Well this is my second attempt at writing a blog entry and I thought I’d like to write about some unexpected adventures that we stumbled upon during some of our past holidays.

I guess unexpected might be the wrong term here as all of these activities are a part of the experience provided by the places we visited. But I would say unexpected if you don’t know they exist. Sometimes as travelers we get lucky and stumble upon them and they make the trip just that much more memorable.

My first unexpected adventure came a couple of years back on a visit to Chile when we were at Valley Nevado on a ski/snowboard tour. Riding down the slopes on my new board, I saw a shadow looming overhead without any sound like an airplane or any other motorized flying machine. Peacefully floating above me was a tandem paraglider gracefully flying to the bottom of the hill next to the main chair lift. I immediately told my girl that I just had to do this.

I went to the top of the hill where they were preparing the gliders for launch and asked them when I could go and how much. They said anytime that day, they only operated on certain days and there was no sign or any significant display that told you this was available. The price was $85 U.S. the pilot said he would fly me in trade for my helmet. I said nah, even though the helmet only cost $50 CAN. and at that time 50 CAN was equal to $42 U.S. I still needed to look cool for the rest of my snowboard trip. (ha ha ha)

We got all suited up and off we went, half way through the flight I convinced him to let me fly and I have to tell you it was fantastic, we did a flyby over the hotel bar and pool followed by a real sharp right hander just before landing. It was probably one of my most memorable moments. For an extra fee, I got pictures and a little video of the flight for my girl to put in our travelers scrap book.

When we booked our trip to Chile, we needed to make sure that my girl could ride her blades (a real short version of skis) on the hills over there as we did not want to get all the way there and have to rent skis. We were told that it shouldn’t be a problem and then uh huh, the unexpected…. we were told that she wouldn’t be allowed to use her blades on the CAT ski portion of our tour. She said that I could go with the group and she would be fine on her own. Being that it was our very first vacation together coupled with being madly in love, I didn’t want her to be alone. We spent that day in the city of Los Andes and just walked all around, it was fantastic, we saw sights, sounds and smells that we have never experienced before. We got to delve into the true South American culture that is Chile. Certainly an unexpected adventure to remember.

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Traveling Passions

Posted On 2009-02-22 , 2:32 PM

Traveling Passions

Having a passion for something always makes it interesting. I remember being a student and having to write papers about countries and cultures around the world and hating it or sitting in history and geography class writing notes to friends instead of listening. Now, however, with a passion for travel, researching and writing has become something fun and even enjoyable.

We are so fortunate in today’s world to have the freedom to go anywhere and see so much of the world. There is so much to be said for traveling. It’s an education in itself to interact with new people, see how other cultures live, the traditions they have, the history of their country and their way of life.

We, as people, can learn so much from other cultures. Take your kids on a trip to an underdeveloped country (many of which are very enriching personally and safe for travel) for example, show them what its like to live as they do and it’ll be sure to open their eyes and teach them a lesson in appreciation. Moreover, it’ll be a lesson for everyone involved.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow” ~Lin Yutang

Up until a few years ago, I was one of those inexperienced travelers and although I am still no expert, I have developed a great interest in experiencing what I can as often as I can. Together my significant other and I try to take at least 2 vacations

a year to different countries and places. We have seen and have had the opportunity to learn so much. It becomes more and more exciting each time and with each new experience there is a memory to reflect on and smile about.

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page” ~St. Augustine

Feel free to share your travel experiences as I have, I’d love to hear about them.

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February 2009

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