Adventure of the month

So, let's say that in the past week, you've already been diving in the Indian Ocean, seen a mama turtle burying her eggs on the beach, encountered monkeys and monitor lizards at every turn, made good on your goal of seeing a leopard in the wild and had multiple surprise elephant encounters whilst just going about your day. What next? If you are following my itinerary, you leave behind the sweltering heat and head inwards and upwards (as in 3,415 ft above sea level). My next stop was Ella, an ultra-chill mountain town where I could have happily stayed for weeks. I was initially a bit wary about this stop since a lot of the activities revolve around hiking and I was still limping around after an unprovoked run-in with a coral reef. But as I was quickly learning, there are no ugly parts of Sri Lanka so even if I just chilled in town, I was sure it would be fine. Who needs scenic hikes and waterfalls?

Getting from one Sri Lankan beach town to another had been wonderfully easy. There were cheap public buses, which would normally be my first choice but there was also the Pickme app (aka Sri Lankan Uber) that offered a choice of taxis or tuktuks. For a couple of dollars, you could go town to town, door to door without ever having to worry if you had gotten on the wrong bus. I was getting spoiled. I was getting soft. All of it came to an end when I left the beaches and headed towards the southeast coast and its crazy abundance of wildlife. The further you go from the major towns and the beach area, the less likely you are to get a Pickme. I now had a choice: to pay full price for a taxi or figure out the bus system. Anyone that has ever traveled with me knows this is not a real choice. I tend to have more time than money and will almost always opt for public transportation. I could rhapsodize that this is about getting the local feel and becoming one with the people but let's...

In an earlier post, I wrote about my unexpected road to Fiji. In short, I had used a voucher to buy a ticket to Nadi only to learn a month later that I would soon be moving to Fiji for four months. I was able to cancel my ticket and best example of a first world problem aside, now found myself with a voucher on my voucher. In deciding how to use voucher 2.0, I was applying my usual criteria in finding a new destination. It had to be a new country. Since I was going in December, it would have to either be in the southern hemisphere or have a very mild winter. It couldn't be too expensive to get there/ stay/ get around. And of course, there had to be fun stuff to do. The answer to the last part came to me not so much in a dream as in a dive bar happy hour. I was sitting at the bar, absentmindedly playing with my phone when the tv caught my eye. They were showing a nature program of some kind that featured amongst other things wild leopards, elephants and monkeys. I tried to fi...

When is a pink lake not a pink lake? Before addressing this riddle, I should probably clarify a couple of things. When I say pink lake, I am not referring to the ones in Australia, Canada or Azerbaijan . My focus is on Lake Retba aka Lac Rose in Senegal. This is because I was recently spending some time in Dakar and thought it might make for a worthy outing. A Google maps search revealed it was less than a 30 minute drive so I thought it was strange when the hotel concierge booked our driver for 3 hours. Maybe there was a lot to see along the way. The truth is that Google maps has no idea what Senegalese roads or traffic look like. In theory, I guess you could cover twenty kilometers in 20 minutes or so but that theory would have to discount dirt roads, traffic and the occassional goat. It took us about an hour to arrive at Lac Rose's shores but I had seen enough vibrant Instagram pictures to know that it would be worth it.

The more you see, the more you realize there is to see. I don't know if that is an actual quote or a if it's saying that I saw somewhere and butchered for my own purposes. Either way, I use it a lot. Whenever someone introduces me and says something along the lines of "This is Berti. She's loves to travel and she's been everywhere", I'm quick to jump in and point out how much I haven't seen. I'll protest that "You know the saying, the more you see..." as the person wonders if I understand how small talk works and why I need to be so damn literal. However, there is some truth to it. Obviously, no one- no matter how well-traveled- has been everywhere. Nor should they. There are some boring ass places in this world. But there are also so so many amazing places. You would think that with the glut of travel shows, instagram influencers and  annoying bloggers, we would know about all of these places, whether we'd been or not. Case i...

Friend: Hey, if you are interested, you can fly for free to Me: Awesome! Yes, I'll take it. Friend: Great, it'll be on flights to Me: When does it leave? I can get my bag right now.  Friend: Don't you want to know where it goes? Me: Does it matter? The answer is always going to be yes. But sure, where am I going? Malaga. Through an arrangement with a Dutch low-cost carrier, my colleagues and I could go to Malaga for free. I had already been , some eleven years ago. Twice. The first time I stayed in the port city itself and the second, I used it as a jumping off point for Sevilla and Granada. Both times, I fell madly deeply in love with Andalusia, the southern region of Spain.

Can't decide between a weekend getaway to Greece or Turkey? Want to do both but are limited on time? I've got the place for you: Cyprus. The southern half is culturally Greek, although not a part of Greece itself. The northern part is under Turkish control and is sometimes referred to as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It is essentially two countries for the price of one. In the span of one city block, you can go from a borek to a gyro, from Euro to Turkish Lira, from Efes to Mythos. Just don't think that this is a harmonious relationship. Far from it. There are a lot of geopolitical sticking points with the arrangement, none of which I am well-versed enough to discuss. I can only speak to the practical issues. For one, my Cypriot map- the nice official one that I had picked up at the tourist office in Larnaca- effectively ends when you reach Nicosia. Anything north of the dividing line could just as well be the Mediterranean Sea. There are no cities marked, ...