ADVENTURE 2007

OK, folks, summer's over and it's time to start making travel plans for 2007.  It's already too late for some places.  I was just asked to put together a Galapagos cruise for next spring.  A single traveler or a couple could squeeze in somewhere, but by now all the good ships are booked up for groups.  Sorry, I had to report, maybe 2008.

2007 will be pricier – thanks to $60+ oil and worldwide inflation.  I specialize in providing experiences so memorable that people remember them all their lives and tell their grandchildren about them.  I do it as first-class and all-costs-inclusive as I can.  Folks who've been on adventures with me before know this – but even they may get sticker shock next year.

Then again, you only have one life, and what's it worth to make it special?  What's it worth to do something you've dreamed all your life of doing, to make that dream come true?

Ever dream of going on a classic private-tented safari in Africa, to witness the world's greatest wildlife spectacle – the Great Migration of over a million animals across the Serengeti Plains – by day, and enjoy fine wines and gourmet food by a campfire at night with lions coughing in the distance?

Ever dream of standing on the sea-ice of the frozen Arctic Ocean right at the North Pole, the very axis of the earth, while the entire planet revolves underneath you and the sun circles around you in constant daylight – and celebrating the moment with Dom Perignon champagne and beluga caviar?

Ever dream of going to a place so remote and mysterious that few people have ever heard of it, a place that has been closed to outsiders for years and still needs a special permit to visit, a place tucked into a hidden corner of Asia with Tibetan monasteries, incredibly colorful primitive tribes who have never seen a Westerner, and white-water rafting through jungles full of tigers and cloudy leopards?

Ever dream of standing on a glacier at the most scenic spot on planet earth surrounded by mountains over 26,000 feet high including K2 (28,250'), helicoptering to a tiny kingdom inhabited by the world's longest-lived people, driving by jeep track to villages peopled by descendants of the troops of Alexander the Great, then reaching the fabled Khyber Pass securely protected by Afridi tribesmen who have pledged their lives to you?

Each one of these dreams can come true for you next year, 2007.

As you read in Concordia, I led the first helicopter expedition to K2 Base Camp this summer, and can hardly wait to do it again.  The best time, it turns out, is mid-September when the weather is clearest.  Our helicopter will then traverse the impossibly spectacular Karakorum mountain chain following the Biafo and Hispar glaciers to the kingdom of Hunza.

By jeep we'll reach the ancient caravanserai of Chitral, high in the Hindu Kush mountains, and make our way to the Kalash Valleys.  The Kalash people here still cling to their pagan gods, and their ancient way of life which they trace back to Alexander.  To visit these secret people is an extraordinarily powerful experience.

From the frontier town of Peshawar, our Afridi friends will take us through the Khyber Pass to the border and gaze down upon Afghanistan.  All of this in one single week, September 15-22:  The Greatest One-Week Adventure in the World.

You read about the Serengeti in The Moonlight Symphony (which also discussed why Moslem terrorists should be afraid of us as the lions of the Serengeti are of Masai tribesmen – appeasement doesn't work with predators).  This is the classic, white-glove, crystal-and-wedgewood-china, private-tent-with-a-kingsize-bed-and-personal-shower/toilet, ultimate safari out of the movies.

A private charter plane takes us to Ndutu on the "short grass plains" as the enormous herds are beginning their migration across the Serengeti.  It is the best time and place for cheetah on the hunt.

After a respite at the famously luxurious Crater Lodge and prowling among the elephant herds and lion prides on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, it's another charter flight to our private camp in the western Serengeti to see the vast herds of wildebeest and zebra pour out of the Grumeti Corridor, cross the Grumeti River in a panicked melee as thousands are devoured by crocodiles, and continue the Great Migration north.

We'll end with a hot air balloon ride over the migrating herds.  Two weeks: June 10-24.

I've been leading expeditions to the North Pole since 1978.  This coming April will be my 22^nd time to the top of the world.  Everyone I've ever taken said it was the most indescribably thrilling experience of their lives – indescribable because there's no way to understand it without being there.

After a commercial flight to Resolute Bay in Canada's High Arctic (way north of Alaska), an expedition aircraft with skis takes us to the Eureka weather station on Ellesmere Island just 600 nautical miles from the Pole.  Then we head out over the Arctic Ocean.

We use two aircraft, one for us, one as a fuel tanker and emergency backup.  We land on the ice at around 86º, refuel off the tanker, continue on while the tanker waits.  Landing an aircraft on a frozen ocean has to be done very carefully.  There's only one time of year it can be done – in April when the sun is high enough for clear shadows on the ice, but low enough so the ice is still solid.  We land as close to 90º as possible and step out upon the world's summit.  No one ever forgets that moment as long as they live.

We celebrate with champagne and caviar, return to Eureka, fly to Greenland to dogsled among icebergs (we'll climb one of them), then to an Inuit (Eskimo) hunting village back on Ellesmere (you can sleep in an igloo if you want).  When we head back home from Resolute, the entire expedition will have taken only nine days: March 31-April 8.

That hidden corner of Asia I mentioned is called Arunachal Pradesh – in far eastern India between Bhutan and Burma along the border with Tibet/China.  I've got a permit for an expedition into this formerly closed area, and am working out the schedule now in late February-early March. 

That's what's in the works for 2007 so far.  I'll have firm itineraries and prices up on the Wheeler Expeditions website shortly, but I wanted to give you a heads-up if you're interested, as we're already burning 2007 daylight.

Which means it would be great if you could join me on one of these adventures, but if you don't or can't, I want to encourage you to get out there in the world in some way next year and start planning now.  And don't forget the world includes America. 

As I learned in taking Jackson to all 50 states for his Nifty Fifty project, there is an absolutely amazing amount of wonders to see and experience in America.  Just don't go in any place's peak season!

Speaking of America – how about a To The Point "Rendevous" as the mountain men of the Old West called their annual get-togethers – one in the West, say, Las Vegas?

We wouldn't spend a lot of the time at the tables and slots, however.  You won't believe how much is out there in the desert near Vegas.  We'd explore the Valley of Fire, climb to waterfalls in the Spring Mountains, and rappel into slot canyons in Zion National Park.  We'd return to Vegas' neon jungle at night to shoot the scatology over a drink or two and catch a couple of shows.

I thought about Washington but it's a long ways for lots of folks.  Vegas is cheap to get to and stay in – plus it's a lot more fun than DC.  I'm thinking a few days in late January-early February.  What do you think?

In the meantime, here's a motto to take to heart:  Live to travel – travel to live.  It may be especially apt for 2007 if voters put the Hate America Left in power on Capitol Hill this November.  Then next year will be a great time to be far, far away.