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I am feeling the economic pinch, aren’t you?  This may seem like the worst time to plan a trip to an exotic place, but perhaps it is the best.  It is the best time to plan an extreme dream vacation, a dream trip to take sometime in the future.  Here are the rules.  No budget.  No time limit.  No consideration for others.

So, where would I go if I had no expense limit, no particular time that I needed to be back, and no one who I needed to plan around?  What an overwhelming question?  There are still so many places where I want to spend time; Australia and New Zealand, China, Cambodia, Viet Nam… my list goes on and on and that is only if I head east. So how do I begin planning this incredible trip?  A Round - the – World airline ticket!  You can make up to fifteen stops as you fly around the world.

In 2001, my husband and I booked a cruise. We were to fly to Istanbul and spend a few glorious days visiting Topkapi Palace, The Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We planned to shop in the bazaar, visit the rug merchants and taste the exotic foods of Turkey. Then we were to board our ship for Israel, Egypt, Mainland Greece, two islands and dock in Athens. What an exciting itinerary!

Comfort. In these troubled economic times, it is what we are looking for. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes, pot roast and stewed vegetables. Can’t buy a new red car, buy a new red lipstick instead. Put off your haircut another week. Do your own nails. Recession is no longer just the “R” word, recession is here.

It is not the time to book a three week safari, but sometimes we do need to get out and get away. Every once in a while we need to forget our troubles and take a short breather.

There was a time when packing for a trip or a vacation was easy. You moved everything from your closet to your trunks. Your trunks numbered at least three; a large steamer trunk, a smaller steamer trunk and a wardrobe trunk fitted with drawers on one side and a closet on the other. A vanity case and the odd hatbox or two would round out your travel trunks. These cases were carried on ships, railroads, in cars and by camels. No matter where in the world you traveled, you could be assured that your many trunks would arrive with you. Lovely!

Would you take a vacation with me? I am an easy traveler. Nothing flusters or bothers me. I expect to be kept waiting in airports. I am not surprised by dirty bathrooms, rude people nor bad weather. I am not moody. I do not have a bad temper.

There is nothing that can compare to a camel safari -- days spent walking or riding through the African hinterland. Silence surrounds you except for the soft thuds of camel feet. At night myriad stars and the moon shines in the absolute blackness of the sky. Animals snuffle, their distance unknown in the unfamiliar quiet.

There are some places with names so exotic, so poetic, that they evoke mystery simply by their sound. Kathmandu is such a place and I was eager to get there while Nepal was still a lost horizon.

Kathmandu is a crossroads. Visitors gather in Nepal to study the religions, the deities, and the fascinating mix of cultures from India, China, Tibet and Nepal itself. They come to visit the shrines, stupas, temples and palaces and to perhaps view the living Goddess.

The young man’s words haunt me still. It was November 2000. I had prepared a driving safari for a group of sixteen, a safari which would allow my travelers to see Kenya and Tanzania, rather than fly from game reserve to game reserve without ever understanding the scope and makeup of the countries they were visiting. We began our Safari at the Windsor Golf and Country Club, a luxurious hotel outside of Nairobi. The Windsor is a rather secret place, away from the hubbub of the city, the meeting place of U.N. delegates and representatives of the African Nations. It is safe and secure.