December 30, 2008 from Lima, Peru

Good Morning-

It's 5:00 a.m. and we have already had breakfast. As our tour guide said Sunday night, "This is an expedition, not a vacation." Lynda actually got up reasonably well this morning. We'll see how long that lasts!

As if we had any doubts that this was going to be a first class trip, yesterday, in D.C. we were greeted as we entered our plane with glasses of champagne. Shortly after takeoff, we had more champagne and caviar. Fillet Mignon for lunch, tea and crudites at 3:30. Who needed dinner later?

Actually dinner last night was wonderful. We went to the Lorca Herrera Museum where we saw pottery and gold and silver, some of which were 2000 years old. The pottery was amazing. Looked like it had just been thrown. Some of you may have been interested in the erotica gallery of pottery. Much laughter and comments from the women about some of the erotic pottery. I think Lynda may have pictures. They will be seen by special invitation only!

Dinner was al fresco. It was a beautiful evening, tempatures in the upper 60's, soft breeze. We had a buffet of local dishes that was excellent. While we ate there was a small band playing native instruments and several dancers in costume doing native dances. Was quite wonderful.

This morning we have a 7:00 flight to Cusco and then we take a train on down to Macchu Picchu.

Hopefully we will have time later to post pictures. The schedule has been quite full so far. Besides, you probably didn't want to see a picture of us drinking champagne and eating caviar.

Enjoyed reading your comments.

Love to All.

Tim and Lynda

The Day Before

The bags are nearly packed - we're taking the small carry-ons that National Geographic sent us (smaller than a normal carry-on roller bag), the backpacks and fanny packs (yuk) that NG also sent, as well as one larger bag. We have a tote bag folded up inside the large bag so we can bring a few souvenirs home. Finding space for all the cash NG suggests we bring is tricky - we're not used to carrying all the expense money in denominations of $20 bills or less - but apparently there won't be good places to exchange travelers checks (and we'd get too much local currency that we couldn't get rid of) so American bills are the way to go.

We've packed so we can check in tomorrow at the Mayflower Hotel and then head to the Newseum - the newest museum in D.C. We have about 4 hours between landing at Reagan National and the 4:45 meeting time for all the travelers to go to the National Geographic Association headquarters. We'll have an orientation there before heading back to the Mayflower Hotel for a Bon Voyage dinner.

ITINERARY

December 28, 2008: Washington, D.C., Mayflower Hotel

December 29, 2008: Lima, Peru, Swissotel

December 30: Machu Picchu, Peru, Machu Picchu Inkaterra Hotel

December 31: Machu Picchu and Cusco, Hotel Monasterio

January 1-2, 2009: Easter Island, Chile, Hanga Roa Hotel

January 3, 2009: Apia, Samoa, Aggie Grey's Lagoon Beach Resort & Spa

January 4, 2009: Cross the International Date Line

January 5-6,2009: Port Douglas, Australia, Sea Temple Resort & Spa

January 7-8, 2009: Siem Reap, Cambodia, Grand Hotel d'Angkor

January 9, 2009: Chengdu, Chima, Kempinski Hotel

January 10, 2009: Xi'an, China, Sofitel on Renmin Square

January 11, 2009: Chengdu, China, Kempinski Hotel

January 12-13, 2009: Jaipur, India, Taj Rambagh Palace

January 14-15, 2009: Serengeti Plain, Tanzania, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge

January 16, 2009: Petra, Jordan, Movenpick Resort Petra

January 17, 2009: Luxor, Egypt, Sonesta St. George

January 18-19, 2009: Marrakech, Morocco, Sofitel Marrakech

January 20, 2009: Crandall's, Mason, Michigan, USA

Coming soon - the trip commences December 28! Watch for itinerary updates.