April, 2003. On my 21^st expedition to 90 North, the geographic North Pole, I took my son Jackson. He was nine, but handled it like a trooper. And no wonder – it was his third time! The first was when he was just six, following his brother Brandon whom I had taken to the Pole back in 1990.

We landed our ski-equipped Twin Otter on the sea ice – and as it’s featureless with the ice slowly moving on the Arctic Ocean surface, nothing stays there for long. So if you want a physical candy-stripe North Pole, you have to bring your own! It is so indescribable to actually be on the very top of our planet that it has to be experienced to be understood. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #95 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

You’re looking face on Everest’s West Ridge, the border of Tibet and Nepal. On the right is the Southwest Face in Nepal, on the left is the North Face in Tibet. Called Scoundrel’s View because this is a better view than trekkers to Everest Base Camp see (a viewpoint called Kala Patthar).

You have to make another trek up the Ngozumpa glacier (longest in the Himalayas) in the Gokyo valley, where above the fifth Gokyo lake at 16,400 feet you get to call yourself a “scoundrel” for seeing what Everest trekkers don’t.

High on the Northeast Ridge on the left horizon is the last place Mallory and Irvine were seen heading for the summit in 1924, and then disappeared. Hillary and Tenzing summited in 1953 via the Southeast Ridge over the right horizon. Everest Base Camp in Nepal is at the foot of the big snowy buttress below the West Ridge. Called the West Shoulder, it blocks any view of Everest from Base Camp.

On our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions, we get an abundance of spectacular views of Everest, up close and personal – Scoundrel’s View is only one of many. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #29 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is Caño Cristales, a river flowing through an ancient tableland in a remote roadless region deep in the forests of Colombia. Known as The Liquid Rainbow, geologists consider it the world’s most beautiful river.

The colors are due to endemic riverweeds that grow only here, clinging to the rocks of the riverbed, and the crystal clarity of the water. It is not easy to get to – fly a light plane to an airstrip, take a boat upriver for miles, then walk a few miles more. But then you get to explore one of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer – replete with dozens of small fun waterfalls, surrounded by an uninhabited forest teeming with tropical birds.

No wonder National Geographic calls Caño Cristales “the River of the Garden of Eden.” Yet it is only one of the many extraordinary experiences in this huge country – for Colombia is larger than Texas and California combined. Wheeler Expeditions will be conducting an exploration of Hidden Colombia in 2023. Hope you can be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #22 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

When Marco Polo crossed the Tien Shan mountains and reached the Silk Road oasis of Kashgar in 1273, he faced an enormous desert of endless dunes called the Takla Makan, meaning “You go in, you don’t come out.” To avoid this fate, the Silk Road at Kashgar splits in two – above to the north of the dreaded sand sea via the oases of Aksu and Turfan, and underneath to the south via the oases of Yarkand, Khotan, Charchan and Charklik. The two routes came together beyond Lop Nor, the eastern extension of the Takla Makan, at the oasis of Dunhuang.

His father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo had earlier taken the northern route to first meet Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, but now with Marco they took the southern route. They traveled in caravans of two-humped Bactrian camels, often crossing dunes on the edge – just like the photo you see. In 2008, I retraced Polo’s route along the southern route – part of it by motorized hang glider. He would be fascinated, I’m sure, to see what a camel caravan looks like from the air! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #13 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the North Face of Mount Kailas (6,638 m/21,778 ft) in a remote region of far western Tibet inhabited only by Changpa nomads. For 22% of all people on Earth – 1.2 billion Hindus, 510 million Buddhists and many millions of others – it is the spiritual Center of the Universe, the Navel of All Creation.

Kailas and surrounding glaciers are considered the source of four of Asia’s great rivers radiating out from it: the Indus, Tsangpo-Bhramaputra, Sutlej, and Karnali-Ganges. As a sacred mountain it has never been climbed.

For thousands of years, people from all Asia have made the arduous pilgrimage to Kailas to perform the sacred act of circumambulating around the mountain – most clockwise, counterclockwise for others such as the Changpa adhering to the ancient Bön Tibetan religion.

It is not easy. Huffing over the high point of the pilgrimage route with TTPer Big John Perrot, our altimeter said we were as high as Kilimanjaro, over 19,000 feet. The highlight, however, is being among so many pilgrims from so many diverse cultures. This is one of our world’s thrilling adventures, and such a privilege to participate in. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #38 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

You’ve always dreamed of exploring Ireland staying at castles like this, right? Well, your dream will come true when you stay here at Kilronan Castle – one of the castles you’ll get to know when you join Rebel and me with a small group of your fellow TTPers on our Ireland-Dream-2022-Sep-01-to-10.

From County Mayo to the Cliffs of Moher, from the Ring of Kerry to kissing the Blarney Stone of Blarney Castle and so very much more, this really is your dream experience of the Emerald Isle. But the time has come to carpe diem, for Rebel and I can only bring one more couple with us.

So… click on Ireland-Dream-2022-Sep-01-to-10, marvel at where you’ll go and what you’ll do, enjoy the photos of what you’ll soon be seeing yourself, and decide now to make your dream of Ireland a reality. Let me know at jack@wheelerexpeditions.com that you’re on board.

Before you know it, you’ll be hoisting a pint of Guinness with your fellow TTPers at Dublin’s 824 year-old Brazen Head pub. First pint’s on me…

Ps: Ireland is back to pre-Covid normal. No locator forms, proof of vax, negative test, nothing. Just book your ticket, fly to Dublin, and Rebel and I will be there to greet you.