Trips posted in
Further Afield
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Magpie’s song and the roar of the Twincam race.
The An Duras Bui, the shepherd’s hut, was deep in the countryside of the Sperrin Mountains. The roads were more like narrow car paths, so tight the bushes whipped your windows as you passed. How anyone could take the challenge of these tiny lanes with a roaring engine was astonishing. How was I to know…
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Visiting the Mighty Connemara, Ireland: video that speaks to the awe you will feel.
There are a thousand reasons why the Connemara National Park and region are so legendary. The haunting views. The boggy-laden ground that goes on forever. The lonely hikes and walks in the shadow ominous, bulging mountains. The contrast of greens, browns and the blue of the sky as it battles for dominance wit the constant…
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Connemara, Achill, Sligo, Ireland. A video wrap-up. (And the amazing Sean Cunningham.)
In the past few years, I have spent months driving around Ireland. Nearly all of it. With few exceptions, it has been a series of visual and personal and altogether very Human revelations — which, when Fate tips it’s hat, travelling can gift you. But it does not always happen. With Ireland it happens again…
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The Tuareg: Regal Blue Man tribe of the Sahara
The blue man, a Tuareg tribesman, was incredibly tall. Because of his draping blue robes, his long legs seemed like he was gliding across the sand. It was a slow walk past mud buildings to a mosque that was a thousand years old. As he spoke of the mosque’s royal history, gently animated, he held…
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Can you count the many shades of green? Give up. (Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry.)
Stories tell us that the Goddess Eiru is the body of the island and thus the people are the caretakers of her body and soul. And with such abundance and gift of beauty, how could one not? Their relationship with the land is astonishingly strong. Such is Ireland. Few places represent this astounding beauty of…
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Now why would Nat’l Geographic call the Sperrin’s one of the most beautiful mountain ranges on Earth?
When you see a place so stunning, yet simple in its beauty, you never forget it. So, Instead of me writing about the Sperrin Mountains of Northern Ireland, U.K., let me show you what I saw. National Geographic, as always, was so damned right.
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Escape the cacophony of Rome for Ostia Antica: Once Rome’s mighty port, open, preserved and off the beaten track.
Ostia Antica. Rome is overwhelming in its magnificence but let’s admit it, it is just as overwhelming a city because of the tourist hordes. Everyone wants a piece of the magnificent beauty and history. Is there even an off-season? But imagine a place of intact frescoes, ornate mosaics, tall marble columns, buildings and avenues free…
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Mitai Maori Village (https://mitai.co.nz/): a rich cultural experience covered by rust.
In the center of the city of Rotorua, a major summer resort on the north island of New Zealand that is centered on a large caldera lake, is a faux Maori village where we sent for an evening of authentic cultural Maori food and rituals. In the end? A questionable use of our evening and…
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The best lodge in New Zealand? The magnificent Blanket Bay, Queenstown/Glenorchy.
Let us begin at the end: If you go to New Zealand, and you can stay at Blanket Bay, you must stay at Blanket Bay. There is nothing — lodge, resort, boutique, hotel — quite like it. It begins with an email. After our two-night stay, Tom Butler, the General Manager of Blanket Bay alpine…
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24 hours in Kaikoura, New Zealand.
On the road for 24 hours in Kaikoura. Where to stay, eat, hike. What a seaside delight! As you wend down the SH1 highway that runs inland, you first pass through the wine plains of Blenheim, which then opens up to hug the West Coast of the South Island to Kaikoura; the views of ocean…
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New Zealand: The Birdwood, great local eating in Christchurch.
Not being familiar with Christchurch, arriving late and hungry we searched for the best restaurants— Birdwood pizza came up. It sounded and was delicious. Deep into a pretty suburb, restaurant almost full on a weeknight, it turned out to be the perfect place to unwind from a long drive in the comfort of neighborhood gem.…
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Rotorua, New Zealand, and the Amazing Redwoods Treewalk.
New Zealand, and Rotorua…this time the unusual interpretation on redwoods with the Redwoods Treewalk. We are so used to standing on the bare ground in a sacred circle of redwoods, that to climb and walk among their heights was unique. Redwoods and the giant sequoia have a mystic comfort that no other tree provides. It…
Outspoken Traveler 