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Abercrombie and Kent Announces Limited-Edition Journeys in 2020

Having now traveled with Abercrombie and Kent on group trips to Kenya, Botswana, and Peru, I can recommend this company without hesitation. Guides are exceptional, groups are small, the properties they choose are unique and memorable, and dealing with logistics in challenging parts of the world is as close to seamless as I’ve witnessed. New in 2020 is A and K’s Limited-Edition Journeys to more remote locales in the world like Sri Lanka, the republic of Georgia, Madagascar, Southern India, and Zimbabwe. Itineraries range from 12 to 15 days and pricing starts at $5,995 per person. If any of these trips gets you excited, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll check availability. We can also help with flights and design routes before or after your memorable journey. 

 

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Lapa Rios Signs 900-Acre Conservation Easement

At the southernmost coast of that ecotourism hub, Costa Rica, a 1040-acre rainforest called the Lapa Rios preserve perches over the Pacific Ocean, offering the best of both worlds. You can spend the morning hiking along the Carbonera River to a pristine waterfall, accompanied by four types of monkeys, macaws, and those rainbow-colored toucans. In the afternoon, sea kayak in the ocean around Matapalo Point or surf the Golfo Dulce. The 16 open-air bungalows and main lodge of the Lapa Rios Ecolodge are no tent-in-the-woods accommodation. Hardwood floors, bamboo walls, and a vaulted thatched roof ceiling provide plenty of space and privacy. Other luxuries include soft mosquito netting over the queen-sized bed and a secluded garden shower.  
 
Former Peace Corp volunteers Karen and John Lewis built the retreat in 1990 as a way to save hundreds of acres of rainforest from farming. The owners have just signed a conservation easement that protects over 900 acres of land surrounding Lapa Rios in perpetuity. It prohibits all extractive activities, such as mining, forestry and hunting, as well as further building expansion, even putting a cap on trail construction. At the same time the easement encourages both scientific and educational activities on the reserve. All those monkeys and birds that wake you up in the morning are a tribute to their brilliant success. 
 
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My 5 Favorite Fall Adventures in North America, Canoeing the Boundary Waters, Ely, Minnesota

My preferred place to be in September is inside a canoe, paddling the tranquil rivers and lakes of the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, Wabakimi Wilderness in western Ontario, the Adirondacks in upstate New York, and the Maine woods. Those nasty mosquitoes and black flies are gone, foliage color is already starting to appear, and moose are lining the shores in heat, more talkative than Bullwinkle. So grab a paddle and find your own placid retreat. It’s no surprise that paddlers get all dreamy-eyed over Minnesota’s northern frontier, the Boundary Waters, home to a whopping 1200 miles of canoeable waters through countless lakes, rivers, and ponds. You can go days without seeing another person, replaced instead by moose, whitetail deer, black bears, beavers, otters, and those laughing loons. Wilderness Outfitters has been taking people away from civilization since 1912, offering canoe rentals and maps for self-guided trips and leading organized trips.  

 
I’ll be in Iceland next week for the annual Society of American Travel Writers convention. I’m proud to be on the board of the SATW Foundation’s Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. In the past 30 years, the SATW Foundation has handed out more than 2,100 awards and over $420,000 in recognition of outstanding travel journalism. If interested in submitting stories, books, or blogs for the 2015 competition, please contact me. 
 
I’ll be back on September 22nd with updates from Iceland. In the meantime, enjoy the glorious September weather and keep active. 
 
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New at ActiveTravels

Today marks my 400th blog entry. To all of my subscribers, I want to thank you for sticking with me. To everyone else, you can simply go through the list of categories on the home page to find biking, green travel, lodging, family adventure, and many more topics that interest you. In the upcoming month, I’ll be updating the Go Play section of the website to include much more content on the outdoors from previously published articles that will be useful as a reference for any upcoming trip. I’ve also started to add video to my YouTube page and I’m working on a Facebook fan page that will be updated often. You can also follow me on Twitter at @ActiveTravels and visit Everett Potter’s Travel Report, where I’m a weekly contributor. Thanks again for checking in!
 

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First Prize for Best Family Travel Story

I was delighted to receive word last week that my story for Virtuoso Traveler on traveling with the family to the Swiss Alps won first prize in the Family Travel category at the Society of American Travel Writers Eastern Chapter Writing Contest. I don’t take this lightly. I must have submitted 20 stories over the past 25 stories and haven’t received any recognition since my book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England, was published in 1996! Rereading this particular story on Switzerland, I touched on loss, how my kids were getting older, soon graduating from college, and you can’t take these family trips for granted much longer. I think it was this part of the piece that resonated with the judges. Even more surprising was that I received an Honorable Mention in the Miscellaneous category for my Road Trip to Revolutionary War Sites story for Chevrolet’s New Roads Magazine. The highlight of researching this story was having dinner with an old high school friend in Saratoga and spending time with my nephew, Max, in Philly, who was going to school at UPenn. Please have a look at the winning entries. 

 
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Swiss Bliss

Grindelwald is one of those fairy-tale Swiss mountain villages that serve as a gateway to the heart of the Alps. Wander from your hotel to the gondola, ride it to the last stop, and soon you’ll be staring at a crown of majestic 13,000-foot peaks. While it’s the Jungfrau region’s largest ski resort, in summer Grindelwald offers scenic walks, bike rides, and hikes past lakes and waterfalls and through flower-bedecked alpine meadows.
 
A fresh dusting of snow atop the jagged ridges this July morning only adds to the luster as my family and I set out on a six-mile hike along the Bachalpsee route to a remote lake deep in an emerald valley. To make our descent back to town, we hop aboard scooter-bicycle hybrids called Trottibikes. I point mine downhill on a paved path and pray. Directly across from me lies the mighty Eiger peak, its massive girth only adding to my anxiety. I decide to step off to gather my nerves and pretend to take photos.
 
That’s when my daughter, Melanie, whizzes by me at breakneck speed and screams, "Yeah, Trottibikes!" (Translation: You’re getting old, Dad).
 
To read more about my travels with the family to Switzerland last summer, please check out my latest story for Virtuoso Traveler. 
 
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REI Adventures Across the Globe

Most people know REI as a place to purchase all their outdoor garb and equipment. Few active travelers realize the Seattle-based company also has been offering human-powered outdoor adventures since 1987. Rated on a scale of one (relaxed) to five (strenuous), these guided trips are far more reasonably priced compared to their competition. They just came out with their list of 2011 trips, which include a 10-day jaunt biking around Portugal and Spain to hiking in Utah’s Arches & Canyonlands National Parks to four days of mountain biking in the Sonoran Desert (only $675 including camping equipment, bike rentals, and most meals).
 

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