Travel Stories & Inspiration
Go See A Gorilla Before It’s To Late
If you want to see a mountain gorilla there is only one place in the world, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest or the Virunga Mountains in Uganda and Rwanda. Unfortunately, people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to deforest their habitat for charcoal, along…
5 Top Travel Trends for 2020
Transformational Travel Transformational travel is more than just a feeling or a moment. It is more than that flush of happiness and wonder that comes from a special experience and connection. Transformational travel is intentionally traveling to stretch, learn and grow into new ways of…
Safari in Ohio
We grew up with Jack Hanna from the Columbus zoo, showing up on Johnny Carson and other shows with a menagerie of wild animals. Little did I know that he had another project going on outside of Columbus called The Wilds. A 500 acre plot…
The Real Cartagena
When we first told people we were going to Colombia we got a lot of strange looks and some people came right out and said “are you crazy, it’s dangerous in Colombia”. But I had done my homework and what was once a country that…
Burn Baby Burn – Afrikaburn
“If you bring a little soul to the encounter, maybe you’ll see something you didn’t look for, maybe you’ll open your heart a little, and see things that you didn’t imagine.” Larry Harvey In 1986 Larry Harvey and Jerry James started the first Burning Man…
The Coolest Hotel in the World
Not only cool but downright cold. Staying at the Ice Hotel has always a bucket list item for me. The idea of building a hotel that just lasts for a few months before it melts has always intrigued me. Last year as we arrived in…
Hunting Rhinos
The knock on my tent, it’s pitch black and I don’t want to roll out of my warm cocoon. I grab my headlight and breathe in the crisp cold African air. My headlight shines down I can see my breath like a steam kettle boiling…
Townships and new friendships
A good bit of our South African journey has revolved around townships. Starting with a tour of Tanga, one of the larger townships in Cape Town and the location of strife and violence between 1992 and 1996 after Nelson Mandela was released from prison, there…
The Long Road To Success
We started working with a group of sophomores and juniors from four Guilford County High Schools in February. Teaching them leadership skills and preparing them for our African adventure. Part of that journey led us through the swamps of Pinehurst and onto a 36 hour…
Future Truths or Cultural Fun?
My last day in Iquitos and my friend William floated the idea of going to see a fortune teller. Like always I love diving into the culture and particularly something that might shed some light on my future. So William, Anita (William’s wife) and I…
Going to Prison
We stepped out of the motokar right in front of the steel door with a giant padlock on it. Beside it stood a guard with really big gun. Alex, my translator, stepped up to the guard talked for a few minutes, a call over the…
Back to School
I stepped into the metal box that Rita and her six children call home, the baby was screaming because he is covered with scabs from Chicken Pox. The room is sweltering, no air con or fans here. Again the shelves are bare, the kids are…
Back in the Jungle
As the plane landed in my jungle home away from home the familiar images flashed beneath the plane. A lush green canopy that looks like a dark green Berber carpet that stretched as far as the eye can see, rusted tin roofs with satellite dishes…
Going Cool in Europe
It seems like Lou and I can never get off on one of our world tours without a bit of excitement. We knew when we glanced at the flight display in Raleigh Durham and every flight had a red Delayed beside it that we might…
The Refreshing Centoes of the Yucatan
Before the Globetrotter trip I had no idea what a “cenote” was, but once you experience the crystal clear, refreshingly cold, and unusually deep pools of water that cover the Yucatan you will never forget the famous cenotes. A cenote is a natural pool which…
Going Pink in Celestun
Flamingos have always had this magical quality for me, the beautiful pink, tall slender bodies that can stand on a straw like leg, the funny curved beak, the bird that inspired a beautiful dance found in Latin American countries. It wasn’t until we made it…
Recipe For A Better World
5 Little Mayan Girls, (who are fearful of white people) 5 Little Mayan Boys (who are also fearful of white people) 10 American High School students (who are trying to change the world) 1 Small Mayan Village 1 Soccer ball 1 Frisbee 3 Childs games.…
Globetrotters Head To The Yucatan
Twenty two amazing high school students and another Globetrotter adventure is on. We have spent the last six months working on leadership skills, learning about Mayan people and getting scuba certified, even though three of the students had to learn how to swim first. We…