Australia is a fabulous at any time of year, but December is one of best times, because it is their summer. We visited Sydney and the National Park a few hours drive from there. New Caledonia is even better to to visit. It is part of the French republic. The inhabitants consist of native Melanesians, Polynesians from all over the Pacific, French from France, and descendants of colonialists.
New Caledonia
Australia
The Princeton University campus is a great destination. The historical buildings are amazing and full of interesting details.
The Institute for Advanced Study was made famous by Albert Einstein and the movie about Oppenheimer. Unfortunately you can’t go inside for a tour, but it is fascinating to see where these great minds hung out.
Lana’i was better than Moloka’i. There was more to do and it seemed nicer and better maintained. Maybe it’s because Larry Ellison owns most of the island and wants to keep it nice for the two big resorts. These resorts are much better than anything on Molokai.
I feel like the best thing that I did was explore the dirt roads and secluded beaches with the Jeep I rented. Whatever you do, do not get anything but a 4×4. I almost rented a Tesla and that would have been a complete waste of money.
You have to option to fly there or take the ferry and I took the ferry. Flying costs about the same amount of money, but it is faster.
My first place to go was Shipwreck Beach. You can see the shipwreck but you can’t get that close unless you spend a lot of time hiking to it.
I started to hike and saw some cool petroglyphs but then I couldn’t find a trail that seemed to go to the beach closest to the wreck, so I turned around and went back.
Of course one of the main draws of Lanai for some crazy reason is the Cat Sanctuary. They have rescued cats from all over the island and even brought over cats from Lahaina because of the fires.
I had a great time feeding the kitties and petting the ones that would let me.
The last thing I did in the car was go to Polihua Beach. The road was extremely rough and I was the only one on it for almost the entire time. I was tempted to turn around on many occasions because with no cell service and no on one the road, I would have a rough time if I had had a flat tire.
But I motored on and found myself on a huge beach that was pretty cool. But definitely the road in was what made it memorable.
I also walked around the Sensei Lanai Hotel. This is a top notch place that had beautiful grounds and statues all over.
The last thing to do is to see the Puu Pehe or Sweetheart rock. This is so impressive up close. Carefully! Those cliffs are super high.
Moloka’i is one of the smaller islands in Hawaii. You can only fly there which was a surprise because I thought that they had a ferry. Turn out that the site for the ferry was fake and there has been no boat service for many years.
I paid about $200 for a round trip ticket from Maui. The rental car was about $100. I spent an entire day there and found not a whole lot of activities to do. I had originally signed up for a kayak tour but it was cancelled because of high winds.
In any case, I am not sure it would have been that good because the lagoon seems kind of shallow and the water doesn’t look that great.
I went first to a lookout over the old leper colony on Kalaupapa. It turns out that you can’t actually visit the old colony. There are no roads that lead to it. You can only walk to it and even then you have to have a permit. But the view was very good.
The next highlight was 3 mile beach. It was a stunning long stretch of beach with only a few people you ever saw the whole time I was there. There was even an endangered monk seal that came on the beach and rested for a long time.
In town there was a great ice cream place called Kamoi Snack and Go.
I was a little hard pressed to know what to do the rest of the day. I would not recommend spending a whole vacation there.
Bruxelles
Europe is well known for its Christmas markets and in this post we will show you all the markets we visited in three different countries: Belgium, Switzerland and France. We will also show what other highlights we saw along the way.
Each one has its own flavor.
Our stay at the N-how Hotel in Brussels was good. It had an artsy vibe and had all the basic requirements so we gave it 3 stars.
Our first Christmas markets in Belgium:
No visit to Belgium is complete without visiting Bruges. Bruges is picturesque so with so many original buildings. It also has a great Christmas market.
Lausanne, Switzerland
Colmar, France
Colmar is world renown for having been the inspiration for the village in the animated Disney classic Beauty and the Beast.
All the streets are narrow and the buildings unaffected by modern updates or damage from past wars.
The Night Time Christmas Markets are a special
Treat, but be sure to bundle up!
Unterlinton Museum is a must see. So many interesting works of art
Zollikon – an interesting suburb of Zurich
On the way to Zurich we stopped off at Zollikon outside of the Zurich city limits and visited some sites.
Zurich Christmas Markets
There is nothing in the world like an African safari.
In this trip to Israel, we decided to try to recreate the last days of the Savior. We started at the New Imperial Hotel that was right at the Jaffa Gate. We also visited Jordan to see the ruins of Petra. This place was made famous by the Indian Jones movies. The carvings are amazing. Just be sure to come prepared for a lot of walking. There is also some steep climbing as well. But there are donkeys available to ride if the walk is too difficult.
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf continues to have a great number of restaurants. The Redwoods are so impressive and magnificent. For Yosemite, we recommend camping inside at the Wawona Campground so that you can get into the park without a reservation.
Rome: what can compare to see the ruins of the Roman Empire?
Berlin: I highly recommend touring any of the places that show how East Berlin and East Germany looked during the Communist era.
Salzburg: We definitely recommend the Sound of Music tour which will give you a great overview of all the sites in the film:
Vienna is a must see part of Central Europe. The Habsburg Empire left some amazing palaces and museums that have to be seen. We recommend the War Museum in particular.
Venice: The canals are so picturesque and the buildings so interesting that visiting this city is a must if you can visit any part of Italy.
Prague: Yet another city formerly part of the Communist bloc that has many interesting sites that show something of what life was like during that era.
