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Featured
Article
PASSPORT/VISA FEES INCREASED
As you read this, the United
States has increased prices all U.S. passports and visas
The State Department is hiking
prices for consular services, including passports and visas, on July
13. The department will charge consumers $110 plus a $25 executive fee
for an adult passport. The fee increases follow a study by the
department's Bureau of Consular Affairs conducted to assess the true
cost of processing and issuing passports and visas.
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PLANNING AHEAD
To assist you in
your travel planning, I would like to present you with travel options
for the coming years. Because I will be escorting these
trips, it will assist me in planning if you would kindly let
me know which, if any of the trips below you may be interested
in. In that way, I will be able to create an interest list
and can communicate directly with those interested. For most
of the trips, it takes six passengers to operate, but there are a few
Africa trips where four is the minimum.
As always you may
arrange to pay at your convenience should you wish to make periodic
payments. Pricing on most of the trips to be arranged at a
later date. Please note some Africa trips require checks
only, either for the deposit and/or final payment. The reason
for this is because I am dealing directly with Africa in these cases in
order to get the best price. For these trips, I will be
arranging airfare, therefore, it may necessitate having
to pay for airfare prior to final payment, and again that
will be specified. (When dealing directly with Africa, international
airfare must be arranged separately). This helps avoid extra fees such
as international transaction and processing
fees and surcharges which get to be very expensive. It will
be specified should that be the case.
Many international destinations will require a VISA which is the
responsibility of the traveler at the stated cost which is
additional. VISA's are usually applied for online or by
sending in your passport with the required fees. However,
information will be provided to you to obtain it. All VISA's
must be applied for timely to ensure adequate processing.
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PLANNING AHEAD INFO
Here are some you might want to consider:
UPCOMING
Australia/New Zealand/Fiji
Confirmed January 2011
SAFARIS
Tenzania/Zanzibar
Kanya/Lamu
Botswana and/or Namibia
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Spain/Portugal
Israel/Jordan
Details TBA, please send your email if you are interested in any of
these future trips, so I can include you in future planning!
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SOUVENIR
BOOKS
OF THE IRELAND TRIP
For
those interested in a professionally made souvenir book, I do make them
custom and personalized with your photo on the front of the book,
and/or any one or two photos you would like on the cover, such as seen
below, with a general map of Ireland included. The book can
be anywhere from 50 pages to 100 pages. The cost is per page
at $2.00 per page which includes layout, design and shipping.
Most books run from 85-100 pages to really capture all of the trip, but
if you want to minimize the photos and the cost, 50-60 pages is about
the minimum I would go. I can use your photos or mine
or a combination. However, if using your photos, they must be
of high quality and high resolution.
If they are not, they still can be used, but only as small photos
within the book. The books are 11.5x8.5 landscape size
(coffee table book), professionally bound complete with book jacket,
and front photo also printed
directly on the book itself, as well as on the book jacket.
If you are interested, please email me directly. I have been
doing these books for clients for several years and it is a perfect
treasure to recall the great memories of your trip.
See
Sample Below!
 
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Dear
Travelmate,
Thank you for taking the time to browse through this edition of my
newsletter. I always appreciate your support. For
this newsletter, I've tried to incorporate a brief review of my
pre-Ireland trip in Texas, and then the Ireland trip. I hope
you find it entertaining, and/or interesting. Enjoy!
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Success - Mt. Kilimanjaro
 This is Terry Jones and we met Terry on this
last trip to Tanzania in June. We were sitting at the bar together and
struck up a conversation. She told me she'd come to Tanzania to climb
Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was fascinated. She traveled to
Tanzania alone to accomplish a goal she set for herself. So I
knew she would do it. I invited her to join our group for
dinner and I was impressed by her spirit and determination.
Terry is a Ph.D. and teaches International Studies at Fairfield
University in her home town of Fairfield Connecticut.
We were leaving the following
day for home, and Terry was leaving to continue her journey.
She sent me this photo from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, (Mt. Kili as
it is referred to) - I MADE IT. She said it was one of her
most difficult, but rewarding endeavors. Of course there was
never any doubt in my mind that she would make it. Congratulations
Terry. We are very proud of you and extremely glad our paths
crossed in Tanzania. Keep us posted of your future
accomplishments, and congratulations too on achieving tenure.
ARE YOU
INTERESTED IN CLIMBING MT. KILIMANJARO?
I CAN
ARRANGE THAT TOO!
Note to
Self: I will NOT be escorting the group on this venture.
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MY
TEXAS SOJOURN
Prior to heading for Ireland, I spent a few days visiting my friend,
Vicki, and Banjo, Missy, Sadie, and Popsicle (the canines).
Banjo and Sadie are her doggies, and Missy and Popsicle belong to her
brother. They enjoyed me and I enjoyed them.
Vicki traveled with me to Ireland. She resides in
Bayou Vista, Texas in Galveston County. Vicki, is a Ph.D and
a Neuropsychologist with the University of Texas Medical Branch
(UTMB). Vicki and I met on a South Africa Fam back in 2006
and we've been in touch ever since. Vicki was traveling with
another agent, Alice, who I also connected with while here in Texas. We
are both Africa aficianados. Vicki and I enjoyed a great few
days together before we left for Ireland.
 
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Ireland Trip Report
 What
can I say about this trip now that I'm back. Well, in a word
'phenomenal'. I just returned from a TRAFALGAR tour called
the Best of Ireland highlighting the areas of Dublin, Kilarney,
Kilkenney, Shannon, Sligo, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and
even Northern Ireland. The group was a mix of travelers from
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Malta and the USA, with
our Irish Guide and Irish Coach Driver. I did not know that
Ireland was the home of so many great writers, singers and musicians,
and famous people, and famous movies were made here. (Orson
Welles, WB Yeats, John Houston, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift of Gulliver
Travels fame, Enya, to name a few). Now I do. We
had a wonderful group and we all had lots in
common. Of course with any bus tour, it was fairly fast paced
to cover all the areas we did, but we also had plenty of spare time for
all the little extras, like shopping and additional
excursions. That was evident when several people bought extra
suitcases to carry their 'excess' luggage back home.
If any of you reading this might have a group of friends that would
like to travel to Ireland, I'll be happy to consider escorting the
group with a minimum of six passengers. Although August is
not typically the best time to travel in parts of Europe, it
was a perfect time to travel in Ireland. Everywhere we went
though, we encountered some wonderful festivals and there was a lot of
activity, though still not crowded. While we did have rain
almost every day, it only lasted long enough to wet the windows before
we drove out of it. With this automatic watering system, it's
no wonder there are plants hanging from every building and green
everywhere. The rain was never hard enough to keep us from
doing anything. Then again, that is why the island is so
green.
While traveling on the bus, we noted the number of WHITE horses we saw
in a day. It's an Irish thing - if you see seven in one day,
it means love will come your way by the end of the year (I actually
changed that myself, to love, instead of marriage :). We had
a great time doing this, because it really is amazing in a country that
is a great equestrian country, that there were so few white horses.,
but hundred of others. So whenever anyone on the bus saw one,
they would yell it out. What great fun our group had.
Itinerary: Dublin, arrived early so we explored the
town. Very easy to get around, and quite a lot to
see. We saved some until our last two nights which we were to
spend in Dublin. We head to Kildare to the National Stud
Farm. What I learned about thoroughbreds was
amazing. Ireland has some of the finest and most successful
thoroghbreds in the world. We also view Norman Castle and
onward to Waterford. You must know that place - Waterford
Crystal. From Waterford we take a drive around the Ring of
Kerry with it's spectacular scenery. We then head for
Killarney where we visit the Blarney Castle and some kiss the Blarney
Stone. Kissing the stone is supposed to give you the gift of
gab, or so they say, though so many people don't need to kiss the stone
to get this, they already have it. We move on to Limerick
where we all have to come up with a limerick and we do, they were all
great. One particularly written about me, is published
below. We take a cruise on the Shannon river, see the
President's private mansion, as well as their version of the 'White
House'. From there we move on to the Cliffs of Moher, a
SPECTACULAR sight and great surroundings and views of the Aran Islands
onto Galway City. From there to Sligo and then back to Dublin
where we spend two days SHOPPING. For those of you who don't
know, it is simply an incredible place to go shopping and we
DID. In fact, Vicki, my roommate wants to do another trip
JUST to go shopping. I could do that. I can't go
into all the details of the trip, it would be quite long, well longer
than this), but suffice it to say, it was awesome.
An amazing journey where I learned much more about the country of
Ireland and it's history
TO
MY FELLOW IRELAND TRAVELERS:
Enjoy the photos. I tried to compile a few of the best and
representative photos of our trip (link on left side). I'm
sure I missed a few, yet I'm also sure many of you already have the
same photos, and any I missed. I hope that we will be able to
periodically keep in touch. After all, who knows when we will
meet again on future travels. Thanks for all the great fun,
jokes, comraderie, and friendship I experienced on the trip.
TO LIAM AND MAT:
Thanks for your professionalism, fun and knowledge. What a
great time I had, and you helped make it that way. With you
at the helm, we couldn't go wrong. You did a great job of promoting
Ireland and you'll be happy to know that I came back home and looked up
St. Brendan, who explored America long before Christopher Columbus, The
Book of Kells, and Kilkenny which was so important in medieval
times. Fascinating!!!! However, the only Irish I
remember is Breith lá Sona Duit!, Happy Birthday when we sang it to
Eric. Of course I wrote it as La Braha Hanna Ditch - way way
off. :) It's one language that has me stumped at
HELLO.
Mat, thank you for making my coach drive so comfortable and
safe. We all felt better with you behind the wheel.
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As mentioned above, visiting Limerick, our Tour
Director, in keeping with the meaning of the city, asked each
of us to come up with a limerick. A limerick is a five line
'poem' the first two lines must rhyme, the second two lines must rhyme,
and the last line must rhyme with the first line. Make
sense? All of the ones Liam read to us were were very very
good, some very very funny and we certainly had a laugh or two.
County Limerick is in the South of Ireland. It is
the fourth most populous city in the Republic of Ireland.
Note: Liam, if you're reading this, thanks for asking us to
do this and sharing these, they were GREAT!
The following limerick was written by Chris Miller, she was kind enough
to give it to me. I was quite flattered that she would write
a limerick about me when there were so many other things she could have
written about. I have a fascination with hats, own a few,
well, a lot really. Most of you who have traveled with me know this
already. While in Ireland, I wore many of them and I guess everyone
noticed I had a different hat on almost everyday, plus I bought several
while in Ireland, so Chris decided to write her limerick about
it. Thank you Chris.
There once was a lady named Kay
She wore a new hat on her head everyday
Pink, yellow, red, white
Such a pleasurable sight
Keeps us asking "Which is it today?
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Thanks for taking the time out
to browse this edition of my newsletter.
Sincerely,
Photographed in Ireland August 2010
KAY TROTMAN
DESTINED TO TRAVEL |
NEXT
ISSUE
Since my next trip is to South Africa in November (still with four
spaces unsold, at a cost of $5250.00 per person including air (3 night
safari only with many other excursions) and a safari planned for
November 2011, I thought I would address some of the Myths and Facts
about an African Safari. So many I speak with ask me about
the same issues, safety, food, bugs, sleeping accommodations, and have
so many misconceptions, and pre-conceived notions about this continent,
more specifically the safari destinations, that I would like to put
your mind at ease to the extent possible. Then it is up to
you. If you know me, you will know that I am not a 'camper',
I am not a 'hiker', and don't really do a lot of 'outdoorsy' sports,
yet I love Africa. Africa is quite different than any other
destination and once you go, you will experience this for yourself and
see what I mean. Stay tuned!
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