travelShot
See the world
I've had the great fortune to be able to travel. People in our world are always revealing small views of their lives and goals, living in cities or villages. Come see some of what I've seen.
This site contains Photographs, Videos and Interactive Panoramas from around the world. You can use the Home->Filter menu item to help find areas of interest.
The plans for this trip included a visit to St. Petersburg along the way, but world events got in the way and that segment was cancelled. So we began in Helsinki and passed through Ivalo, Kirkenes, Bergen and Oslo. This was our first time above the Arctic Circle where the sun didn't set while we were up there.
After two prior attempts we finally made it to Sicily. We love Italy, but we had only a taste of Sicily back in 2002 - cannoli in Mondello. OAT's Sicily's Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions tour promised to visit the major attractions and to provide intimate experiences and it did not disappoint.
Guo Pei designs fashion that features astonishingly intricate and complex embroidery, some of which take thousands of hours to complete.
Colombia had been an uninviting place in recent memory. Now many of their infamous problems have been mitigated by government efforts to defeat the drug lords and to assimilate the paramilitary and rebel groups. The country is well-known for its coffee and lesser-known for its immense flower industry. As the "gateway to South America" for colonial Spaniards, there is a legacy of Spanish architecture and peoples, offering a colorful human tapestry over the green mountains and valleys. We were startled to learn that a caste system is used to classify communities economically; although people seem to accept this concept.
We learned a bit about Yugoslavia in school; we read about Tito's "benevolent" dictatorship; and we were aware of the fighting there in the 1990s. But we had very little understanding of the Yugoslavian people and their diverse cultures. This trip allowed to get a glimpse of the past and present issues for these new countries.
Steven has always been fascinated by Antarctica and the extreme conditions it brings to mind. A place on earth where humans were never meant to be. The cycle of life is striped to the bare minimum; the food chain is plain to see; the balance of give and take are fragile; every piece essential to the other.
OAT's White Wilderness offered a perfect chance to fulfill the dream. Their Antarctic program begins with a medical check-up to limit health risks in one of the most remote locales on our planet. Then there's the clothing and photography checklist to assemble: warm socks, waterproof pants, base-layers, parkas, etc.