Travel is perhaps my greatest pastime. It begins long beforehand. First, deciding where we should go for a trip. Then, the fun of researching the possibilities, narrowing down what is realistic, what are the things we definitely want to see, where we would stay, and all the logistics to make it happen. Unlike many people who throw a trip together a few months or weeks beforehand, I like to start very early, not wanting to have to compromise my plans because we are too late to do what we want because the tour, flight, accommodation, etc. is full. Many, many hours are spent long before the trip takes place.
The first consideration is always, what kind of trip do we want to do? For me there are three alternatives, with naturally, some overlap. There are those trips that I would consider more historical or cultural. These would include visiting places like Europe, where I find myself immersed in exploring history as we visit historical sites, see ancient ruins, cathedrals, observe a different culture or make a connection to my own Dutch roots. I find these trips very enlightening. Traversing England and Scotland opened my eyes to the historical development of these countries and afterwards I read several books on the history and the past kings and queens of the British Isles. Visiting Rome piqued my interest in the Roman Empire, the influence and corruption of the Papal church in history, the power and influence of the Medicis and others, works and influences of the great Renaissance artists and everyday life in old Europe. I am always fascinated and disgusted at the evil nature of people who think nothing of torturing and killing others, including family, for their own power or influence, whether in government or in the church of the time. How did these people sleep at night? How could they believe that the evils they were doing were "good"? This kind of travel definitely leads to greater awareness of history and I think a more rounded appreciation of life and how we got to where we are. I think those that never leave the comfort of their neighbourhood are limited in their knowledge or appreciation of human and world affairs.
The second kind of trip I classify as recreational. These trips for us generally include beaches, places to relax and simply enjoying warm weather, particularly when it is winter at home. As I get older, my criteria keeps going up. Besides cruises, we prefer oceans and the water temperature needs to be warm. The beaches need to be sandy, not pebbly. Most places in the Caribbean meet this criteria. So does Maui, Hawaii. The Mediterranean does not. Costa Rica is very high on this list, with the only drawback being surf which sometimes makes for concerns of undertows. While I have always resisted all-inclusives, a recent trip to Mexico, meant to be a winter escape between more elabourate trips, changed that a little. While spending my time sitting at poolside was not a reference, especially since the pool did not meet my water temperature criteria, there was a nice sandy beach nearby with snorkeling and a few excursions made it a pleasant experience.
The third kind of trip is my favourite, and involves enjoying exotic wildlife. I have a passion for wildlife photography. While some people say you should put the camera down and just enjoy a scene of elephants, or lions, etc. I disagree. My excitement is getting a good photo of the wildlife, and then capturing the soul or actions of the animal. This I can enjoy over and over again, unlike a memory that fades over time. There is always time to enjoy the scene outside the lens of the camera once the essential photos have been captured. I am sometimes called a birder, but I resist this label. I have always enjoyed animals, spending my vacations in places like Banff and Jasper, looking for bears, elks, mountain goats and sheep, etc. To me, there is no such thing as an ugly animal. Each is fascinating in its own way. As I began to expand my travels and photography, I have concentrated more and more on birds, but for the simple reason that there are more varieties to find and capture on film. I stand in awe of the amazing colouration of toucans, bee-eaters, African rollers, hummingbirds... I see all these beautiful creations and I imagine God having a great time designing them, putting a splash of blue here, a strip of red there, some feathers that shine in violets, greens, blues and other variations in the changing light of the sun. Man alone could never create the infinite variety of colours, shapes and sizes of birds. Or designing animals that walk along the tiniest mountain ledges or have an array of different patterns in their fur. I sat for a long time in Africa viewing a large herd of zebras, observing how each had distinctly different stripes and patterns where the stripes come together on the back or face. Some people say wildebeests, also known as gnus, are ugly. I have close-up photos of them where the manes look so soft and shiny, and their backs look velvety. Beautiful!
The challenge for me in planning a trip is to try to find a balance. My wife enjoys seeing wildlife but no where near my passion. Therefore, finding places that have wildlife and nice beaches as well is important. Costa Rica fits the bill. We found a place near Dominical that had it all. It was tucked into a mountain above the main highway. It overlooked a beautiful beach and had a great infinity pool. The rain forest flowed down the mountain and around the property. Each day two different variety of monkeys would descend and frolic beside us. We had a baby sloth which spent each day sleeping in the tree within a few feet of our sundeck. We named him Sid and we saw him almost every day. Some days his mother came from one of the nearby trees to check on him. We were visited daily by toucans, fiery-billed aricari, a variety of trogans, very colourful birds, different tanagers, warblers, hummingbirds and other small exotic birds, iguanas, and woodpeckers. We were visited after dark by a mouse opossum, who seemed to live in the reed roof of our palapa, and would poke his head down from the roof before beginning his nightly foray into the forest. We also had visits from a regular opossum, some peccaries, agoutis, and a kinkajou which all came through our property during the day. We had a colourful dart frog living by our foot path. It was like a zoo. The best of both worlds. Only Africa could compare for wildlife, but Africa lacked the warm pool and ocean.
Whenever we travel with other people, I am often the one who does most of the research and organizing of the trip. The problem with that is that I feel responsible. If accommodations are not quite up to snuff, or things do not go smoothly, I feel I let people down, and yet, I wouldn't have it any other way I guess.
The effects of a great trip are fleeting. Within a few days of being home, the trip becomes just a memory. The feel of the soft sand in your bare feet, the refreshing breeze on a warm tropical night, or the sensation of warm ocean water are soon gone. But, the trips lives on for quite some time for me. Now comes the hours and hours of organizing the thousands of photographs, sorting in chronological order photos from a variety of cameras, all with slightly different time settings. In addition to sorting out the general trip photos, I copy all wildlife photos to a separate folder on my computer so I can spend the next few months going over them, identifying each bird, animal, reptile, insect and fish. The best of each species is selected, cropped and filed in another folder where I am accumulating the best of all the animals, bird and sea life I have ever photographed to be used in a future photo album. A digital photo album is created, although my wife insists on doing the albums of our major trips because she is more creative than I am. This is much to my chagrin, since this album may not be ready for anywhere from 3 months to several years. I have to grit my teeth, because by then I am already completing plans for the next trip. At this very moment, I am completing the final touches on a trip we are taking to Australia in January, 2020. I just need to book hotels in Melbourne and Sydney. At the same time, I have been playing around with a future trip to Europe, selecting potential bus tours as well as mapping out a route and pricing out the cost of train fares and estimated hotel costs to see if that may be a better option. I am also accumulating information on potential places to book for a safari trip to Zambia and the Chobe River in Botswana.
I think travel opens one mind. It is also very cool to watch the news, or a movie or other media, and think, "Hey, I know where that is! I've been there. I what they are talking about." Historical references have more meaning when you have actually been to the places or seen the monuments. Unfortunately, most people say the best thing about holidays is the people you meet. I have a brother-in-law who's greatest pleasure is hanging out and joking around with the locals. I feel bad for saying this, but I do NOT go for the people. My highlights are birds and animals we have seen, or amazing warm beaches we have spent time at. I have met some very nice people, but I have also been disillusioned. So many talk about going to Africa to meet the indigenous people who are so friendly and accommodating. I found that too often, people such as the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania see us as nothing more that wealthy people they like to hit up for donations or sale of cheap trinkets I no interest in.
I would encourage anyone to get out and see the world, and marvel in the things that interest you, whether that be getting to know and understand people of other cultures, enjoying nature in all of its amazing forms, of just finding a new place to just hang out. Sure, sit and read to your heart's content if reading is your way of vacationing, but also take time to look up from your book and just absorb the surroundings.
The hardest part of enjoying traveling is to live long and healthy enough to visit all the places you want to see, and still have time to return to those places that have given you pleasure in the past. Happy travels!
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