Travel

Are you Interested in an Alternative Travel for Adventure Lovers?

June 29, 2018 By Tam Warner 1 Comment

travel for adventure lovers, adventures, rock climbing, open waters — Photo by Mario Ceh

Alternative Travel for Adventure Lovers!

What does “vacation” mean to you? Sometimes people have three things on their minds: sun, sea, and sand. However, every now and then you do need a vacation that entirely revolves around rest and recuperation. For the adventure lover, there are plenty of alternative vacations out there that might suit you a little better! No matter what your area of interest, there will be some sort of specialist trip out there to suit your needs. So, here are a couple of alternative getaway ideas for those who are looking for something a little different!

Sailing

Who said you need to stay on dry land while you’re away? Sailing remains an extremely popular means of exploring unfamiliar areas, not only do you get the thrill of the sea breeze through your hair out in open waters, but you can pull up at some truly unique beaches and coves along the way! Now, there are two different ways to undertake a sailing trip. The first is to go it alone (or with whoever you’re travelling with). This will require a thorough understanding of how to sail – not only will this help your trip to go smoothly, but it’s important for safety’s sake, as open waters can be dangerous if you don’t know how to navigate them properly. On the other hand, if you are feeling a little reluctant to head straight out into open waters alone, you could take part in a pre-planned sailing trip that will follow a mapped out route. To take a look at some of the most desired sailing package trips in the world, click here.

Rock Climbing

If you’re comfortable with heights and are looking for an intense trip that can provide you with an adrenaline rush and some of the best views of different areas that you visit, then a climbing trip might be the best option for you. If you’re already into climbing, you’re probably pretty set and ready to go. You’ll have the necessary skills and equipment to take straight to the cliff edges or mountain faces. But, if you’ve never tried climbing before, you don’t necessarily have to rule yourself out of this kind of trip. There are plenty of ways to prepare yourself. Perhaps the easiest and safest way to get into rock climbing is to participate in indoor climbing closer to home first. Your first visit may feel a little intimidating, but it will be more than worth the effort. A tutor will be able to guide you step by step through all of the basic moves, meaning you add some to your inventory every visit. It won’t be long until you have the essential skills to climb unsupervised and can start planning your climbing holiday. Just make sure to always climb with a group of friends so that someone can seek help if an accident does occur.

These are just two different types of adventure holiday that you might like to consider when planning your next trip! So, be bold and brave and try something new and a little more adventurous!

Contributed and collaborative Post

Cozumel Has So Much To Offer! Did You Know There Is A Pearl Farm?

June 21, 2018 By Tam Warner 4 Comments

Yes, you heard me! Cozumel has a Pearl Farm and it is the only one in the Caribbean! My fellow traveler, Linda Beach of A Passionate Dream Life came to visit and we decided to check it out. We had a great time, and learned so much.

I’ve seen pearl farms in Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean, and they are huge. The Pacific is an ocean of rich nutrients, but the Atlantic, and especially the Caribbean, offers much less in the way of nutrients and food. Compared to the Pacific, the Caribbean is a desert. But this wonderful family from Mexico City had a dream, and they have made it a reality. Isa Caamaño gave us a fantastic tour, and since she is the biologist in the family, we really learned about the biology of pearl farming. Her enthusiasm is infectious!

The first order of business is to learn a bit about pearls! I’ve always been fascinated by them, and their history. Photo by Linda Beach

Isa showed us the cages where the oysters develop. When Wilma hit, all of their oysters were lost, but they have created an anchoring system that will keep them in place during a storm.

The story of the farm could be made into a movie. Dad was a successful contractor in Mexico City, but had a dream of starting a pearl farm in Cozumel. The entire family became involved in the project, and they started up in the early 2000s. In 2005, WILMA came along and destroyed everything, and I mean every single thing on the farm and the island. They decided to stay and rebuild, and in doing so, have created unique technologies and a successful business. They have also called upon Our Lady of Guadelupe, the patron saint of Mexico, to help. Visiting the Pearl Farm is a must do on Cozumel!

After the storm they put a statue of Our Lady of Guadelupe to protect the farm, and there hasn’t been a storm since. The goddess Ixchel is said to inhabit the island, so you could say the strength of women is protecting the island

Isa explains the seeding process and shows us pearls from the farm. Photo by Linda Beach

The tour also includes lunch, and plenty of time to relax and rest on this uninhabited beach on the north side of the island. It is about as far north as you can go on Cozumel, and utterly undeveloped except for the pearl farm. It is a beautiful area and one that is very rarely seen. I highly recommend visiting the Pearl Farm, and you can find them at Cozumel Pearl Farm on Facebook! Tell them Travels with Tam sent you!

When on the Wrong Side of History

June 19, 2018 By Tam Warner 1 Comment

Amy Roberts welcoming us to The Harrington School.

Being on the wrong side of history isn’t unusual, and there are many examples of it in the United States (and around the world). Learning about such circumstances can be very enlightening, and when the wrong is clearly acknowledged I am so appreciative. Not long ago I paid a visit to beautiful St Simon’s Island in the state of Georgia, and learned so much about the history of the area! One of my favorite experiences was our visit to The Harrington School, and meeting Amy Roberts.

Amy Roberts is a wonderful storyteller and historian.

The names of the students at The Harrington School and art depicting the importance of education to this community.

My group toured with Cap Fendig’s Lighthouse Trolleys and Tours, and he obtained permission to visit The Harrington School off hours. The school was founded in the 1920s by emancipated slaves on St Simon’s Island. The school provided education for children through 7th grade until the Georgia schools were desegregated in the 1960s. The school became the focal point of African American communities on St Simons Island. Apparently, Gullah Geechee heritage is simply being an American whose origins are in Africa and whose ancestors were slaves. At least that is what I gathered from Amy Roberts, our lovely guide at The Harrington School, which is open to the public.

Amy Roberts was a thoroughly enjoyable personality who attended the Harrington School in the 1950s. Her stories of the school and the community of former slaves and their families was riveting. I learned that Eugenia Price, a southern author, wrote a trilogy about the history and lives of the plantations of St Simons Island. From Amy, I also learned about an incident in St Simons that ought to have tremendous historical influence on us as Americans. The story as I heard it from Amy is that slave catchers “conned” a group of Igbo (now Nigeria) Africans to come to the United States to participate in agricultural endeavors. When they boarded the ship they were chained and learned what their fate was going to be: slavery. The Wanderer, the ship that carried them to America, docked in Savannah where most of the people were bought for about $100 per person by slaveholders John Couper and Thomas Spalding of St Simons’ Island. These poor people were crowded onto the York, a coastal vessel, in chains and transported to Dunbar Creek on St Simons. During the trip, led by their chief, the Igbo rebelled, took over the ship, and drowned their captors. Rather than endure slavery, several of the Igbo people committed suicide by drowning themselves in Dunbar Creek. The story grabbed my heart and I felt this sacrifice in my bone marrow. The event is known as the Igbo Landing Mass Suicide and even though there are accounts that differ regarding the event, the power of this story has a huge impact.

This incredible painting shows the mass suicide of the Igbo people. Look closely at the water where faces are floating.

I love the South, but its past is on the wrong side of history. The Harrington School and the stories of “slaves” and their “owners” help to give us a view into the actual humanity of the individuals, and the redemption of the evils of slavery. I feel the same way about Confederate flags and statues, they should be displayed as artifacts of a time in history that must be remembered because of the great wrongs committed, not in honor of their “lost cause”. The idea of the demise of a society based on slavery being “romantic” doesn’t sit right with me. For me, it is an unfathomable evil to “own” people. Glorifying the antebellum society pre Civil War is something people tend to do, without recognizing exactly what they are glorifying. I found the history of St Simons and the birth of an African American community around The Harrington School to be a story of hope, perseverance and honesty on the part of the island, and the people of the island.

A visit to St Simon’s is many things, but among the many activities and quaint streets, there is a history worth knowing.

Is it too Early to Plan Your New Year’s Trip? No!

June 13, 2018 By Tam Warner 13 Comments

Is it too early to plan your New Year’s trip? I don’t think so at all! When June comes around and the sun is hotter than hades, you know it’s too late to plan your summer vacation. You might be able to get a last minute deal somewhere nice, but ultimately the best spots will be already taken. You can say goodbye to your dreams of sunbathing on a sandy beach while drinking an exotic cocktail )unless you happen to live by the coast and have a cocktail mixer at home)!

June is the best time to plan vacations that most people don’t think about now: Thanksgiving, winter break, and more importantly, your New Year’s trip. Indeed, for a lot of people, the New Year’s vacation often happens as an afterthought between September and November, but the earlier you plan, the more chances you’ll get to find your dream vacation. After all, if you’re planning to spend a couple of weeks abroad, December is a good as any month to visit the world. In Christian countries, you’ll be surrounded by Christmas decorations – visit an actual German Christmas market in Germany, for instance – and most cities have their own holiday displays.

So, is it too early to plan your New Year’s vacation? The answer is NO, now is just the right time to recenter yourself and figure out where and how you want to start the new year.

Now’s the time to think about New year

New Year is a time for self-discovery

Everyone comes to the end of the year looking back and wondering what they would have done differently. How did your fitness resolution go? Did you get your career back on track? Have you finally met the perfect partner? If you can’t yet answer any of these questions, don’t panic. It’s only June and you still have plenty of time to make your dreams come true. And, you need to be realistic about what you wish as well. Most women promise to themselves to change their figure, lose weight and start a healthy lifestyle as the clocks rings 12 times on December 31st. How many of them actively work on making things happen? The answer is very few. But, before you start blaming yourself for not better any closer to your goals today than you were on New year’s day, remember that New Year’s resolutions rarely work out. You need to create a personal mission statement instead. It’s fair to say that taking time off to visit and engage with different cultures can give you the inspiration you need to define your goals for the new year and your strategy to reach them. What does a mission statement consist of? New Year is the ideal time of your life when you can set a new direction, and it happens once a year only. Make use of the festive season to make a list of things you love to do. Then you need to write down the values that best represent who you are and list the qualities you wish you had more of such as patience, leadership, etc. This little exercise helps you to encompass the essence of who you are. It defines your mission for the future. It’s not about losing weight or learning French. It’s about embracing your passion and making a difference to the world by improving what you have to give and share.

Do you need a digital detox to find yourself?

At the heart of your mission, you might find it difficult to identify exactly what you need to do to become a better version of yourself. Imagine for instance that you wish you were less stressed out, or that you could be more positive about yourself. Ultimately, nobody has a secret button at the back of their head that they need to switch on to create positivity or self-esteem. But, there may be elements that contribute to your negative mindset and your lack of self-confidence. Interestingly enough, negativity has never been more in your life than since you’ve started using a smartphone. Every day, people check their social media accounts. They want the latest news; they need to reach out to everyone and compare themselves to other users, which can increase their confidence issues. Additionally, carrying a phone with you means that you’re always accessible. People can call you and disturb your day at any time. And that can be stressful. That’s precisely why you might want to turn your New Year’s holiday into a digital detox vacation. Choose a remote location and lose yourself into the peace of the landscape. No phone. No ringtone. No social media access. Just you learning to make peace with your thoughts. You’ll come back feeling a lot more relaxed and centered.

Find somewhere unique for a party

Has life been treating you roughly these past few months? A lot of people can go through a rough patch, and unfortunately, often one unpleasant event can cause many others. Imagine arguing with a friend before going to work. You might still be running on anger when you discuss a project with colleagues, and suddenly, you find yourself yelling things you didn’t even know you thought. From there on, you could face professional difficulties, within your team or even in your industry sector. And as things can rapidly escalate, you might get nervous about the negative atmosphere that has developed as a result of your row. This can impact on your health in many ways, from causing sleeping troubles to creating stomach cramps. And ultimately, comes the end of the year and you feel like the world has sucked up all the joy out of your life. Relax. You just need to change your mind to get things back into perspective. You need to spend New Year in a place that knows how to party, such as Singapore. The firework displays are said to be mesmerizing for the occasion. Besides, you can easily find a room for rent in Singapore directly by the town center, so that you’re not far from the main celebrations. You’ll find parties happening everywhere in the country with amazing food and shopping options.

Start on a healthy foot

If you’ve been struggling to manage your mental and physical health, you probably need to go cold turkey and quit your harmful lifestyle habits. For instance, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys a drink in the evening, it might affect your sleep quality at night and impact on your productivity during the day. But, if you use a couple of glasses of wine after work as a way to relax, you might find it difficult to let go even if it is for the best. So, you might need to book yourself into a yoga retreat to become more mindful of what you do and don’t do to yourself. Bali in Indonesia is a renowned destination for yoga amateurs to learn to embrace their body flaws and free up their mind, with daily workouts on the beach. Besides, you can enjoy one of the healthiest and most diverse diets on the planet, as Bali follows a balanced Indian diet with a lot of vegetables and beneficial spices. A couple of weeks replacing your fast food lunch with pulses, cereals and vegetables can do wonders for the mind and the body!

A trip to the heart of Europe

How about you decide to leave your everyday worries behind and embrace new cultures and ways of thinking about life? It’s not uncommon to feel stuck in life and wonder wished you had an instruction book. Are you living life to the fullest? Are you the person you wanted to be? Are you where you wanted to be? All these questions can be left unanswered if you’re not sure of who you are anywhere or of whether your lifestyle still meets your needs. Traveling might not bring the answer to you, but it can inspire you to think outside the box and find new paths to explore. It can be difficult to encounter a variety of cultures during a small time, so the best way to discover new horizons during the festive seasons is to visit Europe. For practicality, you’ll find that internal travels can be a lot easier by trains, especially as it lets you see new landscapes. The best places to visit during the Christmas and New Year’s break in Europe are metropoles. Start your journey in London, where you’ll have no difficulty navigating through the locals. Then move to Paris for an epic firework display by the Eiffel tower. If you’re looking for fun traditions, you’ll love Barcelona and the 12 grapes custom at midnight. And finally, conclude your trip in the most magical town in Europe, Istanbul, where the population speaks different languages, has different faiths and loves different foods. It’s a lesson of tolerance and love.

Will you be a different person next year? The only way to become the best version of yourself is to let your New Year’s vacation show you the way to be better!

Contributed Post.

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It is #WorldOceansDay, What One Thing are YOU Going to Do?

June 8, 2018 By Tam Warner 1 Comment

Adidas and Parley made these awesome shoes made of ocean plastic! I bought 2 pairs!

It is World Oceans Day 2018! Are you tired of hearing that our oceans are in crisis? Too bad, because it is true. Did you know our oceans are 30% more acidic than they were 100 years ago? Did you know that 4 out of the 5 mass extinctions on earth took place when oceans became too acidic? Did you know that they recently found microplastic in organisms in Antarctica??? Our oceans are paramount to our very lives. We have to start caring about it, or we will destroy ourselves.

Let’s all replace plastic with biodegradables. Please check out this link to Amazon’s biodegradable straws! Remember, we all need to #startwith1thing. What 1 thing will you start with???? For switching to biodegradable makeup and sunscreens go to SHOP BEAUTIFUL YOU.

Check out this article from The Center for Biological Diversity. Here are the facts:

Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic each year, which can cause intestinal injury and death and transfers plastic up the food chain to bigger fish and marine mammals.
Sea turtles also mistake floating plastic garbage for food. While plastic bags are the most commonly ingested item, loggerhead sea turtles have been found with soft plastic, ropes, Styrofoam, and monofilament lines in their stomachs. Ingestion of plastic can lead to blockage in the gut, ulceration, internal perforation and death; even if their organs remain intact, turtles may suffer from false sensations of satiation and slow or halt reproduction.
Hundreds of thousands of seabirds ingest plastic every year. Plastic ingestion reduces the storage volume of the stomach, causing birds to consume less food and ultimately starve. Nearly all Laysan albatross chicks — 97.5 percent — have plastic pieces in their stomachs; their parents feed them plastic particles mistaken for food. Based on the amount of plastic found in seabird stomachs, the amount of garbage in our oceans has rapidly increased in the past 40 years.
Marine mammals ingest and get tangled in plastic. Large amounts of plastic debris have been found in the habitat of endangered Hawaiian monk seals, including in areas that serve as pup nurseries. Entanglement deaths are severely undermining recovery efforts of this seal, which is already on the brink of extinction. Entanglement in plastic debris has also led to injury and mortality in the endangered Steller sea lion, with packing bands the most common entangling material. In 2008 two sperm whales were found stranded along the California coast with large amounts of fishing net scraps, rope and other plastic debris in their stomachs.
White Pelicans in St Simons Island

Longspine Squirrelfish, Cozumel 2018

Boulder Star Coral

A Blue Eyed Puffer Fish!

French Grunts

St Simon’s Island is Full of Authentic Southern History and Charm

June 5, 2018 By Tam Warner 6 Comments

I loved my recent visit to St Simon’s Island and enjoyed the authentic southern history and charm of the place! It truly is like stepping back in time because the island does not allow buildings over four stories, so there are no big name hotels (the Supreme Court ruled that the island could keep their zoning regulations!). No big chain restaurants. Everything is small, authentic, one of a kind. It is very hard to find places like that anymore! Welcome to St Simon’s!

Captain Fendig’s Lighthouse Trolleys and Tours is the best company on the island to get the real scoop and stories. Cap is island born and bred, and he makes sure his tour guides are the real deal.

There is only one place to get your St Simon’s history and stories….Lighthouse Trolleys and Tours!

The Bloody Marsh Battle Site

The end of Spain’s designs on Georgia came on July 7, 1742, when British troops ambushed the Spanish and ended Spanish claims on the colony forever. James Oglethorpe colonized Georgia for Great Britain, but there were many disputes over the Georgia and Florida borders between Spain and Britain. The fight found the Spanish taking cover in the forest….but the outnumbered British caught them by coming across the marsh (swamp) and over 200 Spaniards died. (Want more info? Click on https://www.goldenisles.com/listing/bloody-marsh-battle-site/210/) Cap Fendig took us to the site, and like a true history buff, he had one question for us: what if the Spanish had won? My bet is that everyone would be speaking Spanish on St Simon’s, and probably the whole Eastern seaboard!

The Marker at the Bloody Marsh National Park.

St Simon’s Island Lighthouse

There are only five remaining lighthouses in Georgia, and you guessed it, St Simon’s is one of them. It is still in operation, assisting traffic entering St Simon’s Sound. The historic site is beautiful, it houses a fascinating museum, gift shop and yes, you can climb the 129 steps to the top of the lighthouse! For more information go to www.saintsimonslighthouse.org.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s house, now a museum

An incredible piece made by an unknown during the Civil War. The head of Nora August, a contraband slave, is carved from Ivory…it really is an amazing piece. (But no more ivory! We are losing our elephants!)

Christ’s Church, Frederica

The church was built in 1820 and destroyed by Union soldiers during the Civil War. It is the 3rd oldest Episcopalian Church in the USA. The cemetery was the most fascinating part of the tour…Cap Fendig had a Union Soldier waiting for us at the entrance to the grounds, and the family histories of those buried there were riveting. Many famous Georgians have been laid to rest at Christ Church, including southern novelist Eugenia Price, who wrote the St Simons Trilogy.

After being destroyed in the Civil War Christ Church was rebuilt by Anson Phelps Dodge in 1886. The grounds are spectacular.

The stained glass in memorial to Anson Phelps Dodge.

There is something so peaceful about older cemeteries.

There is a sense of Southern timelessness at Christ Church.

Those buried here live on in the history of Christ Church.

Behind Harry, our Union Soldier, is the stone memorial of Lordy King.

One of the most interesting stories is that of Lordy King and Neptune Small. The King family owned Retreat Plantation on St Simon’s Island, and each child of the family had a companion slave with whom to grow up. Henry Lord Page King, called Lordy, had a slave, Neptune, who was only five months younger. They grew up together and all of the children and their companion slaves were taught to read and write by Anna Mathilda Page King, Lordy’s mother. It was not uncommon for slaves to accompany their owners to war, and Neptune went with Lordy when Civil War broke out. Lordy was shot and killed during the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA, in 1862, and Neptune found his body on the battlefield. He enlisted help from the officers to make a simple pine box to carry Lordy’s body, and in Richmond Neptune bought a casket and started home. The story says that Lordy’s siblings met Neptune in Savannah and they buried Lordy in a temporary grave because Union soldiers had taken St Simon’s Island for their headquarters. Neptune then went with Tip King, the youngest brother, when he went to the war, and stayed with him until the surrender. Neptune was free, but he chose to return to Savannah to disinter Lordy and take him home to be buried at Christ Church on St Simons, with his family. The King family gifted a small piece of land on their plantation to Neptune, and he took the name “Small”, apparently because he was a smallish man. He built his house, married, and raised his children there, working for the King family until he died. He was buried in the Retreat Plantation slave graveyard. Now, I am not a person to idealize the antebellum or war time South, and I’m not fond of the display of the Stars and Bars unless it is in a historical context, but I did find the story touching, that a slave who could have been free would have taken his companion home for burial. It speaks to a love or fondness for Lordy on the part of Neptune Small.

Stay tuned for more fascinating stories and blogs about St Simon’s Island and the King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort where I stayed in historical and casual splendor! Casual luxury is my favorite kind!

Speaking of casual luxury, be sure and check this out:

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