Below sea level, at the lowest point on earth, the water is seven times more salty than a normal ocean. It’s here that Sarah Johns enjoyed splashing about in Jordan…
“I visited the Dead Sea whilst on a trip in Jordan with Intrepid. It was incredible to float so easily and to revel in the thickness of the water – kind of like wading through smooth jelly that hasn’t yet set. As a regular beach-goer at home, I had to fight the urge to dive under and swim about, the water holds you so buoyant that it forces you to just relax.
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Dozing to the sounds of the sacred river lapping against your boat and seeing the city of Varanasi coming into view are just some of the incredible real life experiences that you can expect on India’s River Ganges. Kate Gates found her journey so extraordinary that she had to ask herself, was it real or an amazing dream…
“I sank back onto the cushions covering the floor of our little boat as we slipped off down the Ganges. We heard only faint watery sounds and the occasional distant cow or village bell breaking the silence.
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The football field may traditionally be a male domain, but in a small village high in the Andes it’s the best man, or woman, for the team, as Summer Davis explains…
“Heading up through the terraced mountains of the Sacred Valley, we prepared ourselves for an afternoon of ‘local interaction’ with the Sacaca community. But this was no ordinary visit, because on this occasion our Intrepid Cuzco office decided to challenge these hearty mountain Quechuas to a game of football.
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It doesn’t matter if you’re lacking in eye-hand coordination or are not competitive by nature, because Intrepid’s Jo Stewart discovered that watching the local game in Morocco can be a winning real life experience…
“The advent of air travel, growth of technology and evolution of infrastructure means we’re all more mobile than ever, crossing time zones with ease, skipping across oceans like stones. Sometimes, this hyper mobility is a blessing (you can be in another continent so fast); other times it can be a curse (you can leave a country without ever feeling connected to it). Well, want to get under the skin of a country? I’ve found that one of the best ways to uncover a nation’s psyche is through sport.
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If you prefer your sporting pursuits to be more cerebral than physical, be sure to brush up on your board games before travelling to Asia. Mikey Leung is no grandmaster, but he still enjoys checking out the chess scene on his Asian adventures…
“On the streets of China you can see groups of old men strategically slamming wooden pieces on boards in a fervent display of chess machismo. Across this enormous nation the game is essentially the same, though round wooden blocks with painted Chinese characters take the place of carved wooden figurines. Therefore, mastering this game involves not only learning some new rules, but also a few Chinese characters as well.
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When Florence Masetla left home for a well-earned R&R break in Thailand, little did she expect to return with a whole new outlook on life…
“Early this year I left on yet another overseas adventure. I remember when I left South Africa winter was upon us and I was more than happy to leave the frost and work/life pressures behind for sunny, serene Thailand. Boy, I was up for a rude awakening that would not only make me think, but would change my life for the better.
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One of the joys of train travel is slowing down the pace and watching the world go by. But sometimes that journey will be taken at a special local speed, as Intrepid’s Sameh Tawfik explains…
“As we arrive at Cairo station to catch the 8:00pm overnight train to Aswan, we find a group of seats away from the crowd to gather together. We wait. You can never be entirely sure when the train will arrive, how long it will stay at the platform or what time it will leave. As I explain this to my group, I start with my favourite phrase in situations like this… “Welcome to Egypt.”
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How do you gauge the value and enjoyment of your holiday? At Intrepid we have ‘passenger feedback ratings’ so you can get an idea of how much previous travellers enjoyed each trip, but recently Yaffa Gould and her group came up with a unique rating system while they feasted their way around Asia, and we think could take off…
“We recently completed Intrepid’s Best of Vietnam & Cambodia – 18 Days. Vietnam was wonderful for its scenery, its people and hearing the recent history first hand. Individual area guides shared with us their personal stories: for example at the Killing Fields, our guide, only five years old during Pol Pot’s reign of terror, told of working as a scarecrow in the rice fields for 12 hours a day.
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What is it they say about a silver lining? When Sherrie Fahmi’s travel plans suddenly changed, she ended up on an exciting adventure to who knows where…
“When I travel I enjoy discovering the unknown – whether it be a painting to rival the Mona Lisa, a sculpture, fantastic people, incredible architecture, unusual shopping experiences or delicious food. Below are examples of amazing adventures that I have been blessed to have experienced…so far!
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