Snorkeling in Kona, Hawaii

If you go to Kona, Hawaii, you'll be caught up in the droves of folks who learn to snorkel. Almost every beach is filled with live people floating face down in the water. What are these people seeing as they lie face down in the water with a little tube sticking out of the water beside their head. Why would anyone lie face down in the water in the Kona sun and deliberately burn? The beautiful tropical fish and the lumbering turtles capture your hearts and imagination.

I, like many others, made an entrance into the water that was less than elegant. Once in the water, I was immediately wanting to take pictures so that I could capture the images and share this experience with family and friends. The snorkeling rental stand on shore was selling "throwaway" underwater cameras. I was hooked.

I shot a roll of film and learned that you really have to carefully frame the scene in the viewfinder. I had the roll developed at Wal-Mart while I shopped, so I knew immediately what I needed to do to get better shots. The throwaways at Wal-Mart were half the price that I paid at the snorkel rental store. I picked up a second camera for $8 and headed back to the fish.

This time there was greater success. So bottom line, for a cheap camera, the results were ok. You do need a little help from photoshop to maximize the results and correct the color.



Travel Well!

Aloha!

It's off season in Hawaii, so it's time to book a flight.

We're in Kona and the weather is great, the snorkeling is amazing and the Big Island defines relaxation. The Royal Sea Cliffs Resort is a great base from which we can explore most of the island. The resort is located just outside of Kona, close to great snorkeling beaches and it has great wireless connection - in the lobby.

The water temperature is perfect for snorkeling. We're testing "throwaway underwater cameras" in an attempt to capture images of some of the beautiful fish around us. It's interesting using the old "film" cameras after years of digital snaps.

More later.

Travel Well!

Pembrokeshire Coastal Walk

In June of 2007, we visited Wales and stayed in St. Davids for a week. One afternoon we had a delightful walk along the coast from St. Davids to Solva. The coastal walk was a memorable experience. We continue to enjoy the vision of the waves crashing against the dramatic cliffs as we walked a well-traveled path winding our way among ruins, foxgloves and wild ponies.

It is a coastal path and well-traveled but don't think you can't get lost, you can. Fortunately, there are great maps at the Information Offices and pleasant travelers walking from from Solva to St. Davids. One point to remember is that it is a bit better to take a bus out to Solva and walk back to St. Davids so that you're not watching a clock and wondering if you can find the bus stop in a small town and make that last bus back to St. Davids. For a peak at the scenery along the coast take a look a compilation of photos from that day.

Travel Well!

Scotland: Standing Stones

A vacation to Scotland is one you will never forget. For a better understand of history and the development of humanity, take time to visit Kilmartin Glen. This is a beautiful place filled with monuments and burial cairns dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Cup and ring art is prolific and the Kilmartin Church and graveyard contains one of the largest collections of early Christian grave slabs and crosses in the West of Scotland. I've put together a short video of the standing stones and the photogenic sheep that happen to live among these monuments. When you visit the stones, be careful where you step ... the sheep live there full time.

Travel Well!

The Picts

As we traveled around Scotland in July of 2007 we discovered the Pictish people. The Picts ruled much of Scotland in the Dark Ages, however little of their culture survives today. Their origin, language and society are a mystery. Large stones found across Scotland, many of which are standing along the side of a road, in a church yard or are in small museums across Scotland are all that remains of the Picts.



Read more about the Pictish people.

Collecting Sea Glass

Some years ago I read Anita Shreve's "Sea Glass", enjoying the journey along the New Hampshire coast with Honora Beecher, a young newlywed who compulsively collected sea glass along the beach as the story unfolded. Sea glass are broken pieces of glass from undetermined, unknown sources that have possibly been tumbling for years through the ocean's currents. They arrive on the beach, edges buffed and softened by the sand and water, as a small treasure for the discerning eye.

For many years our beach walks in certain areas have involved the search for shark’s teeth. Every now and then we would pick up some pieces of sea glass. When we returned home we tossed them in with the shells, rocks and other highly collectible items that remind us that there are calm sunny places to go to in any weather.

On our recent visit to Nags Head Beach we began to see that beach in a different light. There were no shark’s teeth in this area but there was an abundance of sea glass. So we collected a number of very pretty pieces to add to our collection. I have a short video that shows how the glass looks on the beach. It’s not impossible to find sea glass but you have to look carefully. The ocean will replenish the beach with a new supply of sea glass several times during the day and at night. You just have to show up and take a careful look.

When you search for sea glass it's almost impossible to think of other things as the waves crash on shore, birds scamper across the beach and each step takes you to a treasure or buries it under your foot deeper in the sand where it will churn and continue to be buffed by the sand and salt until it is discovered on another day. This is a great way to add enjoyment and relaxation to your beach walks. At the end of a vacation, your collection can easily travel to a place in your home that can continue to remind you of that perfect vacation at the beach.

Travel Well!

Nags Head, North Carolina

What a great week at the beach! Labor Day should happen more than once a year. The weather was perfect and by Tuesday the beaches were not very crowded.

Nags Head beaches are the best in the world. I was a little frustrated to find so much litter on the beach. Maybe I'm over reacting to few bits of trash left by well intended folks just caught up in the splendid weather and great seafood, but I don't think so.

Great walks on the beach are a treasure and the value of those moments for some of us is beyond measure. When those highly valued moments are marred by trash carelessly left behind, I want to send a message to the litter bugs. So, I put together a little amateur movie of video clips and photos of the fascinating birds that entertained us on the Nags Head beach.

There is a message from my bird friends who live full time on the beaches and whose lives are severely affected by our conduct. I hope the message gets across to those who left some personal items on the beach.

If we take it to the beach, we should bring it home. This message is for the birds!

Travel Well!

A Big Travel Weekend Ahead!

Labor Day has been a national holiday for over 100 years, evolving from a purely labor union celebration in honor of the working class to the last chance for a summer vacation. We're headed to the beautiful North Carolina Outer Banks, and hopefully a great week of relaxation at a great resort. A great beach vacation for us is being able to hear the waves at night and easy access to the beach for sitting and reading and walking the beach during the day.

So what is there to do at the Outer Banks? The Outer Banks cover 130 miles from Duck to Hatteras Village. Kids and adults love the wild ponies and there are birds galore.There is a great mix of quiet solitude as you walk along nature trails, explore Jockey's Ridge or play a little golf. There are a plethora of activities that involve exploring the nature and history of this great state where the Wright Brothers discovered a great place to test a funny looking machine that changed our world forever. Well, I'm packing to "take off" this weekend.

Travel Well!

Summer Travel

Travel smart in the summer heat. That sounds trite but it's more difficult than we think. In a moment we can find ourselves in trouble, with blurred vision, dizziness and nausea when we are enjoying a walk or sightseeing in a large city.

Stay out of the heat if you can. If you are traveling and museums are on your agenda, schedule those visits for midday. If you walk, go early in the morning and carry plenty of water. Drinking water and staying hydrated is important. If you find yourself in trouble, stop, rest and douse cold water on your face, hair, arms and legs and drink plenty of cold water. In this weather, I always wear a bandanna soaked with water loosely tied around my neck. I can rotate it and keep moving the cold area to the skin to stay cool.

Hydration backpacks are great in this weather for hiking or long walks. Wear loose lightweight clothing. Wear a great hat, use plenty of good sun screen and wear sun glasses.

Most importantly, know when to stop and take a break. If you walk with dogs, remember that their feet are in contact with a very hot surface. Make sure they are hydrated and that they don't over heat. If they become heat stressed douse them with water. Heads, paws and bellies are places to cool a dog down quickly.

I've been in Paris in this kind of heat and it's difficult to go and see, unless you plan. Churches and museums are a great places to rest from the heat. You can take the great canal tour by boat or walk along the "beach" through the cool water spray.

Stay cool and travel well!

Timeshare Travel

Timeshare exchanges can provide your entire family with a memorable vacation and save you money, if you plan your timeshare purchase or exchange carefully. You can stay in luxury hotels and resorts for a fraction of the retail expense of their rooms when you exchange into resorts, if you have carefully thought through the transactions.

Buying timeshares can be a bit tricky and everyone should beware of the pitfalls. Consider whether you are buying the timeshare to use or to trade. Some enjoy traveling to and staying at the same resort during the same time every year, year after year. That's a great choice, if you use your weeks.

Annual fees and prices vary greatly. Know what you are buying because you will be spending your hard earned cash to purchase those weeks and for the annual or exchange fees. Also, think about the resell value of the timeshare. Just in case you decide that travel isn't for you, or someone in your family is ill and can't travel, know whether you can easily sell your week and whether it will hold it's value.

Trading timeshares for travel can be exciting, taking you and your family to places you never imagined, while staying in luxury resorts. For those who like to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, planning several weeks in a country and traveling from timeshare to timeshare is a challenge but the results can be vacation memories that truly last a lifetime. Be aware of the expense of trading or exchanging weeks so that you can make an informed decision about the true expense of your travel lodging.

Before you take the plunge into a timeshare purchase, checkout the timeshare markets, talk with other timeshare owners and think about how much you will use or trade the week. This is a situation where you truly "use it" or "lose it." The idea is to Travel Well!

Skomer Island National Reserve

One of the more beautiful sites and one not to be missed if you travel to Wales is the Pembrokeshire area. Skomer Island lies at the southern end of St. Bride's Bay. We were fortunate to recently visit Skomer Island National Reserve where the puffins are nesting until August.

I've posted 61 photos of puffins, gulls and the island on the website www.awelltraveledpath.com and a short piece about the island, puffins and the travel to Martin's Haven.

Visit Wales and Skomer. You'll find the birds, wildlife and the scenery beautiful and the people warm and friendly.

Travel well!

Scottland, Wales and Ireland

You can see a great deal of Scotland, Wales and Ireland in one month. However, this past June was not a great travel month for this area. It rained and was cold. So, a lot of the visits to sites were just not that enjoyable. Everyone in each of these countries would assure us that they had a great time in April. The weather was perfect.


The fact is that it can rain on your vacation and it can rain for the entire vacation. At some point, you have to just relax and get into the Zen of being there. You realize it's going to rain every day, sometimes all day and that the wind is blowing, sometimes blinding you with the rain. Still you are on vacation. If you are fortunate enough to figure out how to drive in these areas and you are not terrified of the "wee tiny" roads, then you just slog it out and get out there and see those beautiful sights and imagine them in the sun.


I must admit that these roads are some of the more narrow paths, I've driven. There were times when the growth on the hedgerows were brushing both sides of the car. Several times I had to back down a hill to a "passing zone". Of course, there were a number of times when the rear tires would hit and rub the curb, often throwing the car into the right lane. For some reason, there are little parts of the road the protrude just a bit to snag that rear tire as you pass by.

A very nice Scottish lady advised me about driving by saying, "Keep your wits about you!" That sums up the driving. The rain it seems is an Irish thing. A nice Irish lady who was a drenched as I was at Knowth explained the rain in Ireland as her mother has explained it to her: "It rains eleven months out of the year and on the twelfth month when it stops, it drips off the trees!"


We visited Newgrange and Knowth during our last week in Ireland. There was driving rain and strong winds. I could hear some of the guided tour on the outside as I hugged the large stone near the entrance for shelter. It was worth the drenching we received to see these sites.


Dublin in the rain. The City Bus - Hop On-Hop Off - was a life saver. Trinity College and the Book of Kells and the Kilmainham Jail made for great indoor sights to see on a rainy cold day.


This trip was a great lesson in preparation: you need to take a light weight umbrella and rain gear or your trip, so that the trip doesn't become a painful memory instead of a delightful adventure.


Stay dry and travel well!

Driving Left

Once in Scotland and in a car, the prospect of actually driving is daunting. It does seem a bit odd to drive on the left side of the road. It can be done with a great deal of concentration and a group effort to constantly remind the driver to turn left and stay left, and oh yes, look right!

So if you are contemplating driving in the UK, take a chance and try it. It is a bit of a fist clincher on the steering wheel because the roads are narrow. Your car just fits in on the road. So, not much room for error. The difficult thing is to remember to drive left but to not drift left, as there are cars parked on the left and you can remove a mirror of a parked car or worse, if you don't mind where you are going!

Travel well!

Fore!

"Scotland. St. Andrews. Two weeks." Those answers to questions from my golfing friends about where we'll be spending the first two weeks of our vacation bring a look of well... jealousy. Somehow it's difficult for these folks to believe that I, a non-golfer, would go to Scotland and not covet tee time on the famous St. Andrews golf course.

I admit, I'll drop by, take a look, snap some photos and fill the shopping requests of my friends. After all, Scotland is the birthplace of golf as we know it, at least the rules of golf as we know it. Although some form of golf was played in Roman times, the Scots are credited with, of course, organizing the game and crafting the clubs and courses.

I've found some interesting snippets about the origination of the term "fore". Some say it's from "forewarned" some say, "forward looking". The origin of the term can be debated but "fore" means ahead and is used to warn those golfing ahead that they are about the be harmed, particularly if I'm out on the course!

It seems that all the royalty played the sport. Mary Queen of Scots played a round, much to the dismay of her subjects shortly after her husband had been murdered. I suppose that was before the restrictions of the the Royal Troon forbidding "ladies" from playing the championship courses! "FORE!"

Travel well!

Departure details

Planning a trip can be overwhelming sometimes. It's necessary to complete a lot of the details prior to departure.

Aside from the clothes and travel guides, there is that tiny detail of driving on the other side of the road. I was pretty confident until I looked at the round abouts sign on the www.highwaycode.gov.uk. They go counterclockwise! Oh my...

Here is a photo taken in London on our last visit. I think that goes with me and hangs from the mirror in the car until, I don't think that looks unusual. Travel well!

Lynette

www.awellravledpath.com

Trip Planning

The number of tasks that must be completed before we leave for a month is amazing. As departure nears, the things that we've put off for the last 11 months now all have to be completed in the next two weeks. Lists are an important part of our lives. We live by them and no matter how hard we try, we will forget something. My anxiety over driving in Scotland, Wales and Ireland isn't keeping me up at night, but it could.

Now we are gathering all the electronic equipment, chargers, batteries, clocks, adapters and replacing the old (slightly charred) with updated efficient and lighter models. I learned the hard way about currents in Europe on a previous trip when I plugged in my camera charger and started to leave the room. Luckily, the smell of smoke caught my attention. I was able to unplug and stamp out the fire without damage to me or the unit. The charger ... well it's being replaced. Unfortunately, the new charger will not accept the current abroad. The alternatives are a rather heavy converter that will step down the current. However, weight is a consideration. A great alternative is a charger that plugs into the car lighter outlet. As we drive around,the battery charges. I have two batteries so it works well for me.

We pack two cameras because we know better than to try and share that item. I have a light weight but great older version Fuji FinePix 4800Z 4.3 mega pixel and my partner has a light weight DiMage Z3 4.0 mega pixel camera. With the flash cards and rechargeable batteries we are picture taking fools!

Later...

UK Driving

Preparing for departure from the U.S. to the UK for four weeks is a task. Preparing to drive in the UK for three of the four weeks is, a little intimidating. I thought I had all of the apprehension under control until I actually started to "study" the rules of the road for the UK.

There is a useful ink at www.highwaycode.gov.uk that is full of explanations and pictures to assist the novice diver. I've printed out the pages and will take them with me. In the meantime, I'll review them everyday and each night, I'll tuck them under my pillow and sleep on the information.

I would like to practice driving on that side of the road before I land in Scotland and have to drive myself and three other passengers from the Edinburgh airport to our resort, but that doesn't seem practical. Although, I am considering constructing a small highway replica with my riding lawnmower in my front lawn. Maybe a few turns UK style with the John Deere in our lawn will enable me to be in the right mindset to drive us safely away in Edinburgh!

The life of a tourist is difficult!

Travel well.

Travel Tunes

The most difficult part of traveling is the getting there. Getting to the airport isn't too difficult, it's getting to your plane on time that is often the problem. Most trips are characterized by hurry up and wait. I hurry up and they have me wait. It's times like these that a good handle on meditation is helpful. I try to just be there then.

It definitely helps to have a great book that you are in love with to read and I definitely love having my SanDisk Sansa e14o player. It's only a 2 gig capacity but that's plenty of music and audio books to get through airport layovers and long flights. It's way less expensive than other players so if it's "lost" in another country, my trip isn't ruined by regrets. I've changed out the headphones that came with it for a dandy pair of Sony Noise Reduction headphones. These too are considerably less expensive than the great Bose headphones.

These serve me well at a price I can afford and a price that if dinged or "lost" doesn't blow the trip. If you haven't tried the noise reduction headphones, you don't know what you're missing. I can finally hear the movies and my music and not the kid behind me who is learning his ABC's loudly or is crying for six straight hours or is reading the same story aloud to his mom for a 1000 miles.

I'm off for a visit to my favorite online store, http://www.ladyslipper.org/ to select some great Celtic music to listen to on the flight that will get me prepared to land in Edinburg airport and drive a car on a highway, on a side of the road that will be a great new view for me!

Keep traveling!

A great trip to Scotland, Ireland and Wales is being planned!

Is this a trip or a vacation? A vacation sometimes means, pulling the lawn chairs to the beach and sitting and watching the ocean for a week or two. Some people do that. We are those people who simply don't have time to do that yet. We are too busy taking trips. That's a different animal altogether.

A trip requires planning and thinking of details that make the time spent memorable, "Do you remember when we went to .....!!" verses "Oh my god! What a horrible week in ...!"

I confess that I am not the main planner of our trips. One of the first mile markers on any well traveled path is to know what you are and what you are not! I am the show up with all the luggage we need, locks, quart bags, 3 oz. containers of stuff and ready to drive any car in any country person. My partner is the detail person and the person with all the maps and tickets. Do I have it made or what!

We are in the final stages of planning a month long trip to Scotland, Ireland and Wales. I'm starting this blog to compliment a new web site, www.awelltraveledpath.com that is also in the early stages of set up. So, if you find the site, be patient, it will be better and hopefully the information we post on the website and here will help you in planning a trip or in surviving a bad situation on a trip!

All comments are welcome.

Travel well and often!

Lynette