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TRIP OF A LIFETIME: Tracking Tigers in India with Wildland Adventures

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?

Wildland Adventures, “Tigers and Travels in India”, nineteen-day trips from $5,595 per person,
Tel: (800)345-4453, Web: www.WildlandAdventures.com.

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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".

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UNCONVENTIONAL TRAVEL: Volunteer Nomad Projects in Morocco and Mongolia with Projects Abroad

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.  

 

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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".

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Celebrate Retirement Motorcycling The Ho Chi Minh Trail

Retirement used to mean slowing down. These days, it seems to mean just the opposite. Healthy, active retirees are redefining the term by filling their golden years with excitement and adventure. For the truly adventurous, adventure travel company, Myths and Mountains, offers a motorcycle tour down Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Over two weeks, the tour takes riders from Hanoi to Saigon on 125 cc motorcycles. The trail cuts through historic and tribal areas, and through landmarks of the American Vietnam war like the birthplace of Ho Chi Minh himself.

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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".

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Yellowstone's "Summer Camp for Grownups" Scheduled for September

Explore the best of Yellowstone National Park this September on a Lodging and Learning Program.

 

The non-profit Yellowstone Association Institute (YAI) and lodge operator Xanterra Parks & Resorts are once again offering the popular Roosevelt Rendezvous this fall featuring exclusive use of one of the most popular lodges in the national park system. 

One of the “Lodging & Learning” programs offering daytime field excursions followed by comfortable lodging at night, Roosevelt Rendezvous takes place in September after the historic lodge is closed to the general public for the season. Up to 52 participants will stay at the lodge for four nights. During the day they split up into groups led by YAI naturalists/guides as they enjoy wildlife watching as well as forays into areas with Yellowstone’s renowned thermal and geologic features. They will then reconvene at the end of the day for dinner and the opportunity to compare notes.

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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".

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Biking Spain’s Camino de Santiago: A Journey of Body, Mind, and Spirit

The pilgrimage route of Spain’s Camino de Santiago (“Way of Saint James”) is full of the history, legends, and traditions of the seekers and adventurers who have followed it for the past 1,100 years. Easy Rider Cycling tours offers guided trips for modern-day pilgrims who want to experience the historic route by bicycle. 

 

The Camino de Santiago (“The Way of Saint James”) is an 1,100-year-old pilgrimage route across Spain ending at Santiago de Compostela, where, tradition has it, the bones of the saint are buried. Seekers and adventurers from around the world sojourn to Santiago under their own power – by foot, bicycle, even donkey – to earn that most esteemed souvenir: the compostela, or certificate of completion. It’s a challenging journey, complete with mountain passes, unpaved roads, and weather that can be less than cooperative. Easy Rider Cycling Tours, an adventure travel company that specializes in European bike trips, has been guiding bicycling tours along the Camino since 1998.
 
“Each person’s experience of the Camino is unique,” says Easy Rider founder Jim Goldberg, who has guided the tour several times. “Most of our biking guests come for the challenge, the history, and the personal sense of achievement. Very few are in it for religious reasons, although we did once have a church group who brought their own cycling priest! But most people (myself included) do find themselves moved by the journey, even those who least expected to be.” An Easy Rider guest agreed: “The Camino de Santiago bike tour was an exhilarating, breathtakingly beautiful trip…Our surprise reward was that it was also a powerful spiritual adventure.”

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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".

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Staying Connected on Vacation - Should You?

Is technology the enemy on vacation? Maybe. Maybe not.

Once-upon-a-time only business travelers tethered themselves to BlackBerrys and laptops. Nowadays staying connected via technology is an indispensable part of most people’s journeys.

But, technology should work for you, not the other way around.  

Check out these 5 tips to help you stay connected on vacation while still embracing the moment.

Read more at The Adventure Blog 

 

photo via istockphoto.com

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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".