Welcome to PlanetScott.com — Trip Reports!
Malaysia and Sumatra
2025-08-08 - 2025-09-03
A few days around Kuala Lumpur followed by a trip to the Kerinci area and the Sipura Islands in Sumatra. Then, we spent another week in Malaysia.
View Trip →Southern Ecuador
2025-07-06 - 2025-07-18
A trip to Southern Ecuador visiting several nature reserves as well as Vilcabamba, Loja, and Cuenca
View Trip →Banff and Jasper
2025-05-29 - 2025-06-02
Our president is an ass, so went to spend our money in Canada on a trip to Banff and Jasper national parks in Alberta.
View Trip →Lesser Antilles
2025-03-18 - 2025-04-14
An island hopping trip starting in Barbados, then to each of the Antillean islands en route to Antigua
View Trip →Spain
2025-03-01 - 2025-03-12
We spent 9 days based in Tarifa followed by transit visits en route to Barcelona
View Trip →Morocco
2025-02-18 - 2025-03-01
A trip to Morocco where we started in Marrakesh, drove around in the Sahara, continued to Fes, and finally took the ferry from Tangier to Tarifa, Spain.
View Trip →Tanzania
2025-01-27 - 2025-02-16
A three-week trip exploring the mountains east of Arusha. The trip continues by ferry to Pemba and Zanzibar Islands.
View Trip →Colombia - Santa Marta
2024-10-09 - 2024-10-16
A visit to the Santa Marta Mountains and lowlands as well as Perija
View Trip →Indonesia
2024-07-16 - 2024-09-04
A trip to visit several islands including Taiwan, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Alor, Timor, Rote, Bali, Java, Flores, and Sumba
View Trip →Mexico
2024-03-26 - 2024-04-11
This was a trip to Oaxacan mountains and coast followed up by a trip to Torreon to view a total solar eclipse.
View Trip →Japan
2024-02-16 - 2024-03-02
Got a very cheap ticket to Japan, so we went from one end to the other
View Trip →Cuba
2024-01-25 - 2024-02-06
A trip to Cuba to look for endemic birds while we still can.
View Trip →Costa Rica
2023-09-26 - 2023-10-06
A trip to Costa Rica to look for nesting sea turtles and to visit Arenal both of which we had not visited in previous trips.
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Western Australia
2023-04-03 - 2023-04-24
We did a side trip from Malaysia to visit Western Australia to view a solar eclipse.
View Trip →Malaysia
2023-03-14 - 2023-04-03
A three week stop-over in Borneo, Bukit Fraser, and Singapore en route to a solar eclipse in Western Australia
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Antarctica and Argentina
2021-11-19 - 2021-12-12
A trip to Antarctica and South Georgia Island to see a total solar eclipse bookended by a trip to Iguazu Falls
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Chicago
2021-05-21 - 2021-05-30
Trip to Chicago and closing out the Illinois Beach Resort hotel.
View Trip →Chile 2020
2020-12-10 - 2020-12-25
This was a last minute trip to Chile after they opened their borders just prior to the 2020 solar eclipse.
View Trip →Chile
2019-06-20 - 2019-07-03
On this two-week trip to Chile, we spent the first week in the mountains and coast around Arica. The second week was in Santiago, Valparaiso, and La Serena for a solar eclipse
View Trip →Madagascar
2017-10-30 - 2017-11-23
Madagascar is literally the furthest place (on land) from San Francisco on the entire Earth, so of course, I had to go there.
View Trip →Uganda and stops between
2016-12-20 - 2017-01-17
This was a trip to a few places, but mainly a trip to Uganda with a stopover in United Arab Emerites.
View Trip →Peru
2016-08-29 - 2016-09-07
A trip to Peru visiting the highland areas around Cusco including the cloud forest at Manu National Park.
View Trip →Newfoundland
2016-07-09 - 2016-07-14
A visit to the Puffins and Whales of the West Atlantic.
View Trip →Indonesia
2016-02-22 - 2016-03-17
A trip to Sulawesi and Halmahera to view a solar eclipse plus layovers in Singapore and Tokyo.
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Panama
2015-10-27 - 2015-11-01
A quick trip to Panama City between jobs. Saw more bird species in 6 days than all year in the USA.
View Trip →Svalbard, Canary Islands, and Spain
2015-03-16 - 2015-04-04
Three week early spring trip spanning Arctic to Subtropical Europe includes a solar eclipse in Svalbard, hiking in the Oslo suburbs, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, Tenerife, Extremadura, and Madrid.
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Southeast Arizona
2014-05-08 - 2014-05-12
A weekend trip to Southeastern Arizona and the Chiricahua National Monument.
View Trip →Dominican Republic
2014-01-19 - 2014-01-27
A trip to visit the mountains of the Dominican Republic.
View Trip →Kenya Solar Eclipse
2013-10-23 - 2013-11-07
A trip to Kenya to view the hybrid solar eclipse at Lake Turkana.
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Around The World in 66 Days
2013-01-01 - 2013-03-08
Follow us as we lose our luggage in an around-the-world trip.
View Trip →Eastern Australia
2012-11-05 - 2012-11-25
Trip report of a two week visit to Queensland and the York Peninsula and one week in the Sydney area. The primary reason for the visit to Australia was to witness the November 14, 2012 Total Solar Eclipse.
View Trip →Moving the Car
2012-05-31 - 2012-07-15
This is a two-part trip that I took driving from Philadelphia to San Francisco via North Dakota and Yellowstone National Park.
View Trip →New Zealand
2012-01-03 - 2012-01-30
Month-long trip to mostly the South Island of New Zealand
View Trip →Brazil
2011-07-13 - 2011-07-26
Two-week trip to Brazil with stops in the Pantanal and the Atlantic Coast near Salvador.
View Trip →Africa: Egypt and Ethiopia
2010-12-31 - 2011-02-01
This trip report covers a one month journey to Egypt and Ethiopia with a couple of short layovers in London. Some highlights of the trip included the Ethiopian Wolf and escaping the Egyptian Revolution.
View Trip →French Polynesia
2010-07-03 - 2010-07-18
For the solar eclipse of July 11, 2010, we had intended to visit Easter Island. However, difficulty buying plane tickets from LAN Chile Airlines prompted us to change our plans to visit French Polynesia instead. Here is the story of two weeks of the torture of sun, sand, blue water, and perfect temperatures.
View Trip →Alaska 2010
2010-05-27 - 2010-06-19
This trip to Alaska involved hiking on St. George Island in the Pribilofs, hiking in Denali National Park, and boating in the Petersburg area.
View Trip →China Solar Eclipse
2009-07-12 - 2009-07-26
This trip started with a 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. We explored Hong Kong and the New Territories for a few days before taking the train to China's Hunan province in order to visit Zhangjiajie (Wulingyuan Scenic Area) and Fenghuang then to the Shanghai area to view a total solar eclipse on July 22, 2009.
View Trip →Mexico to Panama
2009-01-14 - 2009-03-21
Barbara and I started this 10-week trip on the island of Cozumel in Mexico. We followed the Caribbean coast to Belize City. We then made our way inland to Guatemala where we more or less followed the Pan-American Highway to Panama City. For the last two weeks of the trip, we flew into a former mining camp deep in the Parque National Darien (Darien National Park) hiking and boating our way to Punta Patiño on the Pacific coast. Click on the links below for notes on the locations and additional images.
View Trip →Siberia
2008-07-14 - 2008-08-11
I flew from San Francisco to Irkutsk via New York and Moscow with the primary goal to view the total solar eclipse of August 1, 2008. I visited a few areas in the region including Lake Baikal at Listvyanka, Tuva, the Altai mountains region, and Krasnoyarsk.
View Trip →Mexico, Baja California Sur
2008-02-17 - 2008-02-25
I took a flight to San Jose del Cabo where I met up with a friend of mine. We rented a car and checked out sites in the area. This trip included two nights on Isla Espiritu Santo.
View Trip →Mexico, Nayarit
2008-01-05 - 2008-01-10
I took a last minute flight to Puerto Vallarta where I rented a car and checked out some nearby natural areas.
View Trip →San Francisco 2007
2007-01-01 - 2007-12-31
This includes all visits within the San Francisco City Limits for 2007
View Trip →Mexico, Veracruz
2007-10-10 - 2007-10-19
I took a last minute flight to Veracruz to do some photography of warblers and tropical species.
View Trip →Hawaii, Big Island
2007-03-07 - 2007-03-12
On this trip, Barbara and I flew from San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii. We rented a car, and drove around the island. Next, we swapped the regular car for a Ford F150 Truck as 4WD is required to get to the top on Mauna Kea. The truck was a bit of overkill, but we did use the 4WD to get to a remote wildlife refuge and to get to the peak of the island.
View Trip →Ecuador
2006-11-09 - 2006-12-23
This trip to Ecuador does not include a two week break in the middle of the trip to visit the Galapagos Islands.
View Trip →Galapagos Islands
2006-11-28 - 2006-12-12
We flew to Baltra in the Galapagos to join an 8 day expedition on the S.S. Samba. Our boat expedition visited Isla Plaza Sur, Isla Santa Cruz, Isla Española, Isla Floreana, Isla Isabella, Isla Fernandina, and Isla Santiago. At the end of the boat trip, we took another smaller boat to Isla Isabella to visit the highlands, made some day trips around Puerto Ayora, and I did an scuba dive at Isla Santiago.
View Trip →Turkey
2006-03-20 - 2006-04-01
A two week trip to Cappadoccia and Turkish Rivera featuring a total solar eclipse in Side on March 29, 2006.
View Trip →India
2005-12-31 - 2006-01-22
In a one month trip to Northern India, we visited Rajasthan, The Himalayan Foothills, and more.
View Trip →Hawaii, Kauai
2005-03-23 - 2005-03-29
Barbara and I flew last minute to Kauai from SFO via Honolulu. We rented a car in Lihue, and we traveled to both ends of the main road.
View Trip →Argentina
2005-02-01 - 2005-02-18
Three week trip to Patagonia. We flew from San Francisco to Buenos Aires. We flew from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia a couple of days later.
View Trip →Queen Charlotte Islands
2004-06-18 - 2004-06-26
This trip mostly involved a last-minute 8-day kayaking expedition in the Gwaii Haanas National Park's Lyell Island with the Pacific Rim Paddling company. We had uncommonly sunny weather on the first half of the trip, and by the time the cloudy weather rolled in, we had reached the hot springs. We also stayed a couple of nights in Sandspit at the north end of South Moresby Island
View Trip →Africa: Eastern and Southern
2002-11-12 - 2003-03-26
This 19 week trip started with a flight from San Francisco via Amsterdam to Dar Es Salaam. We traveled mostly by local transport to Johannesburg, South Africa where I picked up a rental car for the next 6 weeks. Then we returned to Dar Es Salaam with a couple of spur journeys.
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