Portugal Plus…

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I can’t believe my last blog post was February, 2020 before our travel world and lives shut down.  This has been a year to remember (or forget) and my heart goes out to those who are suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or economically.  


But this blog is about positive travel experiences, so I’m going to finish up the year with my 2019 summer trip report on Africa and Portugal, pre-Covid.  You can read all about Africa in the previous blog posts.  

Portugal coming right up! But first, a quick stop in Beirut, Lebanon. We could fly much cheaper from Africa to Portugal with a stop in Lebanon, so that’s what we did for a few hours. Beirut was cosmopolitan and scenic, with delicious food and natives that loved Americans! Safety was never an issue.

Portugal was wonderful; we started in Porto and it was FULL of tourists!  One of our first stops this rainy day was Livaria Lello where JK Rowling was inspired to write “Harry Potter.”  And of course, the famous Majestic Cafe for coffee was a touristy thing we had to do! 

Here are some more photos from around Porto, this small town river city, some taken later in the week on a beautiful sunny day!


The next day we took the train to Pinhao, a sleepy village along the Douro River, with the most amazing train station! The Douro is called “River of Gold” and you can see why in these pictures.  This was a fabulous day trip from Porto and we escaped the tourists (yes, I know, we are tourists too)!  


Sintra is a day trip from Lisbon and is a MUST when visiting Portugal; I loved it!  We planned a tour with Jump In Tours, they were excellent.  Our tour guide met us at the train station and knew just where to take us to avoid the crowds.  We also visited sites along the coast, Azenhas do Mar being my favorite.  I will let the pictures do the talking…


We didn’t spend much time in Lisbon, the scenic coast being what we wanted to explore.  Our last stop was Estoril, along the Iberian Peninsula, where we could ride the train directly to our hotel.  Here’s some photos of both.  

Portugal was wonderful – friendly people and amazingly beautiful scenery! 
There’s been no international travel for me this year, but hopefully, this blog brings a smile and a tiny bit of joy to your Covid weary hearts.  


Next up, Azores Islands…

Malawi ~ Warm HEART of Africa!

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This is a trip report about my summer trip to Africa and Portugal. 

After the red sands of Namibia, we flew to Malawi, known as the “Warm HEART of Africa.”  We went to the tea growing area and stayed in one of the oldest, family owned tea plantations in the world.  I’m still drinking my green verbena tea I bought…delicious!

Huntingdon House was built in the 1930’s and has five spacious suites. It included all meals and was simply lovely.  I LOVED our hot water bottles delivered every evening!  Here’s some photos…

One day our guide took us to hike Mt. Mulanje – just beautiful! 

Another day we hiked the tea fields and toured the tea and coffee making facilities.  And of course, had afternoon tea!

Our next stop was Mumbo Island Camp, where we stayed in an over the water bungalow on Lake Malawi. This resort had no electricity, only solar.

Lake Malawi is known as the “Calendar Lake” because it’s 365 miles from top to bottom, 52 miles at its widest point and 12 main rivers flow into the lake. It’s the third largest lake in Africa (ninth largest in the world). 

We enjoyed hiking the various trails on the island and looking at some beautiful views! Mumbo Island was very remote and fun to visit.

If you’d like to see some drone shots of these two places, check out my instagram, milestravelingteacher.

Next up, an overnight in Beirut, Lebanon and on to Porto, Portugal!

Summer Trip, Africa!

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It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blogpost; my summer was filled with travel, and fall is always busy for me. I went on TWO trips this summer, one to Africa and Portugal, with a quick stop in Beirut, AND Peru to see my son!

Let’s start with Africa…I was able to use my American Airline miles to book business class on British Airways.  The only problem was that BA bumped me on my flight from Chicago to London, and I didn’t know until I arrived in Chicago.  It all worked out; I got money from BA via a debit card (which I used during the trip), my flight to Africa was in business class, AND I got miles and money refunded from AA.  Lesson learned: ALWAYS ask for compensation!  All I did was email AA, explained the circumstances, and voila!  It ended up costing $238 and 52,000 miles from my home airport to Johannesburg. I had a long layover in London, so stored my luggage at the airport, took the tube to see some sights, and had lunch with a friend!

I booked a paid flight to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, where we were picked up and started our desert safari. Here’s some pictures of our hotel near the desert, where we stayed two nights.

Namibia is a country where royalty go, and it has the oldest and highest sand dunes in the world.  We wanted to experience the iconic red sands, so we booked a tour to the Namib Naukluft National Park to see the ancient Sossusvlei.  It’s quite a drive, but those magnificent red sands made it worthwhile, see for yourself! (No filter nor photoshop)!

I love what our guide told us when we were climbing the dunes, “Walk in the footsteps ahead of you.”  It made the climb so much easier – it’s hard to walk in sand!

We went to watch the sunset one evening and stopped at a canyon on the way back to the city.

After the safari, we stayed at the Hilton in Windhoek.  This property was just lovely…

After Namibia, we flew to Malawi, aka, the “Warm Heart of Africa.” More about that next.

Turkey Gulet Cruise…!

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The Turkish turquoise coastal cruises were fantastic!

We used Rina at Insight Travel to arrange our cruises and transportation between ports and cities. She was very responsive to all our questions, there were zero problems, and we never felt unsafe anywhere.

We arrived at Bodrum and spent two nights at the most beautiful Ramada Inn in the world (using our Wyndham points). And we toured the city just a bit…

Our driver took us to Fethiye, stopping along the way at Kaunos and some other picturesque spots!

We spent the night in Fethiye and here are some pics of this quaint port city. 

We took two cruises because we wanted to visit different areas and couldn’t find a cruise that fit. The boats are wooden gulets and include all meals. Our first cruise was from Fethiye to Demre and it was my favorite because it was absolutely stunning! The very first day I could understand why they call it the turquoise coast…the water is a turquoise color that’s just unbelievable! None of these photos are filtered in any way. Cruising was slow, with lots of opportunities to swim (in warm water) and explore sights onshore.

Our next cruise was from Fethiye to Marmaris and my favorite thing about this cruise was the ice cream and shops that came to the boat, probably called by the captain, of course! The boat was nicer than our first, with older patrons, some repeat customers.

“I feel good today,” reminiscing (see photo above)! I flew home using my Avios points from British Airways, not first class, but economy!

What a great summer! I won’t be seeing you for a while because summer vacation, 2019 starts soon and I have TWO trips planned. My son is in Peru, so I have to go see him!  (: