Sudan trip report March 2020

Visa: we did our visa in Addis, the embassy visa session open from 8-17 from monday to friday (please note that saturday is not open, some info are wrong in this regard, we went on saturday and it was not open...)
documents: you have to print your passport copy, additionally the embassy will ask the full name of your invitation person (including family name), no invitation letter is required. 68 USD, no change will be given, we prepared exactly 68 USD ;) since 7am there are already people waiting, we went there on thursday morning around 8am, wait around 1.5 hrs for the process, and got the visa on friday afternoon at 2pm, entire process was easy and smooth. There is also a printing shop about 5mins walk from the visa session.

Flight: we use Ethiopian airlines and we purchase by milleage, which is quite cheap in this regard, a normal ticket would costs around 300-400 euros for return (quite expensive, same price you can fly to dubai/europe, khartoum is just a 1.15 hrs flight)

Registration on arrival: when we arrive in Khartoum (arrival terminal), custom was stress-free, we went out of the arrival hall and walked to the immigration office (the office is near the departure hall, you need somebody to help you to find it), pay 600 SDP each to get a blue sticker. (we change with other guy with black market rate to pay it, there are some guys <no office as it is illegal> changing dollars with black market rate).

Since the photo permit is no longer needed to travel outside khartoum, basically all the registration is done. We recommend to do 5 copies of your passport and visa in the city, if you travel by land, you will meet a lot of check point which they want to check your passport, copy will be easily enough to show them.

Khartoum day tour: First we take Tirhal (you can install it before you come, it's much cheaper than calling taxi on the street) to go to Souq arabi to change dollars (black market rate was 1 USD = 105 SDP, in port sudan was 1 USD= 112 SDP for 100 USD note). Then we went to Al-waha mall food court for lunch, doing zain simcard (15 SDP, we charge with 100 SDP for internet package), and we visited National museum (really recommend), enjoy sunset in Tuti island beach/boat cruise etc.

Ancient culture day tour
Next day we take a shendi bus to Nagaa, Shendi bus station is located in Bahri north, as you may ask Tirhal driver to bring you there. it was 140 SDP to Shendi (around 1.4 USD), we tell the driver to drop us off at Nagaa and Al Mussawarat Junction, there is already a passenger 4x4 car waiting there(surprising, we thought about hitchhike but it is nearly impossible as very few tourist car goes there.). We negotiate for 3600 SDP (35 USD) to take us to both Nagaa and Al Mussawarat, first we went to Al Mussawarat, there is a guy insisting us to pay 20 USD each for visiting, we had some arguement and decide not to visit (since they are just some rocks.... apologies if we have low knowledge on this site.), we turn right to visit Nagaa, there were nobody asking us for payment, so we visited Nagaa (beautiful ancient ruin) for free, we recommend to visit Nagaa but not Al Mussawarat.

After we come back to the main road, we hitchhike a car to Meroe Pyramid (after Shendi), be aware to take enough water as there is few shops along the road. In Meroe we get a dunkey car to go to the entrance.... (great fun!!!), in the entrance there is a women ask 20 USD each for the entrance, we negotiated for 4.5 USD each (really don't understand this as there is no clear regulation on every sites so the 20 USD ticket price was pretty random to us...). We had amazing sunset in the pyramid. Then we came back to main road with dunkey car again... then we hitchhike to Atbara for overnight. (we sleep in a hotel costs around 1000 SDP, near the souq).

The next day we waked up, visited the souq, and found out that there was a bus driver strike and no bus is going to Port Sudan... So we decided to hitchhike to Port Sudan (it was super tiring as there was lack of oil in the gas station and only trucks are available for hitchhiking to Port Sudan, we spend almost 10 hours for hitchhiking this way.). We do recommend for people who are looking a more relaxing travel, you can hitchhike from Meroe back to Khartoum and take the flight in the next day, Sudan airways offers Khartoum-Port Sudan flight with 5270 SDP (around 50USD). very relaxing one hour travel...

On the way from Atbara to Port Sudan, it is only desert with dune (beautiful, but tiring for 10 hours ride...), many check points and police as us to show passport all the time (give them a copy will be easy).

Port Sudan: we really like Port Sudan, we spend 5 days there! and still want to stay longer! We did Umbria wreck diving (with Charisma diving, you can pay by paypal, instead of paying USD in cash), we also recommended Sanganeb diving! We visited Sigala (near fish market) and its underwater house (amazing)! we hanged out with sudanese CSers in corniche at night, drinking teas and coffees. We ate the declious waffles in chocolate house, visited also Red Sea resort (please see the movie), it is an amazing place for swimming (almost nobody there), they also offered 4000 SDP fullboard program for 2 people (20USD each! fair enough), we did only day tour there with our own picnic so we didn't pay much. Tirhal from Port Sudan to there was around 450 SDP. On the way back we luckily found another Tirhal, otherwise you have to hitchhike back to Port Sudan. There is also a beautiful art craft street in the center of Port Sudan. People in Port Sudan are really laid-back and have great hospitality! you may also visit the port by contacting with red sea port corporation, they can arrange boat tour and bring you up to the crane to see the port view!!!

We stay in Misrak Suite, it was 20 USD per night with sparkling clean apartment, there is a port sudan mall for buying some spices/baklava etc. The main street also has a delcious Mr. Falafel

Then we fly back to Khartoum with Sudan airway (50USD each, they have an office in Port Sudan too, near Red sea secret diving).

Our staying in Sudan was really amazing! and truly recommend everyone to visit this country!!!

Hello, november 22 we will arrive in Panama, first time, 2 people, 51 years old, we like the better accommodations with airco, we like to explore ourselves, so we hired a car. We are no divers and we are no surfers. Snorkeling is good enough for us.

22 - 25 november Panama City
25- 28 november Gamboa Rain forest Resort
28-30 november: relax at Playa Bonita, Westin hotel
30 november - 3 december: Volcan Baru, Boquette
3 december - 8 december: Isla Colon, Bocas del Torro
8 - 10 december: nothing, still finding what to do
10-13 december: Rio Hato, Anton Valley

Please comment! We like nature, but not all day walks.
- is 3 nights too long in boquette, i think we will stay near volcan baru
- is 5 nights enough or too long, for Bocas del Torro (to see all the islands, also because I read december is rain season)
- any suggestions for 8-10 december?
- is 3 nights too much for Rio hato?
ALL hotel we still can change so there fore any comment is welcome. We are thinking to change the second part of our trip, because we want to do something different. I thought of Colon and Portobello but is is worth to go there of does anyone has other suggestions? Maybe south of Rio Hato, in Azuero???

thanks a lot, regards, from the Netherlands

Hi,

I have booked a trip to Cuba in July for 12 days (not ideal timing I know, but stuck with school holidays). I'm planning to spend a few days in Havana, but after that my main interests are the outdoors. I'm not particularly sure what I want to do, but want to see some cool sights and avoid museums and big cities.

My main decision at the moment is whether to fly straight from Havana to Baracoa and spend my time in this area, or whether to aim for Vinales, followed by possibly Trinidad. I would definitely like to see some of the local wildlife, and it would also be cool to see some of the sugar refineries and farms in the country. Varadero or other beach resorts wouldn't interest me. Based on that, would you suggest heading towards Baracoa or sticking closer to Havana?

As a follow up question, should I try to book all of my accommodation in advance (July appears to be high season), or is it best to wing it?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hi,
I'm going to the Cook Islands (for the first time) in September for 12 Nights and 13 full days. I am traveling with my husband. We are planning on visiting Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Atiu. We love Polynesian culture. So far we have visited New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, Rapa Nui, and French Polynesia. On our trips, we enjoy a balance of a few nights in a luxury resort, as well staying in authentic homestays, experiencing cultural life. We love beach life, outdoors, we are both scuba divemasters (we will definitely want to dive on this trip). We do enjoy being off the beaten path with few tourists, but if the most beautiful beaches and snorkeling are in the most touristic area we will check that out too. Though we do love relaxing slow paced island life, we also like to see and do a lot on our trips.

What I want to know is how much time should we spend on Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Atiu?
Based on Air Raro flights, we have 4 options: we arrive on day 1 at 6am and leave on day 13 at 11pm.

Atiu for 4 days
Option 1: Raro 4 days/nts, Aitutaki 4 days/nts, Atiu 4 days/nts, Raro last day.
Option 2: Raro 3 days/nts, Aitutaki 5 days/nts, Atiu 4 days/nts, Raro last day.

Atiu for 2 days
Option 3: Raro 3 days/nts, Aitutaki 5 days/nts, Atiu 2 days/nts, Raro 2nts/3days.
Option 4: Raro 2 days/nts, Aitutaki 6 days/nts, Atiu 2 days/nts, Raro 2nts/3days.

Is 2 days on Atiu enough so we can have more time on Aitutaki or do we need 4 days?
Should we spend equal time on Raro and Aitukaki or more on Aitutaki?

We enjoy traveling on our own and will not be joining any tours (except when scuba diving). We will rent scooters. We are planning on snorkeling/swimming by ourselves a lot.

How do the beaches and snorkeling/swimming between the 3 islands compare?
What are the best beaches for snorkeling/swimming by ourselves on Raro? Aitutaki? Atiu? (I want to stay at places where we can easily go straight into the water, I do not want to stay at ocean front places where you cannot swim).

On Rarotonga, is it better to stay on the East side by Muri Lagoon where we can easily swim and watch the sunrise or are the sunsets so amazing we should stay on the West?

Cheers,
Devany

My partner and I are thinking about taking a trip to some Thai islands in February/March next year. I've worked up an itinerary I think would suit us but I keep having second thoughts on the locations - it seems there are such a range of views and preferences out there that I keep getting swayed and doubting myself, so I'd really like some independent advice from people in the know.

We're both around 30 and are looking for beautiful islands where we can take interesting day trips conveniently. Whilst we don't want to go somewhere super isolated with no bars or restaurants, we're also not really interested in going to the most super-touristy areas and staying up all night parting. Whilst we do enjoy beautiful scenery, we're also not likely to sit still on a beach for more than a couple of hours at a time so have tried to plan a lot of little side trips. We'll be coming from the UK and stopping over in Singapore so we're also a bit constrained by trying to keep travel time to a minimum once in Asia.

The itinerary I've come up with so far is as follows:

Day 1 - Leave UK
Day 2 - Arrive in Singapore
Day 3 - Singapore
Day 4 - Fly from Singapore to Phuket. Staying perhaps around Karon Beach (Mandarava Resort & Spa)
Day 5 - Phuket - Phang Nga Bay trip
Day 6 - Phuket - Big Bhudda & Wat Chalong, Bang Pae Waterfall, or Khata Noi Beach
Day 7 - Ferry from Phuket to Koh Lanta. Staying towards Klong Tob Beach. Possibly Khao Mai Kaew Cave
Day 8 - Koh Lanta - Four Island tour
Day 9 - Koh Lanta - Koh Phi Phi Island tour
Day 10 - Speedboat from Koh Lanta to Railay. Staying at East Railay Beach.
Day 11 - Railay - Railay Beach and Phra Nang Cave Beach
Day 12 - Railay - Hong Island and Tab Kak Hang Nak tour
Day 13 - Flight from Krabi to Singapore
Day 14 - Depart Singapore
Day 15 - Arrive in UK

I think my main concerns are:

1) Are the destinations (Phuket/Koh Lanta/Railay) the best choices for our purposes, and are the areas we've chosen appropriate? I've been wondering whether Railay might be too remote and we may be spending too long there - particularly as I would quite like to visit the Hot Springs and Emerald Pool in Krabi - but I don't think it's doable from Railay. I was wondering whether one less night there and a night in Ao Nang to facilitate this and make transport to Krabi airport on our last day easier would be a good idea.
2) Should we be swapping any of these days for somewhere else, e.g. should we stay in Phi Phi instead of one of the nights elsewhere? I'm kind of thinking about just skipping Phuket entirely and flying in and out of Krabi and spending more time in Railay or Koh Lanta or a night or two elsewhere.

Any feedback on the above would be most appreciated.