Explore With Ilse

📣 Forward my posts! Tell your friends! In less than 2 weeks, I leave for Greenland, and you’re going to want to follow along! 📣

The Arctic has always fascinated me, even more than the Antarctic. My first trip was to Iceland (ok, *ALMOST* in the Arctic—we definitely had Arctic weather!) with my son in February 2018 (photos 2-11), and my second trip was to Lapland with my daughter in February 2022 (photos 12-20).

I’ve been trying to figure out why I always want to go north, while most of the world seems to want to go south, and I’ve decided that in addition to my general aversion to following the crowd, it’s because the Arctic has an extensive HUMAN history.

I’m in awe of all indigenous history, but it hits a special level for me in the Arctic—who are these people who love, laugh, create beauty, and thrive in a place like this? ❄️

As most of you know by now, I’m happiest when it’s 28° and my world is covered in snow! To meet the people who live most of the year in these conditions is like meeting famous people! 🤩

It gives me goosebumps to be given this gift of glimpses into the rich Inuit and Sámi cultures; to hear their stories, to see/hear their art, and to eat from their land and sea.

✨ Visiting Greenland will be a dream come true, and I’ll be drinking it ALL in! ✨

WOOTWOOT!! Let me know if the polar regions are in your plans!

This is the text I woke up to. 💗 Clients are currently HIKING IN THE DOLOMITES! 🥾

Working with this couple (and another pair of friends who will be going here in September) has made me yearn to go back.

I never thought that I’d do this trip twice, but I did. And now I’m wondering if I might do it for a third time. 🤔

I can’t wait for more photos and impressions! ⛰️ 💐 🇮🇹 🥂

Always have a backup plan and know where you are!

Massive AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon outage for US customers traveling abroad | CNN Business An international roaming outage is leaving customers of the three major US mobile carriers in the dark, making it difficult or impossible for American customers who are currently out of the country to make calls, send messages and use data.

Do you buy travel insurance when you travel? You absolutely should!

I’m not certified to help my clients pick the right travel insurance policy, but I can speak from a consumer’s perspective …

I just had a 30 minute phone call with my travel insurance provider, because I wanted to make sure that I’ll be covered for what I plan to do and where I’ll be over the next year. (I always buy an annual insurance policy that covers my family. If anyone in your immediate household travels more than 90 miles from your home more than 2-3 times per year, you might want to consider annual travel insurance.)

I never buy my insurance through a company’s website, because I need to ask very specific questions, so I know I’ll be covered. And even though I buy the same policy every year, I need to know that the policy hasn’t changed.

💥Do your due diligence when shopping for travel insurance!💥

For the following year, in addition to the normal coverage (trip disruption, lost/delayed luggage, trip cancelation, etc), I need to know that I’ll be covered for any injuries/disruptions I might sustain/encounter in the following situations:
•Heli-hiking (covered, as long as I’m not hiking out of bounds)
•Arctic kayaking, white water rafting, canoeing (covered)
•Atacama Desert (not covered, nothing over 15,000’ elevation)
•Hiking in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (covered)
•Expedition and river cruising (covered)
•Terrorism, war (not covered; special circumstances)
•Motorbike touring (covered)

Travel insurance also covers your lost trip expenses if something happens to you BEFORE your departure, preventing you from going—like getting hurt. One of the travelers going to Italy with me last month had to bow out the night before departure, because her back went out!

💥People usually don’t think about this perspective—protect your investment.💥

Give yourself peace of mind!

Random photos from my Italy trip:)

As you know, a trip is only as good as your guide, and ours was exceptional!

Vania has won all the guiding awards available within her company for good reason. She grew up in the Prosecco Hills region and still lives there; she knows the area and its people like the back of her hand.

When we needed to alter our routes because of weather, she was able to do that on the fly—and you know why? Because she created the itinerary that my vendor uses, a company that has been in the business of adventure travel for over 50 years, and has myriad resources at its disposal—but no other resource is as knowledgeable, or as locally respected, as Vania! (She actually creates itineraries for multiple well-known travel companies.)

💥And the best part about Vania?? Look at that smile!! Every single day, she brought that contagious sunshine-energy to our group, as she passionately introduced us to everything she loves about her home.💥

Thank you, dear Vania!!

After 24 hours of WILD thunderstorms, and an amount of rain that this region usual gets over the course of an entire month, our final day of hiking held a few surprises.

We weren’t able to do the hike I was most looking forward to, in the actual foothills of the Dolomites with views of the dramatic peaks, because more thunderstorms were expected in that area.

So we hiked through more Prosecco vineyards, along the banks of swollen rivers. We were in awe at the evidence of how far into places the rivers had flooded overnight! At once section, we saw people hanging things out to dry, and removing the sandbags that didn’t seem to have helped keep their houses from flooding:(

Photo 1: Crossing a creek bed that our guide said is usually just a trickle.

Photo 6: Our guide surprised us with some Prosecco at our lunch stop:)

Photos 7-8: Our final dinner together was EXTRAORDINARY! Needless to say, the food we’ve been eating has been divine. An important part of all of my trips is the food—we don’t skimp!

Now I know why the Prosecco I buy at home tastes like 💩; I need to look for the DOCG label! NOT just “DOC”—D O C G. You’re welcome.

Thank you, , for the informative and DELICIOUS Prosecco tasting at your beautiful 4th-generation winery! (Photos 1-3)

Our hike ended with the wine tasting, but 3/4 of the way through, we landed at the increasingly-discovered Prosecco vending machine!

The true story: Once upon a time, the owner of this small farmhouse left wine (from his own vineyards) and charcuterie in his kitchen when he went out, for anyone who wanted to serve themselves; the local villagers left notes and money for him. (Photos 4-5)

Eventually, the government heard about this self-serve osteria and demanded that he pay tax on his *income*, so he had to begin charging a set price for things.

Today, there’s self-serve charcuterie for sale until it’s sold-out, and there is always “self-serve” Prosecco available in the vending machines. You can also buy real glass glasses from a separate vending machine, if you don’t want to use the free plastic ones provided, or if you forgot to bring your own! (Photos 6-7)

Photo 8: The Prosecco we got from the vending machine, and the view we had while we enjoyed the wine. 🥂

Photos 9-10: There are benches and small bar tables scattered between the rows of grapevines. 💛

Two dry days of hiking and one absolute SOAKER!

Photos 1-5: A steady downpour the whole way. We ended in the beautiful medieval town, Asolo, where we ducked into a cafe for a beverage, before our transfer back to our hotel.

Photos 6-9: The DOCG region, from where the highest-quality Prosecco hails.

Off-the-beaten-path Venice … did you know there IS such a place? ✨

Look closely at photos 6-8 and notice that we’re the ONLY ones on the sidewalks, and there’s NO traffic in the canals! No, it wasn’t a slow day in Venice, and it wasn’t an anomaly—the last photo is for reference: when we emerged from the quiet places into the throngs of tourists.

We enjoyed a day off from hiking to discover an oasis in Venice. We visited one of the few artists who crafts traditional solid wood oar-locks for the iconic gondolas, and it was fascinating! What I didn’t expect to learn was how complex the gondola design truly is. You can’t see it unless you’re looking for it, but nothing on the craft is symmetrical, including the centerline plane of the hull—which isn’t centered at all! When you go to Venice, make sure to schedule a visit with Piero

Another story of how I sometimes need to pivot in this business—and why my trips sell out so *seemingly* early!

When I contract a private trip, I need to do it early enough (1.5-2 years before departure), so that 1. my vendors don’t book out all their resources, and 2. I have time to market the trip.

BECAUSE …

If I can’t sell a minimum of 8 spots, I need to “release” my trip, so my vendor can either, add the departure to their public offerings and have time to sell it, or cancel everything outright.

Each trip requires reserving multiple guides, multiple drivers and vans, one/multiple hotels, and multiple restaurants. My “release” date is far enough in advance of departure, so all of these entities can have time to find new clients, if the trip gets canceled.

🇮🇹 I had 2 back-to-back trips in Italy planned for this month: Walking the Hills of Prosecco and Sicily Food Adventure. Only 3 people signed up for each!

So I canceled the Sicily trip, and over the past 4 months, confused people have been reaching out, “Where’d your Sicily trip go? We want to go!”

If you see a trip you like, SIGN UP! You may be the 8th person that I need to have the trip go. And this is why my trips fill so early—most of my clients know what they want and have no problem planning around a non-refundable deposit; there’s no such thing as a better offer somewhere else! 😉

My Walking the Prosecco Hills trip turned into a public departure, and since the 3 women who had signed up weren’t sure about doing this trip without me, I signed up as a paying traveler—also because I had been REALLY looking forward to hiking and drinking Prosecco in Italy. 🥂

So this week, I’m walking the Prosecco Hills with 2 clients (one canceled because she hurt her back), 3 strangers-soon-to-be-friends from England, and our fabulous guide, Vanya.

And I’m not in charge—I’m on vacation! 😎

Our amazing guide, Lahcen Il Belaid.

He got us to the right places at the right times; he made sure we were comfortable and had what we needed; he kept us safe; he herded us with loving patience, when we got distracted; he woke us up gently on long car rides; he brought us home and introduced us to his wife and 3 children; and he taught us 👏 SO👏 MUCH👏.

We learned more about Morocco in these 2 weeks than all 8 of us combined have learned during our entire lives. I suppose that isn’t saying much, since Morocco seemed to have been universally left out of each of our social studies classes.

Of course, every country has black stains in its history, and Morocco is no exception, but a big theme of Moroccan history that we learned over and over again was one of WELCOME. Morocco became the crossroads of cultures, as Muslims and Jews were systematically forced out of their own (European) countries over the centuries. Most cities and UNESCO-protected Kasbahs we visited had Muslim and Jewish sections.

Did you know, when the French Vichy officials demanded that Morocco send her Jews to the concentration camps, Mohamed V said, “There are no Jews here; only Moroccans.” He welcomed in the Allies and hosted the Casablanca Conference, attended by Roosevelt and Churchill—and the Vichy officials were promptly sent home.

Lahcen embodies that welcoming spirit. Lahcen was known fondly everywhere we went. Greetings were always boisterous with laughter and exclamations of joy, and with either 2-handed handshakes or full hugs. Because we were in Lahcen’s care, we were taken extremely well care of.

And I need to give a big shoutout to our driver for the entire 2 weeks—I’ve never had the same driver for the whole trip, which made me realize what a huge job that is.

Abdul was fantastic! We had two 10hr driving days and one 7hr day—Abdul was always alert and smiling—fresh as a daisy! He’s in the middle of the last photo.

Lahcen and Abdul were The Dream Team!

One of my dreams came true in Morocco—I touched the earth in the High Atlas Mts.

Unfortunately, because it was raining, and the clouds were low, we couldn’t see the majestic snow-covered Mt Toubkal (just under 14K’) and his brothers that day—but we saw them from a rooftop in Marrakesh 2 days later (last photo), and they took our breath away.

1: Behind me is the path of total annihilation that a wall of water left behind a few years ago. A flash flood, descending from the higher elevations, the likes of which I can’t even fathom. But the villagers created paths through the bare rocks, and a few soccer pitches.

2-3: Group shots:)

4: Part of our trail.

5: Rooftop terrace at our Riad. Behind that low cloud stands the awe-some Mt Tobkal in all his glory! Our guide showed us photos—and it’s as dramatic as you can imagine.

6-7: The fresh ingredients for our mid-day tea in our guide’s home village; our guide aerating the tea.

8-9: It was COLD in the mountains, especially when we weren’t moving; 35°-40°F.

10: The High Atlas Mts from a rooftop in Marrakech. 🤩

A very small sampling of the vibrant colors and rich textures of beautiful Morocco! (Photos taken by the people in my group and me.)

Forced abstention from alcohol.

In my previous post, I mentioned that eating dinner late at night was the second-most challenging cultural difference to get used to in Morocco … the MOST challenging was not being able to drink alcohol whenever we wanted to.

⚡️And I found it FASCINATING, that this was even an issue!⚡️

Apparently Bart and I were in good company on this trip in our “vacation consumption” style … whether we’re on a cultural tour, a hiking trip, or just visiting family, we enjoy drinking moderate amounts of alcohol throughout the day, especially with meals—which we certainly don’t do at home!

But not having the CHOICE caused a bit of a glitch in our vacation matrix. 🤔

For those of you who don’t know, Morocco is a Muslim country, and alcohol is “forbidden” (NOT illegal). Most of our Riads either served wine/beer, because their business is tourism, or at least offered glasses for what we brought with us. (At the beginning of our trip, our guide took us to a liquor store and told us to stock up.)

At the places where they didn’t serve alcohol, we asked for permission to drink it in one of our rooms/on a balcony/rooftop terrace. There was only one Riad where it was completely forbidden, and we had to give our hosts our bottles to keep until we left!

And only one restaurant we went to during the entire 2 weeks had alcohol on the menu.

No one on this trip *needed* a drink. But man! Not having the CHOICE really threw each of us a curveball.

✨And this is another important reason to travel—by immersing ourselves in unfamiliar cultures, and/or mildly uncomfortable situations, we learn SO much about ourselves!✨

Last photo needs explaining😆: Before our trip, in a group chat, a few of us agreed that we’re now old enough to wear caftans—we were concerned about dressing conservatively in the heat of Morocco! The discussion led to Mrs Roper (IYKYK!), the Queen of the Caftan, so someone brought a “Mrs Roper Kit” (sold on Amazon) for one of us to wear with her caftan.

We ate everything in Morocco. Sorry. All the food is gone. So bring your own, if you go.

Almost every meal was a 2+ hours, 3-course, full-table, sit-down affair. During our 2 weeks, we skipped maybe 2 lunches and 2 dinners—because we were given the option! All the other meals were part of our trip, and they were SPECTACULAR!

Every meal was freshly homemade with love by each of our welcoming hosts, wherever we were, and made with whole, locally-sourced, ingredients.

And between all these meals, we were also welcomed EVERYWHERE (shops, tours, Riads, etc), 3-4 times a day, with the famous Moroccan Mint Tea and cookies. So we had SNACKS between meals!

FUN FACT: is actually mint steeped in GREEN TEA. I learned this after my first sleepless night. Moroccans not only welcome guests with this, but they also drink it with dessert. And since I assumed it was a decaffeinated herbal tea, like my pathetic tea bags at home, I went whole-hog that first night. 😵‍💫

The cherry on top of this cultural difference was that dinners STARTED at 8 or 9pm. That’s right. We went to bed at around 10-11pm with our stomachs full of 3 courses of meats, vegetables, and starches. And THAT’s why you drink mint tea with dessert—helps settle the stomach.

But you know what?? We were able to sleep just fine after eating so much so late, because we ate slowly, and the food was fresh and whole. Don’t get me started on the broken American food system …

PRO TIP: When you travel outside of America, do not eat like you would back home! EAT EVERYTHING! You can eat bread, pasta, wine AND a cannoli in Italy, in the same sitting, and walk away from the table ready to run a marathon. This may sound like witchcraft, but it’s simply that most other countries respect their health and quality of life, and subsequently, their time and food sources.

Eating so much food, so often and so late in the day was the second-most difficult cultural difference to assimilate to for most of us. Stay tuned for the MOST difficult in tomorrow’s post.

Put your guesses in the comments! 👇

Fes, Morocco is a full-on sensory experience.

The old part of the Medina was built in the 9th century, the *new* part in the 14th century, and it’s a labyrinth! Do not go in there without a guide. (Last photo is our guide)

Because we had a guide, not only did we NOT get lost, FOREVER, but we were taught incredibly complex history and brought into the reputable shops for authentic wares. Go with a guide!

Photo 1: The famous (infamous?) tannery. Before entering, we were each given a mint posey to hold at our noses, because of the stench. (But we all later agreed that the meat/fish market in Marrakech stank WAY worse than this tannery! And that’s saying something.)

I need you to pay very close attention here—this will blow your mind!

The tiles in Morocco are handmade like this—from ancient times to modernity. We visited a government-subsidized ceramic co-op in Fes, where this ancient craft is being kept alive.

💥As I’ve said a million times, art is the soul of a people. If there is no art for future archeologists and historians to find, future generations will only know what we DID. Actually, only what our politicians, militaries and scientists did! They won’t know what we thought or how we felt or how we loved. They won’t know what made us laugh and what made us cry. So yeah, 💥

1-3: Zoom in. Each colored slab of tile is broken into bits, then hand-chiseled into the shapes and sizes required. My hand is for size perspective.

4: This is where it gets TRULY insane … the artist then creates every mosaic UPSIDE-DOWN! He has to remember which color goes where, because as you can see, there’s no flipping the piece over periodically, to make sure you’ve got the colors right! And the color is only on one side. When the tiles are all in place, the mortar gets poured. 😳🤯😑

5-8: After witnessing the above witchcraft, watching the hand-painting process may seem a bit underwhelming, but it’s not. Have you ever tried to draw a design with perfect dimensions/perspective on a piece of paper? Right. Now try doing that on a 3 dimensional surface.

IMPORTANT: The artists work in these positions for *only* 1 hour shifts. I didn’t ask how long the breaks were or whether or not guided stretching was offered.

9: Everywhere we went, literally (co-ops for shopping, our hotels, hammams, etc) we were offered the famous Moroccan Mint Tea, where they poured from up-high to aerate the herbs. What I didn’t realize until my first sleepless night was that they mix the mint with green tea, which, as you know, is caffeinated! 😵‍💫

The 3rd largest mosque in the world in Casablanca is a stunner, and the Moroccan capital city of Rabat was a beautiful surprise!

Photos 1-4: Hassan II Mosque; those doors are made from titanium to last forever in the salty, humid air of seaside Casablanca.

Photo 4: The ablutions room—giant fountains for tens of thousands of people to be able to wash before prayer.

Photos 5-7: Inside shots of the truly awe-some Mausoleum of Muhammad V in Rabat. Each .5-2” tile is handmade and hand-laid. (Future post about tile making!)

Photo 6: Also hand-laid gold leaf!

Photos 8-9: Rabat has gorgeous beaches on the Mediterranean! I need to spend more time in Rabat.

The Sahara Desert, Morocco.

When I meet an entity this grand, I think about it in the context of the whole globe. 🌍 Just take a look at a satellite photo of Africa, and you’ll see that this desert dominates about 1/3 of the continent. It’s almost as big as the contiguous United States.

The day we were there, Athens turned red from the sand being blown north, across the Mediterranean Sea, from the desert to the east of us. Our guide told us that the winds in our area last week were so fierce, no one could go into the desert.

I had no expectations around this visit, except that the camel ride might be terrifying (🐪 and it was), but the biggest surprise for me was that the sand is so fine and SO DRY, it doesn’t stick to you!! When you sit in it, it ALL just slides off when you stand. When you empty your shoes, ALL of the sand comes out.

✨It’s a magical place.✨

If you travel, there are 2 things you must do as soon as you finish reading this post:
1️⃣ Create an account with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) and register all of your trips. Wherever you go, the US Embassy will know you’re there, in case of emergencies. You’ll receive alerts about the areas you’re visiting—like this screenshot.
2️⃣ From now on, you’ll want to travel with a reputable travel company and/or use an agent to book your trips and your flights. If you had planned your own trip to Jordan this week and got this alert, what would you do?? If you were already in Jordan and needed to get out, what would you do??

You’ve seen my fabulous posts with stories and photos from my always-sold-out amazing trips, right? Well, here’s a post about when things don’t go according to plan.

My trip to Jordan this week had been sold out since 2022. When the Israel-Hamas war started, 6 of my travelers dropped out.

When the American military base in Jordan was bombed, I lost 2 more travelers, and most of my remaining travelers were now unnerved.

After months of stress, I had a decision to make.

I canceled the trip to Jordan and asked my vendor if they could possibly put together a trip to Morocco for us. Not only did my tour operator take care of canceling a week’s worth of hotels, guides, reservations, and transportation in Jordan, but they had all hands on deck to pull together in less than 3 months, a first class trip to Morocco. What they did for me was amazing. 🙏

So the 8 of us rallied around our new destination, changed our flights and trip insurance, extended our dog sitter reservations 3 more days, asked our bosses for 3 more days’ off, etc.

And here I am, getting ready to travel to Morocco, counting my blessings, and giving you two HUGE pieces of advice … from terrorism to weather to pandemics, the world has become so unpredictable!

💥Protect yourself and your loved ones while traveling, by registering with the US Embassy.💥

💥And give yourself peace of mind while traveling, by booking your trip with an expert.💥

So. FB/M3ta had me in ja!l, suspending this account for 30 days because I broke rules. Obviously, I never broke a rule. When I went to appeal the decision, I had to plug in a lot of personal information, including passwords, so I didn’t, and let the suspension ride.

I feel like I’m on borrowed time; I know many businesses that have lost their business pages without warning and for no reason—a computer just shuts it down. If you’re interested in not losing contact with me and my stories, please send me a DM, so I can add you to my email list. If my account ever gets shut down, I’ll email the name of my new account. (I don’t spam! I’m trying to write one email per month, but in reality, I send out 4-5/year!)

I appreciate all of your incredible support and don’t want to lose contact with you.

My first and only time I’ve ever been snowmobiling was on a glacier in Iceland during a whiteout blizzard. Our tour was cut short, because conditions kept worsening, and on our drive off the glacier, we saw numerous abandoned vehicles being covered by the blowing snow.

Part 4: Embracing Discomfort

They wouldn’t let Ethan drive his own sled, because he was only 15 and without a driver’s license—so I also had this giant boy-man on the back of my sled.

During our brief instructions, they told us to follow in a single-file line, because there were open crevasses around us that we couldn’t see. 😳 As we left the shed, Ethan mumbled, “This is going to suck. You’re going to go so slow. I can’t believe I can’t drive my own.”

So now I had THAT pressure as well.

I placed myself 3rd in line (16 of us, plus 2 guides), hell-bent on not being last. I focused on the orange jumpsuit in front of me, doing a great job of keeping up. But …

1. The whiteout caused me to lose my equilibrium—I had no sense of where I was in space! So periodically, I had to take my eyes off the orange target and look at my sled runners move over the snow to ground myself. Wearing a helmet, I had no peripheral vision when I did that; twice, when I looked back up, I had lost the orange jumpsuit completely, because visibility was measured in feet. (My heart is beating so fast just remembering this! 😓) Luckily, speeding up a bit brought me back in sight.

2. I had forgotten that I was supposed to lean my body over, in order to turn the sled. So every time we turned, I used all my strength to turn that sucker, from a seated position! And remember—I had a heavy boy-man on the machine with me!

I just wanted to cry. But I kept telling myself, “Crying won’t help right now. Just don’t suck. Don’t get out of line. Don’t suck. Don’t cry. Don’t think. Don’t suck.” 🥺

We finally stopped for our photo-op, where we were supposed to have a view and a snack. We skipped the snack, took quick photos (first photo—there’s supposed to be a view there!), then headed back to base, as the storm got worse.

In the van, Ethan said, “You did a great job, Mom. You didn’t suck. I’m surprised.”

When I travel with my groups, there’s always a moment (or more) when I’m totally out of my comfort zone. Sometimes I’m utterly surprised by it, and at other times, I’ve been actively trying to fortify my courage for months in advance.

A Facebook memory of one such moment popped up yesterday, which made me realize that this happens on most trips.

“Adventure travel” with me isn’t about bungee-jumping to dinner or swimming with sharks—it’s about having 100% authentic local experiences that we normally don’t have in our everyday lives. Experiences that, frankly, cause a bit of discomfort—discomfort levels that range between getting a little sweaty and dusty, up to full-blown fear and almost bowing out from an activity (but doing it anyway and being immensely proud of ourselves🙌)!

Have you ever done a cold plunge? Yeah, me neither. 🥶 But I understand how forcing yourself into icewater settles your entire nervous system (google the immeasurable benefits of that! Then contact if you live in VT.)—that’s what happens when you succeed in doing ANYTHING that is uncomfortable. (Again—I’m NOT talking about death-defying feats!)

So while I gear up for my next adventure with guaranteed moments of discomfort in MOROCCO🇲🇦 (e.g. riding a camel in the desert and driving on one of the windiest roads in the world through the High Atlas Mountains 🤢🫣), I’ll be reposting those past moments when I was out of my comfort zone to varying degrees. (The photos here are teasers.😉)

✨These are the moments that remind me how ALIVE I am and to keep living my life to its absolute FULLEST.✨