In this, my last post in the series on Easter Island, a few words on day-to-day practicalities: how to get there, where to stay, and how to get around the island.

There are two ways to get to Rapa Nui: either a five-hour flight from Santiago (and getting to Santiago from anywhere on the planet is straightforward – albeit often long-winded:), or a two-week (!) boat trip from Valparaiso, Chile’s main port, which is about 120km from the capital. There used to be flights from Lima, Peru, too, but they stopped during covid in 2020, and somehow they just never resumed after that.

Anyway, back to the Santiago > Easter Island route…

Either one or two large planes do the route there and back daily. But on days when two planes fly, the lines at the airport in Santiago grow to truly inhumane lengths. We ended up queuing for our boarding gate all the way to the very furthest corner of the airport – in a line that stretched at least a hundred meters. Still, one should only ever remember the good stuff (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise)! So, just read these lines, forget about them – and then go ahead and dream about planning your own Easter Island trip!…

Once there, how do you get yourself to the various tourist spots dotted across the whole island? You can do so yourself in cars, on scooters or bikes you can rent. But if you do, it’s better if you know Spanish, because almost every site charges entry, and there’s no guarantee anyone at the entrance speaks a language you know. We rented a mini-bus with a local guide, who was half-Spanish and half-Rapa-Nui, but unfortunately he didn’t speak the language of his island ancestors. (Curious fact: “Rapa Nui” = the Rapa Nui people, the Rapa Nui language, and the island of Rapa Nui!)

Next – where to stay? There are lots of options. We were apparently booked in at “the best place on the island” – the Explora Rapa Nui hotel, here…

And here ->

Read on…

…That’s a rhetorical question. Of course, a Kamchatka expedition begins… at the airport :). But it depends on where you’re flying in from. For me, my trips to Kamchatka have pretty much always started at Sheremetyevo Airport (Terminal B for many years now), with the whole crew traditionally meeting up in “Magadan”…

// Which reminds me… Once, we congregated in Magadan, several hours later landed in Magadan, and another hour later dined in… Magadan :)

This time it was simpler: we were flying straight to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky!

Read on…

Still on with my intercontinental switcheroo, today we’re back on Easter Island!…

The topic of volcanoes is really interesting and diverse. It’s not just volcanos’ cones, the lava that sometimes flows out of them, and the smoke from eruptions. There are also all the colors, hot springs, and geysers – which all come under the “volcanisms” banner. There’s also a unique, lesser-known phenomenon – lava tubes. And they look something like this:

Read on…

Though Krasheninnikov volcano is one of the most meditative-contemplative volcanoes in Kamchatka, helicopter tours usually fly right past it. Even on my own travels around Kamchatka, we always skipped it too. And that’s such a shame, since it’s a truly fascinating sight! So – why’s it normally passed by? Because it’s practically always hidden beneath ever-present pesky clouds. Just like on this day: in the foreground is Krasheninnikov; behind it is Kronotsky ->

So, why even mention Krasheninnikov if it’s just one of the hundreds of Kamchatkan volcanoes? Because it’s been in the news…

Read on…

The attentive, regular reader might wonder – why have I been going to Saudi Arabia so often of late, when it’s hardly one of the most common tourist destinations? Indeed, I was here a year ago – in December 2024; before that in September 2023 (opening a regional office); and in 2022 I was here a full three times! And in all this is already my eighth visit here!

It’s quite simple really. Saudi Arabia is rapidly changing and developing (see those links above); you can see it in the more relaxed social rules, the number of buildings under construction, and the new airport terminals across the country. Naturally, special attention is given to the IT sector, and logically, cybersecurity is also a key focus. So for us, the Middle East is real interesting, and Saudi Arabia is of particular interest. Year after year, we’re growing here by double digits, and our Saudi business is one of the most significant slices of the company’s revenue “pie”.

So, of course, we have an office here, which I absolutely had to drop in on for an informal, friendly visit:

By the way, we already have more than 60 folks working here – mostly sales, marketing, and tech support.

Read on…

Strolling around Easter Island sounds exotic, but once you finally reach this remote outpost of humanity, the endeavor takes on a more practical nature. There’s plenty of walking to be done, and most of it is along the coastline – perfect for clearing your head after a long flight, or for meditative contemplation after viewing the moai statues up close in the quarry or on one of the surviving ceremonial platforms.

Read on…

Uzon – done.

Valley of Geysers – done.

The Valley of Death – done, but that was last year, and in the summer. So why not head back there to see it painted in autumnal colors? Why not indeed…

Read on…

After first checking out the moai quarry, it was time for a stroll amid the landscapes of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island). Of course, there’s none of the vastness of the Kenyan or Tanzanian savannas, no endless Arctic tundra of Taymyr, no boundless, unforgiving desert of the Sahara, Saudi Arabia, or Australia. Everything on the island is much more modest, but there’s still plenty of wandering about to be done between lunch and dinner.

Beginning our roam-stroll, the first thing to attract our attention – a moai statue lying face down! Why, we wondered. Alas – no tourist info-plaques. Still, we’ve the internet these days, but it always gives a thousand conflicting theories. But I digress…

Read on…

Kamchatka is full of absolutely magical – even fairytale-like – places. There’s the Klyuchevsky volcano group, and Tolbachik and its surroundings; in the south there’s Ksudach, Kurile Lake, and the Kambalny and Koshelevsky volcanoes. The Uzon Caldera and the Valley of Geysers, however, belong to a special category of volcanic beauty. And just like last time, after an hour-and-a-half’s stroll around Uzon, we were taken over by a powerful urge to walk to the Valley of Geysers…

It’s not even that far, really. “Just 10 kilometers!” our guide, Denis, a man with years of experience, announced cheerfully. But we know he always measures distances in a straight line. Sure enough, it’s exactly 10km from Uzon to the Valley of Geysers as the crow flies. As the Kamchatka adventure-tourist walks, however, it’s closer to 15km since you have to follow the contours of the landscape. And it’s soooo worth it. There’s a trail, too – you can just about make it out here in the middle:

Alright, let’s go! We kept looking around, left and right, soaking in these magnificent views:

Read on…

Herewith, a continuation of my tales from the mid-South-Pacific side…

In my previous post I gave an introductory overall picture of Easter Island, while now it’s time to have a look at some specific sites. Where to begin? Let’s start with the moai; specifically – the quarry where all the raw material for the statues was sourced.

Our guide told us how the island was divided among nine or ten family clans, with land belonging to each clan radiating from a central point to the coast – like slices of a pizza, and one of these families operated the moai quarry on its slice of pizza, supplying statues to its neighbors. Completed statues were somehow transported down toward the shore to a “showroom” for other clans to come have a look, choose one, then take it off to their slice of pizza!

Read on…