Jeremy

Jeremy founded Living the Dream in 2008 to chronicle his long-term trip around Asia. Since then he has been on two long-term trips, visited 69 countries, and is just getting started. He is now on a Lifestyle Design quest to build businesses to pursue a life of travel.

G Adventures Reviews – Egypt & Jordan and an African Safari

While we are normally independent travelers, sometimes there are destinations that we want to visit that are not as easy to travel solo. Sometimes this is a time issue, and others it is logistical in nature. 

In these cases, we look towards guided tours as an option to relinquish some of the travel responsibilities onto others who are much more qualified to get us to cool destinations in the amount of time we have available. 

One company we have used in the past is G Adventures. The first time I went on a solo trip on the Egypt and Jordan Adventure (partly due to travel logistics, and partly due to my limited time). The second time Angie and I went on the Cape Town to Victoria Falls overland safari tour in order to hit South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia (we selected this one purely for logistical reasons and a great sale price).

The Middle East tour is something that I have often called the perfect tour. From the price, itinerary, to the guide, everything was perfect. Our overland Africa safari, not so much. In this one, I wanted to break down my experience on these two tours and share some things to keep in mind when booking a G Adventures tour for your own trip.

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Etosha National Park’s Most Amazing Watering Hole

The only other guests at today's show.Namibia has been one of those countries where we arrived with few expectations and left with more wonderful memories than we even thought possible.  Our reason for traveling to this destination was to climb the famous Dune 45 and see the trees at the Deadvlei clay pan, but one particular watering hole at Etosha National Park in northern Namibia had us raving for the rest of the journey.

Why is that?

Well, if we didn’t know any better it would be easy to think that the 60 minute show we witnessed was a choreographed production for our eyes only.  Just about every major animal from the park made its appearance at the watering hole in turn, and halfway through vanished for no visible reason.  Something was coming, and a large elephant appeared in the distance as it made its way to the watering hole.

The animals slowly returned, and all coexisted in wonderful harmony around one gorgeous spot.

This photo essay shares some of our favorite shots from this encounter.

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Tips For Getting the Most Out of Your Car Rental in Mauritius

Living the Dream's primary mode of transportation in Mauritius.Meet the “banana mobile.”

This tricked out convertible Mini Cooper Works from our friends at Maki Rental Cars was our mode of transport for an incredible five-day journey checking out the things to see in Mauritius.

With a GPS in hand, reservations at two Mauritius hotels (Bon Azur and the Hilton Mauritius) and a long list of attractions to visit, we made it our goal to see the side of Mauritius you don’t get when sitting idly by at a fancy resort.

But what is it like to drive in this island nation located in the middle of the Indian ocean?  As it turns out, it is not that bad at all!

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Hilton Mauritius Review – Three Nights in Paradise

In our third travel rewards credit card point redemption we ended up in a destination quite unexpected for this itinerary.

The tiny island of Mauritius was never on our hit list for this trip, primarily because we never saw a way to incorporate a flight to this coveted paradise without busting our budget.

But as it turned out, when flying from Mumbai to Cape Town, the carrier Air Mauritius was the cheapest for our dates (~$650 per ticket- still the most cost-effective in the long run).

The best part? Stopovers on this tropical island nation are allowed at no extra charge!

When we saw a Hilton room was available on a beautiful beach for 40,000 points per night, well within our remaining points balance, we decided to book three nights and increase our overall stay on the island to five.

A free hotel stay, no extra charge on our plane tickets, and a beautiful island paradise?  I challenge anyone to say no to that, even if it does mean a bit of a splurge on the remaining days.

But how does the Hilton Mauritius stack up to our other rewards at the Hilton Dubrovnik and Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Residences? 

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