Can you remember a time when your days were spent marveling at the world around you? When afternoon naps were a daily occurrence and evenings were passed beside the flickering amber flames of a camp fire? When playtime was so all consuming that time seemed to disappear?
How long ago was it? Days? Months? Decades? Since childhood? Never?
For me, it was less than a month ago on safari in Botswana.
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".
At Inkaterra, they’d never leave us stranded on a muddy riverbank for more than an hour waiting for a wayward boat.
At Inkaterra, they provide complimentary flashlights and organic bug repellant.
At Inkaterra, the kerosene lanterns were clean and gleaming, not coated with black soot so thick they barely illuminate the room…
The comparisons kept surfacing. I couldn’t seem to help myself. That’s the problem with great service; you’re forever doomed to compare everything else to that standard. Once spoiled by five-star treatment, every inefficiency and oversight in the competition becomes glaringly obvious.
Such was the case for me recently after two separate stays with Peruvian luxury hotelier, Inkaterra.
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".
A movie trailer of experiences – snorkeling with rollicking sea lions, hiking among giant cacti, photographing leaping dolphins, and whales so close you can hear them breathe– replays often in my mind’s eye as high-definition and heart-pounding as any Hollywood production.
It’s been months since our yacht adventure in Mexico’s nature-rich Sea of Cortés, but the mind-movies surface often– triggered by conversation, photographs, or the sheer joy of conjuring up images of one of our planet’s most amazing places.
There’s something soul-soothing about a vacation where Mother Nature takes center stage. Where, amidst the wind, clouds, sunrises and unrestrained land and seascapes, the daily drama and media headlines take a backseat to wonder and awe. American Safari Cruises’ voyage through one of the world’s richest marine environments brings Nature up-close-and-personal.
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".