Traveled Nov, 2011 On my first full day in Palau, I took a day tour to the Rock Islands. A naval ship was in port and they were filling up many of Sam’s Tours but they put me on a private tour with a young couple from San Diego. We snorkeled on the “Big drop …
March 2017 archive
Mar 24
Palau by Land (Destination: Koror & Babeldaob Island)
From Philippines, I decided to take a side trip to Palau for several reasons: A chance to see another country, one of the smallest countries in the world by population. This would mean that I wouldn’t overstay my free 21-day visa in the Philippines I love the show “Survivor” and they had filmed in Palau …
Mar 24
Palau (Snorkeling with Jellyfish in the Rock Islands)
The most famous tourist site in Palau is arguably the Jellyfish Lake. It’s one of only a few marine lakes in the world that are home to stingless Jellyfish and you can go Snorkeling with Jellyfish. At the time I visited, there were only 2 such discovered or known lakes in the world in Palau …
Mar 24
Flight Delay (Destination: Narita, Japan)
I was supposed to have a couple hours in Japan before the flight to Manila but there were storms on the east coast of the USA so the plane that was to take us to Manila was still somewhere in America. We would have a 24 hour layover in Japan. Luckily, Delta put us up …
Mar 24
Long Layover in Istanbul
I have been to Istanbul before. An ideal time is 3 days in Istanbul. But today I only would get to enjoy a long layover in Istanbul, for the duration of a day. Arrival in Istanbul was at 6:45 am local time after gaining 2 hours on the flight from TBS to IST. I got …
Mar 24
Visiting Khor Virap Monastery
Khor Virap Monastery is one of the highlights of Armenia. It’s located near the closed Turkey-Armenia border at the foot of the famous Mount Ararat, famous for it’s role in the Noah’s Ark story. My day trip to Khor Virap was my favorite day in Armenia. A Little Khor Virap History Once upon a time, …
Mar 24
The Vatican of the Armenian Orthodox Church (Destination: Echmiadzin, Armenia)
The hostel doesn’t have enough visitors to run the tours today or tomorrow, so I set off on a day tour myself via the very inexpensive public transportation. Today’s day trip would be to Echmiadzin on a very grey skied day. I would only see the sun for about 5 minutes today but luckily it …
Mar 24
Stone Temples on Pilot (Destination: Garni, Armenia)
I slept in a little bit and had breakfast. I was supposed to have a 10 am walking tour. The guide showed up but the other tourists did not so we decided to cancel the tour. Earlier I had met a Dutch guy that was headed out to Geghard Monastery and Garni Temple. I was …
Mar 24
Back in the USSR (Destination: Yerevan, Armenia)
We arrived at the Georgia/Armenia border and were quickly stamped out of Georgia. We got to Armenia and I was asked for my visa. I didn’t have one. However, there was a booth that sold them but it had to be paid in Armenian dram. There was a sort of vending machine so I put …
Mar 24
The Gori Details (Destination: Gori, Georgia)
After saying goodbye to the people from the tour that were up for an early breakfast, I headed to the subway station to go to the stop where the mini-buses (matruskys) depart for various towns in western Georgia. It’s helpful to read a Georgia travel guide to learn more about public transportation. I easily found …
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