If I’d said it once, I must have said it a dozen times during my first short stay at Walt Disney World. This is a whole different culture than I was expecting. I’ve traveled a lot of different places, experienced a lot of different things – but the culture shock in the Magic Kingdom was intense! I don’t think that I’ve ever been in a place before where everyone just seemed so happy before. Read more...

We’re all crowded around a long table at the Drumbo base camp. It’s everyone’s first night in Iceland, but if you’d seen the crew together, you might think we were old friends. Our guide, Gulli, is giving us the lowdown about the different types of adventures we’ll be partaking in over the next week. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but this adventure is already giving me the magical moments that I cherish about traveling around the world. The destinations are always amazing, but more often than not, its the people we meet along the way that make all the difference. Read more...

The thing about travel is how unexpected it can be. It was 2006, and my friend and I were on a pilgrimage. Lovers of alternative music, we were going to an event. The Sugarcubes, a semi-popular rock band from the 1980’s was having a reunion, featuring its famous singer Bjork. And they were doing it in their hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland. We got a deal. Tickets to the show, roundtrip flights and hotel for a weekend for a reasonable price. Read more...

This Dispatch (part of our irregular series of experiences from folks at the Crown Cruise Vacations offices) recounts Roger’s experiences in Prague back in 2003. Some of the information in this little story may be a bit outdated, but the all the places are still there and ready for your visit! Read more...

I was a bit skeptical of it at first. Definitely something I wouldn’t like, I thought when the idea was presented to me at lunch. But as I pondered over my pasta, I decided to take the plunge. After all, we aren’t talking about Trapeze School here, one of those Club Med activities that gives me agita at the mere thought of. No, we were talking paddleboarding on Sandpiper Bay. Read more...

The following is an excerpt from Roger’s travel journal. He went to Rio de Janeiro in 2006.

The thing about traveling in a great group of people is that it takes forever to get moving. Planning for an early morning start meant that we finally got rolling out of here at about 11:30. About two hours after the plan. One of the things about being in a hostel is that when you find people to gang around with, it can take a while to get us all ready to do the same thing. Once we finally got out and ready to go, we took a bus to Corcovado and instead of the tram, the five of us split with a private driver. He took us to a couple lookout spots on the way up. (Corcovado is in an urban forest – a remnant of the rainforest that was around Rio years ago and some of which is still there to the north and south of the city). The views were stunning, you could see everything and the planes which were landing in the local airport (jet planes, mind you) are just about at eye level. It’s a little nuts. After we got to the base of Corcovado, you have two options. Stairs (which give you more opportunity to pay ridiculously expensive prices for cheap looking souvenirs) or the elevator. I was all about the stairs, all about being the fit, healthy me that I’ve always wanted to be. About half way up the stairs, I changed my mind, but it was too late to stop. Before long, I was at the top, with the same view that Jesus has. Read more...