DID YOU KNOW? Lifetime passes to America’s national parks for senior citizens and Americans with disabilities are now available through the mail.
The Senior and Access passes provide admission to, and use of, federal recreation sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees. Pass users also receive a 50% discount on some amenity fees for activities like camping and launching a boat. They are available to citizens and permanent residents of the United States age 62 or more or who have permanent disabilities regardless of age.
The “Senior” and “Access” versions of the America the Beautiful Pass – the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – are good for a lifetime. The Access pass is free and the Senior pass is just $10. There is a $10 processing fee to receive either pass by the mail.
To get your Senior pass through the mail just submit a completed application, proof of residency and age, and $20. The fee covers the cost of the pass and a document processing fee. You can print out an application at this web site: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html. Once the application package is received and the documentation verified, the pass will be mailed to you.
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 know I’d love to view tigers in the wild.
I know India is a mind-bending destination that’s been transforming travelers for centuries.
But knowing whether my tourism dollars should, or should not, go to supporting tiger tracking in India… not so much.
That’s why I rely on organizations like National Geographic, Sustainable Travel, and the Adventure Travel Trade Association, to help inform my travel choices.
So ever since Wildland Adventures’ Tigers and Travels trip to India was recognized by National Geographic Traveler magazine as a 2011 Tour of a Lifetime, I’ve been itching to go.
On this 19-day tour, guests search for tigers in the famed Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks, explore ancient forts and castles, and are immersed in the contemporary cultural fabric of modern India.
Based from sustainable jungle lodges and restored manor homes and palaces, travelers learn about the current state of tigers in India and how tourism-supported programs such as Wildlands’ 10,000 Tigers initiative are working to bring these big cats back from the brink of extinction by empowering communities to protect their habitat and end illegal poaching.
The best part? By participating on this trip you help save tigers, in part by supporting the local communities around the parks so they benefit from ecotourism.
I’m sold. You?
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".
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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".
Family Eco-Vacation Trailblazer Greenloons Identifies Top 10 Emerging Destinations for Green and Sustainable Travel
Planning a planet-friendly vacation isn’t always easy for those who love to travel to exotic and inspirational places, but wish to do so in an environmentally and culturally responsible manner.
Enter eco-conscious, Irene Lane, founder of Greenloons, a business dedicated to helping travelers source the green vacation of their dreams.
“Traveling sustainably in new destinations, says Lane, “helps raise living standards and can create environmental reverence by emphasizing conservation education and advocating sustainable activities that lessen degradation.”
To help get you off the sometimes beaten green path, here are Lane’s suggestions for the Top 10 Emerging Destinations for Green and Sustainable Travel:
1. Jordan’s eco-lodges combine local heritage and educational experiences while exploring a mix of modernity, ancient wonders and nature. Think horse or camel safaris, Bedouins, the endangered Arabia oryx, Petra, the Dead Sea and trekking through Dana Nature Reserve. Jordan Family Adventure
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".
HOWL WITH THE WOLVES IN YELLOWSTONE THIS WINTER
Yellowstone National Park Lodges has announced its line-up of Winter Getaway and Adventure packages for the 2011/2012 season.
The park’s winter season begins Dec. 18, 2011 with the opening of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel opens Dec. 20, 2011. The lodges provide the only wintertime accommodations within the park. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel will close for the season March 5, 2012, and Old Faithful Snow Lodge will close March 4, 2012.
Each package includes Xanterra’s “Snow Card” good for 10 percent off meals, in-park transportation, tours, ski shop services and select retail items. Rates quoted here are per person, double occupancy, plus tax and utility fee.
Adventure Package
“Trail of the Wolf” provides travelers with an opportunity to explore the park’s interior with a guide and learn about its abundant natural features in places such as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone as well as to observe wildlife in the Northern Range of the park. The package includes guided snowmobiling in the interior of the park and wildlife watching by van in the park’s Northern Range. Also included are three nights of lodging split between the two lodges, round-trip guided snowmobile tour between Old Faithful and Mammoth, “Wake up to Wildlife” tour of the Lamar Valley, two breakfasts per person, welcome gift, one-hour hot tub rental, unlimited ice skating and skates and Snow Card. Rates start at $439 per person
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".
Take your nomadic yearnings to the next level with Projects Abroad’s volunteer Nomad Projects in Morocco and Mongolia.
Been There, Done That? Think again.
Whether you’re an adventurous student, career breaker, retiree, or traveler seeking more meaningful experiences, these two cultural projects take you well beyond the ordinary.
Sign up for Project Abroad’s Nomadic Life placement and you’ll join a group of Mongolian Steppe or Moroccan Sahara nomads and experience an ancient way of life virtually inaccessible to outsiders.
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".