Monthly Archives: August 2015

“Into the Woods” – Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

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“Into the woods, it’s time to go, I hate to leave, I have to go. Into the woods – It’s time, and so I must begin my journey”. Those lines kept on going through my head as I watched my daughters running along, disappearing into the thickly spread pine forest near Glenmore. The air was moist from the sprinkling rain, the undergrowth was covered with dew drops, and the smell of pine, moss, and grass, was overwhelmingly fresh.

The idea that day, was to take a stroll along the Ryovan Pass to the Ryovan Loch which is known for its vividly green color. People say that its color is due to the fact that the local fairies wash their clothes there. Always on the lookout for fairies, we were eager to head that way. I didn’t have much information on how exactly to get there, but knew that we had to park by the National Outdoor Training Center, at Glenmore Lodge.

Once parked, we looked around and simply took the first hiking path spotted. It so happened to lead us up a hill. We climbed through the thick of the pine forest for a good 20 – 30 minutes before emerging on a dirt road, higher up the mountain.

The view that greeted us was spectacular! With Loch Morlich and distant mountain ranges. We decided to follow the dirt road further uphill. It soon stopped and led us onto a smaller path through more woods.

Scotland has so many areas of incredible beauty and it is one of those places, where getting off the beaten path means you will be on your own. The entire landscape is there for you to soak up, and enjoy. It still has a very untouched feel and radiates an incredible energy. It is as if you get to the heart of nature, where everything is pure and you can feel the pulse of the earth and smell of the air as it is supposed to be.

We had set out to find a loch colored with fairy water that day, but found an incredible place uphill instead. We never doubted that fairies must live there.  We even spotted a small stream with reddish water. And maybe, just maybe, fairies are as meticulous in separating their laundry by colors as we are.

If this peaks your interest and you want to learn a bit more about Cairngorms National Park and what it has to offer check out some of these videos

 

Written by STEFANIE PICHONNAT
Stefanie Pichonnat is the owner and travel consultant at Cumar Gold Travel, a boutique travel firm customizing travel itineraries for discerning customers. With her extensive travel experience in Scotland she can help you create a wonderful trip. Contact her at stefanie@aav-travel.com

 

 

Dominican Republic: Destination Wedding Inspiration Board

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This June, I had the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic. AMResorts, known for the resort brands Zoetry, Secrets, Dreams, Now, Breathless, and Sunscape, had invited a group of destination wedding specialists to visit their resorts in Punta Cana and La Romana, to get an idea what the resort chain had to offer when it came to creating the ultimate destination wedding dream.

Let me tell you, it was an incredible experience! Each resort showed off, beautifully, what they can do. We got to see many different set-ups and decorations that matched their surroundings, whether it was lush gardens, white sand and turquoise blue water, or a resort banquet room. We savored exquisite food and were enchanted by the many beautiful displays. But that wasn’t all, fire dancers, acrobats, magicians, traditional dancers, live music and much more. We got to experience it all.

Here are some of the photos taken during my time in the Dominican Republic. As you will see, there are quite a few of them. If you have questions about a particular setting or location please reach out. I will gladly share all the information I have. Enjoy the pictures!

    Written by STEFANIE PICHONNAT
Stefanie Pichonnat is a Honeymoon & Destination Weddings Specialist as well as an AMResorts Master Agent. She is the owner of Cumar Gold Travel, a boutique travel firm specialized in creating and customizing personalized travel itineraries. You can contact her at stefanie@aav-travel.com

 

 

Do-it-Yourself Shore Excursion: Ketchikan, Alaska

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Ketchikan is known for its steady rainfall. Big, grey clouds and a soft drizzle awaited us the day our ship pulled into the port. The first thing that stood out, were the many seaplanes looping around the port, landing and taking off. As we learned later, these were taking tourists to the nearby Fjord. As always, we had planned to escape our ship and its passengers as soon as we got off.
On this particular day, we were heading to the Rainbird Trail. I hadn’t found much information about it online but knew that it should be short enough for us to hike within the 4 hours we had ashore.

The official trail-head is located in downtown Ketchikan, by the Alaska University. Since Ketchikan spreads out to both sides of the cruise terminal, we weren’t quite sure whether to go right or left, and ended up asking a local. We asked for the Rainbird Trail. With a broad grin and pointing uphill he said: “If you can make it up there!”

Having hiked at our two prior Alaskan stops we felt very comfortable and were sure we could manage “the hill”. It was steep alright, and probably took 10 minutes to climb. However, I am really glad we started the trail at its end. It makes for a much better beginning. Once on top of the hill we couldn’t quite make out where to go, so we stopped by the local radio station. Not much was going on that early in the morning, but the lady swiftly pointed us in the right direction and we found the trail’s end in no time.

The Rainbird trail goes along the mountain side backing Juneau. You basically walk from the cruise port to the University of Alaska, located in downtown Juneau (left side), in very dense rainforest. At first we were a bit skeptical as we would see the harbor and neighboring islands. However, it didn’t take long and we were in the midst of it. It looked like a place straight out of Middle Earth, magical. Densely green, lush, and overgrown, large trees, broken trees, lots of moss, and everything wet, it was simply beautiful and always changing.

As it was early in the morning, we were the only ones there. Half way into the trail, we spotted a reindeer. Instead of running off it simply looked at us with its dark black and gentle eyes. I felt as if it was communicating with us. We kept staring at each other for a good 5 minutes, before it peacefully trailed off.

The Rainbird Trail proved to be a wonderfully authentic adventure, for a town otherwise thriving with tourist shops and masses of cruise passengers.

Here are a few things you will want to watch out for if you are headed to the Rainbird Trail:

  • It will rain, make sure you have the proper gear and protect your electronics
  • Bring some water to drink
  • Your shoes need good tread and need to be ideally waterproof. The terrain goes up and downhill, there are large rocks, gravel, and tree trunks to cross. Make sure your shoes snug tightly to your foot and your gear is adequate.
  • Chances are, not many of your fellow travelers will know about the trail. And, even if they do, if you start at the end, you will likely not run into any of them until the very beginning of the trail.
  • The trail requires a certain level of fitness. You do not need to be a professional athlete, but it is steep at times and can be a bit challenging.
  • You can do the trail with your children, however they need to be old enough to hike on their own, be responsible as some parts of the trail can seem risky.
  • Bring bug spray just in case
  • To walk the entire trail and back to the ship you will need about 2 hours.
  • The official trail-head is located behind the Ketchikan University in downtown Ketchikan (left side when getting off the ship). I recommend starting at the trail end however, which you can find by walking up Schoenbar Road and then turning left onto 3rd Avenue. Once you turn into 3rd Avenue you will quickly come upon the set of stairs that lead you onto the trail.
  • Tread quietly, you never know what kind of animal you might be lucky to spot

Written by STEFANIE PICHONNAT Stefanie Pichonnat is a Princess Cruise Lines Certified Expert at Cumar Gold Travel. With her personal experience in Alaska she can help you create and customize a personalized travel itinerary. You can contact her at stefanie@aav-travel.com

 

Oxford Park n’Ride: A Short Visit to the University Town of Oxford

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I had it all planned out. We would leave London early morning, and get to Oxford around 10am. I already knew that driving into Oxford was a bad idea because of parking, and had decided on Thornhill Park n’ Ride as gateway to the university town.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous. My two girls (10 & 8) in the back seat, my 70 year old mom in charge of navigating, and me driving on the left hand side for the very first time. Not necessarily a dream combination. Nevertheless, we made it without a scratch and in good spirits.

Oxford’s Park n’ Ride was managed a bit different from what I knew. First off, instead of remembering your parking spot number you had to remember your license plate. Once at the parking meter, you enter that number and a camera then searches for your car on the lot which hopefully you will recognize. You choose your car and then make a payment. The meter was supposed to accept both, credit cards as well as cash, however, it did not want to accept any of my cards. I would hence suggest to bring some cash as it appears to be the safer bet.

The bus fare into Oxford is extra, and less than £3 for a roundtrip. Children are free. The ride takes about 15 minutes and takes you right into the center of the university town. Before you hop off, you might want to ask the driver where the return stop is, as it can be a bit tricky to locate it among all the different buses and stops.

This is a photo-log of our day in Oxford. Enjoy!