Camel back, camel back, camel back riiiiiides

Discover Merzouga, Morocco

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to vacation in the desert? 

By using Explore Morocco, I found this great desert destination in the one and only Sahara desert.  Throughout your time in the desert, enjoy watching the dunes change colors, ride camels, gaze at the stars in the night sky, and relax in desert tents.  

I know I want to ride a camel, how about ya'll? In Merzouga, one of the most popular things to do is camel trekking.  These camel rides can be as long or as short as you want them to be.  Some treks have lasted a couple weeks long! Experiencing the Sahara desert on the back of a camel is something not many people can say they have experienced. 

During your camel trek or just for the fun of it, you can spend a few nights in the desert camping.  This is a once in a lifetime experience.  Spend your days chatting with nomads or eating with local Berber families.  Camping in the Sahara desert is sure to send you home with some great memories! 

If you're not so much of the adventurous kind, take a jeep tour up and down the dunes and even take a hot air balloon up in the sky for an incredible birds eye view!! 

Explore Morocco in Merzouga also offers sandskiing and quad-biking opportunities. 

Camel trekking here I come! 

College Students Only!

http://www.efcollegebreak.com/

EF College Break! 

Experience and Explore with this fast, easy and affordable website.

I've previously looked at this website a few years back when I was interested in going backpacking throughout Europe.  It was suggested to me by a friend of mine.  EF College Break has great reviews and is an awesome way to plan a trip, alone or with your college friends! 

By traveling with EFCB, "Round-trip flights, quality hotels and a full-time Tour Director, Meals, sightseeing tours and travel between cities, Entrance into select attractions and 24-hour emergency phone service." 

Tour through Europe 

On the website you can enter your ideal trip details and EFCB will match you up with the right trip for you! Travel throughout some of the world's greatest cities.  Explore throughout the website and read other stories that college students have written about their EFCB trips. 

Munich 

I've done some exploring and some of the trips that caught my eye were New Years celebrations in Madrid or Munich, St. Pattys Day in Ireland.  These trips are 9-11 days, around 2,000-2,500 dollars, INCLUDING FLIGHTS! I know, unbelievable right? I'm going to start saving my pennies!!! 

If you're into spending a little bit more time traveling, take a month long tour of Europe for under 5,000 dollars.  I mean, how good is that price!? 

All I can say is, a fully planned trip with airfare included is about as good as it can get for a strugglin' college student.  I definitely see a spring break trip calling my name! 

Ireland

Discover South Africa
 

Vamos a explore the Andes

It's an Ecuadorian Exploration! 

The Andes Explorer & Ecuador Travel Tours offer nature and wildlife adventures.  High standard trekking, mountain climbing tours, cruises throughout the Galapagos, and more! Ecuador is one of the smallest Andean countries, but the most varied.  The Andes modify the climate and determines the weather of the three different regions of the Amazon Basin, Highlands and the Pacific Coast.  

Get up close and personal with a Volcano

Tour through the mountains and highlands

The travel tours offer so many activities for every different type of person. 

Explore the Amazon!

Travel with Llamas!

Dive with sharks off the coast of Ecuador!

Andes Explorer offers volunteer and internship opportunities as well.  Book your trip through their website and it's as easy as 1, 2, 3.  At the bottom of their homepage, they list tons and tons of different hotels you can stay at. Tabs for general information on Ecuador and the Galapagos are provided if you want to learn a little bit about where your going.  And if you're into speaking/learning Spanish, check out their Spanish Schools tab for more information.  

This looks like a great company to travel through, can't wait to plan a trip to the Andes. 

http://www.andes-explorer.com/index.php

Pink Sand & Paradise

Welcome to the beautiful Elbow Beach Bermuda!

Many many years ago, I went here for one of my family member's wedding.  It was AMAZING. This resort is a little on the fancy/expensive side, however if you're willing to splurge and go here, it is worth every penny! 

Bermuda is a tiny tiny island in the Caribbean that has beautiful pink sand beaches and amazing underwater life for snorkeling and scuba diving. 

The five star Elbow Beach Hotel and Resort offers luxury rooms and suites, pools and beach access, and a relaxing spa and wellness center.  This resort is great for any audience; families, groups of friends, couples, and honeymoons!  Relax by the pool or spend all day on the pink sand beaches, swimming in the turquoise water.  The hotel also offers services to help you book excursions to explore the island! Ride horses on the beach, scuba dive, go caving, or segway through the streets! 

Take a look at the website and start planning your vacation today! 

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bermuda/hotel/

Turtle! Turtle!

Turtles of Parismina

Turtles are my favorite wild animal and I have ALWAYS wanted to go on a trip and help the sea turtles!!! I stumbled upon this great non profit organization that has volunteer and internship opportunities to help the turtles out.  Based in Costa Rica on Parismina beach, this community-based organization works to protect sea turtles and their eggs from poaching. They also initiate sustainable development and provide an alternative economy to poaching in the small Caribbean community of Parismina.

The organization relies heavily on the support of volunteers and donations.  Daily volunteer tasks include monitoring the hatchery, cleaning the beach of debris, guarding the hatchlings on their first journey to the ocean, and participating in nest exhumations. 

If you are interested in spending more time helping the baby turtles, consider interning with (ASTOP) Asociacion Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina, or Save the Turtles of Parismina.  

"STOP needs interns/research assistants starting in March of each year. This is not a paid position. Responsibilities can include corresponding with, managing, and organizing daily activities for volunteers, updating information for website and Information Kiosk, grant proposal writing, and providing support to the Executive Board. Intern is required to have an advanced level of Spanish, be able to commit a minimum of 2 months to the program, interest in conservation, excellent interpersonal skills, and relevant work experience. Please send letter of interest and resume to parisminaturtles@gmail.com with "INTERN" as the subject heading."

Hopefully one year I can spend a little time saving my favorite wild animals! You all should check out their website and also consider making a donation! Anything will make a difference :) 

Help Save The Turtles, Click Here!

Down Under

Outback Spirit: Travel with me throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania 

We're goin' down under ya'll! Outback Spirit tours is an adventurous company that travels throughout several destinations.  These destinations include Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and more.  Discover Australia's wild frontier, waterholes, wildflowers, mineral deposits and rare wildlife.  You can even stop and help out a local community called The Kandiwal.  

There are several camps and lodges to stay at.  If you want to experience the outback life, stay in the Ngauwudu Safari Camp or if you want a more tourist-y feel, stay at the Moretown Telegraph Station.

Throughout their website you will find photos and videos of the different adventures, reviews from past customers who loved their time with Outback Spirit tours.  There is even a tab with deals and discounts!!!! That's what I like to see. 

Start exploring! Click Here  

Take A Journey With Your Soul

Spirit Tours

Traveling is important for your mind and body to be opened up and exposed to new cultures and experiences.  I stumbled upon this great website called Spirit Tours: Journeys of the Soul.  They offer several tours in Bali, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Egypt, Africa, Thailand, Mexico, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Sedona, Peru and more!  

I chose to figuratively go on the Thailand tour because I've always wanted to go to Thailand and live the life of a buddhist, meditating and focusing on your mental health.  The Thailand tour is scheduled for November 11-22, 2014.  This tour is an "exciting journey through Southeast Asia showcases the fascinating culture and artistic treasures of Thailand and Cambodia. Discover early empires, enchanting landscapes and friendly people. Ride the Elephants in Chiang Mai and enjoy the beaches of Koh Samui."  Seems like a great experience and full of culture! 

The trip is 11 days and 9 nights with a price of $4,889 dollars. However, that price includes Air SFO Bangkok, all tours, hotels, and three flights in Asia, so that seems pretty fair. 

• Round Trip Air SFO to Thailand
• Daily Spiritual Practice with Reverend Edward
• 9 Nights Hotels with Daily Breakfast
• Dinners in Chiang Mai, Siem Reap and Koh Samui
• All airport transfers
• Doi Suthep Temple Tour in Chaing Mai
• Elephant Camp in Chiangmai
• All Angkor Wat Tours
• Big Buddha Tour in Koh Samui
• Round trip air SFO to Thailand
• 3 flights within Asia

On the website, click here  to view the Thailand page, there is a video that shows all about the tours and your future experience in Thailand.  Thailand is a country rich in culture and has many traditions.  One day, I would love to go "find myself" in Thailand, meditating at a Buddhist temple.  I know it sounds cliché, but who cares, its Thailand!!! 

Lions & Tigers & Beaches, Oh My!

 Mahlatini: Luxury                  Travel Specialists 

Safaris, Honeymoons, Family Holidays, Beach Holiday, Twin Centre, or Special Interest. 

This company has it ALL!

Mahlatini Luxury Travel Specialists pride themselves in organizing perfect tailor made get-a-ways.  Your destination options include Southern and Eastern Africa, Indian Ocean Islands and Emirates.  All of the individuals who work for Mahlatini have travelled these destination areas extensively therefore are well equipped to plan the most outstanding trip for you! 

I've always wanted to go to Africa and experience a real safari.  Many people can say they just went to the zoo, but I don't like zoos and they really don't portray the animals in their true habitats! This website caught my eye because it is very well organized and they relate to many audiences.  They have destinations in several countries including:

• Botswana
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Zimbabwe 
• South Africa
• Namibia
• Zambia 
• Kenya 
• Rwanda
• Uganda
• Tanzania
• Maldives
• Dubai
• and a few other Indian Ocean Islands

The website offers several vacation packages for quite reasonable prices! The site also allows you to enter your perfect vacation qualifications and the Mahlanti team will do their best to tailor make your trip just the way you imagined it. 

I'm going to highlight a specific tab on their website called Unusual Holidays.  This is the tab that I would use to research a vacation for myself.  These offers are, as the title of the tab suggests, unusual.  However, I am into that exploring type of vacation instead of a 5 star vacation.  Some of their unusual offers include:

Leopard Research 

Horseback riding through the Okavango Delta

Swimming with Whale Sharks

Other offers include yoga safaris, walking safaris in Zambia, carnivore research, gorilla trekking in Uganda, spend 4 nights on the safari with Botswana bushmen, and a few other interesting holidays. 

The site also offers customer reviews of their Mahlatini vacations and special deal offers.  I had a blast exploring this company and their holiday vacations.  I really hope sometime in my life I can swim with a whale shark or spend a weekend with the bushmen of Botswana! 

HAPPY TRAVELING! 

Mahlatini Website

Students Helping Honduras

The founder, Shin Fujiyama and I this summer. 

I'm so so excited to tell you all about this amazing non-profit! If any of you are interested or have every been interested in volunteering abroad, this is a great organization!  S.H.H. is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and funds to provide opportunities to children in Honduras. Central American Children’s Institute (CECI) is the sister organization of SHH that carries out all of the projects on the ground in Honduras.  Shin Fujiyama and his sister, Cosmo, started the organization in 2006.  They began raising money for orphanages in Honduras.  Throughout many failed bake sale attempts and fundraising struggles grew into a huge movement of college students all over the world raising money for the kids.  Since then, S.H.H. has raised hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.  They have built some 14 schools throughout northern Honduras, have built a village named Villa Soleada for 300 people from a shantytown, provides school scholarships to girls, and runs two small children’s homes.  Every year, almost 1,000 volunteers from the many high school and college S.H.H. chapters come down to Honduras. The organization has a goal of one day building 1,000 schools in Honduras.

Joselin, Islani, Mercedes, and Yanet

A typical week in Honduras volunteering with S.H.H. begins with a fun day touring around the village of Villa Soleada and making baleadas with the families of the village. Personally this is one of my favorite days because you get to know the families and how they cook in their houses! A baleada is the Honduran burrito, it has beans, eggs, and optional avacado all wrapped in a flour tortilla! IT IS SO GOOD.  Throughout the rest of the week you will do construction work, play several games of soccer, learn how to salsa dance, play with kids, and at the end of the week GO TO THE BEACH! 

On the beautiful Tela beach, riding horses!

I have such a personal connection with this organization.  For the past four years I have been volunteering with S.H.H.  I have spent every summer down there and recently every winter break.  The people and kids in Villa have become my family and I cherish every moment I spend down there.  The organization has several other volunteer opportunities such as a Spanish Language program during the summer and a teach english program.  I have done both and both experiences were amazing! 

If you are really into volunteering, you can stay for one whole year and teach english at the bilingual school and/or volunteer at one of the children's homes. 

http://ceciskids.org/index 

View of Villa Soleada 

Escuela Bilingue, the school I taught at. 

Girl's Childrens Home

All the boys and girls from the Homes! 

Boy's Childrens Home

Some of the bracelets that young women in the village make to sell to volunteers. Adorable! 

Easily one of the cutest boys in Villa Soleada, Moises.

Kisses from Fernanda! 

Mayra & Abi, this summer in the Girls Home.