After departing the continental Antarctic and returning to Ushuaia in Patagonia, it took us about two hours to set the pattern for the next two days – horrible seas. Last night, the boat was bobbing like a cork on open Ocean and I have to admit, I was scared. I was on the verge of […]
Today was our last landing day on an island in the Antarctica. The afternoon was to begin our journey home over the open Southern Ocean and the dreaded Drake Passage back to Ushuaia in Patagonia. Our good ship dropped anchor a bit out and we took the zodiac to a real neat island, which had
It was just an eye-dropping day – no less. A day that I will never forget. We navigated to a passage, which was just indescribable, but ill try. A large bay with probably 10 table icebergs, each are about the size of a football field and range in height from 20 feet to some size
We arrived at the South Shetland Peninsula, more specifically, Half Moon Island. I did wake up to see from our balcony to see this snow covered sheet of ice on the protected inlet — or should i say thousands of floating pieces of ice. Best of all, I could see one of these ice rafts
Of course yesterday was the ultimate in shock and excitement, all mixed together. The ship cut through the ice like a blade through butter – however while that may be a decent analogy, it’s not 100% accurate. Every so often, the ship hit a thicker piece of berg that totally shook the boat and moved
So we finally took off from Ushuaia on the Explorer. We start off though a passage call Beagle Inlet and then into the Atlantic for about 8 hours. As you know, I booked on Lindblad/National Geographic Expeditions. A few choices, and some have bigger luxe vessels — basically these are small cruise ships. NatGeo is
Ushuaia is the Southernmost City in the World. Love that. Lots of working around to get here. Anyway, we flew into Ushuaia just to overnight for tomorrows adventure to the Antarctica. Ushuaia airport on left. Not much else to say. It’s a town of about 70,000. Mostly tourism. Tacky in a Niagara Falls sort-of way.
Thought I would choose a little abandoned storefront along our drive on gravel roads from El Calafate, Argentina to Torres de Paines, Chile — Both in Patagonian region. If anyone wants to count the stickers, I would like to hear your number. My guess is lots. Even saw a large sticker from Edelweiss Adventure Motorcycle
Hiking in Patagonia Read More »
This image was a few days back from our flight from Bariloche, Argentina to El Calafate. I like it because it just feels right. From the sky is what basically I see from the ground. Maybe not the best quality since we were 30,000 feet up there, but you can get an idea of the
So today we went to the Los Glaciares National Park in El Calafate. We arrived by air to El Calafate yesterday not really knowing what adventure was in store for us today. Everyone kept telling us that El Calafate is amazing. Ok, it’s amazing. But we did hear it repeatedly throughout our trip when I spooled our
Ranching in Patagonia is not a lifestyle, it’s a way of life. Over 90% of all land in Patagonia is privately owned — known as Ranches. These large lots of land are owned by either generations or by wealthy national and international people and range in size from a small swat of land to a single
Ranching Patagonia Style Read More »
Yah, yah, of course I could have chosen a beautiful range of mountains for the main picture for today, but what the heck. The place Patagonia for me always conjured an image of great white mountains and a hinterland in the furthest southern range of the earth — connected to the Antarctic. That is not
I’ll save the best until the end. Learn about UNESCO and this colorful mountain range below. Remember you can click on any picture to enlarge. North Western Argentina is like living on the moon. So far from a nice hamburger with fries. More like a plate of beans — a desert environment with inhabitants scattered in
You’re totally missing the point if you find that the toucan in the tree is the most important sight of the day. Yes, its cool to see a toucan in a tree. Even cooler to see another bird chase this toucan. Look close, or click on the picture to the left to see the black bird
Toucan’s in Iguacu? Read More »
We left Rio at 10am and flew TAM Airways just over 2 hours south-west to some place which I had no clue about. A few people have told me how incredible it is, but I have to be honest, it meant nothing to me. I had not done any research prior to today. More fun
Have you ever envisioned a place for a real long time which you believe is just perfect only to find out the that facade is not quite as you dreamed? Well, that was Rio de Janeiro for me. I really envisioned that it was exotic, modern, active, interesting, unsafe but safe, growing and an exciting beach location.
Well, we finally arrived in Rio at noon. A bit more gritty than I had imagined, but lets lay off the judgement for now since we have arrived on no sleep and at 5pm we crashed in bed for a few hours so we could rest to get out in Rio at night a bit
After going for lunch with Larry Schecter in August, 2014, it had to happen. I knew it was something which I had to do. No bucket list or anything, just an ongoing plan to explore unique places and don’t stop. No-if-and-or-butts. Neurons were snapping, or burning or whatever they do. I was going with Paula to
Let’s Get Out of Here Again – The Trail to Antarctica Read More »
If I were chosen to be the Italian Minister of Tourism, I would surely show this poster of my wet back all over the world to sell Cinque Terre. Sells the location and uses a fabulous male model who is likely not asking for a fee. It’s a lovely campaign. Look at the water in the
Welcome to Cinque Terre in July Read More »
Not sure if you’ve ever seen sweat from someones back drop down to the seat of a chair. Well, it happened to me. I have not seen that before either. It was so hot in Florence, Italy — like over 100 degrees and probably 90 percent humidity. Worse, I was on a city tour bus
Given my poor command of the English language, I can only say one thing about Barcelona, Spain — Fucking INSANITY. Sorry for those poor choice of words. But its true. This place is insane, lively, active, youthful, growing, fun, historical, unsafe, safe, and a hundred more adjectives. Said another way… It’s a great town. Won’t
Insanity (In A Good Way) Read More »
You can’t go to Switzerland for a week and not eat chocolate — or you know what? Don’t come. Just don’t come. Your missing the point that Swiss make the best chocolates and have the biggest brands in the world. In fact, the Swiss eat more chocolate per capita than any other country in
And The Winner is? Read More »
I’m going to give you all a lesson on how to rate what I will call a very good hotel. After traveling around the world for years, I am pretty good at scoping out decent hotels. Certainly we can assume that having air conditioning is a good thing. A clean bathroom, bed and dust free room
Phil’s Top Hotel Award Winner Read More »
Ok, lets play the game — Who likes chocolate better, you or me? Don’t even bother, lets agree to disagree. My mind gets messed up when I am around chocolate. In fact, often, its my dinner along with ice cream (frozen yogurt). Love the shit. And I represent one of the 20% of superior intelligence
Just call it Heaven Read More »
We had decided to take a long bike ride today instead of hiking. Choosing a bike route from Interlaken to the Capital of Switzerland, Bern. Government in this region has built a whole network of paths dodging through farmers fields, shores of glacier lake, shoulder of river with great rapids, through towns and even forests with
58 Km Ride to Bern Read More »