfect with its photogenic mix of autumn colors against the backdrop of freshly fallen snow. Did it stop me from casting a line or hitting the trails for horseback riding? No way. Better yet, the reward was ample wildlife sightings and a healthy dose of crisp clean air.
MUST-DOS: Take a Grand Teton National Park Wildlife Safari with resort naturalist Kurt Johnson. If there are eagles, antelope, wolves or moose to be spotted, he’ll find them. Or, try your hand at fly fishing with Worldcast Anglers for a guided adventure on the south fork of the Snake River, rated as the top cutthroat stream in the West. Book the rosemary, sage and eucalyptus Alpine Massage with Lori at Stillwaters Spa. It’s heavenly! Try the carrot ginger soup and the fish taco plate at Miso Hungry Restaurant (165 N. Main Street, Driggs, Idaho). And, OMG, don’t miss the brandy creamed local organic mushrooms with crispy polenta starter or no flour chocolate cake at the Sun Dog Deli & Café (57 S. Main Street, Victor, Idaho). Looking for the latest and greatest in adventure clothing, check out the top-name selection on tap at Yostmark Mountain Equipment (12 East Little, Driggs, Idaho).
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
I’m just back from a walking tour in Provence with The Wayfarers and am still savoring the magical moments and remain bedazzled by all that I saw, ate and experienced.
The trip was chock-a-block with Impressionist landscapes of gnarled olive trees, endless horizons of bright orange poppies and vineyard rows, the wonderful, warm and sometimes irascible characters made famous by Peter Mayle’s books, picture-perfect hilltop villages, and of course, the famed Provençal cuisine.
There were eight of us: an affable group of outdoorsy, inquisitive Americans ranging in age from 40ish to 70-something. We spent our days rambling down sleepy rural tracks, shaded forest trails and ancient village streets, chatting with friendly farmers and locals, and lingering over delicious café lunches.
A walk with The Wayfarers falls into my new favorite category of travel, “luxury adventure.” Which is to say that, après hike, we got to take a relaxing bath, enjoy a gourmet dinner, drink fine French wine and sleep in the comfort of a luxury hotel. Life was good!
Hard to capture the complexity, the camaraderie, and the richness of a week spent walking through an aromatic landscape of flowering broom and wild herbs, attuning my ear to the melodious lilt of Provençal French and falling under the spell of flattering Frenchmen in a single blog, but suffice it to say, I’m already dreaming about the next trip….Tuscany, 2009 anyone?
P.S. Click here for photos.
For More Information: The Wayfarers (800-249-4620; www.thewayfarers.com). Walking vacations include six to twelve nights in luxury accommodations and characteristic country inns & hotels, all meals (including wine with dinner) and on-trail snacks and refreshments, gratuities at hotels and restaurants, full-time services of both a walk leader and manager, support vehicle and all transfers (ferries, taxis, trains, etc.) as specified. Walking vacations range from $1,950 to $4,995 per person, double occupancy.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".