You think those prices are bad, head to Iceland.
It’s well worth it though
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By coincidence my holiday in Norway was about my cheapest ever. Norwegian friends asked me to bring as much booze as I could carry, as the State liquor stores were on strike. Brought in a crate of assorted spirits and wines , Norwegians waived the duties, hosts would not let me pay for anything, parents invited me to their country estate, given my own cottage and taken out on the fiord.
Spent only a portion of my holiday cash on amazingly cheap George Jensen silver cutlery at second hand stores, plus antique copper ware, also some hand painted crystal water glasses. Also got taken to the bridge where Munch painted the Scream and visited his cottage.
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India is a wonderful place to visit and I have been going their regularly since 1978 on business, all over the place. Far North is just breath-taking.
However as others have said the continual harassment of females is farking bad. Mrs Fox is a tough Lady, but she got very agitated by it.
I questioned my Business Partners in Mumbai on this. Seriously they told me that all White Women were ■■■■■.
I would not subject my 15 year old daughter to it.
Columbia is fantastic, Cuba is better.
Since it just popped up in my RSS feed, some inspiration?
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Cheers BF. Visited Cuba in 2000, hence Cartagena not as big a draw for me as others. Where did you go in Colombia?
I have been a lot of it for work visiting various mining sites right up into the Andes. It is a big place and a challenge to move from region to region at times, though I liked the local buses.
The flora and fauna is incredibly diverse, never seen so many different and beautiful orchids and the most colourful exotic birds.
Magdalena Valley is lovely through it was a long trip from Bogota. I liked the beachside places as well, different feel from Cuba, more “normal” I guess. Around Cali is nice and different to Cartagena Food is good everywhere and again very diverse.
I suppose Colombia is just a surprise from day to day, with so many different ethnic and social groups and a rich history. I found it less rushed and crowded than Brazil and much safer. I would take teenage kids there as there is lots to see and do and lots of others their age around to make them feel like they belong.
Two of my good Mates recently flew to Colombia purchased motor bikes and travelled to California ! They are much more intrepid than me but they have some great stories to tell their grand kids.
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I have been gorilla trekking in Rwanda with a Serengeti safari ‘chaser’. Both were amazing. We spent a couple of days in Kigali and visited the holocaust museum, which is an extraordinarily rewarding but emotional experience. We then drove out towards the border near the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and stayed 3 nights. The gorilla trekking was amazing - we hiked for 1-2 hours to find a group but it wasn’t a taxing hike (we’d hiked Kilimanjaro 2 weeks earlier so nothing would have felt particularly taxing in comparison). We spent some time with the gorillas, which felt like ages but wouldn’t have been more than 30 minutes, and then hiked back. It was an incredible experience.
The safari was also awesome. We went to Kenya rather than Tanzania only because of where the migration was at the time we were there (Tanzania is best for January). Ultimately that’s the most important decision regarding whether to do Tanzania or Kenya if you’re going to the Masai Mara. We hired a mid range private tour operator for one week and took their recommendations on the luxury tented camps, which were all amazing. We spent a few days at Lake Nakuru which was a forested area, then some time in the Masai Mara to get some different experiences. We were glad we spent a little extra to have the private tour as we could basically create our own itinerary and do our own thing every day. I think we used Sunworld Safaris and would highly recommend them.
The only three caveats I can pass on are:
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I have heard that tourist kidnappings have significantly increased in Bwindi including in Uganda and Rwanda (it has always been a problem in the Congo) so be careful. Also, you need to buy your trekking permits well in advance to make sure you don’t miss out.
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If you go to Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi, the Ox ball is not an Ox meatball. It is a testicle and it tastes disgusting.
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I could take or leave the hot air balloon trip we did. You take off early in the morning, the initial vista is great but there’s actually not much to see beyond that for the next 30 minutes. If anything is happening below you go by it so fast you don’t get a chance to watch it. They dump you out in the middle of nowhere, put on an average breakfast and then drive you back. In hindsight I would have gone on a typical safari drive before breakfast at the camp.
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I was talking to a Colombian girl the other day. She was excited to hear i was going to Cartagena, and said Colombia is much safer now, particularly Cali and Medellin, but one place beginning with B (not Bogotá) is still iffy. Bogotá is fine. And i think the Eje Cafeteria is still OK (that’s the coffee-growing area).
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Thanks @AD_Don.
How long ago did you go?
I understand the cost of a Ugandan trekking permit is half that of Rwanda, so it has become a thing to start in Kigali & cross the border for the trek. Did you look at this? Any appreciable difference between the trekking in one country vs the other?
Is this who you went with?
http://www.sunworld-safari.com/en/rewanda-and-kenya-combination/gorillas-in-rwanda-and-big-cats-in-kenya.html
That’s the group we used. It looks very similar to the itinerary we did except we started with the safari and ended with the gorillas and we had an extra day in Rwanda and an extra couple on safari so we could do Lake Nakuru.
We didn’t look at the Uganda option in great detail and I’m not sure why now. We went in 2010 and perhaps Uganda had been more unstable that year so we chose Rwanda instead? From recollection, there’s not much difference between the trekking in either country.
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Old people are left alone, just leave all your bling at home, none of those gold chains around your neck and that big diamond stud has to go.
Colombia is a dangerous place in terms of crime, but these days it is pick pockets and late night mugging in seedy areas, much like many places in the world.
Not sure what the"B" place is, Barranquilla is north along the coast from Cartagena and it was a lively place with lots of seedy looking joints, not as tourist driven as Cartagena. There is another place east of Bogota towards Venezuela that start with B that probably has lots of refugees at present and is probably worth avoiding and another I think called Buenavista or something like that near Cali that is coastal and quite pretty. Didn’t see much trouble there, but I did always travel in a big black car with tinted windows with companions who had guns.
we’re looking at doing Kilimanjaro in a couple of years time. Can you share some of your experiences?
Have any other Blitzers made the trek?
It was tough work but we’ll rewarded by 1.5 weeks on safari. We went in August 2010 when Mrs AD Don we’re in our early thirties. The weather was fine until we got to the summit and struck a blizzard - couldn’t see more than 5 metres in front of us.
Coming down was much more enjoyable than climbing but I didn’t really feel the pinch until the final ascent. That was real one foot in front of the other stuff. I almost cried when our guide said there was 15 minutes to the summit as initially I thought he’d said 50 minutes. I don’t mean almost cried as a figure of speech either - it was an unexpected and overwhelming upwelling of emotion. I’m not sure I had 50 minutes left in me!
In terms of the fitness required it’s actually not physically difficult climb. There’s one morning where it’s tough on perhaps the third or fourth morning and the summit is difficult. However, the true difficulty is really the altitude. I didn’t get altitude sickness but it is noticeably harder to sleep the higher that you get and your appetite disappears the higher you go too. The net result is that by the fourth day you’re exhausted beyond the mere physical energy you’ve exerted due to lack of sleep and lack of nutrition/fuel.
I can’t remember the route and company we used, I’ll dig out the information I have and let you know. I do know we used porters to carry our stuff other than our day packs. We also paid extra for our own portable toilet (read bucket) which was well worth the extra cost. The drop toilets on route rank as some of the worst I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen some pretty rank ones through Asia).
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thanks heaps! we’re looking at following up with a safari as well 
East African Safari, Alaska and Yellowstone are the only three places of the many we have visited that we can’t wait to get back to as soon as our little one is old enough to appreciate it.
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Re. safari with kids - for accessibility / cost effectiveness / abundance of animals, Kruger NP in RSA is very, very good. We went with Wild Wings who provided an awesome guided experience staying in bungalows in SANP camp grounds - no need to spend megabucks on an adjoining private reserve, no need for the hassle of unguided self-drive. Best of both worlds.
Edit - did above trip last Sept / Oct hols with then 14 year old daughter. Combined it with Cape Town & Garden Route over three weeks. Very easy.
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Loved Kruger and we did the unguided self-drive and really want to go back and do it again. Didn’t find it difficult at all and managed to get away from some of the safari traffic jams. Roads are good as you know and the camps are easily accessible. It’s cheap too. Mind you we had already done a guided tour so we were after a different experience.
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I can see the DIY approach would be satisfying, but I’m pretty sure our best animal sightings would have been missed without the guide - his predictive reading of animal behaviour and local knoweldge was exceptional.
In Victoria the best feral animal sightings were once at Moorabbin and Victoria Park.
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We had an eagle eyed guide in Tanzania who took short cuts across the savanna to spot leopards in trees etc so I know what you mean. But in Kruger we got out early and right away from the main traffic snarls, which can be irritating, and saw plenty, including a pair of cheetahs wandering alongside us which I was later told wasn’t so common in that part of Kruger and what we assumed was elephant sex in a lagoon.
Both great experiences but I agree, I would probably want a guided tour to begin.
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