America’s northernmost state is best explored by sea with Holland America Line, which has been sailing in Alaska for 75 years. By Kaye Holland
Cruise lines continue to delay restarting in North America and Alaska
Any hopes for voyages this spring are fading
The comeback for cruise holidays in US waters may be delayed until later this year despite their resumption in Europe.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lifted its seven month ‘no sail order’ on cruising in US waters on October 31, replacing it with a ‘Framework for Conditional Sailing Order’ that appeared to pave the way for the resumption of sailing.
However three months down the line, the public health agency appears to be dragging its feet when it comes to giving the cruise industry the guidance needed to resume cruising from US ports.
While North America is at a standstill, MSC Cruises have restarted sailing in the Mediterranean. The operator’s flagship, MSC Grandiosa, re-entered the water at the end of January on a seven-night cruise departing from Genoa.
According to some industry insiders, it is doubtful that the 63 cruise ships currently off US shores are likely to resume in America before July in the very best-case scenario.
Read my news story for The Telegraph here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/cruise-lines-may-not-return-us-late-2021/
Where the experts’ holiday: Richard Harpham, kayaker and adventurer
Richard Harpham – one half of the leadership of the Big 5 Kayak Challenge, a small team taking on five distinct and unique expeditions, paddling some of the most challenging water on the planet - talks travel
What do you like to do on holiday? In general I love travel for amazing places, people and being close to nature. For me that can be around the British Isles or further afield in Morocco, Alaska or pretty much anywhere. I don’t think I do holidays in the conventional sense. As a kid we would go to Wales or Scotland to walk or camp. This stayed with me and for many years I would pack a rucksack, book a plane ticket and head off. This took me to South America, USA, Australia, New Zealand and a host of other locations.
Where did you last go? I last went to Norway to visit the Arctic Circle. We flew into Oslo, grabbed a hire car and followed our noses. The roads got interesting at times with ice and snow. We arrived at the Arctic Circle in a full blizzard and then spent five hours driving back south in a whiteout.
Do you know where you’re going this year? The Cairngorns and some other parts of Scotland, the Jurassic Coast and hopefully Quay West and St Pete’s Clearwater in the US and various new human powered adventures including back to the Yukon Territories. My wife and I also plan to visit Vietnam and Cambodia this year and to paddle some rivers in the UK together.
Of all the places you’ve been to, which was your favourite and why? That’s a bit like asking someone to select their desert island discs: it’s almost impossible! However there are some incredible places that I have been fortunate enough to travel to, that have special memories for me. These include playing rugby in New Zealand in 1997, various expeditions in Yukon Territories, Canada and Alaska, cycling part of the Sahara in Morocco and Vancouver – where I managed the Ghana Ski team at the Winter Olympics 2010.
Which destination do you wish to travel to, but haven’t yet been? There are so many in Britain and of course further afield, on my list, I would love to visit India to experience its diverse culture.
In your own country, what would you recommend tourists see that isn’t in the travel guides? I love Pembrokeshire. We went there for our mini-moon and found so many lovely, unspoilt places to visit. I can’t tell you all of them but suggest you go visit and explore. A few places to consider include St David’s and TYF and the Dyfed Shire Horse Farm. On the other side of the country Northumberland has many historic and nature treasures.
How do you plan your holiday? I have lists of adventure ideas and also destinations I want to visit. I do have a bookcase full of maps, books and resources but also use the web a fair amount.
How often do you go away? It varies from year to year. In 2010 I was out of the country for five months whereas last year I was away on six trips but for much shorter periods of time. For me it is a combination of adventure expeditions and precious time away with my wife, Ashley.
Who do you travel with? I either travel with my wife and family or, when on expeditions, I work with other adventuring types I trust with similar goals and ideas. It may sound corny but I have and do need to trust them with my life.
Where do you see tourism in your country, in 10 years? I think Britain offers so much. I am fortunate that I have spent a huge proportion of my life climbing, paddling, cycling and visiting different parts of the British Isles. It is really important that we ensure it remains unspoilt and we take only pictures and leave it pristine for future generations. On one of my expeditions in Alaska I was fortunate enough to spend time with a first nation elder who commented: “What will we tell our children and their children about why we have over-consumed the planet? Nothing will make any sense.”
Thanks Richard! Read more about Richard’s adventures here:
www.thespareseat.com www.big5kayakchallenge.com www.inspiredlife.org http://richadventure.smugmug.com
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Postcard from Beijing... no 21
CNN food article has left a bad taste in my mouth
CNN recently published an article that claimed to reveal the world’s most disgusting foods. Top of the list? China’s century eggs – so called because they have been consumed for thousands of years by the Chinese as an appetiser, in addition to acting as an ingredient in any number of dishes.
I get that these little black eggs that have been preserved in clay for months on end may not be everyone’s dish du jour but, are they really as offensive as CNN’s iReporter, Danny Holwerda, would have us believe? Holwerda, in case you haven’t seen the article, described century eggs “as awful” before going on to say that they taste “like something that used to be an egg, but made some horrible choices”. I can’t help thinking that Holwerda is guilty of hyperbole, as well as wondering whether Holwerda and I actually ate the same item?
But it’s not just China’s century eggs that have come in for criticism at the hands of the CNN team. A whole host of other Asian countries and foods have also been singled out. Rounding out CNN’s list of the ‘world’s most disgusting foods’ were tamilok (Philippines), fermented chips (Indonesia), dog meat and offal (South Korea), fried tarantula (Cambodia), stir-fried cicadas (Thailand) and fried frog (the poor old Philippines again).
Yet while CNN (an American media channel) finds the aforementioned unpalatable, in their respective countries these dishes aren’t considered weird, bizarre or downright obscure at all. Rather they are treasured as delicacies! All of which goes to show that one region’s food heaven is another’s food hell – a fact CNN would have done well to remember. After all, America isn’t exactly innocent when it comes to crimes against food. Case in point? My Yankee friends are fond of filling up on a ‘treat’ (I use the word loosely) that they call peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Translation? Two hunks of refined white bread liberally slathered in strawberry jam and peanut butter before being pieced together to make an unusual (and for me unsatisfying) snack. My American mates might think this creation tastes great but, to my British palette, their creation does a grave disservice to three otherwise perfectly good, if humble, ingredients.
I would have liked to have seen some unusual items from other parts of the planet make CNN’s so called list of the world’s most disgusting foods. Why weren’t Mexico’s escamoles (eggs of the large, black, venomous Liometopum ant) included? Or Casu Marzu (a cheese consumed in Sardinia that contains thousands of, I kid you not, maggots)? Then there’s Norway’s offending lutefisk – codfish which has been soaked in lye (a substance said to be so corrosive that it can disintegrate silver utensils) for two days solid. And what of Alaska? Forget the Philippines: Alaska has two dishes that, in my mind, are much more offensive than fried frog and tamilok (woodworm). Step forward fermented salmon heads – the heads of King salmon that have been buried in the ground, left alone for a few weeks and then harvested for our, erm delectation – and jellied moose nose. The latter is something I’ll refrain from describing for fear you’ll lose your appetite.
At the end of the day, every country has both weird and wonderful cuisine in equal measure. The only real way to discover what, for you, is food paradise and what is food purgatory is to pick up a pair of chopsticks, an explorative palette and a passion for the unusual and unexpected – and get ready to chi fan!