Perhaps it is time to see the sights from a different perspective.
Live-Aboard Dive Boat
After going on my first dive in four years during our recent trip to the Galapagos, I realized that diving was a long lost love.
This year-long adventure had limited options for dives, and many attempts to schedule them failed miserably due to poor logistics or bad weather (I'm looking at you Mauritius, Easter Island, and Peru). Just when I was about to give up, our trip to the Galapagos came along and I managed four dives during the course of our stay.
After seeing the whole spectrum of marine life you'd expect to find in the islands, my love affair returned with a vengeance, and seeing the week-long live-aboards departing for the far off corners of the Galapagos made my heart yearn for more.
Where would I want to go on a live-aboard? Well, there are many places that you can do it, with many cheap options in South East Asia and Central America. If I had to choose, however, a return to the Galapagos would be very high on the list because, lets face it, can you truly ask for anything more than being surrounded by hammerhead sharks?
River Cruises
How does a week long cruise down the Danube sound? Or perhaps floating down the rivers in the wine region of France or Germany? We've found so many inviting river cruises around the world that we could fill several months of travel with just these itineraries. (Photo "Heidelberg Castle" by ksasidhar)
River cruises are not talked about much, but after spending an evening on the Danube in Budapest last year a week-long itinerary has become quite appealing to us. Watching the world go by at the gentle pace of the river is something you do not get to experience in any other mode of transportation.
There is seeing the scenic countrysides from the vantage point of being on the river, but there is so much more than that. The rivers of Europe are so interconnected that you could easily take one journey from Amsterdam all the way to Budapest without interruption (and that is just a moderate itinerary)!
Exotic Adventure Cruising
Move over Alaska, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean, we're not talking about grandma's cruises. We want to go to the destinations that were made for explorers. (Photo "Stuck" by SailorJohn)
If you remove three of the most popular cruising options for most travelers, where would you end up? Well, in our minds there can only be a few options.
The South Pacific would be our the top choice, and we would imagine needing no fewer than one to two months of cruising to see everything we want. Not so much because there are a lot of destinations to see (although there are quite a few), but more that it takes several days to travel from island to island!
As much as we'd love to spend a lot of time in Yap, Nauru, Vanuatu, Tahiti, or American Samoa, the odds of us ever going there long-term seem much slimmer than the cruising alternative (which sounds equally as exciting). Like in the above dive trips, water activities would be plentiful as would be learning the cultural and culinary sides of these lesser visited destinations.
The other options we want to look at are much, much colder as they are none other than exploring the Arctic and Antarctic Circles! Would there be any better cruising option than donning thick winter gear and jumping aboard an ice-breaker ship for a few weeks to see icebergs, penguins (south), and polar bears (north)? We don't think so!
But as the polar expeditions are the most expensive options on our list, we'll have to put those on hold for a bit while we increase our funds to afford them.
Do you have a favorite water based experience to enjoy while traveling? Comment below to let us know!