Moai Ahu at Hanga Roa Easter Island

Photo Essay – The Magic of the Moai (Statues) of Easter Island, Chile

**Originally published after my Easter Island trip, but updated and posted for you to discover (or re-discover) one of my favorite experiences – a bucklist trip for many to see the Easter Island statues*** Paul, our guide, visited Easter Island in the 60’s as a teenager assisting the archeological team […]

New Zealand Sheep

What You Find on the Hills Around the World #FriFotos

This week’s FriFotos theme is “Hills”.  Of course, the first thing that came to mind was the song “The hills are alive with the Sound of Music…” (yes, showing my age).  While I’ve done the Sound of Music tour when I visited Salzburg, it was before the digital camera (again […]

PhilaTravelGirl Amsterdam

FriFotos: Chill Out and Relax on 5 Continents

Failing miserably at the Indie30 blogging challenge (I’m swamped with two weeks of prompts to work on), it’s very timely that the FriFotos theme is RELAX.  So in the spirit of multi-tasking the two different hashtags #Indie30 and #FriFotos, I’m going to relax a bit but showing photos of places […]

Sunrise in Botswana

Sunrise and Sunset Photos from Africa and Easter Island

Every Monday on Twitter, there is a #TravelPics chat at 3pm EST. With a different theme each week, it is a great opportunity to share travel photos.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, well, this chat is worth many millions. The artistry and talent exhibited is amazing – […]

Easter Island sign at airport

Flying LAN from Easter Island to Lima – Leaving the Maoi Statues Behind

I was ready to continue my South American adventure by flying from Easter Island to Lima rather than back to Santiago where it began just a week ago. I had redeemed for two one way British Airways award tickets for the trip using their partner, LAN.  One flight was New York […]

Easter Island Sunset Hanga Roa

Meeting Jess and Justin on Easter Island

Over the years traveling solo, I’ve met many people who have adopted me either due to my witty personality (haha!) or because they feel bad I am alone.  It’s great to meet new travelers to explore with no matter what the reason – I’ve stopped caring about the “why” At the […]

The Cave with two windows on Easter Island

If you ask any of my friends “would Sue climb and crawl into a dark hole in the ground to explore a cave”, most (if not all) would say no way, no how.  I would tend to agree in most cases – dirt, bugs, yuck.  Easter Island changed that for […]

Birdman competition Easter Island with Paul Pownall

Orongo, site of the Birdman competition -Easter Island

  All societies have their competitions for power – Easter Island tribes were no different. The friendly competition involved climbing down the cliffs, swimming through the water to the island, and if still alive, waiting.  Waiting to procure (steal) the first egg from the bird’s nest and then bring the egg back to the top of the […]

Moai at Sunset on Easter Island Hanga Roa

Easter Island Hotel Review: Tekarera Inn

Finding the right hotel/inn/B&B to stay at for Easter Island was no easy task.  There was the ultra high luxury – Hotel Explora outside of town (really, really far away) and then everywhere else in town.  Now I tend to think of myself as deserving of the ultra high luxury hotel (and who isn’t, […]

Easter Island Moai Ahu Te Peu

First Impressions – Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Before the internet, you would look in a glossy brochure, read some information in the newspaper and book a trip. Your travel agent usually hadn’t been to the destination but was a good salesperson and convinced you it would be amazing!  You could really be surprised by the destination back then. Now, […]