travel buff Archives | TRAVELS WITH TAM

Where Should I go Next??

January 7, 2016 By Tam Warner 24 Comments

I do have a few trips planned for 2016, but I need to do some more travel planning! Any ideas?

In January, I am headed to Lake Tahoe to see the lake in the snow…and, of course, to gamble. I am hoping my cousin will come along and that my friend from Sacramento will meet me for a day or so. Thank you, Caesar’s Group!

February will take me to the Revillagadoes Islands to dive with Humpback Whales, Giant Mantas, Dolphins, Sharks, and hopefully, a whale shark! The diving there has been incredible as the whale season gets started. 9 days of diving on the Solmar V! I cannot wait!

Early March will take me to Kentucky where my niece is expecting her first baby! Mid-March I am off to California for the Women In Travel Summit in Orange County, California and I plan to stay a while after the conference. Randy and I are planning to drive from Dallas to California, checking out a few sights along the way. I love Orange County and plan to show you why! I’m planning fine dining, luxurious hotels, water sports, and who knows what else? There is always something going on in Orange County.

I'd love to stay on Balboa Island! — I’d love to stay on Balboa Island!

The Duke greets you at John Wayne Airport in OC!

Late June and July takes me to Australia, Bali, and a Citizen Science dive trip with Marine Megaafauna Foundation‘s Dr Andrea Marshall (Queen of Mantas) in Komodo, Indonesia on the luxurious Arenui! I am so excited for this one…I have never been to Indonesia! I am still trying to figure out where to stay and dive in Bali, and also on the Great Barrier Reef.

Group-photos-1 — I’ve been on several Citizen Science trips with Marine Megafauna, and I LOVE the people I meet, and the work we do.

Researching Whale Sharks in Mexico. I love this photo of me taken by Andrea Marshall.

So…where else should I go? I would love to go to Europe, and Antarctica. Oh, and Morocco and Israel. And on an African safari. And Japan. Palau. Canada! Can you believe I have never been to Canada? I lived 3 hours from the border until I was twenty, and never went. I still haven’t seen so many of our beautiful national parks! Yosemite and Yellowstone are a must see. Oh, and Alaska! I must go to Alaska. We’d need a small ship though, since my husband’s double lung transplant his immune system isn’t great, so a large ship isn’t possible. Randy definitely wants to see Alaska. Montana? Jackson Hole? I want to see a big Moose. A live one. And a wolf. And a bear.

I want to go to Britain and follow the footsteps of Richard III, the Plantagenet King who was killed in 1485 by Henry Tudor. His remains were found a couple of years ago in Leceister, in a car park. I have been to Leicester and visited the battlefield, but I now want to see the tomb honoring Richard, and also take a Ricardian route through northern England. Scotland, Wales, and Ireland too. And I’d love to dive in Cornwall. I love Cornwall.

In other words, I want to go everywhere. I would love to do a Christmas cruise through Europe for the Christmas markets! I know my readers would love to hear about all of these trips, and I would so love to inform them about the locations. I would be in photographic heaven! Oh! Let’s not forget the Exumas, and Bahamas…I want to dive with sharks! I forgot the Maldives, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. The Amalfi Coast! Lake Como! Venice! Florence! Sienna! And the Alhambra in Spain. The Costa Brava. The French countryside and beaches. Ghosts in Bordeaux.

Christmas Lights Display on Sloane Square in Chelsea, London. The modern colorful Christmas lights attract and encourage people to the street.

Where would my readers like to go?? What is your dream trip?

Fab Photos Friday: Extinction is looming

April 15, 2015 By Tam Warner 11 Comments

There are only 6 Northern White Rhinos left on our planet. One is a male. They are all being guarded by rangers, and the horns have been removed so there is no point for poachers to kill them. I do not understand why our species is so cruel to every other species! There is evidence now that the Black Rhino is “officially” extinct in the wild. Humans seem to think we are special, somehow “above” the other life on our planet. If things continue the way they are going, in the next 50 years we will have no reefs, no apex predators in the ocean so very few fish, no rhinos, no sharks, and water rising everywhere. At that point will we wise up? I hope we wise up much sooner than that. Conservation means saving our own species…once we ruin all of the ecosystems that support life on this planet, we won’t last long, either. Today’s photographs are of animals headed toward extinction. Let’s not let it happen. Everyone….listen to Jane Goodall:

“If all of us would go through our lives thinking about the little choices we make each day as to what we buy, what we eat, what we wear – and how those choices might impact the environment, might impact child slave labor in other countries, might impact cruelty towards animals, we start making small changes… Billions of small changes around the world can lead to the kind of change we need if we care about future generations.” – Jane Goodall (http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/jane-goodall/photos/jane-goodall-birthday/)

Please. Start small, but start!

13-640x456 — A beautiful Manta Ray in Socorro, Mexico. Endangered.

chobe 09 Red Lechwe — A tiny Red Lechwe in Botswana…endangered.

3850104428_ac20cab293_b — The Red Lechwe is so pretty!

chobe 09 sable antelope2 — A majestic Giant Sable Antelope male….critically endangered. Chobe, Botswana.

Rhino Mother. Randy Minton — The White Rhino (not the northern). Endangered. Sabi Sands, Kruger, South Africa.

The Asian elephants use tools! And they are critically endangered. There are only about 2,000 left.

ew 14 taking a breath — Asian elephants love to bathe!

tan 12 sg lion on tree — Lion populations are down 80% in most parts of Africa. Serengeti.

A gorgeous, endangered Hawksbill Turtle, a fairly common sight on Cozumel. — A gorgeous, endangered Hawksbill Turtle. All sea turtles are critically endangered…Hawksbills were hit hard by the BP spill.

Whale Watching in Monterey Bay — Whales are on the endangered list. Monterey Bay

Volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Asia.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Watching an endangered manta.

Sea Turtles are so awesome, dude! And so endangered. This is a green sea turtle. Ecuador.

A lucky Green Sea Turtle, rescued from a fishing net. A sad end for many sea animals.

A dead baby hammerhead, entangled in fishing net, WITHIN the Machallila National Park. Photo by Larry. Endangered species.

You can clearly see the net. — You can clearly see the net that this humpback adult is fighting…our group could not save this endangered animal.

This manta was extremely friendly and checked me out for quite a while. Ahhh!!! Look at the eye!!!!!!!!

gws 10 zapata again — Ah, the famous Zapata of Guadalupe Island, Mexico. See the two tags on his dorsal fin? Great Whites are endangered.

The fabulous Scalloped Hammerhead! Endangered.

can 11 ws ran tam shark2 — Randy and I with a magnificent Whale Shark off of the Yucatan. Endangered…their fins bring a fortune in Asia.

A Whale "blow" and a fluke! — A Whale “blow” and a fluke!

We need to wake up to the danger we are in by putting these animals at risk, by stressing the planet and causing it to warm, to plastic trash everywhere….to cutting down rainforests, etc etc. Or we are lost.

The Enchanting and Mystical Lure of Thailand

February 5, 2015 By Tam Warner 12 Comments

I visited Thailand in March 2013, and to say it is enchanting and mystical is an understatment. Two weeks was certainly not long enough to be in this incredibly beautiful country. First, I went on a dive trip on the Andaman Sea, then my daughter joined me in Phuket. Bangkok was spectacular. We talk about the trip often, mostly about how we long to return. I need to spend at least a year just going everywhere on earth I want to go! Actually, that is a great idea.