Vintage wines, lush valleys, magnificent mountains, cascading waterfalls, fascinating cities and absolutely wonderful food characterize one’s experience of the dual Spanish speaking South American countries of Chile and Argentina. Although the visits to top wineries are definite highlights of this excursion, the scenery offered provides a peaceful and stimulating rolling vista to enjoy.

The pubs and craic (good times) in Ireland are as good as advertised, but there was much more that made my recent (and second) visit to the emerald isle special.  I, and a wonderful group of Craig Travel clients, toured the north and south of this charming island for two sunny weeks.  That’s right…sunny, no rain till near the end when a light shower of “Irish mist” brought out umbrellas for a very short time.

While some journeys are harder to pack for than others e.g. travelling through various climates in one tour, there are a few things I have learned over the years which make packing a little easier, at least for me.  Here are my most helpful packing tips, geared towards women, but most can apply to men as well.  There are other great packing tips and I’d love to hear yours.  These are the ones that work best for me.

Leaving Canada in November is energizing. Even though we were departing on a night flight, group anticipation and excitement was high. We were off to one of the most exotic places of the New World. In so many ways Peru is special. Topography and climate hugely vary from tropical rain forest to alto plano desert, from 40C to 0; History spans millennia; architecture is world renown and, culture and cooking is a rich infusion of Spanish, Incan, plus other native nations and, Japanese.