For some, the ideal vacation is a winter cruise in the Caribbean or a spring holiday at Martha’s Vineyard. But many professionals — from CEOs to secretaries — set their sights on sojourns to far-off places others only dream of.
Counting castles
He didn’t travel around the world in 80 days, but Lee DiCola did jet to several countries in 25 days.
In October, DiCola took a sabbatical from his post as chairman of Galt Alloys Inc. in Canton, a manufacturer of specialty alloys and titanium electrodes. He and his wife, Dorothy, explored exotic locales including Burma (officially, the Union of Myanmar in Southeast Asia), Cambodia, India, South Korea, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Morocco and Egypt.
DiCola was particularly captivated by The Golden Pagoda in Burma and Ankor Wat temple in Cambodia. But he was even more impressed with Cambodia’s people.
“They are such sweet, gentle people,” says DiCola. “One 14-year-old boy came up to my wife and asked if he could talk to her to practice his English. He said he hoped the people of the United States know how lucky they are to be able to get an education, because they don’t have that opportunity in Cambodia.”
While peering over a ledge on Table Mountain above Cape Town, South Africa, the couple was entranced by the sight of whales swimming below and delighted by the baboons frolicking at their feet. And while on safari in Zimbabwe, they watched in amazement as a lion fed nonchalantly on an elephant.
The DiColas also planned to visit Israel, but that didn’t happen.
“With everything going on, we were diverted to Gibraltar and ended up in Egypt. And we were supposed to come home on the Concord, but obviously, we couldn’t do that,” because it was grounded following last summer’s crash outside of Paris.
While in Cairo, they had the ultimate room with a view.
“We could walk right out on the deck from our hotel suite, and the Pyramids were right there,” he says.
India’s most famous architectural wonder was unquestionably the highlight of the trip.
“You see pictures of the Taj Mahal, but none of them do it justice because it’s just an incredible sight, and I was awed,” he says. “By now, I’ve visited 93 countries and I’ve seen so many things. So, it’s nice to know I can still get the same thrill I had the first time I walked down Disney World’s Main Street and saw the castle.”
Midnight at the Oasis
Joan Noble gladly goes the extra mile for her clients, especially since that entails traveling to exotic locations for business and pleasure.
As a sales and project development specialist for the Fairlawn branch of New York-based Voyagers International — a wholesale tour operator for nonprofit organizations — Noble designs and implements excursions for national museums, zoos, alumni associations and special-interest groups. For example, she’ll arrange an expedition to an archeological dig in Egypt for a professor and his entourage or a junket to Borneo for patrons of an art museum.
“Each of these organizations offers anywhere from 20 to 40 trips a year, and some of them are to places where people have always wanted to go,” she says. “Sometimes I must travel to that country beforehand to work out the details with an operator there. Other times, I’m invited to accompany the groups on the trips.”
Most recently, Nobel made her second trek this year to Morocco. Even though it’s only seven hours from New York City, she says, the region’s remarkable culture and extraordinary topography make it seem a far-off land.
“It isn’t the Islamic fundamentalist country you imagine — it’s actually very open and welcoming to women and to Americans. And the contrast in culture is surprising. You see some women completely veiled in the traditional caftans and other women dressed in blue jeans, riding motor bikes.”
In terms of terrain, every corner turned is like turning the pages of a travel brochure, she says.
“You go from beautiful Atlantic sea coasts to 16,000-foot-high Atlas mountains to the lush vineyards in the north to the sand dunes and date palms of the Sahara. We do camel rides in the desert at sunrise and then we go for breakfast at this wonderful little French hotel right in the middle of the dunes,” she gushes.
After her midnights at the Oasis, Noble says it’s tough to return to her Akron home office.
“But actually, this is telecommuting at its best,” she says.
Ice princess
She may hold the official title of information designer for DigitalDay, but when she’s not developing content for the Fairlawn-based Internet company, Kally Mavromatis is a virtual ice princess, creating personal pleasure trip itineraries to far-off, frosty continents.
Last winter, Mavromatis stayed at the ICEhotel in Sweden’s Arctic Circle — a lodge constructed of ice.
“I had a great trip, except for getting a bad cold on my way to Stockholm,” she laughs.
Mavromatis took an overnight train from Stockholm to Kiruna, but when she arrived in Jukkasjarvi, she couldn’t see the ICEhotel until she was a few feet from its doors. The edifice, situated on the banks of the frozen Narne River, blends in with its snow-packed surroundings.
Once inside, Mavromatis was awestruck. Columns supporting the roof are fashioned from ice hauled from the river. An ice chandelier illuminated by fiber optics points the way to guestrooms off the hallways.
“There are no windows other than panels of ice, so there are plenty of votive candles that keep the rooms and hallways lit 24 hours a day. After all, it’s not like the place can catch fire,” she jokes.
Imagine sleeping in these rooms, where the temperature is 28 degrees during the day and about 5 degrees at night. Luckily, she says, the hotel had an Absolut Vodka Ice Bar.
“Actually, Arctic Blue Absolut is a preventive measure to keep one’s blood from freezing. And only Absolut is served because beer would freeze,” she explains, adding that Absolut co-sponsors the annual reconstruction of the hotel.
The inn also houses an Ice Theatre with an ice movie screen. Upstairs, there’s an Aurora Borealis observation deck.
“But that was useless because all it did was snow the entire time I was there,” she says.
When she wasn’t thawing out in a sauna, Mavromatis was delighting — albeit shivering — in the call of the wild.
“Mercifully, the hotel keeps warm clothes on hand for the dogsled and snowmobile adventures,” she says. “Even so, with thermals, a T-shirt and turtleneck, sweater, snowmobile suit, five pairs of socks and a fur-lined hat, it was a cold ride!”
Khaki quest
Cathy Tierney takes an exotic excursion at least once or twice a year. And as chief librarian for The Akron Beacon Journal, she knows how to spell the places she visits. That’s impressive, considering she’s visited more than 70 countries.
An adventurer at heart, Tierney favors wildlife safaris in regions such as Tanzania, near Kenya in southeastern Africa, and Rajasthan in northwestern India.
There’s nothing like the adrenaline rush from tracking a leopard in pursuit of its dinner, she says, or the surprise of waking up in your grass hut to see an elephant swishing its trunk through your window frame.
Intrigued by indigenous customs, Tierney says she soaks up the culture of every country she visits — literally. During an ethereal glide down the Ganges River near Varanasi, India, for example, she watched from her tiny rowboat as Hindu pilgrims bathed in the sacred river, named for the Hindu goddess Ganga.
“You’re supposed to wash your body in the river to wash away your sins. So I splashed some water on my neck and hands. It was very spiritual,” she says.
Many Hindus are also cremated along the Ganges, and their ashes float in the river.
“The river seems relatively clean, considering,” she says.
Victoria Reynolds Harrow
