Enjoying the warm tropical beeeze, sun on my skin, toes in the sand, and the aloha spirit in Maui 🌺
Plumeria, also known as frangipani, is a flowering tree that is a popular part of Hawaiian culture and tradition. It is prolific and wild in Hawaii so you can find the blossoms anywhere you go, making it easy to always put one in your hair. This morning I took a class on the beach learning how to make a beautiful rosette! 🌸
Sailing into a balmy Maui evening to watch the sunset 🌅⛵️
Breakfast at Duke’s in Maui before we flew to Kona on the Big Island for a beautiful sunset, a Champagne dinner and watching the manta rays come to the shore!
A gorgeous evening in Kona 🌺 Work for a few hours then a fabulous sunset with cocktails and dinner in a private villa on the water with lush green gardens and black lava rock 🌋🌴
A perfect beach break after a few days of work and nonstop activities. It’s a beautiful day and the water is so refreshing! 🌴🥥🌺
My final meal in at the Kona Airport, Lau Lau plate lunch, so yummy!! Slow cooked fatty pork wrapped in taro leaves with Kahlua pork, white rice and macaroni salad 😍
We spent a few days in Santiago before we board the Regent Seven Seas Explorer to Antarctica. It is February but that is the end of summer here in South America so beautiful weather. I loved the rooftop pool, restaurant and bar at my hotel!
A fun day of exploring beautiful Santiago. It’s a very European style city and has great food!
Talking about food….I had the most amazing sea urchin here and served so differently than I have ever had it, delicious!!
A trip to wine country was next, I wasn’t prepared for the foggy, chilly weather coming from Santiago in the 90’s! But we had a wonderful tasting experience.
A fun day exploring the US Virgin Islands by catamaran. We spent most of the time swimming in the warm turquoise waters of Hawksnest Bay and watching for turtles. It is such a beautiful paradise on the north shore of St. John. 🐢
Old San Juan is so pretty with its Old World elegance and vibrant atmosphere. I love walking along the blue cobblestone streets and past colorful buildings, historic fortresses, and old city walls, some of them date back to the 16th century. My favorite part is hearing the salsa music pour out of so many doorways and following the scents of the delicious Puerto Rican cuisine. 🇵🇷
Excited to be on the inaugural West Coast sailing of the Oceania Vista. So far the ship is beautiful, there’s so much space and the culinary scene is great.
Excited for the sail away on the new Oceania Vista with such a beautiful evening and sunset. Then off to explore some of the options on the ship for pre-dinner cocktails 🍸
Setting sail on the inaugural West Coast journey of the Oceania Vista. There is simply no better way to cruise than aboard the intimate, elegant ships of Oceania Cruises.
Oceania Cruises is renowned as having the finest cuisine at sea, they create culinary masterpieces using only the best ingredients and the most talented chefs from around the globe – dinner was delicious!
The staterooms on the Oceania Vista have soothing tones and are detailed with multiple layers of luxurious furnishings, accents and artwork, it is a welcoming home away from home. I love my Concierge Veranda, it is spacious and comfortable, plus it has access to the Concierge Lounge.
Fiji’s North is the lesser known corner of Fiji, and those who come are richly rewarded with a real Fiji adventure: a different experience that makes for a really memorable trip. Savusavu town is on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island and home to some world-famous diving.
Excited to go to Savusavu, it’s on Viti Levu, one of the other 333 Fijiian islands that I haven’t been to yet!
Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort is located in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, Fiji. Overlooking the beautiful Savusavu Bay, it is barefoot family luxury and quintessential Fiji island serenity. The focus is on rest and relaxation, authentic cuisine and culture, and opportunities to explore the incredible secrets of nature and the local environment, especially the marine world! 🐠
Found my spot in this pristine setting! I am surrounded by a marine sanctuary on this secluded coastline with coral reefs and exotic marine life, it is also an environmentally responsible resort while still luxury. Snorkeling and diving is a highlight here so that’s next! 🪸
What a beautiful last day at Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji, sad to leave this paradise 💙
Savusavu is a lovely town strung along a waterfront street, backed by mountains and lush vegetation. Their Saturday Farmers Market is a large tented area full of tables laden with produce of all kinds where locals and tourists come to buy the usual tomatoes, lettuces, and green beans. Also tropical fruit, taro or kava root, peppers, cilantro, parsley, eggplant, cucumbers, bananas, chilies, and other interesting fruits and vegetables. The seafood market was even more fun seeing all the underwater delicacies and beautiful colored fish and crustaceans. Attached is a small handicraft market with beautiful locally made items that are perfect to bring home as gifts. Don’t miss a visit to the beautiful town, there are also so many interesting restaurants! 🍠🍅🥬
Namale is an intimate tropical sanctuary on Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu, sprawled across a gorgeous cliff overlooking the Koro Sea. My villa is one of four private villas.
Bula House is the original Namale Villa perched at the edge of Namale’s lava cliffs. This villa is luxuriously furnished with a lounging area, billiard table, and dining table. The bedroom area offers a large 4-poster king bed, a sunken sitting room for two, a walk-in closet with changing area, a two-person shower, a jacuzzi spa tub, and a private outdoor shower. Two unique features of this Villa are the large deck with a plunge pool and lounge furniture, as well as private stairs leading down through the volcanic rock to the shoreline. I really don’t want to leave this sanctuary! 🇫🇯
I absolutely love my deck and pool overlooking the Koro Sea. Between the villa and this area, there is no reason to leave! I see why it is a favorite destination for jetsetters and celebrities because of its exclusivity and luxury.
I love the sound of the lali drum, a traditional style drum signaling significant and community events in Fijian culture, which lets you know the start of dinner. The Indo-Fijian cuisine is inspired by the rich flavors and traditions of the islands and is made with fresh produce, herbs, and vegetables from their own organic farm and local seafood markets, sooo delicious!
Flying Fiji’s Airways business class is like a bed and breakfast experience – a comfy place to get a full night’s sleep with a pair of good meals on either side. The comfortable seats are topped with black & white pillows decked in a traditional Fijian pattern. After dinner, wine and a movie, I went to the bathroom and asked a flight attendant to make up my seat for the night. When I returned, it was done, set cozily with a nice mattress pad and a plush duvet in the same Fijian pattern as the pillow. Just as I’d hoped, I slept comfortably for nearly seven hours before waking up to breakfast, a mimosa and coffee a few hours before landing. For an 11 hour flight to/from LAX, there really is no better way than Fiji business class. Thank you Fiji Airways!! ✈️
Relaxing on a sandbar in the Pacific before we head over to Castaway Island 🥂🍾 🇫🇯
Today was so much fun, I helped in the coral planting program run by local marine biologists at the resort. Castaway Island has vast coral reefs that they study and protect. Because of the way hard coral reproduces and heals, small pieces can grow to eventually become mature colonies. We secure these fragments to the grates using cable ties and then put it back into the water. I felt like I was back in Panama studying coral reef ecology 🪸🐠🧡
Cloud 9 is a famous floating bar in Fiji. It is a great way to spend the day relaxing on lounges, drinking cocktails, dancing to a DJ, jumping off the top deck, enjoying their delicious wood-fired pizzas, swimming and snorkeling in the turquoise blue waters…a perfect day!
Many Fijian villages are located on the banks of rivers with beautiful mountains and tropical wilderness. We took a fun and very fast speedboat to the village, trekked up a forested path from the river banks and were treated to the most beautiful afternoon. We brought kava as a gift, we were accepted as guests in the village with a ceremony and then offered kava. While Fijians are amongst the friendliest people in the world, it is important to respect their customs and traditions so the women had to have covered shoulders and long skirts. No shoes inside, sunglasses or hats anywhere, it is considered an insult to the chief of the village. They made us a delicious traditional lunch and then they sang and danced, it was such an amazing experience. 🇫🇯
The perfect day started with a relaxing massage and ended with a gorgeous sunset 🌅
Woke up to a beautiful first day and excited to enjoy it!
I love our accommodations, a spacious two story and two bedroom suite in a Key West style with a spiral staircase up to the third floor circular terrace. I think we’ll be very comfortable 😊
Good morning ☕️☀️🇹🇨
The Pirate Island water park is a lot of fun, even for adults and teenagers. There are areas for really young kids too but we loved the big slides, tube slides and the surf simulator.
It’s a long journey to Egypt and since I couldn’t leave a day earlier, it was even longer. LAX to London Heathrow and rest for a little while, then on to Cairo.
A few hours later, a flight from Cairo to Aswan, then from Aswan to Abu Simbel. So excited to see the temples of Abu Simbel!
The Temples at Abu Simbel were built by Rameses II in 1200 BC, 3200 years ago. The two massive temples are carved into natural rock formations. The main temple has four monolithic 66-foot statues of Ramses II at the entrance and it is carved 185 feet deep into the sandstone. The temples are dedicated to sun gods Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte.
We boarded our Nile River Cruise in Aswan and will cruise to Luxor. It meanders through panoramic desert landscapes, farmlands, colorful villages and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’ll experience the ancient glory of Egypt’s greatest temples, palaces and tombs for the next few days.
The ship is beautiful and spacious and the 6 course meals at lunch and dinner are delicious.
Today was a busy day in Aswan where we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo and the mummified crocodiles.
The Temple of Edfu, the most preserved temple in Egypt. Having the hieroglyphics along the walls, explained by our Egyptologist guide, was fascinating.
Today was so nice, relaxed on the sundeck at the pool and watched the beautiful landscapes go by. This evening was a special themed dinner on the sundeck as well, Arabian Nights. The food and entertainment was amazing!
Gently floating over the Valley of the Kings, the final resting place of some of the greatest Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The sun is rising as we slowly go over ancient temples and forgotten ruins. This was so worth the 3:30am wake-up.
After taking a hot air balloon over the Valley of the Kings, we went there to explore the tombs. The Valley of the Kings has immense historical importance, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Valley is renowned for its tombs, which were built for the Pharaohs, was used as a royal burial site for over 500 years and is home to some of the world’s most remarkable and well-preserved ancient monuments. The area was chosen because of its remote location and proximity to Thebes, modern-day Luxor, the capital city of ancient Egypt. It was also chosen because it was believed that the gods would protect those buried here from grave robbers.
We were very lucky to have the Chief Director and archaeologist of the Valley of the Kings, Dr. Ali, spend time with us and tell us all about the area, the history and the current projects. He answered our questions, was such a source of knowledge and exciting to talk to!
These are the types of exclusive experiences that we can arrange for you when you want to visit Egypt, you will truly be a VIP.
The dazzling Temple of Hatshepsu…one of the world’s most influential early female leaders. She was one of only a few female pharaohs in thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history, only sons were allowed to succeed their fathers. Hatshepsut altered her image to be more masculine. She was one of the most prolific builders in Egyptian history and the temple is a perfect example.
The temple complex of Karnak is the largest religious building ever built, and was constructed over a span of 2,000 years (between 1570–1090 BC), so it’s around 4,000 years old in total! It is a complex of sanctuaries, pylons and obelisks. it’s large enough to contain about 10 cathedrals. It is also famous for its hypostyle hall – a spectacular forest of giant papyrus-shaped columns. There are two interesting avenues that used to connect the temples, one has ram-headed sphinxes and the other is 3km long and has human headed sphinxes connecting all the way to Luxor Temple.
One of the things I found most fascinating was that it is also considered the earliest Christian church in the world. During the 4th century AD, Christians we’re persecuted for their faith so they had to hide it but there are signs all over the temple. Look at the last few pictures, you’ll see the disciples on the pillars and a cross that was made from a statue of three people standing side by side. The two on either side of the middle person had only their chest area left, the rest was cut out and it made a cross.
My home for the next few days, the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza Located in the heart of Cairo on the banks of the River Nile. It’s is a peaceful retreat in the middle of a city that moves at a frenetic pace. The accommodations are so quiet and comfortable, I don’t even want to venture out…but I have to see the pyramids!!
Khan el-Khalili souk is a very rich and vibrant market that has been trading since the 14th century! I loved immersing myself in the vibrant atmosphere and enjoyed a delicious lunch of Egyptian specialities while in the souk!
Today was for the museums… the biggest and most well-known museum in Egypt, the Egyptian Museum, holds the world’s largest collection of pharaonic antiquities. But mostly known as the place where you can see the infamous King Tutankhamun collection, complete with his sarcophagus and gold burial mask. But no photos allowed 😣
Next was the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Here one of the highlights is the gallery of the Royal Mummies, this is a quiet, tomb-like space where I saw 20 royal mummies that are thousands of years old, including some of the most famous pharaohs of all time like Ramses II. I couldn’t help staring at them and all the details for so long. Again no photos but the ones at the end are not my photos, just from the museum so you can get an idea of what we saw.
Our guide was exceptional in his knowledge of everything in the museums, plus he was able to get us a private sit down with the curator of the museum. It was amazing hearing him talk about it and be able to ask questions.
Good evening Cairo…the evening started with cocktails at The Bar 🍸
The Step Pyramid of Djoser, constructed at Saqqara about 4,700 years ago, was the first pyramid the Egyptians ever built and the oldest complete stone building complex known in history. Saqqara served as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis in the Sahara Desert.
The last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great pyramids of Giza.
They are the most famous structures in history and I can’t believe I am here standing in front of them!
The Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, a check off the bucket list ✔️
Another unreal moment for me in Egypt, standing in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza! The Sphinx is about 4,500 years old, one of the world’s largest monuments and one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient Egyptians. The Sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion, the face is thought to represent the Pharoah Khafre from the 4th dynasty.
Lunch today at Cairo’s most historic hotel, Mena House. It was originally a hunting lodge built for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it eventually became a hotel in 1887. This legendary hotel has played host to kings, queens and heads of state and lies in the shadow of the great pyramids of Giza.
Goodbye Egypt! We had a great farewell dinner at the home of our hosts in Cairo. It was a beautiful evening and we were treated to a special guest, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Mostafa Waziry. Listening to his stories was fascinating, from the past, the present and future plans. We were able to ask all the questions we’ve ever had about ancient Egypt and the pyramids! It was a whirlwind week and the best time! Thank you Farid, George, Walid and the whole team for sharing your country and ensuring that we experience Egypt the right way, it was the trip of a lifetime.
Please reach out when you are ready to go to Egypt. It is a complicated trip and you really need the help of a good travel advisor to make sure it is perfect and enjoyable.
