Globe Corner Blogs

Kilimanjaro--photo by Meghan

I climbed Kilimanjaro in the fall of 2006, taking the Machame route. The Machame route is arguably the most scenic: camera crews having chosen this route for the Kilimanjaro iMax movie. It is also one of the longer routes and one of the more arduous.

The Machame route, however, is not a technical climb and requires no previous mountaineering skills. I will add, though, that some ropes may have proved comforting when faced with the 1,000-foot drop above jagged rocks and the leap requiring lots of faith to get to the other side of the path.  The summit was not as easily reached as I had suspected, based on the large number of tourists who climb it every year. It took seven days of hiking for six to eighteen hours per day. Clouds often obstructed our promised good view, but sometimes I got a rare glimpse of the spectacular scenery as though I was in an airplane taking aerial photographs.

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Moon Handbook to Panama

I’m talking myself out of this with remarkable speed and brilliant rationalizations. It seemed like such a spectacular idea just a month ago: take a trip to somewhere exotic as a gift to myself for finishing grad school. This place would have to be relatively cheap, given the thousands of dollars in debt I now find myself in; this place must be warm to counter the frigid Boston winter; this place must not be covered in resorts or populated by be-cameraed and fanny-packed tourists; and this place must (preferably) have capybaras in its jungles. Panama seemed like the obvious choice.

So Panama it was. I bought the guide book, checked out plane fares (so cheap!), and began imagining what I could fit in my giant backpack. Then something slippery happened. The overly-anxious angel in my shirt pocket started whispering up things that will go wrong, that will ruin the trip.

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Swedish flag flying - photo by Lisa

Every guide book to Sweden highly recommends going on a boat ride through Stockholm’s Archipelago–and with good reason. Many companies offer cruises that vary in length and activities on the boat, but they all offer spectacular views of the thousands of islands, the fabulous mansions and summer houses, yachts, and the many inlets. I went on the overnight cruise to the island of Aland. Aland is a bit of an anomaly as it is officially autonomous–it’s technically Finnish–but the majority of the 25,000 inhabitants speak Swedish and no Finnish. It is well known as a cycling destination, but the biggest attraction for the majority of my fellow travelers was the duty-free liquor store. After paying an exorbitant amount for a glass of wine in Stockholm, I understand why everyone was stocking up on as much as possible.

The ship was the called the Viking Cinderella and it was huge. It had restaurants galore including a Swedish Smorgasbord, a few bars and pubs, and a huge disco called the Fun Club with an ABBA cover band. The passengers were diverse but everyone seemed to be enjoying the duty free alcohol and dancing to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” It turned into quite the party. The next morning some of the passengers got off on Aland, and then the boat started to slowly make its scenic way back to Stockholm.

Bellagio from the Ferry on Lake Como - photo by Cecilia

Finally we arrive in Italy, where we will spend six days at Lake Como. As soon as we are on the Italian side of the Alps, the weather magically changes. It’s no longer that gloomy, drizzly day we saw while enjoying our last morning in Basel. We drive only fifteen minutes through the St. Gottard tunnel, and the warm and bright day that is waiting for us at the exit of the tunnel seems to belong to a different season.

We drive to the town of Cadenabbia di Griante in the Tremezzina region, located in the central region of the lake of Como. Griante is a small town, from where we can visit and explore some of the towns around in the mid-lake region.

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Colorful Albanian building--photo by Lisa

Last year when I was trying to figure out how I was going to go from Dubrovnik to Albania, I found that it was very difficult to do. Maybe not very difficult, but time consuming to say the least. This year I found that it was very simple to walk into a tourist agency and book a one day excursion to see the “Colors of Albania” via the shiny new high-speed catamaran that departs form Dubrovnik every Wednesday.

It only took three hours to speed down the Adriatic Coast and arrive in the historic port of Durrës, Albania. We were then whisked away to our assigned guides and herded onto buses to make the trek to the capital city of Tirana. The short distance took a very long time to cover as the entire highway seemed to be a parking lot of Mercedes, Hummers, and other flashy cars. Our guide told us that Albania has the highest number of Mercedes per capita and Albanians helped “clean” Germany of their Mercedes. Everyone on the bus just raised their eyebrows and nodded.

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Lake Erie Beach--photo by Llalan

I’ve said it once, but I’ll say it again: I don’t want you to go here. Last year I told you all the horrible reasons to avoid this tiny Ontario, Canada town; this year, I’ll tell you why I was lying.

The Food: The night we arrived our favorite fruit and vegetable farm stand (where the corn is so sweet and the peaches melt in your mouth) was closed. We were forced to go to the local pub, The Sand Bar. Everyone in the party ordered fish and chips (the two-piecer), a bottle of Blue (Labatt) and gorged themselves like the true Americans we were. I think we gave ourselves away, despite my father’s addition of “eh?” after every statement.

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