Julie's Galapagos Adventure 2006
Greetings,
The Galapagos Islands has to be one of the most amazing places I've ever been. Now, I haven't been a lot of places, but
for me, anyway, it was a huge change from my daily life, let's put it that way. rFamilyVacations did a wonderful job
setting things up with the Lindblad company, which is the same company National Geographic works with for their
Galapagos cruises.
Lindblad was totally on top of everything from the moment we exited customs. It was quite easy to become a sheep and
not feel bad about it. We felt so at ease with our Guayaquil guide right from the start. The next day, our guide was right
there getting us to the airport to catch the flight to Baltra in the Galapagos. My usual worries about travel were erased.
There were about 41 passengers heading to Galapagos together. 11 of them were children ages 5-12. We started getting
to know each other at breakfast that morning, then on the bus, and then later on the plane. Everyone was excited to be
going and excited to get to know one another. That was immediately pleasant. It made it much easier to just walk up to a
table at a meal and ask to sit down. This was my first introduction to the kindness and pleasantness that
rFamilyVacations exudes and everyone picks up on.
There isn’t much to add to the experience that the daily “blog” from the ship didn’t cover. The islands we visited are so
pristine. The wildlife right at our feet was surprising and a little unnerving to begin with. Our naturalists (guides) helped
us feel at ease with the animals right away. They told us what to keep an eye out for and everyone on our ship followed
those directions very well, including the kids. You just had to look carefully before stepping or you might end up on an
iguana or a sea lion or a lizard!
The naturalists said that we were the most fun group that they’d had onboard in several years. I don’t think they were
just telling us that, either. The kids were always interested in what the naturalists were telling us. They would bring
things to be identified. They asked questions. Others would answer the naturalists’ questions with the answers that had
been given earlier in the hike – they were listening and retaining. I was privileged enough to have been on several hikes
with each of the children at one time or another. I never once heard, “When are we done?”, “When will we be there.”, “I’
m bored.”. Well, except for the time my son had to go to the bathroom! These kids were personable and kind to one
another. They didn’t fight with each other, and rarely with their siblings. My son still misses the kids everyday and we’ve
been back nearly two weeks. The bond he generated with them was big, I think. The adults, it seems, have generated this
same bond, as well. But then, I think it’s the same as on the other rFamily cruises, too, so this isn’t news.
Oh, and there were questions on some of the posts about the Galapagos cruise entertainment. The entertainment was
provided by Lindblad – lectures and videos about the islands, wildlife, Darwin, our expedition leader’s early work in
studying tortoises, etc. I only missed one lecture and I was sad to have missed it. Each one was very interesting and
helped me understand what we were going to see on the upcoming hike, in much greater detail. Then, when on the hike,
it was easier to grasp what the naturalist was telling us and showing to us and see the lecture come to life. This was a very
instructional and educational cruise. I was actually able to identify many of the animals in my pictures, on my own. I
learned a lot.
rFamilyVacations did a fantastic job setting up this adventure trip. It’s a trip that is forever embedded in my soul. My
family will go on the next adventure trip, if it’s possible. One of the guests told Gregg to sign him up for the next
adventure trip rFamilyVacations plans and then call him up and tell him where he’s going ! I think we all felt like that. I’
m sure it’s like this for ALL of the cruises, but this was our first so I can’t compare. My whole family was completely
blown away by the rFamily experience, as I’m sure all of you have felt on all of the other cruises, so I’m not telling you
anything you don’t already know. If I ever have a chance to go to the Galapagos Islands again, I won’t pass it up, because
that place is exquisite. And if I can ever go again with rFamilyVacations, that would make it 10x better!
Julie
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