Countdown to the African Adventure

On June 18, 2021June 18, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Africa14 Comments

We are officially 14 days away from our trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We have to admit that we are sitting on pins and needles as the days go by and we keep our fingers crossed that nothing happens to interrupt this incredible trip. It has been over a year and a half since our last meaningful trip and there have been so many changes over that period of time. We still have to get a COVID test within 72 hours of traveling, but otherwise we have all of the vaccinations necessary. We also have to fill out a travel surveillance form, which is specific to Kenya, and provides evidence that we travelled directly from the United States to Kenya.

We Even Have a Countdown App Counting Down for the Trip

Even though our trip hasn’t even begun yet, it has already been an adventure. We originally booked our flights with British Airways who partners with American Airlines. Since our original booking, we had different legs of the flight cancelled causing us to rearrange the entire itinerary twice. Then, a week ago, all but one leg of the flight was cancelled, leaving us no choice but to cancel the flights and request a refund. We then booked flights with United who partners with Lufthansa. All we can do now is wait and hope that we have no new surprises.

Birds on the Treetops Watching the Sunset

In addition to all of the wildlife that we’re expecting to see, food that we hoping to try, and people that we looking forward to meeting, we know that we are going to see some wonderful sunrises and sunsets. We have seen many pictures taken from safaris and almost every one of them has a beautiful sunset, so we are definitely looking forward to capturing some of our own. As we have sat at home, waiting for our trip, we have seen a few colorful sunsets here as well, which just wets our appetite for our upcoming trip. To say that we are excited would be an extreme understatement.

What is the Most “Touristy” Thing That You’ve Done?

On June 10, 2021June 10, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt, England, Mexico, morocco7 Comments

When traveling, we always try to have the most authentic experiences as possible. There are times, however, when a tour that we take includes something that is there just for tourists. They are often photo opportunities that locals believe that the people visiting want to take home with them, but often they aren’t realistic to the actual culture. More often than not, when we end up doing one of those types of things, we literally cringe when we see what we’re about to do. It doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy them, it is just that we realize that it is a staged activity done just for tourists.

We have actually ridden camels twice, once in Morocco and then again in Egypt. It wasn’t as if we were riding a camel to get from one place to another, it was just us on a camel while someone walked us around. It wasn’t as if we saw people riding camels, although we know that they do in the desert, so it is just something that people have come to expect to do when they visit those countries. Another thing that we did when in Morocco was to see a snake charmer. Interesting as it was, it was still just a planned stop along the tour for us to take photos and tip the snake charmer in order for him to make a living.

When we were in Prague, at the end of the tour, we went to what was supposed to be a medieval restaurant, complete with cobwebs on the ceiling and waiters dressed in garments from the period. Having a meal at a wooden table in a dungeon, while fun, is probably not the way it would have been hundreds of years ago. When we visited Warwick Castle in England, one of the towers was set up as a torture chamber. It was basically a haunted house experience with people jumping out at you. Again, fun, but not anything representative of turn of the century Europe.

When we were in Cabo, we swam with dolphins in a large aquarium. It would be quite fascinating to swim in the wild with dolphins, but that would be a completely different experience than swimming with a dolphin that has been trained to do tricks. We took a cruise on a pirate ship in Puerto Vallarta where they put on a show and entertained the guests throughout the tour. Clearly these activities are a little different, but still very touristy. Obviously it is hard to completely avoid all of these types of activities, so when they happen it is best to just role with it and have fun. The camel rides were probably the most touristy of all of the activities that we’ve done. What is the most touristy thing that you’ve done when traveling?

What to Buy When Going on an African Safari

On June 8, 2021June 8, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Africa1 Comment

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As we prepare for our trip to Kenya and Tanzania in just a few weeks, there have been several items that we have purchased with the safari in mind. Some of them were items that we needed to replace, some were things very specific to the safari, and all will be useful on other trips in the future. To be clear, we purchased all of the items and none of them were given to us as a promotional product. We are light packers these days, regardless of the trip, but since we’re going to spend 11 nights on safari, we are only taking carry on bags, so everything that we take needs to serve a purpose. Obviously we’re taking more than just these items, but these are the things that we bought in preparation for our trip.

Safari Hats and Shirts – We have several shirts that are sufficient for going on safari that we used when going to the Amazon Rainforest as well as to Egypt, but we decided that it was time to get a few more. One thing that we don’t normally wear are hats, but considering the amount of time that we are going to be exposed to the sun, we definitely needed wide brimmed hats that will protect our heads from getting burned.

Multi-Outlet Power Converter – Although we’ve had a power converter for years that has served us well, we decided to upgrade to a new power converter that has multiple outlets so that we can charge several items at once. The amount of time in the lodge is going to be limited as most of our time will be spent in the jeep, so keeping our phones, cameras, and other electronics fully charged is going to be important. With this power converter we can charge up to 6 items at one time compared to our old converter that could only charge a single item.

DSLR 400 – 800 mm Zoom Lens – We have other lenses for our camera, but we decided that for this trip we should getter a different telephoto lens. We don’t know how close or how far away we will be to certain animals, but we definitely don’t want to miss out on getting that close-up of a lion or other animal just because we couldn’t get close enough.

Camera Backpack – This is certainly something that we should have purchased years ago as will definitely make taking multiple cameras and lenses much easier. It is large enough to put everything into, but small enough to use as a personal item for the flight. It will definitely protect the camera equipment during the times when the cameras are not out and in use.

New Duffle Bags – It was about time for us to get new duffel bags as our other bags had seen 7 years of travel to over 30 countries. We always want duffel bags as carry-on bags so that they can squeeze into tight spaces and collapse when not in use. Hopefully these will last as long as our last ones and make their way to even more countries.

iPhone Zoom and Fisheye Lenses – We take as many photos with our phones as we do our cameras, so having different lenses that simply clip over the phone camera lens provides the opportunity to capture things that we wouldn’t always get. We also like the images that the fisheye lens produces, so we’re looking forward to playing with some of the different images.

Although we did buy these items with our safari in mind, clearly they will all be useful for all of our upcoming trips. It is very rare for us to buy things specifically for a trip, so versatility is important to us. We look forward to all of these items as we head to Africa in just a few weeks.