Author Archives: murray

The Worse the Driving; the Better the Skiing

The roads are bad. It’s Monday afternoon, the sky has closed in and it is snowing hard. Debbie and I have set out for another foray into the mountains. I sometimes get asked why I am headed south when the … Continue reading

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The Ethics of Travel

Several years ago Dive Training Magazine (July 1999) published Ten Guidelines for Travelers. The author is unknown. After I read them I passed them on to my traveling friends for perusal. I think they are great and read them from … Continue reading

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Snow

I’ve often heard that the Inuit have hundreds of words that describe snow. Deciding to write a bit about snow, I was looking up just how many words they do use. I discovered in fact the language allows for the … Continue reading

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Back Country Skiing in the Rocky Mountains

The blue bird spread it’s considerable wings over Banff National Park two days in a row. Again it is a gorgeous day, the temperature is around 0 C, there is no wind and the sun is shining bright. At the … Continue reading

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Tourists are Targets

Tourists are targets. You can be a mark for savvy salesmen selling ‘authentic’ goods, you can fall prey to hucksters and hustlers that pose as ‘official’ guides, you can have your pocket or purse picked in a crowded market, or … Continue reading

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Trip Research. Step 1

Yesterday I started bookmarking African safari web sites on my computer. Oh man, there are a lot of them. This is not going to be easy. We are going to have to modify the process we use to choose our … Continue reading

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The Process Begins Anew

We have just about exhausted all the tasks related to our Bhutan/India trip. We have debriefed with the idea of changes for our next trip, worked on all the photos and organized them into a couple of versions of slide … Continue reading

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First Mountain Trip 2011

The Canadian Rocky Mountains are as impressive as any mountains I have seen. When you see them they look similar to the Alps, Pyrenees, or the Himalayas. For the most part they look like classic mountains, rocky, craggy and the … Continue reading

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Andaman Transport

Over the last couple of days we have learned a lot about how to get around on Havelock Island. The only mode of transportation commonly mentioned on the internet is the auto rickshaws that ply the main routes looking for … Continue reading

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More Diving and India

Hard dives today, this is no place for the faint of heart. The swells are big and sometimes the currents are strong. The surface, getting in and out, is very difficult. Once under the water, it is somewhat easier. Still … Continue reading

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