Asia & PacificTravel Tips

The 4 Biggest Myths about Escorted Tours

on March 1, 2016

Considering an escorted tour, but still have a few concerns? Jill Ginsberg at Travelzoo just returned from Gate 1’s 13 Day Classic Thailand trip, and she’s breaking down the biggest misconceptions about escorted tours, calling tours her “new-found favorite way to travel the world.”

1. Escorted Tours are Expensive

Tour companies are often able to negotiate special rates and contracts with suppliers, and their industry experience means that escorted tours are crafted to maximize efficiency and cost-effectiveness. “The price of an escorted tour may look higher than other trips, but in reality it is a perfectly pre-packaged vacation designed to take the planning piece out so all you have to do is show up,” Travelzoo says.

2. You’ll have no time to explore on your own

Leisure time is built into each city stay on most tours. “Sure, escorted tours have long itineraries filled with action-packed days, but the reality is that you can do as much or as little as you’d like,” Jill points out. She recommends taking advantage of your tour guide’s expert local knowledge to make the most of your free time.

3. You’re stuck on a cramped bus all day

Gate 1’s tours use a variety of transportation in-destination, including luxury motor coaches, trains, ferries and flights; Ginsberg can attest that on her trip to Thailand, “Time spent on the bus is very minimal in comparison with the rest of the trip.”

4. Tours are only for retirees

Gate 1’s travelers range in age, from children on our family-friendly tours, to adults from 18 to 80, and everywhere in between. Like many of our travelers, Jill cited her tour group as a highlight of the trip: “Chances are you will have a melting pot of people all different ages and from all walks of life. One of my favorite parts of my escorted tour was having the chance to get to know so many different people who shared the same curiosity about the world that I did.”

Check out the tour Jill chose, or head over to Gate 1’s new Find a Vacation feature to discover your next adventure!

 

News

Our New Ship’s First Sailing!

on February 25, 2016

The MS Monarch Empress took her first sail test Wednesday around a Dutch shipyard, where builders have been hard at work crafting Gate 1 Travel’s first cruise vessel.

This spring, the Monarch Empress will join our privately chartered MS Sound of Music sailing along Holland’s waterways. After the height of tulip season, the MS Monarch Empress will continue on to introduce travelers to the romantic waters of the Danube, sailing between Nuremberg and Budapest.

European river cruises have long been some of Gate 1 Travel’s most popular itineraries, and it’s easy to see why – just board a ship, unpack your bags once, and relax as Europe’s great cultural capitals, rolling vineyards and storybook villages unfold around you.

The deluxe, 5-star MS Monarch Empress is built by Gate 1 specifically to suit U.S. travelers. Our ship promises all the comforts and pleasures of a deluxe floating hotel, designed with the view in mind.

Since Gate 1 Travel owns the ship, we can maintain full control over the quality of your experience. You’ll savor the consistently high quality that you’d expect from Gate 1 Travel, without sacrificing the renowned value you’ve long enjoyed with us.

Follow the Gate 1 Travel blog for more updates as we draw closer to the Monarch Empress‘s maiden voyage!

AfricaSmall Group Discoveries

Extreme Wilds of Namibia

on February 25, 2016

The oldest desert in the world. The tallest sand dunes on Earth. Some of the roughest seas and most extreme environments, all harboring an astonishing variety of wildlife. Namibia holds endless fascinations and intense natural beauty the likes of which you won’t see anywhere else. And in a Discovery Tours small group, we’ll reveal it all to you at an easy pace that lets you drink it in with pleasure.

Namib-Naukluft National Park

Wind-sculpted sand below. Sea of stars above.

Asossusvleibout the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, the Namib-Naukluft National Park along the Atlantic Coast is the largest game park in Africa. All in all, it is comprised of a huge swathe of the Namib Desert—considered the world’s oldest—and the Naukluft mountain range. For such a harsh environment, this unspoiled corner of the continent is home to many creatures great and small, including hyenas, jackals, gemsboks, snakes, geckos and countless insects.

The park’s most spellbinding region is Sossusvlei, a vast stretch of undulating red-hued dunes shaped over millennia by ocean winds. Remarkably, some dunes soar to 1,000 feet, the highest in the world. Their fiery deep-orange colors are explained by their age. In this 55-million-year-old ecosystem, iron in the sand has oxidized, much like rusted metal. The brightest colors in this magnificent topography signify the oldest dunes. One mountain of sand, in particular, gets much attention for its rich and sloping beauty: Dune 45. Named for its location on the road to Sossusvlei (at the 45th kilometer mark), it has been formed through the ages by sands from the Kalahari Desert that were carried down the Orange River and blown here from evaporated beds.

These landscapes are at their most mesmerizing at sunset, which you will witness during an adventurous drive by 4×4 vehicle. Yet, thanks to a unique phenomenon not fully understood, the dunes can also be downright hypnotizing: Throughout your visit, keep your ears trained for the region’s famous singing dunes. Silica content, grain diameter and humidity merge to create the ideal environment in which sand will sing, emitting a roaring, booming or squeaking sound caused by wind shear, by a sand-slide, or merely by the disruption of footprints.

Over millennia, the towering dunes, of course, have had a dramatic effect on surrounding environments, particularly in the expanse known today as Deadvlei. In the shadow of the dune known as Big Daddy, a water-rich marsh formed here after heavy rainfall, sprouting a small forest of camel thorn trees, a species similar to acacia. As the climate shifted, the desert’s merciless drought took hold, sand dunes encircled the marsh, and the land became parched. The trees still stand, believed to have died six or seven centuries ago. Black and scorched from the scalding sun, they are a haunting reminder of the marsh’s former abundance.

Nearby, the Sesriem Canyon is a stark counterpoint to the sands of Sossusvlei. Rather than soft and sensual slopes, the canyon is made of rough-cut sedimentary rock walls carved by the Tsauchab River. But it is no less beautiful than the dunes, a striated canvas of oranges, reds and violets stretching a half mile long and yawning to 100 feet deep. The canyon’s name translates into “six belts,” coined by passing settlers who, in order to reach the water that once flowed through, tied six belts together so their bucket would reach the bottom of the ravine.

Walvis Bay

Calm Ocean Haven for Marine Life

walvisbayNamibia’s Skeleton Coast gets its name from the treacherous waters that have sunken vessels off the coast and littered the beaches with the hulls of ships and the carcasses of whales. Portuguese explorers called these shores “The Gates of Hell” and even the San Bushmen believed they were “The Land God Make in Anger.” The rough seas are partly to blame. But a cold ocean current heading up the coast from South Africa is also a culprit as it creates dense ocean fog much of the year. It’s been said that sailors can certainly land on shore here, but they’ll never get back out to sea over the violent surf.

So Namibians are lucky to have Walvis Bay. Called Ezonrongondo by the indigenous Herero people of Namibia, Walvis Bay is one of Africa’s few large natural harbors. Sheltered from the rough waters of the Atlantic, it is not only a calm place from which to launch a ship. It is also a prime habitat for magnificent wildlife. Heaviside’s dolphins frolic in these waters. Leatherback turtles drift with the current. Cape fur seals lounge on beaches and swim out to greet visitors. Humpback whales breach the water’s surface. The coastal lagoon, too, is a menagerie of feathered creatures, including pink flamingoes and great white pelicans.

Damaraland

Immense Beauty and Ancient Art

damaralandIn Namibia’s northwestern corner, the Kunene region—once known as Damaraland under German rule—covers a vast terrain of mountains, dramatic rock formations rising from plains, and low scrubland. This is a rugged place, and hospitable only to those who have adapted to its landscapes and climate over centuries. Yet its beauty is unrivalled. Monolithic walls of rock stand like colossal sentinels and dry valleys host unique succulent flora that’s fed by the mists floating in from the Atlantic.

The centerpiece of Damaraland, however, is a man-made spectacle created 2,000 to 2,500 years ago—the Twyfelfontein petroglyphs. This UNESCO World Heritage Site boasts more than 5,000 individual rock carvings and other depictions of animals and humans etched into sandstone slabs, one of the largest concentrations of its kind in Africa.

Etosha National Park

Big Game Amidst Plains Made of Salt

etosha-natl-parkThe nation’s largest concentration of wildlife thrives in Etosha National Park, the third largest game reserve in the world. Throughout this massive semi-arid savannah grassland, waterholes allow this predominantly desert environment to support a remarkably diverse array of wildlife, including some 144 mammal species and more than 300 bird species. Elephants, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, leopards, cheetahs, and more make this fertile grassland their home.

The center of Etosha is the vast, glittering Etosha Pan, from which the place gets it name (“Great White Place”). The dry salt lakebed stretches 75 miles and supports only the most unique wildlife adaptable to hyper-saline conditions. But when it rains, thousands of flamingoes descend on its waters.

Join us to witness some of the most captivating natural beauty in Africa for yourself!

AfricaSmall Group Discoveries

The AfriCat Foundation – Saving One Large Carnivore at a Time

on February 24, 2016

Historically, the relationship between humans and Africa’s large carnivores has been strained. Livestock farmers often lose their valuable cattle to lions and leopards. Village life is disrupted by cats and other creatures on the prowl. And land developers clear grassland, one of the cat’s hunting grounds, leaving them to hunt elsewhere. Indeed, there are many issues to address in communities throughout Namibia in improving the relationship between humans and large carnivores.

The AfriCat Foundation was founded in 1991 to address some of these issues.

The organization’s story started on Okonjima Farm when it was raising cattle of its own. Early in the farm’s existence, around 1970, the Hanssen family felt helpless as they lost 20-30 newly born calves each year to leopards. Even as the Hanssens hunted and killed the cats, their losses continued. Clearly, they needed another strategy and so they created birthing pens and calf pens centered around waterholes. Their strategy worked: they decreased their losses to just 3 or 4 per year.

Soon, other farmers turned to the Hanssens for guidance. How, they wanted to know, can they set up their own pens to protect their livestock? And then there was the unexpected quandary of how to get rid of the large cats that they had caught in traps and were holding captive on their farms.

With this second question, it became clear to the Hanssens that if livestock could be protected, then locals would have no need to hunt and kill cats that, like them, were just trying to survive in a harsh environment. With that realization, the Hanssens took in the captive cats and nursed them back to health. As word spread, more locals brought cats for treatment. In some cases, orphaned cubs were delivered to the Hanssens’s door, creating new challenges of teaching them to fend for themselves before re-releasing them on their own.

By 1991, the Hanssens formalized their mission to conserve and protect large carnivores and created the AfriCat Foundation, a dynamic organization on the border of Etosha National Park. Today, the AfriCat Foundation helps resolve human-wildlife conflict by teaching local livestock management and protection, supports environmental education among local youth, reclaims lost grasslands wherever possible, and provides support to communities, including helping villagers build a kraal (a pen for cattle). You will learn about the Hanssens’ efforts firsthand during a visit to their worthwhile organization.

See the AfriCat Foundation at work during our Namibia, Naturally itinerary.

AfricaSmall Group Discoveries

Namibia – A Brief and Fascinating History of a Magnificent Country

on February 23, 2016

Namibia is one of Africa’s most celebrated nations for its political, economic and social stability. And thanks to the arid Namib Desert stretching along its Atlantic coast, it is also one of the least densely populated countries in the world. What this means for Discovery Tours travelers is clear: In your small group, you’ll experience diverse and vibrant cultures that embrace their past and look eagerly toward the future, and you’ll witness some of the most dramatic and serene desert landscapes on earth. Yet Namibia’s peace, tranquility and prosperity did not come easily.

Ancient Tribes Speak a Curious Tongue

The story of how Namibia evolved into one of the continent’s most captivating nations begins millennia ago. San Bushmen and the Damara and Namaqua people were the region’s original inhabitants. Anthropologists and linguists are enthralled by many tribes in southern Africa, but these are particularly fascinating as they all speak some variation of the Khoekhoe language. The curious clicking sounds typical of their language comprise what is believed to be the oldest language in human history. And even though all three tribes spoke a similar language, they seem to have come from different lineages. Descendents of all three tribes remain today, many of them eking out a living in the same way their ancestors did.

Strangers Arrive by Land and by Sea

In the 14th century, the Bantu arrived as part of the historic Bantu expansion into southern Africa. The following century, other strangers arrived not by land, but by sea, when in the 1480s Portuguese navigators arrived along what today is known as the Skeleton Coast, named for the many ships and sailors who met their demise in these thrashing seas. Even for those explorers who did make landfall, the coastal desert was far from inviting, so they only used Namibia as a pit stop during their long search for a trade route to India.

When the Orlam tribes moved in during the late 18th century, tensions rose between them and the Herero people of Windhoek. By 1880, they were fighting the Nama-Herero War, a conflict that was only quelled when an opportunistic Imperial Germany stepped in and normalized tribal relations. Later, more German colonists and traders who had settled in South Africa (historically known as the Boers) passed through Namibia on their way to Angola, seeking to escape British rule and put down roots. Many stayed and, wittingly or not, set the stage for German rule.

The Roots of Apartheid

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Germany kept his eyes on the British and, in a successful effort to thwart expansion of the Crown into his growing colony, moved troops into Namibia and created his own German South-West Africa. Only 20 years passed until the Herero and Namaqua people rose up against the ruling foreigners, but the results of their attempted overthrow were horrific. In fact, some scholars believe that the ensuing systematic genocide—in which 80% of the Herero and half the Namaqua were murdered—served as a model for Nazi Germany’s Holocaust yet to come. We can’t know for sure, but history does tell us with certainty that the segregation and forced labor of the Herero and Namaqua survivors laid the foundations for the policy of apartheid that would soon grip the region.

With the end of World War I in 1915, South Africa occupied Namibia and ruled it from its own court made up entirely of a white minority. Throughout the 1950s, the Herero’s Chief Council petitioned the United Nations for independence. And as European countries in the 1960s began pulling out of colonized Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to give sovereignty to Namibia. Still, even after an International Court called South Africa’s presence “illegal,” it would not budge.

Revolution and Independence

The white South African farmers who settled in the region came to represent just 0.2% of the population, yet 74% of the arable land was theirs. Brutality and repression of Namibians were daily occurrences. Pushed to the brink, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia took up arms in 1966. An ensuing guerilla war lasted 22 years.

It wasn’t until 1990 that Namibia was free, after much local and international pressure on South Africa. Today, the peaceful nation is a multi-party democracy and promotes human rights protections, compensation for loss of private property, an independent justice system, and national reconciliation around the events of its turbulent past.

AfricaSmall Group Discoveries

Glimpse the Timeless Culture of the Himba

on February 22, 2016

At its best, travel broadens our minds and invites us to see the world and its people through a new lens. Visiting Africa, in particular, challenges our preconceptions of culture and of how to be in the world. In Namibia, our small group drops by a modest Himba village to meet tribespeople who uphold traditions that stretch back untold centuries.

It is an incredible privilege for Discovery Tours travelers to meet the Himba, the last semi-nomadic people of Namibia. About 50,000 people comprise the total population, which straddles northern Namibia and southern Angola. Because their culture has evolved in seclusion amidst a harsh desert climate, they have maintained their unique tribal traditions without outside influence from the modern world.

A Typical Himba Village

An extended family lives in a homestead called an onganda, a circular village of huts and other shelters surrounding a sacred ancestral fire (an okuruwo) and a sacred livestock pen (a kraal). The fire and livestock are more than a source of warmth, cooking, and food. The Himba people revere their dead and believe the fire embodies ancestral protection. The fire is kept burning by the fire-keeper of the tribe, who has the additional responsibility of standing before the flames every week or so to communicate directly with their god, Mukuru. The Himba believe that their livestock, as well, connects them to those who have passed before.

Currency and Food

Himba wealth is not measured in money. Instead, their most valuable asset is their cattle. This is not to say that they don’t use money as a means of exchange; it’s common for the Himba to mingle in marketplaces and enjoy the conveniences of 21st century consumerism. But all in all, cash makes up a tiny portion of a tribe’s typical livelihood.

Rather, theirs is a self-sustaining economy. For generations, they have bred chickens for eggs, sheep and goats for milk and meat, and bees for honey. The men look after the cattle, sometimes herding them away from their villages for many days in order to follow the best grazing land. Killing animals for food and construction of dwellings also fall to the men. Meanwhile, the women keep the home fires burning, often quite literally. In addition to keeping the firewood stocked, women and girls fetch water, plaster homes with a mud-manure mix, cook, and make handicrafts for tribal wear and for selling. Maize, millet and cornmeal make up most of their diet, and it’s typical for them to stop by a favorite berry bush or tree for a snack on the run.

Clothing and Cosmetics

Meeting the Himba for the first time, it is easy to marvel at their clothing and hairstyles. Their traditional dress is heavily influenced by the desert environment in which they live. Sandals, a calfskin skirt and many beads and other jewelry are common among both women and men. But what sets them apart is the otjize paste with which many women and some men cover their skin and hair. This cosmetic mix of butterfat and ochre pigment, sometimes scented with the resin of a local fragrant shrub, cleanses the skin and acts as a sunscreen and mosquito repellent. The resulting red-orange tinge of the skin is considered the height of beauty, representing life-giving blood and the rich, red earth.

Your small group is invited into a Himba village during our Namibia, Naturally itinerary.

Gate 1 ConnectionsMediterranean

33 Strangers in a Holy Land

on February 19, 2016

by Deborah Drezon Carroll

This article was originally published on deborahdrezoncarroll.com

I’ve been lucky enough to travel and learn about people who walk a different path than I do. Usually we travel independently and have not gone with a guided tour. We don’t like being part of a group and constrained  as we explore. But the Groupon came via email with an offer we could not refuse for a bus tour of Israel, a place I’ve never been, at a price that was not to be believed or ignored. Tourism in Israel has dwindled with news reports (possibly exaggerated) of violence and terror so the Ministry of Tourism reached out to American travel companies to offer enticing opportunities. They had us at “hello, look at this price.”

We had low expectations, figuring the tour guide and our fellow travelers were unlikely to be compelling. Wrong! Thirty three strangers came together in that bus and within two days, we were a family of sorts. It was a diverse group in many ways, ethnically, religiously, racially, politically, generationally, background, etc. Our tour guide was a phenomenal teacher with a great deal of information to impart. He made history come alive as we stood in the center of so many ancient civilizations. Our differences fell away as we were surrounded by history in the present day of conflict and listened to an impassioned speaker share his life and his knowledge about the past, the present, and the future. We agreed we felt safer than we thought we would and hoped others who have the chance would visit Israel to see and feel what we did.

We came together to consider the price of peace and the toll war and conflict takes on the body and the soul. We watched the lands fly by the bus window, transformed from arid desert into fertile farm land by people who would not give up and who took ingenuity to new heights in order to survive and thrive in that punishing climate and terrain. The brilliance and hard work of those people resulted in their finding ways to make water flow freely in the desert. Miraculous? Definitely, almost to the extent of holiness.

The land felt holy, not just because of the history that happened there, but because we could sense the power of the potential for peace in the world that could flow like that water from that holy land if only minds and hearts and souls were truly open to it. Thirty three strangers, now bonded forever, saw the possibility for peace but felt its elusiveness as ingenuity meets intransigence in that region. I was awed by the land, awed by the determination of the people, awed by the fact that there is peace between Israel and Jordan and Israel and Egypt so it’s not impossible for these countries to come to agreement. I was awed by the beauty in the crossroads of so many rich cultures. I left Israel saddened. Maybe the others felt it too. We entered a holy land as strangers, we left bonded in a hope for the future with a deep longing for better times. Our tour guide said he didn’t think there would ever be peace. With respect, thirty three strangers hope he’s wrong. If you have a chance, go. Join us in a hope for peace.

Asia & PacificGate 1 Connections

Intoxicating, Mesmerizing India!

on February 18, 2016

More than 1.2 billion people … 30,000 years of history … a breathtaking blend of Mughal and British culture … a Hindu population that embraces the tenets of the world’s oldest religion: kindness, honesty and compassion. India is many things and returning Gate 1 travelers agree that it is one thing above all – a unique and spellbinding travel experience that no one should miss.

India is one of the world’s most vibrant and sensory places on earth. This land of enormous wealth yey widespread poverty may not always be for the faint of heart, but travelers come home awe-inspired by breathtaking natural and manmade wonders from Rajasthan jungles to Rajput hill forts, and by elegant monuments to a proud past.

Magnificent Mughal Temples and Fortresses

Most trips to India begin in Delhi. Its old city is rich with historic treasures and artful monuments – 60,000 of them! One of the most moving is the modest Martyr’s Column where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. On a grander scale, the Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, boasts eight domes and two minarets. About 25,000 can pray here. Just across the way stands the splendid 17th-century Red Fort, an ornamental work of art ordered by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan oversaw an upsurge of Mughal architecture on northern India’s landscape. The most memorable was not built as a fortress, but as a temple of love. In nearby Agra, thousands of craftsmen took 22 years to build the Taj Mahal, a monument to the Shah’s third wife. Its gleaming bulbous domes and sentry-minarets are synonymous with India. The Shah oversaw construction of the Taj from Agra Fort – actually a 94-acre walled city of red sandstone. Its earthen tones and intricate patterns are spectacular. Within the grand fort lies a maze of courtyards, marble mosque and lavish private chambers of the emperor. You’ll also find yet another gesture of love here: a “jewel box” of a mausoleum built by an empress for her father.

Cities of Vivid Color & Culture

India’s hill forts are true architectural triumphs of the Rajput princely states that ruled between the 8th and 18th centuries. Like at Agra, entire cities thrived within their walls, including merchant and educational centers. Amber Fort, another masterwork and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, overlooks the “pink city” of Jaipur from high on a hill above Maotha Lake. Its four courtyards hosted military parades and troop inspections that spectators could view from the windows of perimeter apartments. Amber provides a glimpse into the Rajput past unlike any other. Like the princes before us, Gate 1 travelers can ascend to its entrance with spectacular views of the rose-hued city below.

Jodhpur is a city of a different color; homes here have long been painted blue in the Brahmin tradition. Its ancient streets make for a soothing stroll through azure hues as the imposing (and red) Mehrangarh Fort, known as the “Citadel of the Sun,” watches over. Meanwhile, colorful personalities light up Udaipur. Bollywood celebrities and diplomats travel to this palace-dotted city for lavish functions and events. Its City Palace reflects Udaipur’s extravagance. This massive red sandstone gem sprawls on the banks of lovely Lake Pichola.

Mumbai, Bombay of old, is spread out over seven islands and is one of the world’s busiest and more vibrant ports. Roman Catholic churches and a Portuguese colonial quarter might make you think you’ve strayed from India. But the indigenous culture is very much present at the mighty Gateway Arch on Mumbai Harbor and at the Mumbai headquarters of Gandhi. The most authentic and fascinating glimpse of local culture unfolds at Dhobi Ghat, an open-air laundry where clothes are painstakingly laundered by dhobis (washermen).

Witness the Ancient and the Sacred

Among all of India’s cities, Varanasi is the oldest. This “city of temples” is India’s Holy Land of Hinduism. Pilgrims journey here from near and far to pray at the city’s ancient temple sanctuaries and to descend the ghats, or riverside stairways, to perform ablutions in the mighty Ganges River. We board a boat before dawn so we can witness the devout as they partake in their rituals. It is a sublime experience, one you’ll carry with you long after this very memorable sunrise. In the evening, you can return to the Ganges for a sacred prayer ceremony, illuminated by oil lamps and candles.

The nearby temples of the Chandela Empire are illuminating in their own right. Though the empire’s capitals were centered in Kalinjar and later Mahoba, the city of Khajuraho saw a surge in temple construction over a 200-year period. About 80 were built, assembled without mortar; 25 remain over an eight-square-mile area. Some temples are adorned with carvings that depict sexually explicit acts, which most scholars agree represent some of the world’s finest erotic art. No matter your view, the carvings provide insight into the sexual lives of medieval India.

Step into Kipling’s Jungle Book

When we think of India today, we often forget the classic images first conjured by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book. Thankfully, the inspiration for his fairytale vision still exists in Ranthambore National Park. This land of breathtaking beauty and vast deciduous forests provide a magnificent glimpse of the epic jungles that once covered much of central India. Today, leopards, wild boars, 270 species of bird, and other fauna reside among the brush, but Bengal tigers are the stars of the sanctuary, and the reason the park was established. We go in search of these elusive cats during a thrilling safari.

Nepal: Majestic Beauty, Right Next Door

For many Gate 1 travelers, India is the gateway to its northern Himalayan neighbor, Nepal. Its soaring peaks and dramatic terrain have molded a simple, largely agrarian culture, making it one of the most peaceful places on earth, and one of the most breathtaking. We’re pleased to tell you that you can combine your journey to India with a visit to Nepal’s soaring heights

There is more to Nepal than the mile-high Himalayas. You’ll find astounding cultural, religious and geographic diversity here. The Nepalese comprise almost 90 ethnic groups, speak as many languages, and honor as many traditions. And its tallest peaks and mountain ranges spill into smaller hills, valleys, and plains where abundance of birdlife and other wildlife thrive, including the Royal Bengal Tiger and the One-Horned Rhinoceros.

So spiritual are the Nepalese people, some say their country is home to more gods than people. You just might believe it after a stroll through Kathmandu—or “K-Town” as it is known to locals and trekkers. The palaces, adorned with prayer flags and stupas, and the warrens, lined with ancient buildings, create a medieval and meditative atmosphere.

Nepal’s magnificent splendor is everywhere. One of the small nation’s most stunning natural wonders lies in the province of Chitwan. Its plains are often called the bread basket of Nepal, but the region is more known for Chitwan National Park, home to a rich variety of flora and fauna thrive in subtropical lowlands. Gate 1 travelers head into the park for a safari in the most thrilling way—by elephant! It’s a great way to connect with this spectacular world. And speaking of connecting, there’s also a chance to explore by ox cart and on foot … and we’re sure to visit some locals in their home.

Announcing a Whole New and Luxurious Way to Travel:

Gate 1’s Signature Collection

Now you can experience India and Nepal like a maharajah with Gate 1’s Signature Collection. You’ll enjoy private visits with locals and rewarding cultural exchanges throughout your trip, while enjoying the most personalized service and 5-star award-winning luxury hotels. You’ll have views of the Taj Mahal from your room in Agra and enjoy a sunrise visit to the famous temple. Tour an organic farm and visit the largest collection of crystal in the world in Udaipur. Have a private visit with a Mt. Everest Sherpa, and savor special meals fit for Mughal kings, including a royal dinner in Udaipur Palace on Lake Pichola.

Plus, Gate 1’s sister company Discovery Tours brings you even closer to the local people during our Incredible India & Nepal itinerary. These in-depth experiences open cultural doors accessible only to a small group. No matter how you’d like to experience this entrancing part of the world, we have an itinerary that suits you … and your budget.

Gate 1 Travel unveils the mysteries of India and Nepal on unique itineraries packed with features and value. We invite you to view our video about these two magical destinations. Then give us a call to reserve!

Asia & PacificNews

Enter for a chance to win a trip to Thailand!

on February 17, 2016

Enter for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to exotic Thailand for two! Marvel at ancient Buddha figures, palaces, temples, historical monuments & more! Click here to sign up.

Prize includes:

  • Round-trip airfare for 2 to Bangkok, Thailand
  • 7-nights in 3 different Thai cities
  • Tour Wat Po, River Kwai, and ancient palaces & temples
  • 10 meals throughout the journey
  • Taste of Thailand box from Hamptons Lane

Good luck!

NewsTravel TipsUSA & Canada

3 reasons to book your national parks vacation right now

on February 10, 2016
image via CNN

1. It’s the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service
And the NPS predicts that park accommodations will fill up fast in 2016.

2. Book last-minute spring travel, or plan ahead for fall
According to this Lonely Planet infographic, May visitors can still beat the crowds while enjoying pleasant weather at most U.S. National Parks! And the Washington Post reports that October is the best month of national parks travel. Book your fall vacation in advance to take advantage of early booking savings.

3.  There’s still time to plan a summer vacation if you choose an escorted tour
Most years, Yellowstone’s summer lodging is booked solid by the end of January! Deal News editor Paula Bradley recommends booking an escorted national parks tour to save on peak summer dates. “When you add up the cost of the flight, car rental, and accommodation, the price creeps up pretty quickly,” she says. “It’s hard to compare these packages to booking everything separately, because the value comes in part from un-quantifiable luxuries like having a driver and a tour guide.” And since escorted tours reserve hotel space in advance, they’re often bookable long after retail lodging sells out.

Bradley says the best package she found was Gate 1 Travel’s 8 Day Classic National Parks tour to Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore & Grand Teton.

Thanks for the shout out, Deal News! We couldn’t agree more. Book an escorted national parks tour today for your next family vacation in the beautiful American outdoors.

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