If you have retired, do you still enjoy traveling?

I always thought it would be very fascinating to go on a photographic safari to Kenya but this wasn't in the cards. Also dreamed about seeing the Canary Islands, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, plus the rest of the UK that I haven't yet seen. When I was 12, my parents took us all on a drive tour of eastern Canada and that is what got me fired up about travel.
 

When my husband retired I asked him about taking a trip, I wanted to see an island, cruise and fly. He was claustrophobic and would not fly. I said that's not fair, he agreed and told me to pick a place and go. I had just joined the Zoo and got my first newsletter a few days later with a Botswana trip with the Zoo. When I told him where I was going he was thoroughly shocked. He said I thought you would go to Hawaii. I told him if I am going on one trip I want it to be a trip of a lifetime. So I went, a year later I went to Kenya which I don't recommend to anyone, it is extremely dangerous there. There are bandits who stop the vans, rob you and leave you naked beside the road or kill you if you protest. One of those incidents happened while we were there, the van full of people were killed a month before. Then I took two trips to the Peruvian Rainforest. The first was to Explorama lodge for a week, then to Cuzco and Machu Pichu for the second week. The next trip to Peru was another week in the rainforest, the second week on a riverboat cruising the Amazon River and it's tributaries. Since then have taken bus tours and the Northwest Pacific area was my favorite tour in the US. Then I cruised a bit and except for the Panama Canal and Alaska I was bored to death. Now I do road trips, usually to the Ft Smith area which was where my mother was born and raised. Beautiful country, especially the piney woods.
 
I disagree with your statements about Kenya.
it is safe; if you stay in the south; avoid Mombasa town, and travel with a good company.
i have never had or been involved in any problems there....the southern game parks are fine.
i went to South Africa in 2013, and am going again in 2015.
Again; if you stick to the rules.... No problem. I travelled alone for some of it too...and encountered no problems at all.
 

Well it did happen and is a common problem, I have researched it. We were only allowed to go to places our guides took us, never anywhere without him. In Nairobi we had to keep our windows up and doors lock because the streets were full of men who would reach in and grab what ever they could reach. The first woman I met when I got back home said her sis had gone there and their driver drove them right to the bandits, told them if they do as their told they won't be hurt and were robbed but not stripped. When we left our lodge there was a soldier with a rifle guarding our gate, there was no guard when we entered. When we got on the main road there were spikes thrown across the road. and our driver went in to see what the problem was. He said it was about contraband. One of the men in our group bought an English newspaper that evening and the road block was put up to find the bandits. The other incident about the killings was in the paper also. Our driver would not stop for anything in the road that might be a decoy to stop us. He ran one woman off the road.

One roadside stop for shopping was partly closed by the government because of problems. Sammy told us to walk in pairs, do not go in any buildings for any reason. They had been enticing tourists to go inside and not letting them out unless they bought something. I looked at something and the lady would not accept no, she followed me everywhere trying to get me to go back and she had to be run off by our guide.
 
That is what I mean......follow the rules, do as advised, stay safe.
i am not denying that it does happen; but go to the southern game parks and the southern coast; it is glorious; as is South Africa.
many people won't go there, it is unsafe too; in certain places; but magical too. I love it!
 
I traveled with our local zoo and went where ever they went, which was to Kenya and Peru. My Botswana trip was an unsanctioned trip by the zoo's curator of birds. He set the trip up because he had been to Kenya and he felt like he was in a game park and that is exactly how I felt....at first. We did see more animals there than in Botswana which was not developed like Kenya was.
 
I recommend a safari tour of Uganda. Amazing national parks and not high crime. Gorgeous country, lovely people. And in the west and south which is high elevation it's not too hot with low humidity.

We had no problems with crime at all during the two years we lived there.
 
Ameriscot why were you there, missionary, a job??? I think Uganda is where the zoo has been going. I am not interesting in going back, but would go back to the jungle if the zoo ever goes there again.
 
Vala said:
Ameriscot why were you there, missionary, a job??? I think Uganda is where the zoo has been going. I am not interesting in going back, but would go back to the jungle if the zoo ever goes there again.
Click to expand...

No, definitely not missionaries. My husband felt inspired to volunteer after seeing the shanty towns in South Africa. He was with VSO UK and worked at a primary teachers training college. He did science, physics and was in charge of a very primitive computer lab. I went along as spouse.
 
Good you both. I visited a weaver's shop that was set up by an American that visited because he wanted to help the women and girls. The women were taught weaving so they could provide for themselves and there was a girls orphanage on the site. I bought a couple of wall hangers/rugs and when my guide picked up my suitcase he looked am me like "what in the world have you got in here?". I told him, "I left a lot of money in there", he smiled and was happy that I had helped. A lot of good memories about my trips. I took notes everyday and turned them into journals when I got home. When I re read them it's hard to believe I did all those things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top