Frequently Asked Questions
Do you plan your own trips and /or book your own trips?
I do all the research on the trips myself just through the web like everybody else. I always book my airfare because we try to use miles whenever possible. On some recent trips we have been using the cruise lines air deals. Unless you are using miles I cannot come close to matching the discounts the cruise lines give you. The down side is they tell you the flights you are going to be on, and they are not always ones I would choose.
Once I figure out a trip, I run it by a travel agent I have been using for some time to see if they can get a better deal than I found. Usually I let them book the trip for their efforts either way but they have gotten better deals on some occasions so its worth doing.
Are all the pictures and videos yours?
99% of the pictures are ours and 100% of the videos are mine. The flags, cruise ships, and maps are pulled from other sources of course. Years ago when we were taking the pictures and videos, I had no idea I would ever build a website. Editing down the videos into short videos from our home movies was the hardest part of doing this website. Following the creation of the website we are now taking pictures and videos with the website in mind.
Do you buy trip insurance?
The short answer used to be no.. We did take travel insurance when we did the African Safari just in case since we would be in the middle of nowhere for a large part of the trip. Fortunately, we didn’t need it then, or any other trip we had been on, so we were lucky. Since 2024 we have bought an annual trip insurance policy through a third party company, which is much more cost effective.
On a related note, the African safari trip was the only trip that required some shots to get into the countries. Make sure you check that out if you go there.
Have you had to get Visa’s for any of your trips?
Yes, but minimal. We had to get a Visa to go into China and it was a work effort to get that done. We actually used a service to help process it. Once we got it was good for 10 years.
We had to do a couple of online visa’s ahead of time for Africa and if I remember right Australia. In many cases where you are on a cruise, the cruise line handles any paperwork that might be needed if you were flying someplace on your own. Another example was St.Petersburg Russia. You could not get off the boat if you were not on a sanctioned tour that then included the Visa. You have to check before you go because the rules change all the time. If your on an organized tour they will tell you the Visa requirements.
More and more countries are requiring Visa’s and always check your itinerary. Most of them can be done online ahead of time without needing assistance.
Also most countries will not let you in if your passport is within 6 months of expiring.
You seem to use a lot of organized tours or excursions instead of doing trips on your own. Is there a specific reason for that?
We certainly have done parts of trips on our own. Iceland, Romania and 5 days in Shanghai being examples. But the majority of the trips are organized. It certainly costs more but doing all the reservations etc for multiple cities would be a workout and no guarantee to work out.
The other major reason we like organized tours is the amount of information we get from the excellent guides that are part of the tour. We would have missed so many little things if we had done some of these trips on our own. FYI in Africa you cannot go on your own to many of the National Parks, you have to have a guide.
Where did you get your facts and are you going to be updating them?
The facts are pulled from a variety of sources including notes we had made and Wikipedia. I will be making NO attempt to update them over time, but if I have made a mistake and you let me know I will correct it.