Going to the Galapagos Islands

December 19 2007, we are traveling to Quito, Ecuador and on the 22nd we go to the Galapagos Islands.  This will be our first visit and we are excited.

Anyone traveling to the Galapagos or has been there knows that there are two ways to see the islands:  aboard a yacht/cruise ship or lodge on one of the islands at a hotel.  We decided to see the islands aboard a cruise ship, the Explorer II.  This is one of the larger ships that visit the island.  They accommodate 100 passengers.  This seemed the way to go over having a home base on one of the islands and taking small boats from island to island.  Either option, I believe that conservation and ecotourism strongly influence accommodations, as it should.

Provided I have internet access aboard the Explorer II, I hope to blog with photographs about our experience.

Why I like to travel? (Blog 1)

Greetings,

I apparently have a passion for traveling, which is probably evident given I have a travel blog and site, WalkinGates.  As far as I can remember, I have always enjoyed traveling.  As a youth, my family and I minimally took an annual holiday/vacation.  When I think about it, there are several reason why I like to travel, but should I be thinking about why I do something that I enjoy?  Why not just have fun for the sake of having fun?  Don’t overthink traveling … “just do it” [remember the old Nike commercials].

My philosophy is that everything that we do has an underlying reason, so we can continue to do something without thinking about the reason or we can think about the reason.  I want to think about the reason.  So, my purpose here is to write a series of blogs in the coming months about why I like to travel and why I want to think about it.

Among the reasons I like to travel …

The world is really a big place and contradictorily, there are a lot of things that make us similar.  People, places, and things are diverse.  Traveling is eye-opening, a learning and teaching experience, and it’s fun!