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Travel Experience

A Nepal Holiday Does Not Have To Be Adventure Travel…

by admin

in Guest Expert - Your Travel Planners,Little Known Travel Secrets,Purpose travel,hiking,journeys


Camilla Minge Strand experienced  a Nepal holiday recently that clearly shows you don’t have to be an adventure travel enthusiast to enjoy Nepal.

Recently Nilla and I were in Peru where we meet up with a beautiful lady called Camilla.

During one of  our conversations Camilla shared her Nepal Holiday experience.

Camilla was very fortunate to take some extraordinary photo’s of  Eagles.

She claimed the photos was good enough for National Geographic, now you can be the judge.

I asked if she would mind sharing a couple with you…along with how she was feeling  at the time.

Camilla has generously shared her travel experience from Nepal with us.



Namaste


In the Right Place At The Right Time.













At an early age I started searching for important answers in my life.

The older I got, the more impatient I got by finding more questions than answers.

Even when hitting some dead end tracks I was able to learn and boost my self-confidence and gain greater trust in my abilities.

A few times I had looked for places to learn meditation, read books, and followed it’s  “Easy step by step” CDs, only to find a noisy mind and loose the feeling of my legs.

My spiritual journey took me to Nepal.

It was a masterfully planned trip to connect, elevate and energize us in order to better function on heights up to 5500 m.

Perhaps you can relate as I am constantly finding more people like myself  or more I find myself more like others.












I was totally unprepared for Kathmandu city.

I would describe this city as having brought Mumbai up in the mountains.

The dirt, the cold, the barely clothed children made me sad and homesick.

I saw a lot of desperation OM was sold and not a part of peoples lives.

Nagarkot Resort (about 4500 above sea level) provided peace and serenity.

I relaxed and felt at home instantly.

This was the Nepal I had come to see! In every room at the resort there was panoramic windows, which allowed you to follow the light moving over the chain of mountaintops.

Even though I was visiting during wintertime and it was freezing cold I could not justify eating any of my meals indoors.

My Olympus and I sat on the balcony spying for a good shot.

Every minute the landscape looked different pending on where the landscape got lit up by the sun or shaded by the clouds.

It was so beautiful.

There was a group of three to four eagles that were gliding fairly close, while 30 something was further away hunting around the forest grounds.

I was following them with my lens just admiring their beauty, I felt so connected to them and in sync with mother earth and the ecology of life.

I was counting my blessings in meditation, learning to open up to all multi faceted events of life.

Such a powerful moment for me!














In such a grand environment it’s impossible not to get touch and connected to the majesty of nature and what mother earth is providing for us all.

I love to observe life and feel blessed whenever I am able to see the beauty of ongoing life.

It makes me feel connected and in the right place at the right time.




Camilla Minge Strand

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Machu Picchu Travel Diary…Day 1 Sacred Journey.

by admin

in Purpose travel,South America Travel,Travel news

You are invited to follow along with Nilla and I as we share our own person travel experience to Peru.

We will share it as it happens…along with many insights that we hope you will find valuable for your own travel.

Some insight will captured on video each day others will be photo’s with a commentary. We promise to share good and bad as it happens.

So please check out my first short 59 second video as we are about to leave our wonderful home here in Albany. We know from past experiences that our home comforts will not always be afforded us as we travel through some very undeveloped countryside in Peru.

What lies ahead is a very long couple of days flying with Qantas and no doubt more than a few delays before we get to experience wonderful places like Machu Picchu.

I am excited and apprehensive…but you will have to wait for tomorrow post to learn more.

So please stick around…I promise it will be interesting, informative and quite probably have some valuable life insights which I just know third world countries always offer travellers. Hence the attraction of such places.

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Travelers you need never fear being pick pocketed again…learn how?

by admin

in Best Travel Advice,Little Known Travel Secrets,South America Travel,Travel Planning Tips,Travel Tips,Youtube video

My last travel tip warned on locking your car doors when traveling…if you missed it check it out

Please understand these tips are not meant to be negative, just what I call good common travel sense which some people simple don’t have due to lack of travel experience.

This simple very inexpensive way to prevent your valuables from becoming the booty of a smart pick pocket is very very effective…almost pick pocket proof and certainly easy to implement. That way you get to enjoy the surrounds not stressing about becoming a victim.

Let me share my story of how I learnt the hard way about this technique.

While in Puno in Peru back in 2004 a group of us were walking through the very busy market.

There were thousands of people mostly shoulder to shoulder jostling between the stalls.

Next thing my wife called out yuck John that guy just spat on your back. Well my jacket actually. I turned in shock to see what sort of person would stoop to such a low act.

By the time we realised what had happened some member of the group had nudged up against me and deftly removed a $100 note from my jackets inside pocket.

It was all over in a spit sorry split second.

Don’t let this happen to you…

learn the simple steps you can take to protect your valuables no matter what distracting trick might be pulled on you.  I reveal it in the video below with a demonstration of what I think is the most anti pick pocket protection going.

The good news you can get these ( you will learn in the video) in most markets in any city in the work for only a couple of dollars.

Personally I never travel without mine…and neither should you!!!

If you have any travel tips you would like to share then post them here for others to benefit.

Cheers

John C Spark

Expert Travel Planner

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Purpose Travel…Fueled By The Power Of Thought

by admin

in Best Travel Advice,Little Known Travel Secrets,Purpose travel,Travel Planning Tips,Travel Tips

“Sparky you will be proud of me, i ate chicken gizzards!!!! OMG they tasted exactly like chicken meat but like a big piece of grisle. YUK!!!!”

Kelly with her awards

"The hard work was worth it"

Whoa…

It has been a bit over a week now since I last wrote to.

Far too long… considering I have so much I want to share…that just might be the key to your next travel.

So what was happening?

In a word…I was… PONDERING!

  • pondering what to write,
  • what order to write it in
  • how to write it.

Frankly I had no idea just how challenging creating content for this blog would be…I was warned though!

To me it would be simple with all my personal travel, plus the vast numbers of very happy clients and our great relationships with key suppliers. In my mind I had access to untold valuable content by any stretch of the imagination!!!

But first, if you are a new here you may well benefit by visting this post which is pretty much what I am building onto today.

OK…

We are all together now…onwards and upwards!!!

Now let’s get to the bottom of my pondering and see if you can help through this.

But where do I start?

My resources are huge which I can tap into. There are literally thousands of clients we have assisted over the past 26 years from our 9 locations. So many in fact that when I tried to figure it out the best I could do is make an educated guess that between these businesses clients have entrusted us with somewhere in the region of $250,000,000 in travel. That’s a lot of travel and a lot of people whose learnings to call on.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Our learning’s never seem to stop.

Which is gold…

Our role has been to thoroughly research travel so you become comfortable with your decision. We are in a way acting as your travel guide to create the as near as possible the perfect holiday for you.

Over time our aim for you has evolved into “How we can work with you to create not just a great travel experience …but how to define a PURPOSE so your travel now becomes a way you can possible gain a life changing moment.”

Now I want to be right up front…PURPOSE travel may not be for everyone.

It can happen quickly!

One moment you are doing what you do… then bang! In a flash you decide to do something differently.

For example you could be contemplating eating a dish you would not of remotely considered before you set out on this trip …a great example that comes to mind is and I quote direct from the email I received just this morning from Kelly Spinks our award winning travel planner who is currently in Japan with her family…

“Sparky you will be proud of me, i ate chicken gizzards!!!! OMG they tasted exactly like chicken meat but like a big piece of grisle. YUK!!!! (These are Kelly’s exact words.)”

Could this be a life defining moment for Kelly…who knows time will tell? What I can say though is that whatever it took Kelly in her mind to pluck up (pardon the pun) the courage to try something she has not done before is the difference.

Think about this…if you do or try something that you have not thought possible whilst traveling…how might it impact a future situation you could be faced with where that mindset may very well be the inspiration to a better outcome?

You are probably thinking… sure John eating something unusual can hardly be a life changing event…or could it be?

I have personal experiences which over the course of time I will share. There is no doubt that I now look on food differently and with a much more open mind…I am enjoying all kinds of food which makes life more interesting. That’s got to be good for anyone in my eyes!

The result…I love cooking and food in a way my Mum could only have wished for when I was a youngster who was so picky with his food. The Mums reading this will know what I am talking about for sure.

I firmly believe it was visiting other countries and trying the local dishes that have conditioned me in such a way I would less likely have ventured down if I stayed at home in my comfortable zone.

Can you think of a time or experience from past travel where you stepped out of your comfort zone in a way that shocked or surprised you? If you can how about sharing it in the comments below…you just may be the inspiration to a fellow traveler…How good would that make you feel?

Just a little side note here…Kelly has traveled a great deal in the last 10 years and on her return one of the first things she shares with me is the unusual food she tried. I am sure Kelly will not mind saying so, but 10 years ago she was a meat and potato’s girl.

This has been huge for Kelly.

Has trying different foods changed Kelly…maybe not…what I can say though is she enjoys a much wider variety and styles if food now that more than likely would of taken a lot longer to be accepted into her life.

My next post I will explore even more how you can take your next holiday and quite possible turn it into a life changing or enhancing experience all from using a PURPOSE mindset.

Please leave a comment and tell what you want from this blog that way I will be able to be of greater service …is that fair enough?

Until we next meet…

enjoy good time.

John C Spark

Expert Travel Planner

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