Authentic Luxury Travel

"Glamping" (Glamorous Camping) in Denali National Park

2008-08-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

If you’ve seen photos of Alaska’s Denali National Park, you know how beautiful it is. What isn’t obvious from those pictures, is the fact that access to that gorgeous scenery is very limited.

Private vehicles are only allowed to travel the first 15 miles of the paved road inside the park. After that, visitors have the choice of sightseeing on Park Board buses or taking the bus to one of several drop-off points and then hiking or mountain biking from there.

To complicate matters, Denali does not offer trails or permanent campgrounds. All camping is “wild” - and don’t forget that bears are a huge issue in this area.

After ten minutes of trying to look through the dirty windows of the park’s antiquated “tour” bus, I knew I had to find an authentic way to experience Denali National Park in comfort – and I did.

Camp Denali (http://www.campdenali.com/) is sited on a private in-holding of land 90 miles from the park entrance. Here, 17 cabins and the 15 rooms at adjacent North Face Lodge provide comfortable lodging, great meals, and top-notch naturalists who lead learning adventures into the wilderness.

A picture window in our cabin framed Mt. McKinley so perfectly that it looked like a postcard. During the course of our three-day stay, we saw “The Great One” surrounded by blue sky, clothed in mist, and bathed in alpenglow.

At Camp Denali, each of the immaculate knotty pine cabins comes with a wood-burning stove, propane lights, at least one comfortable bed covered with a handmade quilt, running water, a kettle for heating water, and an outhouse. Cabins and loos are serviced daily. Hot showers and flush toilets are located in a centrally-located modern bathhouse near the dining room - a three- to seven-minute walk away.

By comparison, North Face Lodge feels like a motel (“30 seconds from your pillow to your placemat”), but it’s a good alternative for those who are less able-bodied or cannot do without an en suite bathroom. Normally, I’d be in that “must have en suite” category – but in this case I much preferred the rustic charm and authenticity of our Camp Denali cabin.

Camp Denali is a family-owned and -operated business and great care and attention is expended on guests’ behalf. In addition to hiking, daytime activities include fishing, biking, photography, canoeing, and flightseeing with Kantishna Air Taxi. Staff naturalists and visiting specialists present evening programs focused on Alaska’s natural and cultural heritage.

It was a privilege to stay at Camp Denali and have exclusive access to very special natural wonders. Sometimes – albeit rarely – “luxury” isn’t about glamorous bathrooms and 24-hour room service - and this was definitely one of those times.

The Real Down Under Wonders

2008-06-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

New Zealand's sparkling blue lakes, snow white glaciers, and majestic fiords are justifiably world renowned. Even though I've lived in this country and explored every nook and cranny, I still frequently stop along country roads and lose myself in the glory of the scenic wonders.

However, having said that, I still think New Zealand's greatest wonders are her people.

Kiwis, as they are often called (after their famous flightless bird), are the kindest, most helpful, and friendliest people I have ever met. They have a natural talent for making visitors feel welcome and go out of their way to make sure everyone gets the most from their stay.

Happily, it isn't difficult for overseas travelers to meet local people. A plethora of owner-operated country lodges, boutique hotels, and bed-and-breakfast inns provide easy intros. So why would anyone opt to stay in a highrise hotel or chain motel? In my mind, this would be like deciding to go on a fast while traveling in France - but I never have understood tourists.

Clearly, Authentic Luxury Travelers seize the opportunity to spend time with local hosts and benefit from their knowledge of the area, as well as their charming hospitality

To make it easy for you to find them, many of these properties have formed marketing groups. Heritage Inns of New Zealand (http://www.heritageinns.co.nz/) are historic properties with 4 - and 5-star ratings. Boutique Hotels (http://www.boutiquehotels.co.nz/) are also excellent. I like some of the New Zealand Lodges (http://www.lodgesofnz.co.nz/), but a few - like Huka Lodge - have become status symbols that attract tourists with money, but no sense.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with a man who'd just returned from New Zealand: He was making the most of the bragging rights he'd earned by staying at Huka, when I pointed out that neither the hosts nor the other guests at the lodge were New Zealanders. I said that I thought he'd missed experiencing authentic New Zealand. To which he replied, "well, I guess I really wasn't interested."

Like I said, I never have understood tourists.

By Private Car Through Vietnam

2008-05-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Moving from one place to another in Vietnam can be a challenge. This is true whether you are trying to cross a traffic-clogged street in Saigon or endeavoring to explore the whole country.

Many overseas visitors join a tour so they won't have to deal with this issue, but authentic travelers eschew rigid itineraries and going places en masse. Other folks fly from place to place, totally missing the scene on the ground. Then there are the hardy souls who opt to use public transport between cities and find themselves packed like sardines into worn out minibuses. "Uncomfortable" wouldn't even begin to describe this ride.

The solution, my husband and I discovered, is to hire a car with driver and guide - preferably through Ann's Tours in Saigon (only government officials call it Ho Chi Minh City). Before we arrived in Vietnam, I talked to and exchanged emails with Managing Director Tony Nong and felt I could trust him to move us about the country safely and comfortably. (http://www.anntours.com/, 84-8-833-4356)

Our experience couldn't have been better. His guides took us to the Mekong Delta for two days, then back to Saigon, up to Dalat, and over to Nha Trang. In the North, they coordinated our airport transfers and sightseeing in and around Hanoi and saw us safely onto the train to Sapa. Every vehicle was clean, air-conditioned and in good shape - plus, the drivers knew the locations of the best restrooms along each route.

This would have been quite enough, but Tony's guides offered a bonus I hadn't expected. They were all great company and more than happy to share their personal stories as we traveled from place to place.

Quoc was young, hip, knew almost nothing about "the American War," but gave us an insight into what's-happening-now. Thach had been an interpreter for the US Army and his stories made the 7-hour trip to Dalat fly by in a blink. With Thach, we talked about politics, history, the economy, farming, and why I didn't want to go to a dog meat restaurant.

Hein's parents were Viet Cong who helped orchestrate the Tet Offensive - that made for some interesting discussions. In fact, Hein was the inspiration for one of the stories that resulted from our trip. "Finding Peace in Vietnam" ran in Ranch & Coast magazine and is on my website at http://www.elizabethhansen.net/travelWritingClips/vietnam.htm

Authentic Luxury Travel isn't just about traveling independently and sleeping on high-thread-count linens. It's about really delving into a destination and experiencing the culture. The drivers and guides from Ann Tours enabled us to do just that.