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Longwood Gardens – Fantastic Forest and Flowers
To the amazement of some of my friends, all male ones I might add, I love flowers – looking at them, smelling them, photographing them and, of course, growing them. When traveling, visiting gardens is always one of my top priorities. Longwood Gardens had long been at or near the top of great gardens in […]
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Cartagena Part II – What to See and Eat
In my first post on Cartagena I gave a brief outline of the history of the place and a recommendation as to where to stay. In this post I’m going to describe some of the things you’ll want to see, a couple of great places to eat and as promised, how to get rid of a […]
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Cartagena – Colombia’s Caribbean Colonial City
Cartagena was the final destination on an almost two week tour of Colombia with Canadian travel company Adventures Abroad and it turned out to be the perfect place to wrap things up in this amazing country. After spending much of our time at some very high altitudes with consequently cooler temperatures, it was great to feel […]
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Palenque de San Basilio – Founded by Slaves
One of the reasons I consistently like to travel with Canadian tour company Adventures Abroad is that they make a real effort to get you off the standard ‘tourist’ itinerary followed by most of their competitors. Because the size of the group is small it is possible to get to places and experience things that are […]
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Commune 13, Medellin Rises From Despair
Triskaidekaphobia is an irrational fear of the number thirteen, but in the case of Commune 13 on the hillsides of Medellin, Colombia that fear has a very historical and rational basis. Perhaps no place on earth has been as unlucky as Commune 13 as I discovered on a recent guided tour by Adventures Abroad into what, […]
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Landhuis Jan Thiel – The Place to Stay in Curacao
Curaçao is a Caribbean island that was taken by the Dutch from the Spanish in 1634. The island’s economy for hundreds of years was based on a system of landhuis or estate plantations of which about 80 remain today on the island although their land holdings have long been broken up and tourism has supplanted agriculture. […]
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Snorkeling Curacao – Three Great and Easy Spots
My daughter Lenore and I recently chose Curaçao as our destination for our annual father-daughter getaway. There were a number of reasons – direct flight from Toronto, escape Canadian winter (duh!) and finding a great place to stay – Landhuis Jan Thiel. However, what sold us on Curaçao was the chance to spend a lot […]
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Kura Hulanda Museum – Curacao’s Dark Past
I bet if you asked people (well actually white Europeans or North Americans) which is the most liberal and fair nation on the planet, a lot of them would respond – Holland and the Dutch. I know I probably would based on my visits to that country and getting to know some of their fine […]
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Familia Londono – The Real Face of Medellin
This is the eleventh post from my trip to Colombia with Canadian travel company Adventures Abroad and we’ve finally arrived at that most notorious of drug cartel cities, Medellin. However, before we explore the city’s violence ridden past and how Medellin emerged from it as one of Latin America’s most progressive cities, there’s a more pleasant task. […]
From the road
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April 20th, 2023
I’ve had a bad case of writer’s block since getting back from Southeast Asia, but I did finish this post on the fan… https://t.co/HoJjP4jeha
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April 12th, 2023
One of the main reasons to visit the Galapagos is to see the giant tortoises. This latest post explains where you c… https://t.co/mQ8PWha8j3
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April 11th, 2023
Spring is very late this year so it’s nice to see the crocuses finally show up. https://t.co/7HD6wvsEJ6
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April 9th, 2023
Sunday morning is a good time to reflect back on another Sunday in Reading, England which I wrote about here:… https://t.co/EJ4Is2NSqz