by Melissa | Blog Post, Travel
The next day and a half spent at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge allowed me to indulge in a few of my favorite things – namely taking pictures, reading, and writing.
It may surprise folks but I really enjoyed the time spent in the great outdoors. Our rooms had minimal electricity and I had to walk on a path through the jungle by candle and/or flashligth in the dark. All of our meals were by candlelight. Hot water was only availabe at night as a result of solar heating. It was all so simple and enjoyable and outside of what I consider my comfort zone – you know with the whole need to sleep with mosquito netting and being in the middle of the jungle thing.
During the full day spent at Tiger Tops, we went on two jeep safaris and also one 1.5 hour trek in the jungle. As with the first elephant safari, we saw some wild boars, rinos, a sloth bear, birds, spotted deer and lots and lots of vegitation. The worst part, however, was that one of the jeeps carrying people not with my group spotted a tiger. However, the amatuers didn’t manage to get a picture, so I say it doesn’t count. 🙂 Especially since none of our group got to see a tiger during our visit. If I ever go back to Tiger Tops, I’m totally bringing along a large glitter ball, a bit of cat nip, and laser pointer. That would totally work to lure a tiger out of the woods for a photo session, right?
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by Melissa | Blog Post, Travel
This is it. The final countdown. The last few days before I leave on my next big adventure.
I’ve done a fair bit of travelling in my day – but this is a trip unlike any other I have taken. I have never before needed vaccinations (thyphoid!) for my trips, or pre-prescribed antibiotics just in case. I have never needed to bring my own toilet paper and mosquito netting and super power bug spray on a trip. I have never needed to pretreat my clothes with bug repellent.
However, in spite of all of this, I am looking forward to this trip. The two week break from my normal life routines will be a welcome refreshing break – not that I don’t love what I do here at home, but sometimes you just need to unplug and recharge.
I still have a fair bit of preparation to do, like figuring out which clothes and (more importantly) which shoes I am bringing, but I think I have a good start with my trip to REI today and my trip to the camera store last weekend. My rented wide angle lens will be here on Wednesday and I have all my camera stuff ready to go. I’m slightly disappointed that I won’t be able to use only my backpacking pack for this trip – but I’m still going to try to travel as lightly as possible.
Now for the information that people have been asking about – where are you going, and how long will you be gone. Well, without further adieu, here is the rundown of my trip.
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by Melissa | Blog Post, Travel
I will be headed to Nepal. It’s been quite a few years since I have travelled internationally, so I’m starting to get back into that frame of mind so I can prep accordingly. Last week I received confirmation of our flight info from the US –> Doha, Qatar –> Kathmandu – so it’s all getting very real.
For this trip, I’m challenging myself to only travel with a camera bag and my backpacking pack. I’m a chronic overpacker, so this could prove to be a challenge. However, I’m choosing to go this route so I can travel more simply, and I guess in a way live more simply and try to be as focused on the experience as possible. I want to take in the beautiful vistas, the culture, and really use this as a time to reflect on the last few years, all while away from the excitement and activity back at home. Yes, I will miss a lot of people, my animals, my bed, and more than likely my phone/the internet, but I think this will be a good experience for me. And it probably couldn’t come a better time.
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