Around The World With National Geographic

JEK

Senior Insider
From December 27, 2015 to January 19, 2016, we knocked a few places off of our bucket list.

Highlights:

Flew for more than 76 hours and over 35,000 miles on a NatGeo 757 with 76 other travelers and a staff of 20, including a chef.

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Crossed the equator 4 times.

Visited 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites along the way:

City of Cusco, Peru

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Machu Picchu, Peru

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Easter Island (Rapi Nui National Park), Chile

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Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia

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Angkor, Cambodia

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Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa Tibet

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Taj Mahal, India

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Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

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Petra, Jordan

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Wadi Rum Protected Area, Jordan

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Medina of Marrakesh, Morocco

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If you ever have a chance to take any NatGeo trip, go for it! Everything was perfectly attended to from the luggage deliveries at every stop to landing cards that were filled out with our names and passport details. Tips were all included and we were each given $10 of local currency at each stop for small item shopping. At each stop the chef would wash the dishes from the plane and then prep his inflight meal for the next day with food that was locally sourced at each stop.

Upon arrival at each hotel we were checked in and only had to pick up our keys and wait for 30-60 minutes for the bags to arrive. Many special touches in meals, entertainment and small gifts at each hotel.

Tour groups were usually 10-12 with amplified headsets for the local guides and we traveled with two NatGeo anthropologists who gave lectures on the plane prior to each stop.

Lot's of walking and many, many steps to the lofty places at high altitude, but we came through in flying colors!
 
Well done! What an expedition. Petra was on my Bucket List....so thanks for that shot.

Actually, thanks for all the shots.
 
Followed you on your blog. Certainly an amazing trip! Love the photos, especially the one of you and Susie in Marrakech.
 
Wonderful photos, John . . . especially like the Easter Island, Taj Mahal, & Angkor Wat shots ( I still remember photos of the visit of Jackie Kennedy there in the mid-60s).
 
What a unique and phenomenal experience you had...the photos are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this with the Forum! ��������
 
What else can be said to John & Susie but WOW!!! I remember many years ago doing a full make-over of Gilbert Grosvenor's residence in Great Falls. Was truly amazing the world collection of art that man had in his home. Everything National Geographic does is 1st class.
 
Beautiful photos! Thanks for taking us along. Are you planning to take any more National Geographic trips?
 
We both thought the Taj Mahal was our favorite. For all the photos we had seen nothing prepared us for the experience of sunrise and the changing colors.


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Wow 76 hours on the plane in 23 days-
Lots of questions- how many people total and how many staff?
Did you have the possibility of flat seats (beds) on the plane?
How was the plane food?
Itinerary- can probably guess from your photos?
Tell us about the impact of your jet lag during the trip and how did you manage it?
Did anybody become ill and how were they managed, given the constant moving?
What did you do, if anything about trip insurance?
 
76 guests and 20 or so staff. Slept in a hotel every night and so the reclining seats were just fine. Our approach to jet lag is to avoid sleeping during the day and then stay up until 10:30 local time and sleep until the alarm. Worked for us and we were jet lag free. Each trip has an MD onboard who can treat the minor problems of sniffles and strains. Everyone was advised to purchase trip insurance.

The itinerary: http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/around-the-world-jet-tour/detail
 
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