Thursday, 6 August 2015

Explore a lost world of wonder


The island in Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo’s description was ruled by Califia, a magnificent negress by all accounts. Her domain, like the Amazons, was a matriarchal dominion where the few men were subjugated and enslaved.
When it suited her, Califia would muster her troops and raid neighbouring lands, seizing men and territory. Her warriors wore gold armour and rode fierce steeds.
Some researchers are convinced a fearsome black queen of either African or Polynesian origin once existed on these shores, and de Montalvo, like Shakespeare, had adapted legend and lore for his own purposes.
The Spanish novelist, a contemporary of Christopher Columbus, whose lurid prose described these lands in great detail, was sufficiently convincing for the Mexican Governor, Hernan Cortes, to send ships in search of this land of plenty. Like so many Spanish follies of the time, they ended in disaster for the explorers and all those they encountered. The island of California, however, persisted on maps for more than 100 years and wasn’t conclusively disproved by land explorers until almost the 19th century.
Today this giant spurlike peninsula, the second largest in the world, is part of Mexico and called Baja California. It is divided into two ‘free and sovereign states’; Baja California and Baja California Sur (south). The Gulf of California enclosed by the peninsula is also known by its alternative moniker, The Sea of Cortes (or Cortez).
At the very tip is the resort town of Cabo San Lucas (Cape Saint Luke), which has grown progressively from a grubby mining village and tuna cannery to one of Mexico’s premier tourist locations and aquatic playgrounds.
Much of the credit for this popular acceleration is due to the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizewinning author, John Steinbeck, whose account of a marine biology expedition in 1940 with his biologist friend, Ed Ricketts, spawned the 288page nonfiction book The Log From The Sea Of Cortez, published in 1950. Steinbeck describes this lost world as “ferocious with life”, often citing his fear of man’s potential for destruction through urban development and careless fishing techniques. Even as the pair travelled, a hotel was being built along with the
airport and railway. And develop it did. Cabo San Lucas quickly became the playground for Hollywood A-listers and celebrities like John Wayne, Chuck Connors, Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Jacques Cousteau and Ernest Hemingway.
Cousteau, who visited some 35 years ago coined the tagline “the world’s aquarium”, often re-used by the new wave of adventure cruise operators probing much further north than any of the floating behemoths visiting Cabo San Lucas.
The undisputed leader in this field is Lindblad Expeditions, who have been exploring the Sea of Cortez since Cousteau’s time. In 1977, a young Sven Lindblad was travelling from Argentina to Mexico on his late father’s ship, the MS Lindblad Expolorer. They had a few days to spare and decided to call in to the Gulf of California to explore.
“I was particularly attracted to this large island just up from the southern end in the Gulf of California,” Lindblad recalls. “I’ve never seen anywhere so beautiful, so irresistible.”
Lindblad began commercial voyages in 1981 and UNESCO bestowed World Heritage status on the region, stating the “diversity of terrestrial and marine life is extraordinary and constitutes a unique eco region of high priority for biodiversity conservation”.
Today two of the company’s 62-passenger vessels operate side-by-side on itineraries of either one or two weeks’ duration, plunging guests into an experience that includes observation and encounters with all manner of whales, sea lions, marine birds and land reptiles.
I’m aboard an itinerary that probes deep into the gulf as far as Isla San Esteban. For a full week, we explore the inside leg of the Gulf of California, going ashore for nature hikes, early morning yoga, town visits, snorkelling in the coves, photography classes as well as kayaking along the craggy shores.
Our expedition team of naturalists are unrelenting in their enthusiasm and desire to share and impart their vast knowledge and in this respect, I place the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic crew consistently among the very best in this arena.
Our ship, the National Geographic Sea Lion, is cosy, comfortable and unpretentious. While it’s ideal for the destination, cruise snobs would remark on the compact cabins and lack of lavish accoutrements. But none of my fellow travellers lament the lack of big ship, mass market niceties.
I’m certain even the feared Queen Califia herself would welcome us into her domain.

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Travelmarvel enters new phase of growth

APT has announced an internal restructure that will see its premium value cruise and touring brand, Travelmarvel, serviced by its own distinct business unit. The move follows a strong year of growth for Travelmarvel which over the past twelve months has performed extremely well, achieving over 100 percent growth in forward sales, appealing to new guests by offering premium four star travel experiences at exceptional value. The business unit will be headed up by David Cox who will move from his role as APT’s Chief Operations Officer to take up the position as General Manager for Travelmarvel. David brings 29 years of travel industry experience to the role, having held various positions within APT and at AAT Kings. He will be supported by a dedicated 12-strong team comprising product, sales and marketing. Commenting on his new role, David said, “Travelmarvel has had an outstanding year, enjoying rapid growth. That’s because it is offers the right balance of inclusions, sightseeing and freedom for guests to experience the destination in their own way, with quality, exceptional service, knowledgeable staff and operational expertise. By combining these positive attributes and then retailing them at a competitive price point, Travelmarvel offers a holiday experience that both guests and agents have been looking for.” “Establishing a stand-alone Travelmarvel business unit enables us to give the brand the support it needs to reach its full potential. We recognise that our trade partners are central to our ongoing success and we are launching a full travel agent incentive program as our first priority,” he concluded. Also joining the new Travelmarvel team in the newly created role of Sales and Marketing Manager is Saxon Templeton. Previously Marketing Manager, Flight Centre Victoria and Tasmania, Saxon has a breadth of travel industry knowledge, having also held sales, product and marketing roles at Peregrine and Contiki. The immediate focus of the new team is to work closely with travel agents to provide product training and support as Travelmarvel has rapid product expansion high on its list of priorities. Russia and Africa are the most recent new destinations to join the portfolio and China will also launch this year. Commenting on the new structure, APT CEO Chris Hall said, “While APT continues to be our market leading luxury cruise and tour offering, we’ve been experiencing an impressive growth phase with our Travelmarvel brand and the time is right to support and nurture this opportunity through its own distinct management team. By expanding our team in line with our product range we hope to capture a significant share of the marketplace, transforming Travelmarvel into another exciting pillar to APT’s group business.”

Monday, 19 October 2009

New or Re-emerging Nations




Global Travel Writers
GTW-This month, the Global Travel Writers team takes your readers to some countries just now emerging from years of war, dictatorship, foreign occupation and/or civil strife.
For your other travel editorial needs, search our database now!

Newly re-emerging Nations


Seisia
Thomas E. King visits Vilnius, capital of Lithuania and European Capital of Culture 2009, and finds a stylsh city with a baroque heart trimmed with amber. The intrepid sportsman also roams around a host of new and exciting golf links of Lithuania.













The GTW Team

Fiona Harper


Glenn A. Baker



Graham Simmons


Karen Halabi


Paul Dymond


Philip Game



Sally Hammond



Sheriden Rhodes


Thomas E. King



Tricia Welsh



Brazil gets the Games!

After years of oppressive government, Brazil has bounced back under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. One of the rewards will be Rio de Janeiro's staging of the 2016 Olympics. Check out this video of Rio's preparations for the Games .

Beach
Sheriden Rhodes follows the glitterati and movie celebrities to the beaches of new global hotspots Croatia and Monetenegro
Fatucama Beach, East Timor East Timor is not exactly super-ripe for tourism, says Philip Game , but the friendliness of the people helps to overcome any hardships of travel.

Vanuatu Cruising Fiona Harper follows in the wake of James A Michener, finding the cruising ground of her teenage dreams in Vanuatu.

Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh
As Cambodia emerges from three decades of horror, Sisowath Quay in the capital Phnom Penh is emerging as one of the world's great promenades, reports Graham Simmons.
Cuban cigar aficionado
With ex-President Fidel Castro's health failing and President Raul Castro now turned 78, "now is the time to visit Cuba -- and soon!" says Tricia Welsh
Shetlands As Scotland gets its first Parliament in 300 years,Sally Hammond visits The Shetland Islands , which consider themselves more Norwegian than Scottish.
For more stories, check out the Global Travel Writers list of articles by Country
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers


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Sunday, 27 September 2009

Journeys - August 2009

Global Travel Writers
GTW

Thailand spends a huge amount on tourism promotion. But it's money well spent, as the diversity of Thai attractions staggers even the most jaded visitor. The Global Travel Writers team specialises in Thailand coverage - and for your other travel editorial needs, search our database now!



-= THAILAND IN FOCUS =-






The GTW Team
Fiona Harper


Glenn A. Baker



Graham Simmons




Karen Halabi



Philip Game





Sally Hammond



Sheriden Rhodes


Thomas E. King




Tricia Welsh


Motto of the month:

"Goodness is something that makes us serene and content" - King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand



Thai elephant Karen Halabi reports on a diminuitive Thai woman known as Lek ("Tiny"), who has done more than just about anyone else to help the predicament of elephants.
Thai elephant
There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this very quickly at a Mahouts' Course in northern Thailand.
Pai, Thailand Thomas E King visits Pai , west of Chiang Mai, now a niche destination with hill tribes, hot springs, elephant trekking and sophisticated boutique accommodation
Thailand
From the industrial chic of Indigo Pearl, to the barefoot charm of the luxurious Trisara, Sheriden Rhodes seeks out the most stylish new Hip Thai Resorts
Thai trains
Tracks across the Kingdom: Philip Game reports that the State Railway of Thailand has now reached across the Mekong with a new international line to the Lao capital, Vientiane.
Linocut
New Views from Koh Samui: Graham Simmons looks at the work of the Koh Samui Tourist Police, and asks whether visitors need lessons in the art of being good guests.
For more Thai stories, E-mail Fiona Harper, Gordon Hammond (with a story "White Thai Dinner") or Sally Hammond, our resident specialist on cookery schools in Bangkok
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers

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Thursday, 9 April 2009

Journeys - April 2009



Global Travel Writers
GTWApril 2009 - There's no financial crisis in the Jungle
No doubt about; many people are really hurting in the current financial situation. Maybe it's time to get back to basics - to the jungle or the bush or the hinterland - where life proceeds at a more orderly pace, and the world of derivatives and money manipulations seems very far away.


-= J O U R N E Y S =-

Cook Islands : E Coast Malaysia: KwaZulu-Natal : Mauritius : Assam: Falklands: Shetlands



The Needle, RarotongaCrossing the island of Rarotonga: Fiona Harper reports that all is well in the Cook Islands, a little outpost of Polynesia far off the money-market radar screen.











The GTW Team

Fiona Harper


Glenn A. Baker



Graham Simmons





Karen Halabi



Philip Game





Sally Hammond



Sheriden Rhodes


Thomas E. King




Tricia Welsh


Motto of the month:

Travel is a way of getting rid of your excess baggage.
Dabong Station , of Malaysia's East Coast railway
Jungle Train: To travel on Malaysia's East Coast Railway is more important than to arrive, as Philip Game learns the hard way.
Lions at Phinda Game ReservePhinda Bush Skills Adventure: Tricia Welsh finds that an innovative four-day bush skills adventure on Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) is a real exercise in getting back to basics.


 Mauritian beachscape
Delicious Mauritius: Thomas E. King goes island hopping through the land of the (extinct) dodo and the (lively) sega and finds that culturally diverse Mauritius offers stunning scenery, great golf, fascinating history and splendid spas where the emphasis is on total relaxation.
Treehouse in Hawnge National Park
Africa in widescreen: Karen Halabi recommends escaping the economic crisis in a country that doesn't even have an economy - in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.
Brahmaputra River
Exploring Assam:
Graham Simmons goes exploring the remote Indian state of Assam, finding that it provides much more than just tea and syncopy.
Hainan Island, China
Hawaii of the Orient:
Sheriden Rhodes finds escape on China's Hainan Island, which surprisingly offers white sandy beaches, warm languid waters and tall swaying coconut trees... an anomaly in this fast-moving nation.
Penguins of the Falklands
Far-flung to the Falklands:
Glenn A Baker visits the Falkland Islands, a country at the very bottom of the world financial ladder.
Stornoway, Shetlands
Castaway Islands:
Sally Hammond checks out another outpost - Scotland's Shetland Islands, where the islanders regard themselves as more Scandinavian than Scottish.
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers


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Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Journeys - March 2009


Global Travel Writers
GTWMarch 2009 - Trails of Great Writers
The award-winning Global Travel Writers team follows Robert Louis Stevenson through Samoa and the remote Ardèche region of France; discovers a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales, and continues on into South Wales to find the legacy of Dylan Thomas very much alive; we pursue the ghost of Robbie Burns through the Scottish Highlands and unmask Shakespeare's Venice.


-= J O U R N E Y S =-

France : Samoa : Wales : Scotland : Venice



The RLS HouseSamoa's Teller of Tales: On December 3, 1894, a "cloud of gloom" drifted over Samoa. As news spread that its most respected resident had died, a revered chief paid a glowing tribute and then in a ceremony normally reserved for royalty, Robert Louis Stevenson was laid to rest. [Thomas E. King]












The GTW Team

Fiona Harper


Glenn A. Baker



Graham Simmons





Karen Halabi



Philip Game





Sally Hammond



Sheriden Rhodes


Thomas E. King




Tricia Welsh


GTW Trivia:

The life expectancy of a Galapagos tortoise is roughly equivalent to the combined experience of the Global Travel Writers team.
View over the Gorges du Chassezac, from the Church of Notre Dame de Thines
By fork and glass through the Ardèche: In his classic By Donkey through the Cévennes, Robert Louis Stevenson introduced the world to one of the wildest regions of Europe. A historic and scenic eye-feast without peer, the south-west of the French département of Ardèche is an integral part of the Cévennes. Today's traveller has it easier than Stevenson, with classic accommodations and fine dining along the trail. [Graham Simmons]
Friendly booksellersBookworms make Hay: Hay-on- Wye is a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales. Even the town's crumbling medieval castle has been turned into one of thirty or more bookstores. Further north along the Welsh border lies St Deiniol's, the private library of the magnificently eccentric Sir William Gladstone and today, arguably, Britain's finest residential library. [Philip Game]


Carnevale in Venice
Shakespeare's Venice Unmasked: The masks of Carnevale personify Shakespeare's Venice, a fantasy city whose real life is hidden behind a tourist veneer and hardly ever revealed to strangers.

Venice is like a stage and the triangle between Rialto, San Marco and Accademia like a revolving play.

The setting for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, the city has drawn many a writer, poet and filmmaker under its romantic spell. [Karen Halabi]
The Royal Scotsman
Royal Treatment "More coffee?" A waiter hovers at my elbow... It's tempting, but my Arbroath smokies (smoked haddock) are coming. I have already done justice to a big bowl of oatmeal laced with the chef's secret ingredient. What is it? I ask. The waiter bends towards me, "Highland whisky liqueur," he whispers.

We are travelling aboard the Royal Scotsman, rattling past one of the best breakfast views on earth. Beside us lies Loch Carron with the white houses of Plockton (setting for the TV series Hamish Macbeth) just blotching into the distance. This is the land of Robbie Burns. As the Royal Scotsman clicketty-clacks over the countryside he knew so well, it's hard not to hum Auld Lang Syne. Determined that 'old acquaintance should not be forgotten' Scottish Tourism has designated 2009, the 250th anniversary of his birth, Homecoming Scotland.

[Sally Hammond]


Dylan Thomas' grave
Finding Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales
You don't have to go searching for Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales. Quite the contrary - Dylan Thomas will come looking for YOU. Through exhibitions, museums, festivals, statues, cafes, pubs, street names, paintings, posters and snatches of words still hanging in the salty air. [Glenn A. Baker]
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers


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Monday, 13 October 2008

Journeys - October 2008

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Bringing the world to your readers
The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for October 2008
Coming Up: Graham in Japan, Rod in New Zealand (South Island), Tom in French India

Think outside the square. GTWers have decades of experience covering such diverse subjects as music, culture, cuisine, lifestyle, technology, aviation, sport and tourism business. [see themes]
-= J O U R N E Y S =-
Zurich : Australia's Kimberley : Malta
Himalayan Golf : Chilli : Rome
noosaSheriden Rhodes discovers an avant garde surprise in an historic Zurich hotel. Below the open window, couples stroll through the narrow cobblestone streets. It’s a national holiday and life on the streets of Zurich, synonymous with international banking, moves at a decidedly slower pace. [more]

Everyone's talking about Baz Luhrmann's forthcoming movie and the new tourism campaign. GTWers have a vast wealth of material to match our country's own natural resources. Join the 'boom'. [more]

The GTW Team:

Glenn A Baker
Graham Simmons
John Borthwick
Karen Halabi
Philip Game
Roderick Eime
Sally Hammond
Sheriden Rhodes
Thomas E King
Tricia Welsh

GTW Trivia:
If you were a ham radio operator looking for call sign VK2ATJ, which GTW member would you find?
[answer]
scubaRoderick Eime comes face-to-face with an ancient warrior born before the last ice age. Australia's Kimberley holds many secrets and the story of the Gwion Gwion people is one of its greatest mysteries. Cruise the rocky northwest in search of these prehistoric folk. [more]
skullsPhilip Game says waiting for a bus is rarely fun. In Malta, at least, there’s the novelty of wondering just what much-loved relic will come lumbering down the road next. We find a treasure trove of veteran saloon cars maintained by enthusiast, Harry Caruana. [more]
BallaratThomas King visits the mighty Himalayan Mountains spanning some 2560km from northern Pakistan to China. Eight of its colossal peaks are often visible from Pokhara, Nepal’s largest second largest city. And there's always time for a round of golf. [more]
Graham Simmons says only a masochist must like eating hot chillies. But if every masochist needs a sadist, then chilli growers of north-eastern India must be among the most sadistic people on earth. Is the Naga Jolokia, grown in Assam and Meghalaya, the world’s hottest chilli? [more]
Sally Hammond boarded her plane for Rome and realized she was really nervous. In the weeks leading up to this trip, she’d opened every Italian guidebook to the 'Safety and Security' section, to see if her unease was justified.. [more]
AustraliaAustralia - The Movie. Due for release in November, this downunder epic will reignite worldwide interest in Australia. The GTW team have supplied Tourism Australia with a vast swag of material for their upcoming promotions. Get yours now. [more]
borderCan't find what you're looking for?
Editors' Block?
We have access to hundreds of seasoned writers, covering every possible corner of the Earth.
Try us! We'll find you that story.
[more]
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers
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