How to Prepare for a Helicopter Glacier Tour

Are you ready to make memories?

Imagine souring high in a helicopter over snow covered glaciers as far as the eye can see; gradually civilization blurs in the wake of the helicopter. Through your headphones the mechanical voice of your pilot transports you to another place as old as the dinosaurs. Your senses incite with the possibilities and the thrill of the unknown. On the edge of your seat you and your fellow explores are bedazzled as the pilot lands on a section of glacier with flawless precision.

Now the real adventure begins a guided tour of one of the remaining endangered glaciers in the world learning about the complexity of ice and experiencing the tranquility and beauty of natures secret.

But before you can get into the helicopter there are 10 things to know and do.

1. Most people don’t think about footwear when they prepare for a glacier walking tour but it’s really important, probably the most important thing. Walking on a glacier requires a special type of shoe that the company will provide, but what you need to know is that these shoes fit best for comfort with a primary shoe, preferably full coverage, no heel.

2. Bring sunglasses. Ultraviolet Keratitis, aka sun blindness, is a serious eye health problem. It occurs when unprotected eyes are exposed to UV radiation reflected from surfaces such as snow that reflects 85% of UV radiation or water that reflects a 100% of UV radiation.

3. Wear long sleeves and pants. Being on a glacier, especially if there is wind, is like standing in-front of the open door of a freezer for an hour. Bring light layers that can be put on top of your summer clothes. Later, they can easily be rolled up and put away.

4. Bring your camera or video camera, while cell phone cameras are getting better every year the complexity of a crevasse can best be captured with a real camera. Reasonably sized camera bags are expectable, but still check with the crew when you arrive at the departure location.

5. There are no bathrooms on glaciers. Glaciers do not have facilities like state or national parks. So go before you get on the helicopter! Otherwise make yourself comfortable with a hole and a few leafs.

6. Large book bags and purses aren’t generally allowed on the helicopter because the weight of each item counts. Most facilities will have a location where you can store your belongings for the duration of the excursion. My personal rule: what fits in the pockets, gets to go.

7. Bring a pocket size poncho. Glaciers don’t have shaded areas, so if there is unexpected rain a poncho will become your favorite accessory.

8. The stones, beware of physical weight limits for your particular helicopter company. No customer will be turned away for weight, but there are overweight fees. Each seat is given a specified weight maximum. For example if the per-person weight is 250 and you weigh 260 they might have you pay 50% of the original ticket on top. Check with the company that will be flying you, not the booking agency. Refunds are rarely if ever given.

9. Tip! The hospitality business is all about tips. And your Glacier guides are no different. Each summer they trek out into the middle of nowhere to share themselves and what they know about glaciers to help you make memories. Take care of your guides and pilots. About.com recommends tipping a good guide 10-20% of the total ticket price.

10. Have fun.  

Four Places to Visit in Benin

For an amazing vacation full of history, adventure, and dream-like beaches visit Benin the country squished between Nigeria and Togo on the Guniea Coast. When visiting there are four must stops: Pendjari National Park, Abomey, Oudiah, and Cotonou.

Pendjari National Park.

In the northwestern corner of Benin inside the Pendjari river loop over 1200 acres of thinly wooded savanna houses a vast array of birds, reptiles, and mammals from elephants to lions. Well planned observation decks overlooks hippopotamus, reptiles, and birds along the river. The park shares land with Burkina Faso and Niger making it one of the largest wildlife reserves in West Africa. The diverse eco-system allows the park to support life for a wide variety of species, several subspecies of animals found in East African reserves. Enhance your safari by staying at the le Campement de la Pendjari an oasis in the heart of Pendjari.

On the way out of Pendjari stop by the Taneka waterfalls. With the help of a local tour guide take a short hike up into a picturesque valley perfect for sun bathing, lunch, or a cool dip.

Before you leave the north visit a Tata Somba - a mud fortress - designed to protect families and livestock from invaders such as slavers.

Abomey.

For over two hundred years the Kings of Dahomey ruled their kingdom from Abomey, but it was during the 17th century that they reached the height of their power because of their role in the West African Slave Trade. African slavers would capture villagers, from as far away as present day Tanguieta, and bring them to the King in Abomey, who would then trade them to the Europeans. Afterward, slaves were forced to march over 50 miles to reach the ships that awaited them at the coastal ports in Ouidah and Grand Popo. When the kingdom fell to the French in 1892, the French built a new capital just to the east of Abomey called Bohicon. Today the palace and its ground are the Abomey Historical Museum (www.epa-prema.net/abomeyGB). Through a combination of photos and artifacts visitors tour the over 108 acres and learn about the rise and fall of the Dahomey Kingdom and life under early French colonization. At the end of the tour guests can find an array of memorabilia available from local artists.



Ouidah, a town of contradictions.

The only safe harbor landing on the coast Ouidah served as the dominate port for over 300 years home to French, Portuguese, Danish, and XXX Forts. During the 17th Century, Ouidah was a slaves final destination before heading to the new world. Today the process has been memorialized in the local museum and two-mile hike. The Musee d’Historire d’ Ouida - originally the Portuguese Fort- is the official Museum for history on the slave trade in Ouidah. After the museum take the comfortable two-mile walking tour of The Slave Route - an emotionally charged and physically brutal trail that slaves were forced to endure before boarding ships to the New World.

While Ouidah is home to pain, it is also home to the mystical - voodoo. An integral part of Beninese culture voodoo is practiced in various forms throughout the country less as a religion and more a fact of life. Unlike other areas though voodoo is highly visible with ceremonies performed in the streets and fetishes in front of homes. At the center of town the Musee de Voodoo is a run down, rarely visited building, but what it lacks in polish, the guide makes up for in knowledge.



At the end of the day relax and reflect at one of the European-style hotels on the quiet beaches and imagine another time when large wooden ships filled the waters carrying slaves and slavers to a New World.

Cotonou.

In 1908, the French built the present port in Cotonou effectively muting Ouidah’s importance. Over the years it has grown to a huge metropoliswith all the amenities - a shopping mall, four-star hotels, art galleries, artisan market, cultural events, embassies, and politicians. In a city this large there are enough activities for every taste. Timid shoppers can explore the French and African retail stores, while the more adventurous shoppers can explore Marche Dantokpa the largest outdoor market in Benin selling everything but cars and houses.

Vacationer or Traveler?

My mother and I vacationed a lot when I was growing up. In photo albums through the house there are photos of us standing in front of old buildings in other places. I remember waiting in lines and sleeping in hotels from Pennsylvania to Virginia but the memories are fuzzy like waking from a dream, aware that something happened but not sure what. I went and did but the whole experience, those foreign places and their people, didn’t “touch me” I left unchanged. I vacationed.


There is a distinct difference between travel and vacation and it has nothing to do with money. Despite how many perceive the two it begins with the mindset of the individual, what do you want from your time in a foreign place?

Traveling and vacationing each require something different of the person. The vacationer can be seen wearing earphones, speaking only with hotel staff, wearing the clichéd socks with sandals and fanny pack. The vacationer wants to experience another place but in a bubble. They desire to escape the daily grind by visiting the sights extolled by vacation planning sites and travel guides. The end result is a few days away from home and a hard drive full of photos of friends and buildings.

But for the traveler the experience is everything. The journey of the traveler is an emotional rollercoaster filled with laughter, a few choice words, and growth. After in-depth research the traveler picks his location, before she has even left the house the journey has begun. The traveler learns the how and why of the locals, the special and influential places, and about the special mystery that every town possesses. He escapes group tours in favor of exploring local haunts, trying questionable food, and risking missing the bus. When the traveler returns home she is full of stories that make friends jealous.

Until I was 14 years-old I traveled every summer to Alabama to be with my Granny. I spent the summer filled with every emotion my child’s heart could handle, the anticipation of my Granny’s cinnamon rolls, the oppressive sticky heat of the summer, the boredom of hanging laundry on the line, the wonder of watching ice cubes fall from the sky, and the crushing feeling of being teased for being different. The experience touched me, it changed me, and I traveled.

What are you Vacationer or Traveler?