SONEVA KIRI: THE BEST WAY TO BEAT JET LAG

If you are travelling to Southeast Asia from North America, you will have to contend with a few days of jet lag-induced disorientation. The best way to soften the blow and adjust for the adventure ahead is to treat yourself to a stay at the eco-luxury resort Soneva Kiri. 

Sprawled over a bluff and beach on the island of Koh Kood, 350 kilometres southeast of Bangkok and 80 km off the Thai mainland, Soneva Kiri is great for couples and multi-generational families. It could serve as base to start your exploration of Thailand, Cambodia, including the magnificent temple city of Angkor Wat, Myanmar and Vietnam. Or it could also be your pampering reward after an active itinerary of biking or hiking through the region.

Like all the Soneva resorts, this one espouses the “Slowlife” philosophy – embracing sustainability, social responsibility, local buying, wellness and engaging experiences. It recycles waste, conserves water, preserves local environments (including the fragile marine ecosystem), grows organic food and also buys its meat, vegetables, fruits and seafood from local farmers and fishermen.

The adventure begins after landing in Thailand. You reach Soneva Kiri via a private flight from Bangkok or Siem Reap, and then taking a short boat ride to the fourth largest island in Thailand and the resort with its “rustic-chic” design, with recycled wood, including poles reminiscent of the stilts of local fishing villages. When signing in, you get your own electric buggy to transverse the custom-built pathways connecting the sprawling resort. And more importantly, you are introduced to your own personal concierge.

All accommodations are well-appointed luxury villas, ranging from one to six bedrooms, with both beachside villas and ones perched on the cliff.  Each spacious villa has its own pool, outdoor showers and bathtubs with all-natural bath products, iPod music systems with speakers place strategically throughout the compound, TVs with DVD libraries and more.

While the resort sits on a beach, the  bay here is a bit shallow. But a short shuttle boat ride takes you to a lovely white sand, private beach on the south side of the island, where you can indulge in watersports, such as kayaking, sailboarding, waterskiing and wake-boarding.

You can also take guided snorkelling trips to reefs teaming with colourful sealife or go to one of two-dozen dive sites (some 30 meters deep) in Koh Chang National Park.

There are, of course, great restaurants throughout the resort. For example, you can cruise through the mangroves of Klong Yai Kee to the open-air lantern-lit Benz’s restaurant, perched on stilts. Talented chef Khun Benz offers signature Thai cuisine with an ever-changing nine-course dinner menu only using ingredients grown on Koh Kood and neighbouring Koh Chang.

Or there is the The View, which takes its name from its sweeping outlook from its cantilevered location at the top of the cliff. Its bistro menu pairs fresh local produce with Western cooking techniques.

Among the other resort eating choices, one of our favourites is Treepod dining, where you enter a bamboo pod and are winched six meters in the air. While full meals are available, we went for the decadent but life-affirming Champagne Tea. From our view on high we enjoyed panoramas of the ocean and rainforest, while our waiter used a zip line with athletic prowess to retrieve our drinks and edibles from ground level.

Soneva Kiri’s Six Senses Spa really blew me away. Very unique and innovative. You can sit down first with a wellness practitioner – who is both versed in Western medicine and Ayurvedic practices from India – for a consultation, looking at the state of your health and giving you a suite of treatments to try at the spa. It’s a customized regimen that you can continue at other Six Senses Spas in the region or when you go home.

Soneva  Kiri is a great way to start a trip in Southeast Asia. But watch out, you might find it hard to leave when the time comes.

Natahsa Rhodes specializes in creating adventurous travel experiences for her clients. As a lover of experimental travel herself, Natasha has always taken the road less traveled. As a travel advisor with more than a decade of experience, Natasha specializes in creating one-of-a-kind experiences for a discriminating clientele of world travelers. To learn more about Natasha, please visit her website Rhodes Less Travelled  or contact her at natasha@rhodeslesstravelled.com

A Day Trip South of Anchorage

There are many beautiful drives near Anchorage, but the Seward Highway has to be one of the most stunning as it winds alongside the waters of Turnagain Arm off the Cook Inlet. The Seward Highway is a National Scenic Byway connecting Anchorage and Seward and the perfect way to spend a day if you want to squeeze a variety of unique Alaska experiences into a day trip from Anchorage.

From Anchorage you should hit the open road early, grab a coffee at one of the many coffee huts Anchorage is famous for, and head down the Seward Highway (AK-1) South.  The entire drive from Anchorage to Seward is two and a half hours so for a quick day trip a good option is to take your time driving to the Portage area about one hour south of Anchorage and enjoy some of these stops along the way before you turn around and head back to Anchorage. 

Must-See Stops!

Potter Marsh: Mile 115.6

This wildlife refuge is just south of Anchorage and worth a quick stop to take in the views of the marsh and your first look at Turnagain Arm – the inlet that you’ll be driving along as you continue down the highway.  From the boardwalks at the marsh you can see many different birds and depending on the season may even find some salmon swimming in the streams below you!

Beluga Point: Mile 110.5

As you continue down the highway past Potter Marsh and start to round the bend to really get into Turnagain Arm you’ll come across Beluga Point, named after the whales that can often be spotted from this point in July and August. It’s worth a photo stop anytime though to take in the views. Be sure to also turn around and look at the mountain behind you to see if there are any Dall Sheep climbing around!

Scenic Viewpoints

You’ll pass a lot of scenic viewpoints along the way with room to pullover and snap a photo. Seward Highway is a moderately windy two-lane road so the last thing you want to be is distracted trying to take a photo and drive.  Focus on the road and take advantage of these opportunities to safely pull over and take it all in. Keep an eye out for eagles in the trees and along the edge of Turnagain Arm.

Girdwood: Mile 90

The town of Girdwood has enough activities to have a trip of it’s own, but if you’re passing through a fun stop is at the Girdwood Bake Shop for their famous sweet rolls (cinnamon rolls) and to check out the unbelievable flowers they have out front in the summer.

If you’re taking advantage of that Midnight Sun giving you extra daylight hours to squeeze a hike in you can try Lower Winner Creek Trail (http://www.alaska.org/detail/winner-creek-trail) from the Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood. It’s a fun and easy 3-mile forest hike that includes wooden bridges, some seasonal berry picking opportunities, and ends at a hand tram across a gorge!  Yes, you get to pull yourself across a gorge in a tram using a rope.

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center: Mile 79

Once you’re back on the road from Girdwood head on towards the Alaska Wildlife Center. On the way you may notice there are a lot of dead trees sticking out of the ground in this area. These ghost forests are remnants from the 1964 earthquake that dropped the land here up to 12 feet in some areas exposing the trees to saltwater that both killed and preserved them.

Chances are you may have already seen some Alaska wildlife on your drive today, but in case you’d like to have some guaranteed wildlife viewing the conservation center offers exceptional opportunities to see moose, bears, caribou, and many other Alaskan animals up-close. The center shelters animals that were injured or orphaned and works to restore native wildlife populations by reintroducing Elk and Wood Bison into the Alaska wild.

Portage Glacier: Mile 78

It’s not a trip to Alaska without visiting a glacier! At Portage Junction at Mile 78 head towards Portage Lake and take a short boat road to see Portage Glacier. They can sometimes accommodate walk-up bookings but it’s best to make a reservation ahead of time to make sure you don’t miss out (http://www.portageglaciercruises.com/).

Delphia McCarty is the owner of McCarty Creative Strategies and brings 10 years experience in marketing and digital media for tourism, with an emphasis on Alaska Tourism. She is also the National Manager of Exclusive Benefits for Millennials in Travel. To learn more about Alaska and Delphia's services, please contact her at hello@mccartystrategies.com. 

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

This is one of our favorite places. Not just, oh that was a fun trip. It was more like when can we move? Our first time was a a very laid back trip. We stayed in a hostel that was surrounded with monkey families, spent our days surfing, and the nights chowing down tacos and guacamole, and enjoying the shopping and bars in town. We fell in love with it's laid back lifestyle. We recently went back with my family and partook in a very adventurous tour! Although I would consider this city has a younger vibe it is perfect for singles, couples, families or retirees. It was the perfect way to experience all that Costa Rica has to offer. 

Where to stay:

• Hostels - There are many hostels to choose from in this small town as it is a meca for young travelers. We personally stayed in Hostel Chocolate in a private room. This hostel had it's own pool, and was surrounded with monkeys, and was very inexpensive. 
• Air Bnb - When traveling with a group of 6 it can be hard to figure out where to stay. We were fortunate enough to find 3 bed/2 bath condo right in the heart of the city that had a shared pool and was a short walk to the beach. Not to mention is was very affordable. 
• Hotel - Capitan Suizo is a boutique hotel right on the beach known for it's howler monkeys on property. Besides the monkeys it's a generally a quiet hotel. It has a beach front restaurant right on property which is open for all meals, a spa, and you can even stay in your own bungalow. 

What to do

• Surfing - Tamarindo is a great location to learn how to surf for around $20 a day - I recommend bringing, purchasing, or borrowing from the surf board rentals, a long sleeve surf shirt. This is not only to protect you from the sun, but also your surf board as it can cause rashes on your skin.
• Adventurous Tour - No Costa Rica trip is complete without an adventure. I recommend the Bueno Vista combo tour. It includes zip lining, horeback riding, white water rafting and hot springs and it's all done at a canyon just 1 hour away from Tamarindo. You can simply purchase these tours from the locals on the beach or through one of the many tour stands throughout the city. Or if you are a planner book it through your travel agent or online with Anywhere Costa Rica tour company.  
• Turtle Nesting tours -  The best time to see this is April - November. There are nighttime tours in which you can either witness the hard work the mother puts into digging her nest in the sand, or the hatching of the cute little baby turtles. 
• Sunsets - Tamarindo has beautiful sunsets over the beach, grab a spot on one of the many restaurants located on the beach for your viewing pleasure.

Transportation

• Shuttle or taxi - Tamarindo is approximately one hour from the Liberia Airport via shuttle which is approximately $20 per person but you can also use your bargaining skills. 
• City bus - If you have the time and wanna go for a cheaper $2 option you can experience a little culture by taking the city bus. My husband and I did this the first time we went and it was kind of fun. It took about 2 hours on bumpy back roads, we were literally the only tourists, someone brought a chicken on the bus, but in the end we thought it was a really fun cultural experience getting to see all the little towns along the way untouched by tourists. 

When to go

• Best time to travel: November - May
• Best value: June - October 

Jenny Schultz is an Elite Service Agent for MLT Vacations and serves as the Officer of Events for the Minneapolis/St.Paul Millennials in Travel chapter. Jenny has visited over 45 countries and counting! Follow along on her own blog, Adventures Are Out There. 

Paragliding, Rocking and Eating My Way Through the Alps

Over dinner one evening, a fellow Francophile told me about a peculiar party in the French Alps—one that involved skiing, wine and live bands playing rock, reggae and pop on the slopes. I'm a sucker for music festivals and all things French. So yeah, the annual Rock the Pistes music festival, sounded pretty hard to miss. 

Past performers of Rock the Pistes include reggae legend Lee "Scratch" Perry, Klaxons and Babyshambles with frontman Pete Doherty (formerly of The Libertines). For me, the highlights of the most recent edition of the festival were Belgium's own Selah Sue and London singer-songwriter, Charlie Winston.

The following video shares the best moments of the free, week-long concert series and gives you a sense of what it's like to hang out and party in the snow.

This year's festival takes place from March 14-19 and includes performances by Two Door Cinema Club and Gotthard, among other musicians. 

Portes du Soleil, the ski resort that plays host to Rock the Pistes, is absolutely massive. In fact, it's billed as one of the largest ski areas in the world, encompassing some 400 square miles. So even if you're not a huge festival person, there are plenty of other ways to get your kicks.

I like to live on the edge a bit. Sometimes, that's the edge of a 6,000-foot cliff. 

Paragliding in the French Alps was one of the most memorable things I did last year. The scenery was incredible, and the introductory lesson was a bargain at approximately $83. I'll never forget this moment, and I'm so glad I had a camera on me to capture my first flight. 

There were quite a few other aspects of my trip to the Alps that blew me away. Perhaps most notable was the cuisine. In the Savoy region of France, the key to any winter meal is melted Abondance cheese — and lots of it. Abondance cheese gets its name from its origins in the Abondance (Abundance) Valley and adheres to strict guidelines to make sure that the geographical area, local cheese-making methods and traditional taste are preserved.

If you like melted cheese, you will be eating it several times during your stay (without apologies) and loving every gooey second of it. I am not joking when I tell you that I purchased a fondue set as soon as I returned home.

In this video, I hand-select my favorite things to see and do while vacationing in the Alps. (Hint: Eating lots of cheese is one of them.)

If you ever make it to the French Alps, please be sure to pour out a little fondue for your homegirl.

Skye Mayring is a travel producer and blogger on a mission to visit 100 countries by 2025. Subscribe to her YouTube channel for weekly travel videos or follow her adventures on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat at JoanJetsetter.

Find Your Adventure in Chile

The early morning descent into Chile was one of the most beautiful I've seen. 

A dense fog settled just below the tree-tops, while the sun peaked from behind the snow-capped Andes, as if God were whispering, "Good morning, Michael. Welcome to Chile." 

What awaited was a land of contrast, offering bounty from the land and sea... the arid deserts of Atacama in the north, the bitter cold of Antarctica in the south, and the tropical breeze that blows along the shores of Easter Island.

But as a lover of nature, I had only one place in mind: Patagonia.

The sparsely populated region at the very southern tip of South America -- the Fin del Mundo or 'End of the World,' as it is known locally -- is the ideal setting for a luxury adventure.

Our gracious hosts, Remota Lodge and Skorios Cruises, treated us to an action-packed week of hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, fly fishing, wildlife watching, and my favorite, a surreal glacier cruise through the Chilean fjords that feed into the Pacific ocean.

Truly, the very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.

Find yours in Chile.

Michael Nobiletti is MIT’s Director of Education and founder of Rollinglobe. Follow him on Twitter @mikenobi and Instagram @rollinglobe_travel

Moving India

Contrary to what you might think, sometimes the ‘getting there’ can be the most exciting part of a journey through India!  On a recent trip with Greaves Tours, the modes of transportation experienced while visiting the famed Golden Triangle were taken beyond the expected planes, buses, trains, and cars.

There were no “Do we have to sit here any longer?” inquiries while bumping and dodging through the crowded markets of Old Delhi on the back of bicycle rickshaws.  There were no “Are we there yet?” complaints as our procession of camel-drawn carts made their way through the parched, rutted desert outside of Jaipur when our bus had no road to continue further.  These were special experiences in and of themselves which were not to be missed or rushed!

I’m not going to tell you that it isn’t a bit smelly or dusty when making your way from the Oberoi Armarvilas to the entrance of the Taj Mahal by horse-drawn carriage, but I couldn’t imagine a better way to arrive.  Although the enormity and beauty of this architectural wonder is the purpose of this stop on most India itineraries, I was pleasantly surprised that the short journey on the road to the Taj was equally as memorable.

 A few days later, one of the greatest transports I have ever experienced awaited in the desert outside of Jaipur … an evening safari on the back of an elephant!  When we arrived, the sun was setting, and the elephants loomed over us at the entrance of Dera Amer Elephant Camp.  They greeted us with beautifully painted faces and trunks, and we treated them with bananas and hugs.  Once atop our new friends, our safari continued through a dark, hillside forest, our path lit only by the moon and stars.  We considered what animals might be watching from a short distance as we trudged, the pedestals we sat on lurching back and forth with each monstrous, elephant step.  Halfway through the trek, we could hear the faint beat of drums.  Coming to a small clearing, we could now see the roof of a crumbling building alight with lanterns where musicians played and a server stood ready to hand us a glass of wine as we sauntered by.  Pure contentment is easy to achieve when sipping wine and listening to night sounds, all while towering on an elephant.

Leaving the desert behind, we arrived in Udaipur, the ‘Venice of India,’ where boats proved to be a necessity.  Each time we came and went from the opulent, lakeside Leela Palace, we had the privilege of enjoying a private, relaxing lake cruise.  At night, the lights of the city palace and surrounding hotels and residences twinkled off of the lake creating picture perfect views in every direction, especially from the water.  One evening we were surprised with a pre-dinner cruise aboard the historical Taj Lake Palace barge on which we had drinks, appetizers, and enjoyed a private performance complete with dancers, musicians, and fire!  There was definitely something romantic about smoothly gliding across the waters of Lake Pichola whether day or night.

Thank goodness for all of the skilled drivers we encountered in each destination, but especially those in Jodhpur!  As we drove toward our city-central hotel, the streets narrowed and became impossible for our bus to navigate the tight turns.  Coming to a stop, we got out, and boarded tuk-tuks, i.e. motorcycle rickshaws.  At ‘interesting’ speeds, we continued the rest of the way, darting and weaving in and out of cars, pedestrians, cows, and goats!  Again, each time we needed to come and go from our hotel, we climbed into our tuk-tuks and watched our surroundings fly by.  As an adrenaline junkie, this was exactly my cup of Rooibos tea! 

When looking back on our journey, I realize that we were not just being moved from place to place.  Our spirits were also being moved as we experienced the various, unique modes of transportation that carried us.  Seeing India’s cities and countryside from these vehicles and vantage points, immersed us into the local surroundings and culture, and helped us appreciate not only the amazing destinations, but also the ‘getting there.’

Robyn Jackson is a travel professional for Camelback Odyssey Travel and the Officer of Events for the Phoenix/Scottsdale MIT chapter. Contact Robyn for more information.