Few people know the rivers of Idaho better than Peter Grubb, owner of Idaho’s largest adventure travel company, ROW Adventures. They run more trips on more rivers than any other outfitter in the state. Grubb’s other obsession is the Galapagos Islands, where for the past two decades, he’s been running land-based multisport trips for all, including children ages 7 and older. We’ve sent a dozen or so clients on their trips and they’ve all loved it. Who wouldn’t relish the chance to sea kayak, hike and bike around the islands past century-old tortoises, and to snorkel at protected coves with friendly sea lions and few other people? ROW Adventures other trips are just as exhilarating. They include sea kayaking during the whale migration in Baja; sea kayaking, hiking, and biking Cuba; hiking the Inca Trail in Peru and the W Trek in Patagonia; and his latest offering, paddling and seeing the gorillas of Rwanda. How cool is that? If interested in any ROW Adventures itinerary, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll check availability and help with all logistics including flight and pre- and post-hotel stays and route design. 

VBT just announced that they will debut self-guided bike vacations to five destinations in 2020. The locales include British Columbia’s Vancouver Island; the UK’s Oxford and the Cotswolds; Puglia, Italy; Porto and Lisbon, Portugal; and Barcelona and Costa Brava, Spain. All tours include a welcome orientation meeting and bike fitting; a custom VBT bike (road bike, hybrid bike or E-bike), helmet and bike bag; 24/7 support system including a local host and travel assistance hotline; a VBT Road Book with insider destination information such as restaurant recommendations and points of interest ranging from off-the-beaten-path attractions to secret beaches and spots with the best views; boutique accommodations in town centers for easy exploring and resupplying; daily breakfast; luggage transfers between hotels; GPS voice navigation and printed daily route notes; flat kit and multi-tool; and round-trip international air, if desired. Pricing is more affordable than a guided trip. For example, the BC trip costs $1695 per person for the land portion. The guided trip costs $3,095 per person. If interested in a self-guided or guided bike trip with VBT, please let ActiveTravels know and we'll check availability. We can also help design pre- and post-trip itineraries and assist with flights. 

It might be the second day of October, but I was gone so much in September that I never had the chance to discuss the September newsletter of ActiveTravels. In this issue, we divulge 5 Tried and True Winter Escapes for our clients, including Morocco and the Ocean Club in the Turks and Caicos. Other topics include a Quick Escape to Reykjavik and the need for a REAL ID on all domestic flights starting October 1, 2020. Our October issue of the ActiveTravels newsletter will be coming out on October 10th and will include my recent trip to Peru. Stay tuned! 

Few sights I’ve seen are as majestic as Machu Picchu. After a 2-hour train ride from Ollantaytambo, you arrive at the town of Aguas Calientes and switch to a bus for a 20-minute drive on a series of switchbacks up to the base of Machu Picchu. When you arrive, you better have one of the coveted timed tickets to enter these late 15th-century Incan ruins that miraculously the Spaniards never found. Row after row of stone walls lead up the steep hillsides creating a far more vast archaeological wonder than one can imagine on that quintessential photograph from above Machu Picchu. We arrived a little after 2:30 pm, when the crowds were already thinning, to feel the smooth rocks of the temple, see the maze of aqueducts, and find the sun dial that was used to predict summer solstice. The tightly knit stone structures are impressive, but to be honest pale in comparison to the surrounding landscape, a panorama of jagged peaks that lead to the snow-capped Andes in the distance. This includes Huayna Picchu, the striking peak you see behind every photo of Machu Picchu. We had the opportunity hike this peak the next morning at 7 am, but I chose to hike part of the Inca Trail rising above Machu Picchu to the Sun Gate. Every step you took on the 3-hour round-trip trek was another mesmerizing view of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains. Fantastic! 

After touring the historical core of Lima, including the impressive Museo Larco and its vast collection of pre-Colombian art, we flew to Cuzco and headed onward to Sacred Valley. Our lodging for the next two nights was Sol y Luna, where spacious casitas, all with fireplaces and some with hot tubs, dot the grounds of this majestic landscape, surrounded by the serrated ridges of the Andes. I loved it here. Everywhere you walk are flowering shrubs and tall cacti in bloom, another photo to be taken, especially when large hummingbirds would fly into the golden flowers of my back deck. Vases of yellow roses were also found inside the casitas, along with wonderful local painting and sculpture. At night, our group of 18 met in a ranch-style setting for cocktail hour and then a sublime dinner, worthy of the property’s Relais and Chateau rating. We started with pisco mojitos, created with the sweet local mint grown in these parts. Then we dined on trout carpaccio and beef tenderloin, finishing with a dessert of tres leches. This is one Virtuoso lodging that I will recommend highly to our clients. 

I arrived on the red-eye from Dallas into Lima, excited to see some of the city before I met up with the A&K group the following day. After dropping my bags off at the Belmond Miraflores and taking in the ocean view, I went downstairs and spoke to an excellent concierge who designed a walking tour of neighboring Barranco, known for its art museums, artisanal stores, and top-tier restaurants. The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo was a bit of a disappointment because they were between exhibitions, but I got lucky at my next stop, the Relais and Chateaux property, Hotel B. They were debuting their new outdoor bar that day and to celebrate, they invited in local art and fashion designers to show their wares. There was a wonderful selection of jewelry, cloaks, purses, even a llama purse which I had to purchase for my ActiveTravels colleague, Rachel. That just whet my appetite for the amazing store across the street, Dédalo, a former mansion whose many rooms are now devoted to Peruvian crafts, alpaca clothing, home goods, jewelry, and an elephant recycled from rubber that was ideally suited for my elephant-loving wife, Lisa.