Oct 6th, Pre Trip Posting

Hello everyone: some of you have followed Linda and myself around the world on various trips we have taken.  I'm writing today to invite you to follow what we expect to be the trip of our lifetime. The trip that we are embarking on is offered by TCS Expeditions and is titled Heaven and Earth around the World by private jet. We depart from Orlando on October 31 and return from London on November 20.

During this trip, we will visit 10 of the most spectacular locations this world has to offer. A trip like this would be impossible if it were not for the fact we were on a private chartered jet. Due to the fact it's a charter, entry into some of these remote countries will be much easier then if we were traveling on commercial airlines. During the trip, we should only be required to go through customs in India and Great Britain all of the other countries should allow us entry with our passports and visas being managed by TCS.

The accommodations are first-class in all respects. Our jet is a specialty Boeing 757 with a maximum capacity of 78 passengers. All seating is first class type. All hotels throughout our journey are four and five star accommodations. All baggage is managed to and from the hotels by TCS expeditions. All of these arrangements will allow us to maximize the amount of time we have at each location to see and experience the different cultures.

As a side note, Linda and I will have visited every continent after completing this trip. As we did for Africa, I expect to post, with pictures, an update after each location. Obviously, a lot has to depend on the availability and speed of Internet access. Occasionally during the trip I will send out two or three email reminders about the blog address, but hopefully not enough to be intrusive.

Here is a quick outline of the locations we will be visiting without going into too much detail at this time.

November 1 & 2:  visit the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal, Guatemala
November 3, 4 and 5:  visit Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
November 6 & 7:  visit Easter Island, Chile. Marvel at the mysterious colossal stone statues called Moai
November 8 & 9:  cross the International Date Line visit Apia, Samoa in the  Philippines
November 10 & 11:  fly deep into the heart of Australia and explore Ayers rock
November 12 & 13:  fly north to the Great Barrier Reef and experience a total solar eclipse
November 14:  experience the Temple of Borobudur,  the largest Buddhist temple in the world at Yogyakarta, Indonesia
November 15 & 16: fly to Jaipur, India where every room in our hotel has a direct view of the Taj Mahal, among other things visit the City Palace
November 17 & 18: Aqaba, Jordon: visit  the ancient city of Petra, hand carved into the rose red cliffs more than 2000 years ago.
November 19 & 20:  London, England: visit London staying at the famous Dorchester Hotel.

Sounds exhausting, but Linda and I spoke to several couples who already had taken TCS excursions. All of the couples had nothing but the highest praise for how all of the details and arrangements were handled. We asked two couples to give us a rating of 1 to 10 for their experience, one couple replied 12 the other couple replied 14.

Even though the trip is completely planned, there were still a lot of details that we needed to take care of. We needed to get new passports, because we didn't have a sufficient number of clear pages, we needed to apply for a visa for India, needed to visit a travel doctor and get all of the inoculations and medications that we will require in various countries and locations. All that now remains is to finish our packing and head to Orlando on October 31

Stay tuned, we will be back to you in early November.