๐งโโ๏ธ Wellness & ๐ด Wilderness tours + Highest travel fraud + US travel ban
Published about 2 months agoย โขย 6 min read
Hi Reader,
How are you today? How is the week going? And the weekend? (not a rhetorical question, please do hit reply and let me know!)
I hope you're great wherever you are.
After 2 weeks in Greece, I was exhausted, so I needed some time to recharge. I spent the weekend at home, doing absolutely nothing, after spending Friday with our Greek host having a massage and spending time at a beach club near Athens.
We really have THE best local hosts, how fortunate are we?
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Today, I am back at the airport, on my way to Tuscany to visit a few villas and hotels for our tours. This is a short trip since Florence is only a 90min flight from Barcelona, so I barely even packed.
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๐ฉ On this week's email:
Our Wellness & Wilderness tours are the perfect combination of self-care and powerful nature
The 100ml liquid rule is being phased out across the world and the UK is the next country to increase the allowance
The final list of countries that are banned from traveling to the US is out
Our Wellness & Wilderness tours
Did you know that we have a series of tours that are all about Wellness & Wilderness? These are destinations, and itineraries, that have been especially designed to focus on taking case of yourself, physically, mentally and spiritually, and immersing yourself in the power of nature.
There aren't set elements that you can find in each of these tours, eg a spa treatment, instead, we focus on bringing out the best of each destination. It could be a thermal pool under the Northern Lights in Iceland or a water purification ritual in Bali.
If you also find nature healing, come take a look at our Wellness & Wilderness tours.
Iceland
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Iceland is...
...The Land of Fire & Ice
...The place to experience 4 seasons in a day
...The most feminist country in the world
You can feel the power of nature from the moment you land at the airport.
Gushing waterfalls will get you wet even from a distance and volcanoes create new lava fields and hills every year.
The beaches are black and the icebergs neon blue.
Ice caves form every winter, glaciers melt every summer.
The Northern Lights dance above your head from September to April, and the geothermal waters fill natural and hotel pools year-round.
Nowhere can you feel the energy of nature like in Iceland.
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Here are some magical moments from our trips you can only experience in Iceland:
See the Northern Lights while enjoying a drink in the thermal outdoor pool of our adventure hotel
Walk behind a waterfall, above a waterfall, under a waterfall
See new icebergs form from breaking pieces of an ancient glacier, or a piece break from a large, floating one like in this video captured last year
See the perfect reflection of a mountain range on a shallow seater lake
Walk among melting icebergs that sparkle like diamonds against the black sand beach
This remote part of Europe is the land of the Sami people, a harsh environment they have learned to love, preserve and thrive in.
As guests in their land, we are invited to learn about reindeer herding, a practice that has been preserved uniquely intact in Sweden, listen to their magical "yoik" singing and feel the raw and untouched nature as we traverse snowed forests on snowmobile or dog sled.
Each of these activities have been carefully chosen; the dog kennel we visit follows a "mindfulness" practice that channels quiet over agitated; Our female reindeer herder continues with her family's centuries old tradition, letting her adorable reindeer roam freely in the forests and protecting them with love and respect.
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The wellness elements of the tour follow the Scandinavian tradition of sauna and ice plunges, which we will experience in frozen lakes, after wellness rituals using natural ingredients and before outdoor jacuzzis.
At night, we will spot the Northern Lights, which made an appearance on almost every night, at times covering the entire sky.
Sleeping in the world's first Icehotel, turning 40 years old soon, is only for the bravest, while foraging for wild herbs and flowers is for everyone.
This is "a dream come true", a "bucketlist trip" and the chance to immerse yourself in one of the last uncommercial parts of Europe's Arctic.
Bali is like the tropical version of Iceland, or Iceland is the winter version of Bali.
Both have breathtaking landscapes, both are dotted with beautiful waterfalls, both have black sand beaches and active volcanoes, both are full of inspiring women and formidable energy.
In Bali, you can explore the spiritual side of the island, a majority Hindu part of Indonesia, through the many temples, the daily canang sari offerings, the kindness and gentleness of the people, or the water purification rituals.
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We will immerse ourselves in the culture, and stay away from the mass-tourism aspects that have turned some parts of into fake amusement parks.
We will explore lesser known waterfalls, go deep into the forests to find plants and herbs to cook our lunch and spend time in the untouched northern and eastern side of the island.
See the Bali that made the island so popular and loved, and skip the superficial Instagram tours.
For those like me who travel carry on, the liquid limitations have been a pain to deal with.
These days, I only ever check in because of liquids, not size / weight, especially in the summer.
The top UK airports will be allowing up to 2 liters, instead of 1 liter, in hand carry starting this month thanks to new scanner. See details here.
These news were announced last year, but delays in implementing the new scanners pushed it by a year.
I was recently at Munich Airport and the security personnel had no issues with me having a water bottle full, though I am not sure if this was related to the scanners too, since they were indeed in operation.
I, for one, very much welcome this change and hope other airports roll out new measures soon.
Final US Travel ban list announced
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The US Government has released the final list of 12 countries whose nationals will not be allowed to travel to the US with very few exceptions (eg. sporting events, dual citizens or green card holders).
The list can be found on the White House official website here and includes the following countries:
Afghanistan
Myanmar
Chad
Congo-Brazzaville
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Libya
Somalia
Sudan
Yemen
This list may change if these countries change their security measures to the requests made by the US. Other countries could be added and some could be removed.
โHere is further analysis by The New York Times.
Important: This is NOT a ban for Americans to travel to these countries but for citizens of these countries to visit the US. Americans can still go there, unless these countries apply reciprocity and ban Americans, like Chad has announced.
Last spots left on our 2025 tours
Many of our tours for the year are full but here are the last spots left on some departures - don't wait up if any interests you:
1 SPOT left on our Barcelona & beyond 28 June to 4 July => BOOK BARCELONAโ
2 SPOTS left on our Amalfi Coast tour 15 to 19 September => BOOK AMALFIโ
2 SPOTS left on our Tanzania Value tour 26 September to 6 October => BOOK TANZANIAโ
1 SPOT left on our Scotland tour 11 to 19 October => BOOK SCOTLANDโ
1 SPOTS left on our Australia tour 12 to 23 October => BOOK AUSTRALIAโ
I took this photo in one of the most incredible days of my life when I chartered a helicopter to take me and my partner to Everest Base Camp from Katmandu.
These kinds of flights are now offered as a tourist attraction, and I think I can take credit for inspiring them to do so in 2014 when I did it.
We stopped on the way back at Everest View Hotel, which has this incredible views of Everest. This was a mere 5min heli ride from Base Camp.
This week's photo is below, can you guess where it was taken?
In case you missed it
Travel news and other important things to know:
From the group: how to handle conversations about solo travel with your partner / husband. Read here.โ
Reminder not to participate in unethical animal attractions such as petting tigers, no matter how well trained they are, they are wild animals. If you don't stop doing it because of ethical reasons, at least consider the risks. This tourist was mauled by a tiger in Thailand in one of those places. Read here.โ
Turkey will start fining passengers who stand up before the plane has come to a complete stop. Read here.
Inspiration: Beatiful dome hotel in Patagonia. See here.โ
An interesting read from The Atlantic about how singlehood may now be unnecessarily celebrated, or is it? Read here.โ
Travel fraud: Mastercard has released a study wehre it analysed the highest level of travel fraud and ranked the cities where it is most prevalent:
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