Historical Moments
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SPIEKERMANN TRAVEL - HISTORICAL MOMENTS TRIPS CATALOGUE 2021- 2022 Starting the Next Chapter The last few weeks I spent a good amount of time flow of business, the way we restructured our tour thinking about the current year, the upcoming one, components and managed them during times of and the opportunities we have ahead of us. Though uncertainty, and what restrictions might be imposed this year was a difficult one because of the pandemic, by the host countries to ensure safety in hotels, we have managed to survive financially largely due restaurants, museums, safety seating within vehicles, to our record over the last few years which was and any other preventive measures that must be highly successful due to your trust in us and your observed within closed sites. patronage of our company. These lockdown months Our greatest satisfaction during the summer months of 2020 allowed us the time to clean house, review was the wide laudable response of our esteemed our plans of scheduled destinations, and prepare to clients to the series of lectures that we offered. The begin our activities with fresh energy; and over the lecturers who graciously offered to give talks in their upcoming months we will continue to cement our fields of expertise have positively nourished our tours for 2021 and 2022 as we move forward. We clients with knowledge, with positive dreams and also invested time and effort to redo our web site in with the joy of savoring, albeit only in a virtual sense, a new fresh-looking branding style. In short, we have a small part of what they experience in fact when put the forced lockdown to good use: We have they are actually on the road. The success of these conducted an extensive examination of our vision, lectures has encouraged us to plan a few additional mission, and strategic plans in order to be better able ones in October and November. Hence, starting on to serve you. But, as in all human endeavors, despite Sunday October 25th, we shall have every Sunday a our best efforts, our work in creating the new web lecture at 4.00 PM EST and you will get an email site is subject to errors, therefore we would be most soon defining the topics and speakers. grateful if whenever and wherever you detect any to please draw our attention to it. Despite how harsh and cruel 2020 turned up to be, Over the past months our team made an we have great hope and optimism for 2021 and extraordinary effort to pivot much of our work to a 2022. Here under is a brief sketch of some of what is planned for these two years: digital platform. As we consider our digital future, we added an option for you to settle your trip The trips that are already showing clear initial signs invoices online through our web site by paying by of success are: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq tours; check as ACH; also we are aiming to reduce the almost every future departure to them is full. number of physically mailed documents so we save Pakistan has been very popular in the past years, and time and postage expenses. We, therefore, urge you we offer various trips there, some covering just the all to share with us your email address so that Northern part with its splendid mountains along the newsletters and updates can reach you in a timely Hunza Valley and the Karakorum Highway. Others manner. We hope and expect that our new electronic focus on the southern part covering the system will be fully functional in 2021. archaeological marvels of the Indus Valley. Having September ushered a promise that things are about been to both North and South Pakistan on two to change for the better. We finally have a tour (to different occasions, I am now an avid lover of this Eastern Turkey), the first since last March, confirmed destination, and have therefore decided next May to start the first half of October. This will provide us (2021) to joining my dear friend Michel Behar on the with “first-hand” experience how the travel world new program we offer which shall cover Western now looks like after this long hiatus. I am personally Pakistan, Swat Valley, Chitral Mountains and the unique Kalash Pagan festival. joining the tour for a week to get a real feel of the Our other tour that has proven to be popular is Horn Another story of many successes is our Saudi of Africa (HOA), which has nicely filled up in the past, Arabia tours. We have for years pioneered this despite being an arduous adventure due to the destination which was hitherto unknown to the US multiple country crossings and flights between market. For many years we have sent clients there capitals and some long drives along isolated roads in despite the difficulties we had to overcome to obtain unchartered territories. We often repeat this tour in the visa; but now we are glad to announce that the January and in November so for seekers of a real off- Kingdom started offering e-visas. Our tours there are the-beaten-track trip that’s for you (though it usually in March and November and they invariably requires a robust spirit of tolerance and a readiness were filled nicely. So if you want to explore this to deal with unexpected changes). hidden destination, do it now before it gets too A great piece of news to share is that Egypt is touristy and opens up to mass tourism, that’s your bouncing back beautifully into the top of desirable chance in the next couple of years especially that destinations in 2021 and 2022. To coincide with the now their most renown Nabatean site of Madaiin opening of the Grand Cairo Museum, we have Saleh has opened up again for tourism after being planned a very remarkable tour in February 2021 closed for two years to survey it and put a plan for its that is led by Historian Norman Jones to cover all the protection. There is still an allure in exploring a destination that is not crowded with group tours. classical sites of Egypt (including Nile cruise aboard a small private luxury yacht). Following this, in Last February was my only trip I took in 2020 and it October 2021 we are offering a new program led by was with 16 intrepid travelers who joined me to visit an amazing young lecturer, Iman Abdulfattah; this Mali (and some of them continued to Burkina Faso). I tour caters mainly to people who have been already must say that despite its elevated level of danger, it to Egypt before and covered all its classical sites was one of the most memorable adventures I ever along the Nile Valley because it will take them to took. Flying on a private plane into legendary “seldom-seen” places and will have an in-depth focus Timbuktu for a quick two hour visit accompanied by on Cairo’s Islamic and Coptic legacies and a rather extensive entourage of security personnel architectural masterpieces. Additionally it offers an and armored vehicles was a day to be remembered extensive exploration of Coastal Egypt from Ismailiya forever. We decided to try again Mali in February overlooking the Suez Canal to Rosetta where the 2022 and we shall keep the number of participants famous Rosetta Stone was discovered, to Alexandria, to a maximum of 12 so if you are up to a real wild labelled the “Pearl of the Mediterranean” with is expedition, do not miss reserving this tour which will history rife with Greco-Roman ruins then along the be led again by our capable anthropologist/historian coast to Alamein (site of well-known battles that Mohamed Halouani. turned the tide in favor of the Allies in WWII) to, Needless to say that we have a very appealing finally, the splendid and remote Oasis of Siwa. extensive repertoire of tours lined up for you and it’s Another highly coveted trip is Lebanon and our tours impossible to comment on each one. Therefore, I there have been always successful and filled up. urge you to explore them visually on our web site; Our trips to the “land of cedars” are usually in March many of them already have slide shows, or attached and October to coincide with optimum weather videos and several have tour-reviews on what the conditions and they all have an extension to trips are all about, so delve into them and send us neighboring Syria. We began offering Syria in 2019 any inquiries you may have about particular ones of interest to you.. just for a couple of days into Damascus and around it, but we now expanded to cover much more of its Finally, we want to remind you of two important glorious sites such as Palmyra, Homs, Aleppo and things: Please post for us a wonderful review on others. GOOGLE and when you do so and the review is As we always try to introduce new itineraries and posted, we will send you a small token of exciting programs, we are offering now after the appreciation consisting of a $50 gift card. Secondly, good rate of success of our previous tours in Cyprus, please follow us on our Facebook page as we like to Malta and Crete a new program that adds as well two spread the joy of travel to more friends and fabulous Greek Islands that are not only magical in followers. their nature but also filled with historical sites: Santorini and Rhodes; so join us in May 2021 on this Thank you once again for your interest in our remarkable 5-island tour to Malta, Cyprus, Crete, journeys and we look forward to serve you again in the future, and have a fantastic fall season.