Stayed at Emotions by Hodelpa on Playa Dorada Beach. See my review under resort reviews! http://emotionsbyhodelpa.com/playa-dorada/en

I had the good fortune of travelling to Nepal with G Adventures to do a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp, May 10-27, 2018. I must say, it really was the trip of a lifetime and one I will never forget!  https://www.gadventures.com/ https://www.gadventures.com/trips/everest-base-camp-trek/ANEA/ We flew with Air Canada on a brand new Beoing 787-9 "Dreamliner" -what a beautiful plane! Travelled in Premium Ecnomy class going to India and back in Economy class-both were very good. Good legroom, excellent food, and lots of room in the overhead bins for carryon baggage, Also excellent service onboard this flight!    Arrived in Kathmandu, stayed our first night there and we met with our G Adventures guide for an orientation. Free time that day to explore Kathmandu . Next morning-we're off! or so we thought. We were supposed to fly into Lukla in the Himalayas but as we were enroute,  they closed Lukla airport so we were diverted to a town close by. It was great to have the G Adventures guide with us-esp when we found out that we would not get into Lukla that day and had to stay overnight in Ramechhap unexpectedly-he was able to arrange our accommodation for us. Next day-luckily made it to Lukla-we were the only flight to get in that day!  And we're off on our trek to Mount Everest! We stayed every night in teahouses-very basic accommodation but decent food for supper and breakfast. We bought lunches at teahouses along the way and carried our own water and snacks. All in all, it was a tough trek but we made it! it was an extremely rewarding experience and certainly one that I will never forget! Please email or call me if you think you might be interested in this type of hiking trip and I will be happy to share my experience with you!    

New Zealand from May 1-8, 2017, with APT Tours and Goway Travel http://aptouring.com http://goway.com I had a wonderful opportunity to go to New Zealand this year for the first time! Day 1 -did some hotel inspections in Auckland, went for a sailboat ride , thanks to www.prideofauckland.com , a city tour, capped off with a lovely dinner at our hotel for the night, Grand Millenium Auckland. Day 2- left Auckland . First stop was at the Waitomo caves where we got to have a boat ride in the dark underground caves to see the glow worms- very cool!! Then a quick bite to eat and off to Hobbiton! Spending the next two nights in Rotorua. Day 3 in New Zealand. This morning we visited the Agrodome and saw some sheep, and sheep shearing and herding dog demonstrations. Then onto Rainbow Springs to see some kiwis! After lunch, we went to Te Puia Thermal Reserve and Maori cultural centre- very cool place!! http://www.tepuia.co.nz So the end of day 3 was a visit to the Tamaki Maori village, a very cool cultural experience. Our group had to choose a chief , who would have to follow Maori protocol/ custom of doing the traditional Maori greeting, then we were led into the village for demonstrations of traditional games and dance, followed by a show, then supper.http://www.tamakimaorivillage.co.nz Day 4- started the morning off with a walk around the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal park- WOW!! Then off to the airport for our flight from Rotorua to Christchurch. Hotel inspection at the Commodore Hotel near the airport, a wonderful family owned and run hotel, and a small city tour. http://www.waiotapu.co.nz/ Day 5 in New Zealand- started out with a train ride on the Tranz Scenic, from Christchurch to Arthur's pass, a two hour ride with some great mountain scenery! Hopped back on the coach for the trip through the pass and down a windy mountain road , heading to the Franz Joseph national park......hoped to see the glacier by helicopter but the weather didn't cooperate and that got cancelled, so we did a short hike up your the lookoff. Turns out that the glacier has receded so we didn't get to see it. Had an hour of free time tonight so went for a relaxing dip at the Glacier Hot Pools, then supper at the hotel restaurant. Off to Queenstown tomorrow! http://www.newzealand.com/ca/franz-josef-glacier http://www.glacierhotpools.co.nz/ Day six- left Franz Joseph glacier, wonderfully beautiful scenery driving along the west coast, heading to Queenstown. Highlights of the day were the Shotover jet boat ride and trip up the mountain by cablecar to the Skyline for dinner. http://www.shotoverjet.com http://www.skyline.co.nz/en/queenstown Day 7, in Queenstown NZ, wow what a place!!  Stayed at the Novotel Queenstown Lakeside, lovely hotel! Did an excursion today with Nomad Safaris called "Safari of the Scenes" tour- we checked out some of the places where the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed , but the best fun was driving around in the river! Then after lunch, back up the mountain to enjoy the luge, that was a hoot! http://www.nomadsafaris.co.nz I was only there for one week , but if you are going , you'll really need at least three weeks for touring and exploring. It is a beautiful, friendly country to visit, and I look forward to returning again someday!