I love planning. I don’t like random email pitches from PR or product companies.

Today the two worlds collide. That’s because Expedia pitched me something I ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT AND WILL USE! It doesn’t happen often.

It’s their Kids In The City program and you might be able to guess what it’s about. Kids. Cities. Doing stuff (with their parents).

The site offers up individually picked attractions and fun-things-to-do in a dozen major cities across the USA. The individuals doing the picking are parenting and traveling experts by the likes of Debbie Dubrow, Jen Miner, Mara Gorman and Kara Williams. These are people I know, personally, in real life, and trust their recommendations. Heck, before this program, I was even going to be asking Jen what might be fun to do with Sabrina in LA as we will be taking two trips there this summer. Now I don’t have to because she tells us in a video!

Expedia will be highlighting 12 cities over 12 days (and it started yesterday, so you need to catch up!) on the site to help with your summer planning.

If you have kids, give it a look-see. Yes, eventually it has links to be able to book things on Expedia, but there is no hard sell and the picks are genuine points of interest moms in those cities think you will find fun. They have first hand knowledge of many of the attractions and have tested them with their own kids. Humanely, I hope.

It’s a resource I have already found useful and will be checking out Portland as well for two trips this summer with Sabrina.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

If you prefer the PDF verison, it is here: India Packing List

India Photo Tour Packing List

Clothes

• Fleece Pants
• Fleece Coat or warm sweater
• Jeans or quick-dry pants, consider zip off pants
• Long shorts
• Short sleeved shirts
• Long sleeved shirts
• Water Proof Rain Jacket and Pants (both optional, a poncho can also suffice)
• Comfortable socks
• Sock liners if you tend to need them when walking
• Underwear
• Sleepwear
• Sunglasses (good quality)
• Wide brimmed hat for sun during the day
• Boots or trail shoes
• Sandals
• Bandana

Personal Items

• Waterbottle
• Sun Block (small bottle, can be purchased in country)
• Headlamp /small flashlight
• Day pack
• Water proof cover for day pack
• Duffel bag for all other items
• Books/reading material
• Writing Journal (optional)
• Small notebook
• Passport
• Copy of Passport
• 2 extra Passport Photos
• Guidebooks/maps (optional)
• Credit/Debit cards
• Cash (cashiers checks can be cashed, but it can be a pain. There are ample ATMs available in Delhi)
• Cell phone (optional and needs to be capable of accepting a different SIM card)
• Cell Phone Charger
• Travel documents
• Alarm clock
• Watch (optional)
• Photos from home to share with locals (include family, location, attractions, etc…)
• Extra batteries (I suggest rechargeable as India has no little ability to recycle spent batteries)
• Snacks you might be partial to
• iDevice and charger if you need music or distraction.
• Water purification – I prefer the Steripen device, but good old iodine works. While not required, I personally prefer to not buy bottled water as much as possible as India has little in the way of recycling.
• Small Binoculars

Toiletries

• Plastic bags for all liquid toiletries (in case of rough handling induced rupture)
• Deodorant
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Hairbrush/Comb
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Dental Floss
• Hand lotion
• Towel (I suggest a quick dry version)
• Razor
• Lotion
• Chapstick/lipbalm
• Extra eyeglasses/contacts
• Contact solution
• Facial soap
• Tweezers & nail clippers
• Feminine products
• Emergency toilet paper

First aid kit including:

• Tiger balm or pain reliever
• Accupressure bracelets or ginger candy for motion sickness
• Prescription medicines
• Anti-diarrheal
• Insect Repellent
• Malaria prophylaxes (consult with your doctor as to whether you want to take this)
• Tea Tree Oil (for cuts)
• Antibiotic cream
• Ace bandage
• Handi-wipes or anti-bacterial gel
• Safety pins
• Eye drops or flush
• Lip balm
• Band-aids
• Pain killer of choice
• Antibiotics
• Cold relief tablets, antihistamine, cough drops
• Earplugs
• Dramamine (for motion sickness)

Standard Camera Gear

(Fill in your own list here to ensure all your vital gear makes it to Bhutan)

Camera Gear

(options to consider beyond your normal gear)

• Power plug adapter for battery charger – Make sure your chargers are ‘international’
• Portable power strip to charge multiple devices with one outlet
• Polarizing filter
• Neutral density filter
• Graduated Neutral Density filter (2 or 3 stop, soft transition)
• Extra lens cap in appropriate sizes
• External harddrive for backup of photos (or laptop)
• Card reader
• Sensor cleaning material if you are comfortable doing this yourself
• Extra batteries – We will have electricity in most locations, but it’s best to have backup
• Gray card
• GPS – Optional, but handy for tagging photo locations
• Small packable umbrella (optional)

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

For my upcoming trip to India, Oman and the UAE, I will be trucking along a few items that might interest you if you are into photography. And if you are into travel, I plan to review some travel items from this trip right here on The Carey Adventures as well. If you are into cellos, this post will be of no interest to you.

PanoGear by Kolor

This gizmo has been fun so far. You might have seen some of the panoramas I have posted on this site in the past and they were almost exclusively made by handholding the camera. This can be an imprecise process, especially with larger images made up of maybe 50 or 60 images. In the past, that is as many as I would try to shoot.

With the PanoGear I can create gigapixel images, images with more than 1 billion pixels. Do I need to? No, of course not. But some scenes lend themselves well to this technique, such as cityscapes. Most importantly, because the device records the pattern it used, it makes stitching blank areas, such as a blue sky or a smooth lake, nearly effortless because the program already knows the order of images and doesn’t have to guess.

It’s a bit bulky, but smaller than the GigaPan EPIC PRO I reviewed before. In testing I found there is a learning curve and the Bluetooth feature wasn’t working for me, but I’m determined to make it work because it will make my panoramas prettier.

Digital Foci Picture Porter 35

I don’t hate my laptop but I’d sure love to not have to travel with the extra 5lbs it requires. I also want to make sure my images are backed up if a card becomes corrupted or goes missing.

Enter the Digital Foci Picture Porter 35. I had a device much like this in the past but it was rendered obsolete because of larger compact flash cards it could not read. The device has connections for a number of popular camera memory card sizes as well a USB port and copies the contents of the cards to an internal 500GB harddrive. No need for a computer. What’s more, the USB slot allows me to backup the backup device to another, cheaper, 500GB Western Digital My Passport drive.

What this means is I will have three copies of my images (one on the original memory card, one on the Picture Porter and one on the Passport) which helps ensure all the images come back with me. Also, in a pinch, if I run out of space on my memory cards, I am confident in wiping a card clean because the same images are still in two locations.

I love the freedom a device like this will allow. Not bringing a laptop (and using my iPhone for communication instead) will be a nice change and allow me to travel just a bit lighter.

Emirates Airlines

One bit of gear I will be testing on this trip is an entire airline. I have never flown Emirates before but they started non-stop service from Seattle to Dubai back in March and did so while offering a great deal on my overall itinerary. It was about $300 cheaper than anyone else and from what I’ve heard, Emirates offers topnotch service. I will be sitting in coach, as I do for all my international trips (until I get enough frequent flyer miles to do otherwise) so it will be a straight comparison with the likes of Korean, Thai and American, three other carries I have flown to India and Nepal in the past.

Oman Airlines

Ditto for Oman Airlines. New to me but they have the most, and cheapest, flights between Dubai and Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Power Strip

I already have a Monster Power Strip that provides four outlets. The reason I will be acquiring another is the need for more power. MORE POWER!!  BWWAHAHAHAHA!!

Sorry. While I am blissfully leaving my laptop behind on this trip, I will have two chargers for the PanoGear, one for my camera battery, one for the Picture Porter and one for my phone. Additionally, my girlfriend will be meeting me in the UAE and Oman and will need outlets as well. I will bring the Monster strip but this additional device will eliminate the need for separate USB adapters for the phone and allow for another few outlets for the power hungry life I have evolved.

I am going with the Tripp Lite TRAVELER3USB. There are a number of options on the market like this: small, 3 outlets and 2 USB connections. I chose this one because it has a surge protector, some lifetime warranty and, most importantly there is a cable. I want the cable rather than one that hangs on the outlet because I have experienced many bad outlets around the world. Hanging a power strip doesn’t work in many places, especially with an adapter on the front of it. An 18” cord will help.

Canon 180mm L Macro Lens

The Canon 180mm f/3.5 L will be following me along with a Canon 5D Mark II, thanks to Borrowlenses.com. I will be using this combination most often with the Panogear to create high quality, detailed panoramas. I also will try it with some macro shots as it will get closer than my Canon 28-300mm L lens.

Arabic Phrasebook

I still don’t’ have one picked out, a phrasebook, that is. I’m leaning toward the standard Lonely Planet version but was curious if any readers had suggestions for books that worked well for them. Not a lot of English is spoken in the rural areas of Oman and it will be best to at least cover the basics. Any suggestion you might have would be appreciated.

Joby GorillaMobile

The GorillaMobile is a malleable tripod for iPhones. I’m hoping to take some time-lapse videos with the phone as well as some regular videos where I don’t want to have to be hand holding the camera the whole time. It can wrap around objects and I have used the normal GorillaPod before with a point and shoot and was happy. I expect the same from this device but I don’t know if I will have to take off the case I already have on my phone to make it work.

M-Plate By Custom SLR

Not only am I getting the M-Plate from these guys, I’m getting the Glide Strap and C-Loop HD as well. What does all this stuff do? The Glide Strap is a camera strap designed by Custom SLR and originally pimped through Kickstarter. They had such great response with that device, that they followed it up with the C-Loop HD and now the M-Plate.

In short, the M-Plate allows a photographer to use a sling strap, which keeps the camera at her side instead of weighing on her neck, while also acting as a quick release tripod mounting plate. Most slings attach to a camera’s tripod mounting hole and this makes it annoying to take the strap off just for one or two quick shots from a tripod. The M-Plate promises to alleviate all this worry. I have never tried a shoulder sling like this and am curious how it will feel after five weeks on the road.

Manfrotto 3001 Tripod and 486RC2 Ball Head

To try out the M-Plate, I needed an Arca-Swiss quick release head or the RC2 type. I had neither on my trusty, old Bogen. And then I spotted what I needed at my friend Jessica’s house. The near exact model I need for the test; a Manfrotto 486RC2 Ball Head. And she’s super awesome by letting me borrow it. I won’t have a formal review, but I’ll probably blab on about it from time to time.

There you have it, the gear that will follow me on a 20,000 miles journey through three countries in 33 days.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

It Takes Away From The Experience

This is a personal matter and I don’t expect you to agree. Maybe you live blog/tweet while traveling and it is ten flavors of awesome. Good on you.

I have found the opposite to be true; it is ten shades of frustration. Frustration from trying to get the technology to work (this is compounded when the connection is marginal….which is worse than no signal at all). Frustration from trying to keep up with replies. But most of all, frustration from having to edit and prep photos faster than I please. I have posted images from my travel laptop in the past and I know it’s not the best screen and graphics card with which to edit. And still I post. I‘m changing that now and I only want to put out my best work, which means it will have to wait. Like a fine wine (I hope).

I honestly love working on images on my desktop at home, especially with the new version of Lightroom. It’s a treat and my images come out looking better than before. You deserve to see my best work and this will help ensure that.

I Will Be Guiding Guests

My guests for the India photo tour are paying me to be there for them and to be an available resource. I find that when I’m curious about which shots I took that day (and the subsequent curiosity to start editing them, even on my travel laptop), I am not as focused on serving my guests. And that’s my job, and pleasure, for those 2+ weeks. I can do my job better if I’m not trying to keep the Internet up to date.

It Adds Unnecessary Anxiety

I got a picture of a tiger!! You HAVE to see this, NOW!

That’s what I have thought in the past, right or wrong. Urgency, all in my head, drove me to thinking I ‘had’ to bring my laptop and stay connected and let people know, right now, what were the cool things I saw. No one back home would be ok with waiting, I was sure.

I was also wrong. People appreciate pretty pictures any time of the year and are ok with waiting. I am now editing some images from Nepal and posting those photos to a solid response and appreciation. Does it matter to most people that the images were taken six months ago? Nope.

I Have An iPhone

Acquiring an iPhone has made a big difference in my decision to not keep things ‘live’. It is allowing me, with the aid of a Digital-Foci Picture Porter 35 photo storage device, to not be required to bring a laptop. Why would I be required to anyway? My trip to India is to lead a photo tour with paying guests and it is imperative that I be reachable should any problems arise. I want to be able to check flights and email as it is our main means of communication. I want to stay in touch with home as I have loved ones who actually want to know what’s going on (but don’t need pictures).

With the iPhone I can use wifi to check email. Half my hotels will have it. I can also use it to snap quick photos and send them home or post to my personal Facebook page. Or even Twitter as it is super convenient (and I have an app that sends to both, making life easy). Maybe this is a bit of cheating then, still having the capability to send images. But the iPhone has its limits and I won’t be stretching them. Just a few shots when it really matters and if it works. If it doesn’t work out? Meh, I still have my high resolution images from my DSLR.

I’m Unsure Of The Benefit

In the case of Andrew there is a clear benefit; he’s paid to do it. That’s a nice way to do it. I‘m not paid and I often wonder if there is much benefit to being vigilant about downloading images at the end of the day, waiting for them to process and then tweaking before posting a few. Just to be up to date. I’m sure some people enjoy it, but who really follows me that closely? Even my Mom is ok with waiting a few days or a week without a call when I’m on a working trip. I think the Internet can wait as well.

If you are now in tears because of this news, I am sorry. The flip side is the images I do post will be of higher quality and refinement. Quality over speed. I hope you’ll stick around and see what transpires.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Getting Started

Welcome! This tutorial will explain the steps I take when using my iPhone to create time-lapse movies shot from commercial airliners, as seen above. I will be explaining how I use iTimeLapse Pro, my app of choice in this post which is a companion to another post I wrote on Digital Photography School that explains the process of setting up the shoot to ensure best results from the app. I suggest you check out that post in addition to this one to gather the whole picture (pun intended, always).

iTimeLapse Pro is a very useful app as it will shoot and create the video for you. No need to download the images and compile them in a computer. That does create some limitations in regard to exposure smoothing between images, but for what it is, this app is a great tool. Here then are my suggestions for using the app to gain the most of airborne time-lapse shoots.

Turn Off Auto Lock

Auto Lock is your enemy here. Turn it off. It can be found by going to your iPhone’s Settings menu, then General then Auto-Lock. When your phone locks, image capture stops.

Name Your Video Before You Start

Speaking from experience, naming videos before you start is the way to go. In the excitement of creating these short movies, I have often become confused about which video is which. They all start to look the same when the sample image is of the horizon and ground.

Bigger Is Not Always Better

The app has a number of settings for the camera resolution. I choose the Good settings of 1920×1440. This allows for longer videos without making them too huge. For instance, at this setting I shot the SEA-LAX video with 690 frames on this setting (which, the app tells me, is about 2.6MB/image). The final size on disk of that video’s still images is 1.1GB, while the final video is only 39MB (at 720p HD). If I had shot this at the Best setting, it would have taken up 2GB on disk and this can be problematic at times.

Use The Start Delay

The start delay will be your friend and stop you from becoming too frantic while setting up your shoot.

Turn The Flash Off, Mostly

There is a flash feature on this app and for shooting video out plane windows, it is all but useless. Turn it off so it doesn’t accidentally (in auto mode) decide to come on. This feature will becomign available when you start capturing your images. Leaving a long Start Delay will help you turn this feature off without messing up your shots.

Judge Your Timing

Timing for time-lapse is greatly influenced by speed and distance. If objects are further away, you will need a longer interval between shots to show movement (or risk a super long video that no one will watch). If objects are very close, shorter timing is needed. For a typical flight, I prefer every 4 seconds when at altitude. This allows for a smooth enough movement and a decent video length.

Turn The Volume Off

By default iTimeLapse Pro makes a shutter sound with each shot. In a plane, this is not that big of a deal as the ambient noise will likely cover it up. Still, I notice the noise once in a while, even with my bad hearing, and wonder where it’s coming from. It’s best to not have to listen to it (and this is helpful advice for other shooting situations as well). Don’t do this if you are still listening to music on your iPhone.

Record Ample Shots

Most video plays back at 24 frames a second or 30 frames a second. I have found, with shooting at a frame every four seconds, I can get decent video down to 16 frames a second on a plane. This means, if I want to capture 10 seconds of film (just about a minimum for most viewers) I need to capture 160 frames. That will take about 11 minutes when all is said and done. Do this calculation first so you are not tempted to stop early just to see what you got.

Now all you need to do is hit Start Time Lapse, align the camera and shoot away! TIP: Use the window shade to hold the camera in place, or grab a GorillaMobile to help keep the camera in the best location.

When you are finished recording, press Exit to be brought back to the main menu.

Edit Out The Bad Frames

Maybe setting up the iPhone didn’t go as smoothly as you hoped and you captured a few extra frames. Or perhaps the last 20 frames weren’t needed. Click on the Details tab and then click Edit Frames. On this screen you can remove any frame, anywhere, the doesn’t work for you.

Rendering Options

On the Render screen you have a number of options. The first is frames per second. As I mentioned, I suggest 16 frame a second for plane flights otherwise the video can be quite fast. Play with this and see what works best for you. There is also the option to create a video to a particular length.

Change the file name to something intelligent so you can find it later.

Video resolution is up to you. I suggest choosing 1080p video and pick the 1440×1080 option, unless you shot your video with the idea of cropping out the top and bottom. If you make your video 16:9 ratio, it will not compress the proportions, it will simply crop off the top and bottom.

A Music Soundtrack can be added as well on this screen so you can pick a song from your library.

Video Quality? 100%, unless space on your phone is an issue.

After clicking Render Now, your phone will create the video for you to watch. For the example here with 690 frames, it took 7 minutes. You can leave it to run in the background but you can’t create another time-lapse while it runs. So it might be a good idea to capture your videos while the time is right then render them when the capturing moments have passed.

Share!

When your video is finished, it’s time to share with the world. There are three online options here; YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. As expected, each will require a one time authentication with the service in order to share, but after that, you’re set.

There are options to save the movie to your Camera Roll so it can be used with other apps. You can also email the video if it is small. USB is an option to copy the file to your computer when connected via USB and with iTunes running. Instructions for all of these methods popup when selected. Lastly, Local Wifi Sharing is available if your cable is not available.

Conclusion

Oh! One more note. You can listen to music while the images are being captured. Just make sure to start it before the action begins.

iTimeLapse is a fun app with even more features than mentioned here. It is a useful tool that does just want I need it to do when creating fun time-lapse videos from a plane.

Suggested Equipment:

• iPhone 4s
• iTimeFrame Pro app
• Laptop for extended battery life
• GorillaMobile for iPhone
• Patience
• A good window seat

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Hi Peter,

I’m planning of traveling solo to Macchu Picchu this coming April for the first time . I’m looking up places to get a permit and group tour to help me climb up the Inca Trail. Is there a suggested tour guide/group (for the trail) that you recommend and any safe and cheap places I can stay at? I’m not quite sure how to even get to Macchu Picchu (heard that one can fly to Cuzco and then get a train?) I’m debating of making this a 1 week or 2 week trip depending on your recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

Jen

Jen,

I would suggest using Andean Treks as a reputable company to work with for arranging a trek down the Inca Trail. They are who I used on my trek and I picked them out by semi-random search. The price was right and they were easy to work with at the last minute. The crew and guides were great and earnestly interested in helping us have a good time in a safe manner.

As for a place to stay, I stayed in a couple and some were cheap. The first was Hotel San Blas (which is not that cheap, but you might be able to find a deal) . I think the other one was Hotel Chincana Wasi – La Casa Escondida  which might be closer to cheap ($30 a night or so).

As for getting to Machu Picchu, there are two way: walk or train. The train can be picked up in Cusco. As a matter of fact, here’s a great post on everything you need to know about getting there yourself.  And yes, LAN offers regular flights to Cusco from Lima (http://www.lan.com).

As for the amount of time, if you’re trekking I’d give yourself a few days in Lima (landing on day one, tour Lima and shake off jet-lag on day two then fly to Cusco on day three). Relax the day you arrive in Cusco and spend another day exploring and getting used to the surroundings. It’s a fun place and comfortable. On day five jump on the train if that’s what you are doing, or start your trek. If trekking I would suggest the 5 day version from Andrean Treks. You can do it in 4 days but this lessens your time at Machu Picchu. With the 5 day version you can see more along the trail and get a better appreciation for the history and organization of the civilization.

• Day 1 – Arrive Lima
• Day 2 – Day in Lima
• Day 3 – Fly to Cusco
• Day 4 – Tour Cusco
• Day 5 – Train to Aquas Calientes (or start trek)
• Day 6 – Explore Machu Picchu and train back to Cusco
• Day 7 – Fly to Lima and home

If not trekking, you can see Machu Picchu bright and early on day six. You’ll spend the whole day there and can catch a 3pm train back to Cusco. Day seven can see you flying back to Lima and home, if you want to crunch it all into a week. Realistically I would suggest a bit more than a week to enjoy it. If you’re active, there are things to do in Cusco, such as mountain biking and rafting.  While the itinerary above makes it possible to make it in a week, I’d highly suggest 10-14 days at a minimum to explore and do it all at a relaxed pace.

Lastly, I would suggest grabbing a copy of the Solo Traveler’s Handbook if you this is one of your first trips by yourself. There is also a short description of doing this trip solo on that site as well.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have more questions.

pwc

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Going on a trip to Galapagos and Machu Picchu. I plan to take my Nikon d90 and one lens 18-200 and a new nikon coolpix for underwater. Any other suggestions?

Hello Gloria,  

  You’ll love Machu Picchu and how wonderful to hit the Galapagos at the same time! I’m envious. 

    I recently reviewed the Nikon 18-200mm while at Machu Picchu and my impression was it was a great, sharp lens in that range. I often suggest the 18-200mm range to anyone looking to travel and wishing for the simplicity of a single lens, so I think you’re spot on with that setup. The 200mm will allow you to zoom in to the wildlife in the Galapagos and 18mm is wide enough for the classic shot of Machu Picchu. Besides those two highlights, the range is great for wandering markets or walking the beach. 

  Do you need anything else? I don’t think so. I’m making some assumptions that you want to travel light and simple but want to make sure you have what you need for this once in a lifetime trip. I don’t think a 10-22mm wide angle zoom would serve you particularly well in the islands and there’s only a couple of times it works wonders on the way to Machu Picchu.  If there was another lens I’d suggest, it would be a wide angle zoom, but really, if simplicity is your thing, then you are fine with that lens. If was anything less wide than 18mm, I’d tell you to reconsider.

    Make sure you try out the Coolpix in a pool if you can before you go to get used to the focus distance. Light bends weird underwater and you often have to get closer than you think. It’s also good to be familiar with the controls before you’re in the islands.   

Other than that, have fun! I think you have the basics covered. If there is something specific you want to shoot, let me know. Otherwise, you have just the right amount of equipment to bring back great photos without bogging yourself down in equipment.

pwc

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

If you are of that ilk, I have some tour options for you. I’ve picked three sites to help get your ideas of traveling abroad going, plus a listing of my own photo tours, of course. The three sites are run by people I have befriended and would personally enjoy spending two weeks frozen in the Arctic with or a week sweltering in the jungles of Papua New Guinea or exploring the expanse of the Universe from the floor of Death Valley. Have a look if you’re looking for a photography tour or regular tour in 2012 or 2013.

NOTE: While this is a listing of current tours, all the operators here constantly update their sites as new trips are planned. They are all also available for customized tours if your trip idea is not listed.

Jim Goldstein

Jim is a San Francisco based photographer who loves the outdoors. Yosemite is in his backyard and he plans a number of trips there each year. His list of locations also includes Death Valley, the beaches around the Bay area and the American Southwest. Jim’s laidback attitude, while still being a tech-geek at heart, is a great combination of art and the technical aspects of photography making him an excellent instructor. Not only will you learn a ton from Jim’s workshops, you’ll want to hang out and have a beer with him afterward.

• Yosemite Moonbow Photo Tour – April 2012 – Yosemite, National Park, Moon, Waterfalls, Nature, Night Photography
• Tidepools & Macro Photography Photo Tour – May 2012 – Macro, Sealife, San Francisco
• Yosemite Moonbow Photo Tour – June 2012 – Yosemite, National Park, Moon, Waterfalls, Nature, Night Photography
• Glacier National Park, Montana – June 2012 – Glaciers, Nature, Wildlife, Night Photography
• Bisti Badlands, New Mexico – September 2012 – Night Photography, Macro, Desert, Nature
• Death Valley Racetrack – October 2012 – Desert, Nature, Night Photography, Light Painting, Experimentation, Landscape
• The Wave, Arizona – Fall 2012 – Patterns, Desert, Nature, Landscape, Sandstone

Jon Cornforth

Jon plans big. If you’re looking for pure adventure (which might read: some discomfort required to take in spectacular sites and awe inspiring nature) then take a look at what Jon offers. His tours are not for those wanting to sit five stories up on a cruise ship while maybe spotting a whale 3000’ away. His tours are perfect if you want to be in the thick of it; a hundred yards from a polar bear in the arctic or swimming with whales off the coast of Tonga. Really, he gets out there. Take a look at his offerings for the next couple of years:

• Humpback Whale Photography Tour – July & August 2012 – Whales, whales and more whales, sea life, Alaska, Tropics, Tonga, Adventures
• Polar Bear Photography Tour – October 2012 – Polar Bears, Arctic, Wildlife, Alaska, Land-Based, Sea-Based
• Mexico Sailfish Photography Tour – January 2013 – Diving, Sea Life, Underwater, Sailfish
• Japan Wildlife Photography Tour – February 2013 – Snow Monkeys, Cranes, Japan, Wildlife, Eagles

Beth Whitman

While Beth is not offering a specific photography tour, she has in the past. What’s more, Beth understands the idea behind traveling differently. Her tours don’t pass by the highlights at a 30 monument-a-day pace. She takes time to visit local villages and savor local flavors. Her tours are hand spun and she has personally inspected each location, having at least once lead a tour before setting up an itinerary. Her years of experience leading these tours (she’s never home when we gather for happy hour in Seattle!) and kind nature make her an easy choice if you want more of a mix of great photographic subjects and cultural connections.

Beth also offers women-only tours, something the guys above can never offer. ;)

• Vietnam and Cambodia Women-only Tour – March 2012 – People, History, Scenery, Culture, Villages, Angkor Wat, Mekong River
• Bhutan Women-only Buddhism Tour – Spring 2012 – Buddhism, Culture, History, Religion, Meditation, Yoga, Paro Festival, Tiger’s Nest
• Santa Fe Women-only Culinary Tour – June, 2012 – Food, Sun, Cooking Lessons, Native American History, Markets
• Papua New Guinea Mt. Hagen Show Cultural Tour – August 2012 – Co-ed, Culture, Islands, Jungle, Photography, Tribes, Mt. Hagen Festival
• Papua New Guinea Goroka Show – September 2012 – Co-ed, Culture, Homestay, Tribes, History, Goroka Show
• Rogue River Women-only Rafting Trip – Fall, 2012 – Rafting, Oregon, Outdoors, Wild And Scenic River
• Bhutan Women-only Culture and Festival Tour – Fall, 2012 – Jambay Lhakhang Teschu, Festival, Buddhism, Monasteries, Ritual
• Myanmar (Burma) Women-only Culture and Pagoda Tour – October 2012 – Culture, Cuisine, Religion, Tribes
• North India Women-only Cultural Tour – Fall, 2012 – Taj Mahal, Delhi, Bollywood, Hadicrafts, Daily Life

Peter West Carey

On to me. I endorse me because I earnestly love not only traveling but also teaching photography. My tours are focused on photography and experiencing local cultures. I keep my operations small so I can give personal attention to each of my guests, helping them learn photography while in exotic locations as much, or as little, as they want. My trips are centered around either an event, like the four day festivals in Bhutan, or an exotic location rich in photography subjects.  Take a look at what I have on deck for the next couple of years.

• India April 2012 – 16 Days – Delhi, Agra, Taj Mahal, Ranthambore National Park, Amritser, Jaipur, Varanasi – Tigers, architecture, festival, ceremony, religion, daily life, Ganges River
• Mountains, Waterfalls & Stars – 3 Days – Oregon, Cascade Mountains, Waterfalls, Columbia River, Mt. Hood, Night Photography, Mt. St. Helens
• Nepal Sept/Oct 2012 – 21 Days – Kathmandu, Sagarmatha National Park, Himalayas, Mt. Everest,Gokyo Ri
• Bhutan Oct. 2012 – 13 Days – Thimphu, Jakar 5 Day Festival, Bumthang, Religion, Ceremony, Tiger’s Nest
• Bhutan March 2013 – 13 Days – Paro, Paro 4 Day Festival, Thimphu, Tiger’s Nest, Culture
• Nepal Oct 2013 – 21 Days – Kathmandu, Sagarmatha National Park, Himalayas, Mt. Everest, Kalapathar
• India November 2013 – 16 Days – Pushkar 5 Day Festival, Camels, Nomadic Life, Taj Mahal, Architecture, Religion

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

In airports in the USA with bench seats, there are predictable patterns to how people sit under certain circumstances. Failure to follow these rules results in scorn, ridicule, banishment to a dungeon or possibly just a dirty look. You see, we all know once inside the plane we will be sitting next to someone. Closely. So when we are outside of the plane, we want nothing to do with sitting next to someone (unless we know them, and even then it can be tricky if you are catching a 4am flight and are not yet awake). We have rules, unspoken rules, about where to sit. They look like this:

1 Person

With one person in a row the rule is pretty simple; they can sit where they please. Sometimes they will sit in the middle, but if they are considerate they sit on the end of the row so their bag doesn’t take up a seat. Yes, they will have a roller bag. Always. People without roller bags tend to stand. Hippies with backpacks lay on the floor. And kids never sit, at least not for more than a nanosecond. If they have a roller bag, they have a cell phone as depicted below.

2 People

The two person configuration is not much different.

And So On Until The Row Is ‘Full’

Overfull

Most people are happy with the above configuration. Most consider the row full and no one else should sit there. But if a ‘newbie’ traveler comes along and actually wants to rest his feet before getting on a flight, the most often chosen spot is seat #7. This is because the open adjacent seat allows for bag storage out of the general legroom area.

Overfull Exception

This is, of course, unless one of the passengers happens to be an attractive woman.

Power Option

Given the Overfull scenario…

…we now throw in a power pole, always located in the center of a row.

In this scenario, even the most introvert, anti-social, mobile device toting geek amongst us will ask the other passengers to please move their bags so he may suck from the life giving teat.

That is, again, of course, unless there is an attractive woman in the row. In which case most geeks will forgo power for proximity to someone who smells pretty, even if they know they have zero chance of talking to her.

This leaves a clear space open for another geek to gain some power, nearly filling the row.

When Standing Close Is Not Okay

If we take our Full scenario above and in saunters someone who doesn’t want to sit, but instead stands close, this would be most disliked by the rightful sitters.

No one likes to be stood close to when they are sitting, even with a one seat buffer.

When Standing Close Is Okay

However, standing close suddenly becomes socially acceptable if you are recharging something and there is not a seat available.

I don’t know why this is. I think it is because we feel like people have to have a reason to stand close to us. Charging a phone? That’s okay. Eating a burger. Not okay.

The Troubles Couples Have

It’s time for a pop quiz because this little cartoon game just got serious. A couple enters the waiting area. The seating is as such. Where would they sit and in which configuration (woman on left or man on left)?

I know. It’s not easy. Two seats here and two seats there. I’ll give you a moment more to think about it.

Done?

The correct configuration is:

The reasoning is thus: The gentleman would not want his lady friend  having to sit too close to the geek, knowing that she would become uncomfortable as the geek slowly leaned closer and closer to her, lured by her natural charm, while continuing to watch X-Men 12: The Final Mutation on his phone. Thus, being a considerate gentleman, he takes the seat closest to the geek (a ‘geek block’ if you will) while allowing his lady friend (thanks to Melanie for the phrase) to avoid sitting close to people, especially geeks.

If he’s not the considerate type, the configuration would end up like this.

He’s happy because he gets to catch up with friends on Facebook telling them how awesome his trip is going to be. She’s quite unhappy because not only is he ignoring her, having picked this set of seats so he can charge his phone rather than getting her a seat with some elbow room, she also has to sit next to the guy in seat #8 who seems a little too happy. He’s freaking me out too and I’m the one who drew him.

Beyond this, chaos reigns. More people show up and no one is happy, but we slog through it, this time we have around strangers.

The funny thing is, if we get to our destination and mosey up to the local watering hole only to find the same situation, we won’t hesitate to grab a seat next to anyone for a chance to drink a beer. I guess it all comes down to motivation.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

I was lucky enough to win a tour with G Adventures in Peru thanks to going to a Meet, Plan Go! meeting the year before. It was the top prize and included a 10 day classic tour of Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest along the Tambopata River.

The funny thing is I had already visited Peru, and performed this exact itinerary in reverse, in 2008 on my own accord and without a guided tour. Why would I even enter a contest that takes me back to a place I have already visited? I mean, after all, isn’t Machu Picchu supposed to be a “Once-In-A-Lifetime” experience? I could unbalance the whole space-time continuum if I saw it again, potentially.

In the face of such cataclysmic risk, I went any way. And I’m very glad I did. You see, an entire country like Peru can not be ‘seen’ or ‘done’ in one visit. Now one lifetime. Not even Lima, a much smaller subset of Peru, can be done as such. Granularly speaking, it’s because of constant change that I wanted to go back.

I wanted to see what was new. Even at Machu Picchu there were tarps that showed up in my first images that would now be gone. The weather would be different. The people would be different. I’d be riding a train this time (in first class too!) instead of trekking the Inca Trail. And I’d get to go with a friend time.

In the end, arriving back home to Seattle on the last of three flights that left Lima at a bit past midnight, I am ultimately happy that I returned and took this tour. Returning to the ‘same’ (big quotes here as nothing is ever the same after three years) place provided me with some important differences I never would have experienced had I only visited once.

Below I list some of the reasons I’m glad I went back to the same location three years later. I know there is far more in this world to see than I will ever get a chance to experience in one lifetime, but if by chance you are offered an opportunity to return to a distant land for a second time, I hope these reasons will help you decide it likely will be worth your time.

1. New People – I met a whole passel of new folks this time around, from varied and distant lands themselves. None of them were here the last time, even the guides I met. I even got a chance to try out some of my horrible Swedish language skills on a few of the travelers this time around. New guides. New hosts. New everyone.
2. New Sites- This time around I spent more time in Lima, six days instead of one and a half. I saw more of the historic district and Miraflores. I walked the beach (as rocky as it is) and visited Christ (he’s on a hill and a lot easier to find than you may think as he turns blue at night). I ate in different places (one of which was TGIFriday’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Classy. That’s me). I also walked areas of Cusco I had not visited as I was more timid last time. Heck, I even walked up to a different Christ while there.
3. That Familiar Feeling – This was something I didn’t’ realize I’d like so much. I knew where stuff was. I knew how to get around Cusco. I knew which river fed which river in the jungle. I knew how hot it was going to be getting off the plane in Puerto Maldonado (answer: soak-your-shirt hot). I knew my way around Machu Picchu and where I wanted to go for the pictures I would take. That part was cool.
4. I Got To Avoid Crowds At Machu Picchu – Yes, there are places with no crowds at Machu Picchu. While everyone else was busy following our guide after entering the city, I headed up hill to take some photos. I wanted to take some time-lapse images and had a spot in mind I found on the last trip. It’s a spot on the Inca Trail and after the trekkers passed by from their early morning start to visit the city, and before the tourists downhill started making their way up after they spent 3-4 hours listening to their guides teach them about the city, I had time and space by myself. At once point, I saw no one for 30 minutes. It was heaven.
5. I Got To Play More – As I had seen things in most of the locations, I got to be more curious and take my time when I wanted to. I wasn’t struck with the “I must see it all…NOW” feeling that often comes with thinking you will not return to a location. I wandered into the jungle and took pictures of leafcutter ants because it struck my fancy. I met a travel writer who happened to be in town because I had the time.
6. New Experiences – I fished for meat eating piranhas. I witnessed a sunset from 120’ in the air and above the tropical canopy of the Amazon Jungle. I ate in new restaurants. I touched the Pacific Ocean from that side of the Southern hemisphere. I spoke more Spanish. I visited different Inca ruins.  I had a picture of Robin Hood making out with some damsel, above my bed. You know, the life giving experiences we seek.
7. I Had Better Weather For Pictures – This was a big one. See those pictures at the top? The one with better light and blue skies is from this last trip. Gray clouds? My “Once-In-A-Lifetime” trip.
8. Ants!

There are more reasons to consider going back to a place you’ve visited before and we all have personal ones, often. I am very glad I made it back to Peru for another visit. Would I go back if someone offered me another free trip?

In a heartbeat.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.