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?

Savory Crab-Stuffed Flounder with Hollandaise Sauce

On June 9, 2021June 9, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn RecipesLeave a comment

Crab-Stuffed Flounder

Flounder is a mild, flat fish that is often stuffed. Lump crab meat makes for an excellent stuffing as it just adds to the flavor of the fish. In order to ensure that the fish isn't dry, we made a quick, homemade hollandaise sauce to accompany it as well as the asparagus that we served with it. This is really a fairly simple dish, but is certainly something that could be made for an elegant dinner or even to feed a crowd.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4 people

Equipment

Skillet
Oven

Ingredients

4 Flounder Filets approximately 2 pounds
1 cup Lump Crab Meat
1/2 cup Panko or Bread Crumbs
1 large Egg
2 tbsp Red Onion finely chopped
2 tbsp Celery finely chopped
1 clove Garlic minced
6 tbsp Butter softened
1 tbsp Thyme finely chopped
2 pinches Old Bay Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the celery and onion and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
In a bowl, combine the lump crab meat, panko, egg, celery, onion, garlic, thyme, and a pinch of Old Bay. Use your hands to make sure that the stuffing is fully mixed.
Heat an oven to 375 degrees.
Lay the flounder flat and put 1/4 of the stuffing in the center of each filet. Roll the flounder around the crab stuffing and place on a baking sheet with the ends of the fish, where it overlaps, facing down. Spread butter over the top of the fish and sprinkle with a pinch of Old Bay seasoning.
Cook the fish for 30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Serve with prepared hollandaise sauce and vegetable of your choice.

Keyword crab, flounder, stuffed

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.