Meet Your Travel Advisor: Carol McKee
- Carol McKee
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
My 2024 was filled with a lot of fun, some amazing adventures and a curling milestone. Of course, in between all that was a lot of work. I'm sure many of you are right there with me...gotta live and work in order to travel!
January - Antarctica Trip
In January 2024 my husband, Steve, and I returned to Antarctica for a second time. On our first trip in February 2023, we went to the west side of the Antarctica Peninsula. On this second trip we went for a longer itinerary which included the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island, and the east side of the Antarctic peninsula, including the Weddell Sea.
We were following an itinerary which highlighted the adventures of Ernest Shackleton, and his ship The Endurance. The history of the journey in a nutshell is that the ship was lost in the Weddell Sea in the early 1900’s. At that time visiting Antarctica was like going to another planet as next to nothing was known about the Seventh continent. But the exploration was not to be, and the real story is how the ship got stuck in an ice flow and ultimately sank...but the entire crew survived! We learned how Shackleton and four companions found a way to South Georgia Island in a small lifeboat, across 800 miles of the roughest seas in the world, and reached a whaling station. They facilitated the rescue of his crew back in Antarctica - and everyone survived.
One big highlight of this trip was the fact that we got to meet the marine archaeologist who found the wreck of the endurance in 2022 and in fact, we have been invited to his home where we sat in his living room, drinking tea and eating biscuits while he told us the tail of how he found the ship. A truly extraordinary experience.
On this trip, we ventured deep into the Wedell Sea and saw some truly amazing things. Wildlife at the end of January is at its peak in Antarctica and we saw plenty of it. Our expedition guides were absolutely fantastic.
Penguins were everywhere. One of the sites was a penguin colony that was estimated be 1 million strong!
Whales were also plentiful in our visit and we saw some so up close it was hard to believe. The whales were so focused on feeding on the krill that they paid little attention to us. They swam up closer and closer and ultimately a pod of about 15 whales swam right through us, surfacing right next to our zodiacs and one even went under us as we watched. We also spotted a mama and a baby feeding together. That experience with this pod of whales will go down as one of my top travel highlights of my whole lifetime!
May - Norway Trip
In May, we had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Norway. I have sent clients here, including a honeymoon couple, and everyone raves about how beautiful and friendly it is. I get it now, we absolutely loved Norway! We don’t often return to a destination because we want to see as much as possible in our lifetime. But Norway is one we will definitely return to, probably more than once. The beauty of the mountains is hard to describe and truly breathtaking.
After spending time in southern Norway we were off to Svalbard which is a Norwegian territory north of the Arctic circle. It was early May which meant there was still plenty of ice as we sailed around the islands of Svalbard. In fact, our fabulous national geographic ship was able to cut through solid ice and allow us to get off and walk around on an ice flow!
October - Curling Milestone - Eight Ender
Many of you know that I play the sport of curling with my husband, Steve. In October we achieved the ultimate milestone in that sport! When a team scores with all eight rocks in curling, it is the equivalent of getting a hole in one in golf. If you play the sport of curling and look at the scoreboard in the picture, you will see that yes we did actually steal our eight points, making this even more unusual and special. Many curlers play their whole lives and never have this happen. Our teammates included my wonderful sister-in-law, Lara, and our good friend Jim. We’ve been a team for several years and hope to continue to curl together for many more.
November - UK and Ireland Trip
My year wrapped up with a work Trip to UK and Ireland. This was a hotel site inspection tour, which gave us the opportunity to see several hotels a day and stay at some pretty spectacular properties! Above is one of my absolute favorite places that I saw in the UK: Cliveden. It's only about 40 minutes from Heathrow airport. It was built as a hunting lodge and a place to stash the mistress of the Duke of Buckingham in 1666. In the late 1800s it was purchased by the the wealthy American socialites, The Astors. The story of Downtown Abbey is loosely based on Nancy Astor, who was the lady of the house. This amazing property has seen royalty and movie stars for centuries, but is now a gorgeous hotel where you can spend the night before you fly back to the US or spend several days exploring it’s park like property which is part of the National Trust. I can not wait to go back as my one night there was just not enough!
The second half of my trip was in Ireland. I saw many fabulous properties in Dublin, Cork and the west of Ireland. My favorite was a place was Dromoland Castle. This magnificent hotel was indeed once a castle, built in the 1100s. It still feels as if you might turn a corner and run into a knight in armor. The comfort of this place however is definitely modern. The staff was warm and friendly, and every little touch was thought of. The grounds are huge, offering many activities including hiking and falconry. Again, I would love to return and spend several days, and this time bring Steve with me. We were also treated to a dusting of snow while at the castle which is a very rare thing in that part of Ireland!
As I reflect on 2024, I am grateful for all the amazing travel and personal opportunities I had, but more than anything I am grateful for the wonderful people we work with as clients of McKee travel. Truly, we are very fortunate to have such wonderful people who allow us to help them plan their own spectacular trips. Thank you every single one of you who has worked with us over the years, and for those who will work with us in the future. We value you and we are very grateful to have you as part of our very special McKee Travel family of clients!
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