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 Hello everyone! We're coming at you live from the road in Kenya (literally, as you can see here!) exploring itinerary options for future years. It's been an absolute blast so far and I'll share a few photos at the end of this email.
This will be a super short note, but we wanted to stay in touch and share some news!
(We just came from a short stop in England last week, hence the otherwise completely random Stonehenge photo above. I have to say, I am absolutely loving the new iPhone's ultra-wide angle lens!)
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In this issue:
- $300 off Mongolia: Steppe by Steppe
- Walk with the Buddha (with us!)
- Fun with What 3 Words
- Pick & Cheese ~ the world's first cheese conveyer belt restaurant
- Around the World: World Wonders!
- 2020 itineraries open for registration
- Banky's pop-up shop in London
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Mongolia: Steppe by Steppe sale!
We heard your excitement when we were posting photos from the road in Mongolia (album here!) and we'd love for you to join us next year. As we are staying at some pretty exclusive, very small eco-camps, we need to commit to those reservations now. To that end, we want to offer you $300 off the early bird price of $4299 if you register before November 30th for our Mongolia: Steppe by Steppe journey. You only need to submit your deposit before November 30th to lock in that $3999 price!
Our Mongolia trips are incredibly different from other itineraries you might find online. My jaw literally dropped when I saw that so many of the big tour companies put 6 to 8 people in one ger tent(!!!). On our trip, two people is the max, and you can have a single room if you wish! We also use comfortable, air-conditioned vehicles, not the iconic-yet-wildly-uncomfortable-and-dusty Russian vans so many other companies use. We also keep driving times to a minimum while covering a lot of different terrains, unlike the 9 to 10 hours in a vehicle (almost daily!) on other tours. These reasons are just a small part of why we're so excited about this journey, and we're so confident you'll fall in love with Mongolia like we did!
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 We also have just a few more spaces open for our Pilgrimage to Mongolia with Tricycle and Jakob Leschley, July 31–August 12, 2020. See details about this Buddhist tour by clicking the button below.
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Walking with the Buddha: You can come, too!
If you use Facebook, be sure to follow our daily adventures on our Walking with the Buddha tour the first two weeks of November. We'll be visiting the historical sites where the Buddha lived & taught; you can follow us over at Facebook.com/RetreaTours, and we'll be announcing our 2020 Walking with the Buddha tour dates by the end of this year!
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What 3 Words fun!
I wrote about the geolocation app "What Three Words" a couple newsletters ago, an app used as a more handy GPS that utilizes words instead of numbers. Some countries, including Mongolia, use this system instead of addresses. However, we've been having fun with it on safari during our no-internet-access evenings in the bush!
We and our traveling companion have been looking up important personal sites—the very spot where we got married, where we met, etc—and are loving the incredibly random, sometimes hilarious 3-word designations given to these spaces. For instance, right this second I am now sitting at "feline.fittings.outings," which is quite appropriate for all the lions we've been spotting!
Check it out yourself on the free app What 3 Words. I wonder if people might start getting tattoos of these coordinates one day instead of GPS coordinates!
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Pick & Cheese!
 You know those sushi restaurants with conveyor belts that move sushi offerings around the bar, with different color plates corresponding to different priced dishes? Now, imagine that with CHEESE and the most clever, delicious pairings ever! That's what Pick & Cheese (by the Cheese Bar) is offering in London! There's no shame in our cheese game, and we polished off 9 plates and shared a soft-serve blue cheese ice cream in our allotted 75-minute stay at the bar (believe me–a time limit is probably in your best interest! ;)
Check out this Facebook album or this website album, if you're not on Facebook, for photos of what we tried, along with descriptions. For any cheese lovers passing through London, this must go on your list!
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Around the World in 2020: World Wonders!
You want to see the Wonders of the World, but it just seems like a crazy daunting task, right? That's what we're here for! Let us make it easy for you, while providing some top-notch company along the way (if I may say so!) We provide the research, planning, on the ground detail managing, and a few laughs along the way–you provide the enthusiasm, curiosity, and perhaps a camera (although we'll even provide a photo book at the end of the trip!) Sound good? Check out RetreaTours.com/RTW2020 for more information.
Just imagine...the Great Wall, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the Great Pyramids, the Colosseum (and so much more in Rome!), and Machu Picchu, all made SAFE, easy, and fun, whether you're traveling alone or with a travel buddy!
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2020 Journeys
Please click the links below to learn more about our trips open for registration that we haven't mentioned yet:
And, of course, our Pilgrimage Around the Buddhist World!
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You never know...
 We were sitting in our hotel room in Croydon, England, a little bummed we couldn't take advantage of London that day due to work. That evening, out of the blue, we decided to Google to see if Banksy had any pieces in the area; turns out, he had an entire pop-up shop a 12-minute walk from our hotel!
Putting our work on pause, we threw on our shoes and raincoats and hustled down to "Gross Domestic Product." This shop will never open (it's only for window shopping!), but the goods are for sale online. The only reason Banksy did this was to legally protect his copyright; that is, if he wasn't selling crappy coffee mugs with his art on them, someone else legally could! My photos won't do it justice, but I highly recommend checking out the website if you are interested; there were some fascinating, insightful pieces there.
All this to say...you never know what unexpected pop-ups may pop up for you in your travels!
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Oh my, this letter is already so much longer than I thought it would be! Thank you so much for spending some time with us today, truly. I'll include a few of my safari photos below, and I'll be posting lots on our Facebook page, and then after the trip I'll put the album on the website (so be on the lookout in our next newsletter!) I'm just grateful to have some wifi in the middle of nowhere, in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, to say hello to you!
 I'll leave you with a photo of us in Bath, England earlier this month–a fun, unexpected detour.
I hope you'll seriously consider joining us in Mongolia next summer, or perhaps even Around this beautiful World & its Wonders!
Until next time...
Safe travels & happy trails,
Lauren & BJ
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All of these photos were shot on a Lumix FZ2500 or a Sony RX10 and then edited with the free app Snapseed on my phone.
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