Tag: trip review
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How to Have an Amazing Birthday
My 45th birthday was a couple of months ago, so I’ve had some time to really think about this. Be born. Done, easy, check. (OK, this one is going to take a while.) Find a life partner as fabulous as XFE. Took me about, ummmm, 34 years and a couple of failed attempts. Agree to…
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Where to Safari? Tanzania or South Africa
It’s the question that everyone asks when they hear about our recent African safari. No, not what I packed for essentially three weeks of travel (although, that would be my first question and the answer is: not that much). It’s not even whether we ever got bored of seeing many of the same animals day…
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The Hottest Spot in the Serengeti
There are no plush velvet banquettes. No artisanal craft cocktails. No happy hour specials or hipster DJ pushing play on an iPod. But the bathroom at the airstrip in Kogatende is hands down the most happening. most popular spot in the entire Serengeti. Now listen: I’m from Texas. Clearly I have no issue with peeing…
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Hotel Crashing, Bushtops Serengeti, Tanzania
Back when I was a nubile young woman–aka: my broke-as-hell-and-unable-to-afford-any-sort-of-vacation period–my friends and I would often retreat for into the verdant hills of Central Texas and go camping for a couple of days. And believe me, I do mean camping. Not glamping. There wasn’t anything glamorous about it. We’d load up our respective cars and…
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Hotel Crashing: Lemala Kuria Hills, Tanzania
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I was a bit bummed out by the election results. For a variety of reasons, I’m not going to get too far into this topic, but this post from my favorite blogger, The Everywhereist, pretty much sums up EXACTLY how I feel. Go. Read it. It’s really…
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Ten Other Animals We Saw at Leopard Hills (Including…Leopards, Natch.)
So many photos. Heads up: I’m no photographer, as you will see from many of these images, but especially, the very last ones. So, with that endorsing caveat, enjoy! I believe this was taken on the evening drive on our first night at Leopard Hills. If so, this is Dayone, a 9-year-old male who…
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Hotel Crashing: Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, South Africa
In case you are wondering, yes, you will definitely see leopards at Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve in South Africa’s Sabi Sands. And a whole lot of other animals, including (if you’re very lucky like we were) the very rare African wild dog. We actually saw three generations of the adorable calico-spotted dogs a…
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The Wildest Ride: A Wildebeest River Crossing in the Serengeti
“This is not at all like the shows on NatGeo,” my restless mind was thinking. “This is actually sort of….boring.” We’re sitting in a beige, pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser in the midday African heat with four other people. All six pairs of eyes are trained on the nervously shuffling, brownish-gray mass of wildebeest on the…
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Flying Fancy: Review of Emirates First Class
And we’re back! Actually, we’ve been back from Africa over a week, but I’ve been in post-vacation mourning. That coupled with the fact that as a self-employed person, I made $0.00 during my little three-week break, and yet, my bills still came in during that very same three-week period and—quite rudely—those not-so-nice credit corporations and…