Today's Life Solutions / Travel / Travelocity.com
Wild and Wacky Travel Inspiration for the Year Ahead
Amy Ziff
December 28, 2007
Every year I like to go some place I've never been before. It's part of my travelution regimen; that is my annual effort to set a travel resolution apart from all those other resolutions about diet, exercise and being a perfect person in the coming year. As I approach 2008 I feel that setting the same kind of goal as normal isn't quite enough. Maybe it's that I'm getting perilously close to 40 and I just have to change up my routine, well whatever it is, I decided to put together a list of wild and or wacky travel things to do. It's not a list that I can accomplish in a single year, but it will serve as a list for me to get to in the coming years and I hope that perhaps it can provide some inspiration for you too.
Given my urban life I'm always interested in getting closer to nature. How about feeding a giraffe with your bare hands? It's how I learned about Giraffe Manor as I only had an afternoon in Karen, Kenya (just outside Nairobi) and visited the feeding area down the road from the beautiful hotel. The Giraffes would lope down a maze of trees and disappear. They are totally free to roam on the property of the Giraffe Manor hotel. Guests there are frequently awed by the playful Giraffes who often poke their heads into the inn to say hello.
If giraffes don't do it for you what about a Polar Bear expeditionin Canada? I've always wanted to go visit these adorable bears who are becoming the face of global warming.
Polar Bear expedition in Canada. You can stay at the Nanuk lodge where you're the one in the cage, at least according to them, and the bears are wandering free. For a more active experience try a Frontiers North adventure at Cape Churchill where they're concerned with bear research and you're practically guaranteed bear sightings in their natural environment.
How about going ape for a primate tour in the mountains of Africa. I'm partial to a visit to the Rwandan gorillas, of Gorilla's In The Mist fame, where you can get shockingly close to the gorillas. (I'm talking inches away from a silverback which is sure to be the highlight of any safari experience.) A morning of hiking in the mountains between Rwanda and Uganda will be rewarded by an hour-long visit with a group of gorilla's with at least one silverback.
What about breathtaking scenery. How about staying at an eco-chic boutique hotel, right here at home in the USA. I'm not talking about a resort that recycles towels and offsets some electricity but Terra Resorts takes eco stays to an entirely new level with their first US hotel slated to open January 2008 in Jackson Hole Wyoming. The Terra group is LEED certified and committed to sustainability from the building structure itself (80% recycled steel beams, low-flow water fixtures, 100% recycled roof shingles, low VOC carpets and paint) to items in every room (organic shampoo and lotion, 100% organic cotton linens, natural mattresses).
For the best view you might want to try and dine in the sky. I'm not talking about first class flights either. Try 22 friends, you, the open air – now you're getting the idea. Dinner in the Sky is the company that will make this possible by combining a bit of the extreme – part amusement park ride, part dinner party and an entirely stunning view. Right now you'll have to travel to Brussels or other points in Europe to do this but the Today Show reported that someone in Las Vegas has purchased one so perhaps you'll get your chance to dine above the Vegas strip in the near future.
How does surfing sound? Inside. 365 days a year. That's right, you can do try it out at America's largest indoor water park in – Wisconsin. At the Kalahari Waterpark you can try the flow rider, master blaster, or the splashdown safari (among other indoor rides). There are no threats of rainy days here.
Talking about sporting…bye-bye bungee jumping. The new thrill around is swing jumping. In Ecuador you can do this in a stunning natural setting where they claim it's the closest thing you can do to flying but I say is the fastest way to a heart attack. Though if you go for the serious adrenaline rush I'd say this one is a must for you.
As for the most ridiculous fun you can have, try Zorbing with your best friends in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. Just what is zorbing exactly? It's probably unlike anything you've ever tried before. Essentially, you roll down a mountainside in a plastic ball. Sound wacky enough for you? It's from New Zealand and comes from the creators of Bungee Jumping and Pigeon Forge is the only place in North America where you can try it out.
Nurture your inner artist by taking part at the Breckenridge Snow Sculpture contest – not just to see it. To enter as a team and carve. So you'd be freezing but I'd dress warmly. And what a sense of accomplishment. You start with a 12-foot-tall, 20-ton block of super-packed snow and have five days to create a masterpiece. From Dragons to Domes the carving all has to be done by hand, chisels, saw, or carrot scraper – no power tools allowed.
How about forgetting the food frenzy and the concept of gourmet vacations, instead get a jump start on your diet and fast while you're away. I'd be more apt to take a yoga retreat rather than the starvation vacation. How about trying the power of restorative yoga while blissfully baking on the Bequia beach in the Grenadines.
I hope that gives you a few ideas to put on your travelution list for 2008 and beyond. If you've done any of these or if you have ideas for others – do tell, I'd love to hear about them. In the meantime, happy planning.
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Travelocity.com Inc., a database-driven travel marketing and transaction company, provides Internet and wireless reservations information for more than 700 airlines, more than 50,000 hotels and more than 50 car rental companies. In addition, Travelocity.com offers more than 6,500 vacation packages, tour and cruise departures and a vast database of destination and interest information. Travelocity.com employs more than 1,000 customer service professionals, has sold more than 20 million airline tickets and has registered more than 32 million members. |
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