A Life of Travel: I'm back... after Bangladesh, Bhutan and a bout of cholera!

Author

Derek Baron
November 26, 2024

A big welcome to the 62 new subscribers who recently signed up!

It's Tuesday and it's time for a travel newsletter...

update

It’s been a few weeks since my last newsletter, and for that I apologize. I was leading 4 Wandering Earl tours back to back, with each destination very far from the next one, and I had very little free time during this period as a result. 

But as we approach December, the situation has steadied and everything is starting to come under control!

It just took some time since, in the past 9 days alone, I went from Bhutan to Bangladesh to Singapore to my current destination.

So here we go with some personal updates and news…

  1. 🇫🇯 FIJI - Well, I’m in Fiji. Right now I’m on the quiet island of Waya and its beautiful, with an idyllic beach backed by tropical hills. I’ll be here at the Octopus Resort for 6 much needed restful days and nights before moving on!

  2. 🤒 CHOLERA - Yesterday was my last day of medication for a bout of cholera that I was dealing with. That’s right, cholera. It seems I contracted it while in Bangladesh a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, I was in Singapore when I really started to feel the effects so I went to a doctor and got the necessary treatment. It worked and I’m almost back to ideal health.

  3. ❓️ SURPRISE! - The second Wandering Earl Surprise Tour finished last week! The trip began in Dhaka, Bangladesh and most of the guests found out the destination only a few days before the trip. However, on Day 3, I surprised the group again by announcing that we were taking a flight to Bhutan :)


    We then spent a week traveling all over this stunning Himalayan country, interacting with so many kind people, learning about history, culture and religion and witnessing such magical scenery that we were all in constant awe.

    Through the help of our local team, we even organized activities that had NEVER been done before by tourists in Bhutan. Seriously, NEVER before. To say this trip was spectacular would be an understatement. As a result…

  4. 🇧🇹 BHUTAN - Given the success of this Surprise Tour, I have now put together a Wandering Earl Bhutan trip for 2025! This trip will also be something very special, again, thanks to our superb local team that works so hard to create such unique experiences. If you’re interested, here’s the details: Bhutan 2025!

Paro Takstang (aka Tiger’s Nest) - Involves a 4 mile roundtrip hike to reach but getting to the 8 temples at the top is so very worth it!

We visited a Buddhist nunnery where the nuns taught us how to make traditional bracelets and invited us to join them for lunch in their dining hall!

  1. 🏝️ SOUTH PACIFIC - After Fiji, the plan is to visit Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. After that, the plan is a bit fuzzy but hopefully the details will be worked out in the coming week! I’ll keep you posted as often as possible on Facebook and Instagram as this trip progresses.

  2. 💺 FREE UPGRADE - I’m not sure if this is real or just a fluke… The last two times an airline emailed me with an offer to upgrade my seat, I clicked on the link. But I did’t pay for the upgrade. I clicked a few buttons, expressed interest and then exited the page. I did this at least 5 times over the next 24 hours, but again, I never paid for the upgrade. For both flights, I ended up with a free upgrade, given to me at the gate. Coincidence or new strategy?

  3. 🛫 BIMAN BANGLADESH - I kid you not. This was the legroom on the 3.5 hour flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Singapore. It was worse than any budget airline I’ve ever flown.

  1. 🧳 TRIP CHASER - Last year I mentioned an excellent travel card game that my good friends Pete and Dalene created. It’s called Trip Chaser. The idea is to prove you’re travel-savvy as you try to ‘visit’ various destinations. The path is always filled with challenges…and of course fun. If you’re looking for a great gift, at $23, Trip Chaser is an excellent buy!

around the globe

🧞 Travel Predictions 2025
Booking.com offers their yearly travel trend predictions, with an intriguing list for 2025!

🖼️ National Geographic’s Pictures of the Year
Nothing more needs to be said. Take a look at some of this year’s most impressive images from around the world. 

📚️ Two Cool Bookstores to Visit
One is just an eye-catching delight located in Seoul and the other, in Japan, allows people to rent out shelves in order to sell their own books.

💰️ New Zealand Tourist Fees
To gain more funds to protect ecosystems and modernize preservation efforts, New Zealand might start charging locals and tourists a fee to enter 5 different popular sites.

🚃 Have you Heard of Miniatur Wunderland?
On my last tour, a guest informed me about this place in Hamburg, Germany. It has 12 sections of destinations in model form from across the globe. It’s unique and started by two brothers who wanted to build the world’s largest model railway.

📔 A Farewell to the Inflight Magazine
The last remaining in-flight magazine of a major US airline has come to an end. United Airlines’ Hemispheres will no longer be in print and will be replaced by personalized, real-time digital content on board flights.

🇷🇴 Brilliant Hiking Across Transylvania
This is the ultimate hiking route, highlighting the history and beauty of Romania’s Transylvania region and taking nature-lovers along the gorgeous Carpathian Mountains. 

🧘 Bhutan’s Mindfulness City
It’s bold for sure. Bhutan is creating a Mindfulness City with an aim of attracting investments, businesses and new jobs while promoting green spaces, meditation, mindfulness-education and eco-friendly activities. Located near the border with India, it will be built in stages, with a final goal of completion in 21 years.

🇪🇪 Time for Estonia to Shine?
The 2024 European Union Capital of Culture is Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. The result has been increased attention for Estonia as a destination certainly worth visiting.

🏘️ United Nations - Updated List of Tourism Villages
The UN Tourism Villages is a list of villages that offer a sustainable, locally-focused experience for visitors. Several new villages have now been added to list in 2024!

where in the world?

A big congratulations to Steve and Suzanne for correctly guessing the location of the photo in the last newsletter! This was a difficult one for sure.

The photo is of Kruje, Albania. It’s located north of Tirana and is home to a historic castle and village, dating back to the 5th century. It was once ruled by the Albanian lord Skanderbeg after his rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in 1443.


This week’s photo:

It’s time to guess…where was the below photo taken?

If you have a guess (the more specific the better), click reply and let me know. Anyone who guesses correctly will be mentioned in next week's newsletter 😄 

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Thank you so much for reading!

Derek
(my middle name is Earl)

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