Zephyr Adventures partnered up with Draft Magazine, New Belgium Brewing, and Untappd to give away two places in our active beer tour adventures and World Class Beer is providing the airfare for the two lucky beer lovers.

The two lucky winners – including one US beer blogger – will join Zephyr Adventure’s Colorado Hike, Bike, Beer and Brewpubs Adventures (value 00) on Oct 8-12, 2012, including roundtrip airfare to Denver from anywhere in the US.  This active beer adventure includes lodging, activities and transportation.

Each morning will start out with a hike or bike through some of Colorado’s most beloved landscapes such as Rocky Mountain National Park and the Flat Irons of Boulder.  Recover after your early adventures in some of Colorado’s greatest brewpubs like Walnut Brewery, New Belgium Brewery, Coopersmith’s Pub & Brewing, Estes Park Brewery, and Wynkoop Brewery.   And to wrap it all up, the tour will conclude with a visit to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver!  

To register, visit the Colorado Beer Tour Giveaway page.

We have reserved one of these giveaways specifically for a beer blogger, and registering is easy – simply write a post on your blog about the Colorado Hike, Bike, Beer & Brewpubs Tour and mention the great partners who helped make this giveaway happen.  Link back to our Colorado Giveaway page and encourage your readers to enter to win the other spot.  Once your blog post is up, post a link on the comments section below.

This promotion runs until May 31st and winners will be chosen at random and announced June 15^th.

This promotion is limited to bloggers living in the U.S. over the age of 21 and you can view the full Terms and Conditions here.

Back in 1997, we ran three very small inline skating tours in the Netherlands (above is a photo of Zephyr alum, and one of our first customers, Rick Otis skating there in 1997).  Inline skating was popular, it was growing as a sport, and skate travel was in its infancy – we were the first skate tour company in the world! (There are still only a handful and no others in the hemisphere.)  After running the company by himself – with the help of part-time guides – for several seasons, Allan hired me to help grow his one-man show.  Just five years after Zephyr started, skate travel hit its apex (we ran 16 skating tours in 2001) and then the sport began a steady decline in popularity. 

The beauty of a small and efficient company like ours is that we can easily and quickly adapt, and we did just that.  Niche travel opportunities became our thing.  We hired another person, blended additional adventures like treks in Tibet, active cultural tours in China, and family trips to Yellowstone into our mix.  Yet, interspersed in our annual business reviews were always those “punches” that we had to roll with:  the SARS epidemic (remember that?) that essentially ground our Asia tours to a halt for a bit, a couple recessions that made it tough for people to justify spending money on vacations, the 9/11 tragedy which stopped air transport in its tracks, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that curtailed foreign travel, and the continued erosion of rollerblading.

A few years later, we added another employee and another successful part of our business – active wine travel.  Hiking, biking and multisport trips to the great wine regions of the world (Italy, Spain, Napa, Sonoma, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina, for instance) are gaining in popularity and we are again in exciting times.  

However, Allan is truly an entrepreneur and like many entrepreneurs is constantly scouring the universe for other opportunities.  Five years ago, in an effort to get the word out about our wine adventures, we created a conference for people who blog about wine (aptly named the Wine Bloggers Conference) in the hopes they might also extend their blogging to wine travel and bolster our tour sales.  The conference, while it helped our tour sales only slightly, was a home run in its own right, and wildly successful.  This success launched us into the business of creating and operating additional separate conferences about fitness and health, tourism, beer and food.

So, after 15 years, where are we now?  In addition to Allan (see current photo to left), we have five employees who all work out of their own home offices in four different states.  Roughly half our resources are focused on our blogger conferences and half on our tour business.  We still run skating tours, but due to lack of demand they represent only about 25% of our tour offerings now.  The reality is many of our alumni have stopped skating or switched to biking and hiking and so our tour mix is simply a reflection of that.

Where will go from here?  Time will tell, but you can be sure that we’ll still be rolling with the inevitable punches that are there for any small business.  In the meantime, happy birthday, Zephyr, and thanks for 15 great years! 

1. I can’t go by myself. Not having a travel partner was the most popular reason listed for why somebody hadn’t yet traveled to Peru.  The truth is you can go alone!  Sure, it might be a little daunting to fly to Peru by yourself, but on our Peru treks (both private and group trips) we meet you at the airport upon arrival and are with you every step of the way.  (Note to solo travelers: many of our trips have a good percentage of travelers who come by themselves.  As an example, 100% of the participants on our Kilimanjaro trip this year are solo travelers!)

2. It is expensive. Travel can be expensive, that’s true.  However, Peru has a couple things going for it that other places don’t.  First, spending 10 days in Peru costs much less than spending 10 days in, for instance, a European country — your dollar goes a lot farther!  Second, it is difficult to put a price on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Trekking on the same stone paths as the Incas did 500 years ago…hiking for four days to reach Machu Picchu by foot…watching from the comfort of your tent as the peaks of the Andes disappear behind the swirling clouds…these are priceless experiences that only a fraction of humans on this earth get to do.  When you look at that way, it isn’t expensive at all — it is just a matter of prioritizing.  (At Zephyr, you might recall that we prioritize adventure!  Incidentally, if you’re curious as to how we stack up against the competition, price-wise, click here.)

3. I’m not in good enough shape to hike the Inca Trail. The Classic Inca Trail Trek (our most difficult trek) has been completed by hundreds of thousands of people.  Chances are good you can do it too, provided you are not extremely overweight or have other health issues that preclude you.  Mental perseverance also goes a long way in completing the Inca Trail!  The hiking will be challenging for some people and quite moderate for others.  If you are concerned about the steepness or high altitude of the Classic Inca Trail, you might consider trekking the Royal (Alternative) Inca Trail.   The Royal Inca Trail is a lower-altitude option that is perfect if you are worried about your lungs, your knees, or your ability to handle high altitudes and steep terrain. This trek avoids the intense climbs and sharp descents of the Classic Inca Trail.  Click here for an overview and comparison of all our Peru treks, including difficulty levels. 

4. I’ll plan my hike once I get to Peru. Many people are unaware that hiking on the Inca Trail requires purchasing a pass to do so.  Even more are unaware that only 500 passes per day are issued (and two-thirds of those passes are for the porters who support trekkers like you).  And even more don’t realize that passes sell out sometimes six months in advance. As I write this, the first available pass is in August.  So, hiking the Inca Trail is not something you can simply show up in Cusco and hope to plan once you get there.  

What’s stopping you from hiking the Inca Trail?   Leave your comments below or email us.  Better yet, take our survey (through April 2) and we’ll give you 0 off one of our Peru trips.   

Some people call the National Park System, “America’s Best Idea”. As usual, good ideas don’t always come easy. For years John Muir’s devote activism helped convince people the environment was something worth saving. His efforts eventually helped save the Yosemite Valley and resulted in California’s designation of Yosemite as state parkland in 1864. The first of its kind. Eight years later the federal government took California’s lead and focused its gaze on an equally wondrous tract of land in what would become Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first National Park. In 1890 Yosemite, too, became a national park.
 
The human history of the Yellowstone region goes back more than 11,000 years. From about 11,000 years ago to the very recent past, many groups of Native Americans used the park as their homes, hunting grounds, and transportation routes. These traditional uses of Yellowstone lands continued until a little over 200 years ago when John Colter, a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, made his impressive winter trek through the region. Many trappers and traders followed his tracks and soon after 11,000 years of tradition started to change.

Those early trappers were followed by army explorers, with Ferdinand Hayden surveying the region in 1871. Upon his return to the East, he mounted a campaign to promote, but also to protect, the natural wonders he had seen. His words and experiences were one thing but perhaps most convincing were the colors in expedition member and artist Thomas Moran’s illustrations (including the depiction above). This campaign eventually resulted in a decision by Congress on March 1, 1872, to pass into law the act creating Yellowstone as “a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”

Today 3.5 million people per year visit Yellowstone National Park. However, only about a dozen or so visit on an active beer tour! On our Yellowstone & Grand Teton Beer Adventure we hike, bike, or raft each morning; visit six breweries in six days; and spend time in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. We hike on the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, along the edge of the canyon you see in the painting above.

To enter to win a free Yellowstone tour, simply register on our Yellowstone Giveaway page. Deadline to register is March 31. Even better, sign up today to join us on the tour and we’ll refund your deposit if you are the prize winner.

The idea of starting your own blog may seem overwhelming, but I can assure you it’s very simple.  As the community director for our Wine Bloggers, Beer Bloggers and Fitness & Health Bloggers Conferences, I’ve picked up a few tips that I’m happy to pass on, in hopes it will inspire you to start your own travel blog!

1. Choose a platform.  WordPress and Blogspot are just two examples of websites that offer you free hosting for your blog.  This is the best way to start – and did I mention it’s totally free?  Their sites are very user-friendly and offer a variety of templates so you can individualize your look.
2. Keep it simple.  If you knew how much time I’ve spent searching through WordPress templates trying to find the most perfect (and complicated) one for my site, you’d think I was crazy.  Let your travel blog be simple, and customize from there once you get the hang of it.  Not to mention the more clean your site looks, the easier it will be for your grandparents to figure out how to navigate through your adventures.
3. Start an online photo album.  It’s tempting to post every single picture from your last trip, but I suggest starting a separate photo album for that.  Choose a few of your favorite pictures to feature in your post about your last trip, but offer a link to your photo gallery for those who want to peruse more of your images.  Flickr and Picasa make this easy, and you can even link your galleries up with your Facebook or Twitter.
4. Journal while you’re on the road.  Every time I tell my grandma about a new upcoming trip, she begs me to make sure I’m keeping a journal of everywhere I’m going and everywhere I’ve been.  Not only will this come in handy when I’m in my 80s and can’t remember all the places I’ve traveled, but it also provides accurate information for me to go back through later on when I want to write a post about my trip.  I recommend journaling the old-fashioned way (on paper, that is) while you’re on the road, then using that to craft your blog posts on later.
5. Try something created specifically for travel-aholics.  Cataloging your trips has never been easier.  If full-out blog posts is not your thing, consider a travel blog-specific site.  My favorite is Everlater.  In fact, I flat-out think it is the bee’s knees.  You can track every step you took on your trip, view a map, include where you ate lunch and dinner, where you had that amazing glass of wine, and upload all of your pictures by location.  Not only does this make it very easy and interesting for your friends and family to see what you spent your summer vacation doing, but you can easily provide recommendations for them of where to stay when they visit.

I really recommend getting a travel blog started, and getting in the habit of updating it with each trip.  And just think – in the time it used to take to get film developed, scrapbook all your photos in an album, invite your friends over, make popcorn and then give a moment-by-moment account of your last trip while clicking through images on the projector, your travel blog could already be going viral!

I want to know: Do you have a travel blog?  How do you share pictures and stories from your trips with friends and family?

Climbing Route

You are required to use a tour operator to climb Kilimanjaro and all tour operators are required to stay on one of the established routes. There are six established routes up the mountain (Marangu, Umbwe, Machame, Lemosho, Shira, and Rongai), only three eventual paths to the summit (Western Breach, Stella Point via Barafu, and Gilman’s Point via the Marangu route), and only two ways down (Mweka and the Marangu, which has both up and down foot traffic).

Perhaps selecting the route will be another post but, for now, just realize the route you take makes a BIG difference in your experience and, frankly, your success rate. The most popular route up, Marangu, is that way because it is the shortest and, therefore, cheapest option. However, because you ascend the same elevation in only five days, your chance of getting altitude sickness and not summiting is greatest on this route. We at Zephyr Adventures believe you are sort of nuts to go all the way to Africa only to save a few bucks and jeopardize your chance of summiting, so we use the less-traveled, more-scenic Lemosho Route that also gives you a greater chance of success.

Advance Service

A major decision you have to make is whether you go with a local Tanzanian company or whether you book with an operator in your home country. The main advantage of the former, of course, is a lower price. The main advantages of the latter are ensuring your money won’t disappear between the time you pay and the time you arrive in Tanzania; having recourse to a company in your home country in case of problems; feeling a sense of security that someone has actually checked out the quality of the local guides, equipment, and transport; and having a guide/coordinator on your trip from your own country.

Make sure your potential tour operator provides you with excellent service and communication before you book. Check to see if the company’s website has complete information. Email the office and see if you get a response that answers your questions. Call and talk to a real person if you prefer the phone.

Guides

Having excellent guides is an extremely important part of the Kilimanjaro experience. And most Kilimanjaro guides are at least good to very good, thanks in part to Tanzania’s efforts to license and train them. (We have heard horror stories about guides, including a recent story about a drunk guide who died on the mountain, although we have not been able to confirm this.)

If you book a Kilimanjaro climb with a local Tanzanian company, you are clearly rolling the dice a bit on guide quality, since you simply won’t know much about the company’s history, the training of their guides, etc. If you book with an international operator, you can generally be assured that company has done the research to make sure they are using excellent local guides.

If you do book with an international operator, a key question to ask is whether they send one of their own staff on the trip. Many international operators simply rely on the local guides to run the entire trip, which in our experience is not ideal. The truth is, an American tour guide will understand the needs and desires of American travelers better than will a Tanzanian guide. Over and over again our on-the-spot American guides change the plans of our local operators to make the experience better for our travelers. While we couldn’t run our trips without our Tanzanian staff, they would not run the trip as well without one of our Zephyr Adventures guides on the trip.

Price

Finally, we get to that factor most people seem to use to make their decision. And indeed, price is very important. We strongly suggest you try to book a Kilimanjaro climb that is in the mid-range of prices.

First, make sure you are comparing apples-to-apples. A local operator might offer a price that doesn’t include airport pickup, pre- and post-climb hotel, or all meals.

Second, make sure you don’t pay too little for a Kilimanjaro climb or the operator is going to cut costs by paying their on-mountain staff (guides, porters, and cooks) too little. There are rules for minimum staff pay in place but, unfortunately, these rules are often ignored by low-cost operators. You will be entirely dependent on your staff on the mountain and you do NOT want staff that feels underpaid!

Finally, if you are considering a “luxury” Kilimanjaro climb, make sure you know what you are getting. All Kilimanjaro climbs include the basics: food, guides, porters, transport, climbing fees, etc. Most do not include airfare. Your higher price might be paying for things you don’t need, like a “two travelers per vehicle” ride to the mountain, which is not needed, or actual sleeping cots on the mountain, which would make some people feel terrible watching them being carried by a local porter for nine days!

We have seen a local Tanzanian company charge 00, you can pay even more with an international tour operator, and on one famous tour operator’s website, we searched for 10 minutes and couldn’t even find a price! About.com suggests paying between 00 and 00 for a Kilimanjaro climb and our Zephyr Adventures’ Kilimanjaro trek is priced at 00.

Kilimanjaro is a big mountain and choosing the right operator is a big decision. We hope this helps!

I always approach the Apple Store with some trepidation, since it is so busy, and my expectations were met by the large crowd inside. None of the iPad-toting Apple minions who serve as greeters were looking up from their electronic gadgets, so I continued to the back of the store, looking for a power cord I could use to replace the faulty one I had.

Finally, a manager approached and asked if I needed help. I explained my Mac power cord was faulty and that I understood there was a recall on these Apple items, since they had the ability to go kaput.

The nice young guy told me he couldn’t help me and that I had to see a “Genius” at the back of the store but that they were busy and I couldn’t make an appointment for another hour. I was sort of flabbergasted, since I just wanted to swap the cord for a new one so I could return to work. The manager would not relent at all, saying he couldn’t do this. I explained to him I didn’t think a genius was required to pull a new part out of the back of the store but, in the end, I spent an hour walking around the stripmall since it wouldn’t make sense to walk home and then have to drive back again.

Ultimately, I spoke to a “Genius” who helped me in about five minutes, something Target or Walmart could have done without an appointment and with their regular, run-of-the-mill, non-genius staff.

I love my Macbook and often tell people the only thing on it that crashes is my Microsoft software. Nevertheless, I think Apple is simply too big now and their customer service scheme, which is clearly designed to handle the massive number of customers, is not good. What would I suggest? Two things:

1. Don’t make everyone make an appointment (which they want you to do on their app or iPhone) to see a customer service rep. They need to have at least some people available to handle basic requests.

2. Train all their staff to do all the jobs, since any of the 30 staff in the store should have been able to hand me another power cord. See my article on my local restaurant Mountain Sun in Eat Drink Boulder for an example of a small business that does this.

How does this apply to Zephyr Adventures? I am not really sure. Our travelers do not get treated like one pea in a massive pod, so I don’t think we have that problem. And if you call us up, we’ll listen to your needs or requests and try to handle it one-on-one.

Do you have any good “customer service in the digital age” stories?

Are we on track by focusing on active wine, beer, and food tours? Should we be continuing to focus on treks? Where do we fit in the world of adventure travel? These are the kinds of questions I found myself asking.

The Best Adventure For Your Money

While I did make some unique discoveries in my research, the biggest factor I found was that our tours cost significantly less than our competitors. Yet, we provide the same (and often more immersive) experiences as larger adventure touring companies.

When you take a tour with Zephyr, you enjoy the dynamics of a small group atmosphere. You stay in hotels that, while extraordinarily comfortable, are also off the well worn path that most tourists travel. You get to have a real adventure, and, you get to do it at an affordable price.

How We Do It

Zephyr Adventures doesn’t have an office – we all work virtually. We don’t have hundreds of employees to pay or have large fleets of vehicles and bicycles. We believe this is not only an advantage to us, but to our customers as well.

By sourcing transportation and resources locally, we provide a richer and more authentic experience for our guests. On a Zephyr tour, you have the chance to interact not only with the other travelers, but with local guides and people who actually live out their lives in the locations that you are passing through.

And, here’s the best part. Because we operate with light overhead, we can provide these kinds of authentic experiences for less than most! Real people. Real experiences. Real value.

Why We Do It

We have a passion for exploration, experiences, travel and adventurous endeavors. Ultimately, that’s why we run the company that we do. Our office staff actually run and guide the tours that we offer! That’s right, your guide might actually be Allan, Zephyr’s Owner.

When you call up Zephyr, you’re going to talk to someone who has likely been on, guided, and organized the tour you’re inquiring about. We don’t have to sell you on the trip, because we’ve been on them ourselves – we know an incredible adventure when we see one.

Honestly, there really isn’t any experience like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro or skating beneath the vast Alaskan mountain ranges. Our tours, our guides and our customers (many of which are repeat visitors) are truly one of a kind. Consequently, we know you’ll have the experience of a lifetime!

Visit Zephyr’s Value page to see more details.  

With a limit of only 500 Inca Trail passes issued for each day, and two-thirds of those taken up by staff (such as porters, guides and cooks) who accompany the trekkers, passes always sell out.  As an example, for our April 13 – 21 Classic Inca Trail Trekking Adventure, only 133 passes remain.  That is 133 passes for everyone in the world who wants to trek during that same time period!  The system definitely rewards those who can plan ahead. If you are considering joining us on this trip, I recommend you do it now.  (In fact, there is another reason for doing this now – we are having a 15-year anniversary sale and are offering 0 off any trip booked in the first 15 days of February.)

Our days on the trail are filled with the stunning sights surrounding us, while nights are spent swapping stories and learning about the area from our local guides. We sleep in tents for our three nights on the trail and have local porters carry our equipment and cook our meals. While this is camping, it is luxurious and truly exotic.

 If you aren’t able to join us in April, we have a couple other options for you:

• We offer private treks on the Inca Trail for as few as two people, on any dates you choose (provided there are still Inca Trail passes available).
• Our October 20 – 28 Royal Inca Trail Trekking Adventure is significantly easier than our trek on the Classic Inca Trail.  The Royal Inca Trail is likely the original route built and traveled by the Incan emperors when they visited their mountain retreat of Machu Picchu.  This trail follows the Urubamba River and avoids the high altitude issues of the Classic Trail and the intense steep climbs that can be rough on your knees.

Why is Beer Tourism so cool?

Support local communities. While a great deal of the country is struggling with unemployment issues, the craft beer industry is exactly the opposite.  Over the past three years, big beer sales have gone down about 5%, while craft beer sales have gone up 21%.  In fact, it is estimated that last year craft beer created 100,000 jobs in the United States.  So next time you’re on vacation and sitting down to peruse the drinks menu, ask your server what local brews they carry. 

Get a (free) tour. Many breweries have regularly scheduled tours of their facilities (usually for free! And sometimes even with free beer tasting!).  And if you’re planning ahead, it’s always worth sending an email in advance to ask if there is anyone available to take you on a private tour.  I have found that if they can, craft beer folks love to show off their facility and talk beer with someone who is genuinely interested in learning more.

Try something brand new.  While you might be familiar with your own state’s brews, there are literally thousands of breweries’ beers that are not available at your local liquor shop.  Because of distribution limitations, being at your destination may be the only chance you’ll get to experience some of these beers.  And even if their beer is available in your state, drinking it where it’s been brewed means it will be a heck of a lot fresher (read: more delicious!) than if you picked up a 6-pack at your grocer 600 miles away.

As you become a more seasoned beer tourist, you will find that each location has a deep passion for their local craft beer scene.  From the more obvious “beertopias” like Portland, Asheville, St. Louis and Colorado to some more allusive locations like Louisiana, Minnesota and Ohio, you’ll be blown away by the enthusiasm and dedication the local communities have for their hometown suds.

A beer lover will be delighted to hear that Colorado alone has more than 120 breweries.  If this tickles your fancy, Zephyr’s Colorado Hike, Bike, Beer & Brewpubs Adventure is perfect for the adventurer who is looking to experience some delicious brews.  And to make it even better, the trip ends with the Great American Beer Festival, which will give you an opportunity to expand your craft beer loving palate beyond the Rocky Mountains.