People watching is a fun part of travel. Often the most mundane scenes can seem exotic when walking the streets of a new city. This world is full of incredible sights but there are also lots of interesting people too.
People Watching • A Gallery
Images From Terra del Fuego
Photographic impressions from our travels…
Literally where civilization ends. The only thing south from Terra del Fuego is Antarctica.
The stark scenery is amazing and the incredible amounts of wildlife are unbelievable.
The lighthouse in the Beagle Channel, a body of water that cuts through South America from the Atlantic to The Pacific. The channel is named after the H.M.S. Beagle and the expedition made famous by Charles Darwin.
Are Bloggers Victims of Social Media Algorithms?
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Standing Watch Above The Rhine
People, places and captured moments selected from The Intentional Travelers photo collection. Marksburg Castle on the Rhine River Marksburg Castle, a majestic fortress located above the town of Braubach in Rhineland, Germany. This castle holds the unique distinction of being the only hilltop fortress on the Rhine that has never been captured or destroyed. Originally…
Hawaii – Tips On Planning A Trip
Hawaii is a destination on many peoples bucket list and rightly so. It is America’s Paradise, exotic but also genuinely American, distant but not too distant and an amazing blend of tropical waters, incredible beaches and unbelievable geology. There are eight major islands in the Hawaiian archipelago and each one has its own unique character. Because it’s a group of islands it is important to decide how to plan your visit and what you want to see. Our first good choice is cruising as you are able to see several of the islands in one trip. Alternatively, you can select an island to visit and just stay, with Oahu being our first choice. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches so be sure to do research before making your decision.
If you go with a cruise, only one company at present does weekly sailings around Hawaii and that is Norwegian. They primarily offer 7-night trips in and out of Oahu with stops usually on three additional islands. Alternatively, if you have around 14 nights available, you can sail round trip from several different California ports or one way from Vancouver Canada. Another favorite of ours is a trans-Pacific cruise. These usually either start or end in Sydney, Australia or Oahu, Hawaii. The advantage to these one-way sailings is they allow you to spend extra days on the island where the cruise begins or terminates and only pay for a one way plane ticket. With any of these options, you are likely to visit four or five different ports giving you the ability to do some great exploring on your own or taking a taking a guided tour to see the island.
The advantage to cruising is that you know many of the costs up front and you know you will have good meals and a comfortable bed every night. You get sea days to relax and port days to see as little or as much as you want. You also have the option to try food and drinks ashore and see highlights in each port (like volcanoes), and shop at local stores and galleries. Some ships also bring on board Hawaiian performers and craft instructors to teach you things like making leis. Our last cruise had a naturalist on board giving lectures on whales and other things you MAY see. The disadvantage to cruising Hawaii is that your time in port is limited so you may not get to all the highlights on a particular island.
If you decide to fly, you need to select which island you want to visit. Roundtrip air can be pretty expensive and, if you want to visit more then one island, you will need additional inter-island flights, also not cheap. Flying is the main transportation between islands as there is only one ferry service and it only connects Lahaina (Maui) and Lanai. Hotels are also fairly expensive as many of the hotels are upscale beach resorts. Food is more costly then what you you used to on the mainland, especially the upscale restaurants. If you don’t mind fast food, there are lots of options available to help keep costs down and Hawaii has some unique offerings not usual back on the continent. Because of the Asian influence you will see lots of sushi, and noodle places and don’t pass up visiting the food trucks.
Once you get over how expensive Hawaii can be, having several days to explore a particular island is a plus. You can walk, ride public transportation or hail a taxi but if you want to do a lot of exploring, renting a car is the way to go. If you book in advance, rental cars are actually not expensive but you will need GPS either in the vehicle or on your phone (our Verizon iPhones worked great for navigation). The islands are easily drivable but the long and unusual road names make navigation a bit of a challenge.
Whichever way you decide to visit Hawaii, plan your trip in advance so that you can get the most out of it. There is so much to see and do, it will be difficult deciding on priorities.
To get you started here are a few ideas:
- Visit the volcanoes on the Big Island and Maui
- Take a walk on Waikiki Beach
- Learn to surf and/or paddle board
- Have a Dole Whip at the Dole Plantation on Maui
- Go snorkeling among the 250 marine species that call the area home
- Sample coffee on Kona*
- Have a Hawaiian shave ice
- Visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu
- Hike or bike one of the many lush nature trails
- Spend time on a beautiful beach
- Bring home Macadamias* or coffee
* Oahu also now has a new coffee grower and café located in the neighborhood of the Dole Plantation
**Hint: When you go shopping for Macadamia nuts visit the grocery and drug stores and save over the tourist stores. We visited the Mona Loa factory on The Big Island and their prices weren’t any better. Long Drug is the big Hawaiian drug chain and their prices are usually the best we’ve seen. They have also recently been acquired by CVS so if you have a CVS loyalty card be sure and use it and take your coupons and bucks with you.
A Fast Lane Through U.S. Immigration
A bit of an introduction on U.S. Customs & Immigration – On an average year we pass through Customs & Immigration almost a dozen times. Years ago, when returning to the United States, there weren’t a lot of choices getting through Customs & Immigration. You fill out your custom declaration form before arrival, pick a line (always the slowest moving) and wait for your turn with an agent. Rarely did things go quickly. As of today there are a number of options for speeding up the process of getting through Customs & Immigration.
Currently The Options Include:
- TSA Pre-Clearance – Costs $85 and gets you through airport security with a faster screening.
- Global Entry – Costs $100 and gives you a fast-pass through immigration and includes TSA-Pre.
- Nexus- Costs $50 and allows Americans and Canadians fast immigration checks at airports and boarder crossings.
- Sentri – Costs $122.50, is similar to Nexus and includes Mexicians.
- Mobile Passport an app for your cellphone that allows you to clear immigration and customs before you enter the customs facility and use a special fast lane where generally you show a bar code on your phone and walk through.
A couple of years ago we applied for Global Entry since we would be leaving and re-entering the United States at least six times and would also be flying with a number of airlines that did not normally provide us with TSA Pre-Clear. In January of 2020 we applied for Global Entry and while delayed because of the pandemic, we both now have it.
When we went for the Global Entry interviews with Homeland Security we spent some time talking with Customs and Border Patrol agents and they had a number of surprising suggestions and some good advice. First, they highly recommended the Mobile Passport app even if you have Global Entry. While it doesn’t provide for TSA-Pre it often gets you through immigration faster than even Global Entry and at $15 a year it’s well worth it for frequent international travelers. One confession they made was often the Global Entry system at their booths don’t work, but they still just wave Mobile Passport people through. A couple of years ago we started using Mobile Passport and added the app to our phones and it really did work. It does exactly what it claims and quickly gets you through immigration.
While we were excited several years ago with those new self-service kiosks that were being installed at a number of locations, after a few times using that system it was obvious this wasn’t the answer to most travelers prayers. It just didn’t go that fast. You had to scan your passport and everyone had to do it – not just the head of household. You had to get your picture taken by the kiosk than respond to CBP inspection questions and submit biographic information, whatever that was. After that you were given a printout strip and than you went and stood in line again anyway.
While traveling we have come to realize that some countries have figured out how to speed people thru the process. Our favorite is Australia – scan your passport at a kiosk, tick off a couple answers and show the receipt to the nice person as you exit. Probably the online visa Australia makes you get helps them with this process. Somehow going through our CPB process doesn’t make me feel any safer coming into America than I felt entering Australia
Next to Global Entry the Best Solution Is Mobile Passport and it’s recommended that frequent travelers should have both.
Starting three years ago we started using the U.S. CBP approved app Mobile Passport. First you have to download the Mobile Passport App on your iPhone or Android device, it’s free. Use the App to scan your passport and save information to the app’s system.
Using Mobile Passport
Here’s how it works arriving back in the U.S. using the Mobile Passport website.
- Once you arrive at your port of entry (airport or sea port), open the app and connect to cellular wireless or local wi-fi.
- fill out the information including a customs declaration using your phone and click to submit your data to CBP. Remember: when you submit, you are confirming under penalty of law that your information is correct.
- Within a few seconds, you will receive a CBP receipt with an encrypted barcode. Your receipt/barcode will now be valid for 4 hours.
- Follow the Mobile Passport Control signs to the designated Mobile Passport Control line.
- Show your passport to the CBP officer, they scan the barcode on the digital CBP receipt.
And that’s it! You’re in in a matter of seconds.
The system is currently active at twenty-seven U.S. airports and six cruise ports and counting. Often the system isn’t up and working but the agents will tell you and that doesn’t slow you down. If you have the app and are displaying the bar code, CPB has captured your information and they just wave you through (when it’s down – it’s even faster).
While there is still a free app, pay the $15 annual subscription fee for Mobile Passport+ in order for Mobile Passport to store your passport and additional information and that’s a small price to pay.
Looking out to sea
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Images Of An Evening Walk In Savannah
Photographic impressions from our travels…
One of our favorite cities, Savannah is a very walkable place. Historic, vibrant while very laid back.
Evenings in Savannah are magical with locals and visitors strolling the walking malls and parks and sitting at outdoor cafes.
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75 Places That Should Be On Your Travel Bucket-List
A collection of travel bucket lists for 2024. Cities, natural wonders, cruise itineraries and more collected from a number of sources…
The Intentional Travelers 