Mendenhall Glacier is part of Tongass National Forest and generally only available for viewing from ground level. In the forest, there are a number of trails that lead to excellent views of the glacier and the lake at its foot. However, the real treat is up close and personal – hiking on it.

So, how does one get onto Mendenhall Glacier? Helicopter and small plane rides are available through a number of outfitters and cruise lines, and with an added bonus of a guided tour.

The helicopter ride is spectacular. In approaching the glacier, you pass over vast forests and rivers. The glacier itself ends right at Mendenhall Lake, a huge reservoir of water.

You can watch as the glacier breaks pieces off and into the lake, creating huge splashes. Looking from high up, it looks small, but the pieces that fall off into the lake are huge—the size of SUVs! If it isn’t your perfect blue-sky day, that’s actually better for watching the falling ice: on a rainy day, more ice calves off than on a clear one.

Off the helicopter, the first steps are surprisingly slippery. I almost fell down once or twice! Thankfully, crampons are provided for traction, as well as the rest of the outfit, complete with fanny pack.

The tour guide took us around the area, showing us deep crevasses and glacial streams.

The glacier itself is massive—it’s tough to tell, but those plants are a lot bigger than they look! Your sense of vision actually gets a little distorted: what looks like a short five-minute hike turns out to be a twenty-minute trek across the ice.

The glacial water is completely pure, since it’s too cold for anything to grow in it. As a result, the water is clean and some of the most delicious I’ve ever tasted.

The lengths of the tours vary—shorter tours like the one I took are only for a couple of hours, while all-day excursions are available.

All in all, walking on a glacier is an unforgettable event… not to mention an excellent way to beat the heat!

To visit the Mendenhall Glacier website, click here.

Me with Chiara!!

As you may know, a couple of months ago I interviewed Jennette McCurdy on the Nickelodeon All-Access cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines and now I have FINALLY written the long awaited interview with Big Time Rush’s Ciara Bravo. So without further ado, HERE IT IS!!!
We first started asking Ciara about the most obvious topic at hand: travel, of course! She said that this is her first cruise with Nick and she was loving activities such as: the pool, Slime Time Live (getting covered in green goop on the sports deck), and watching various shows and performers, including a comedic magician. She is from Kentucky, so she has travelled all around the South and also to Florida and California for filming.

Speaking of filming, Ciara mentions that her yearly schedule consists of spending six months filming in California, followed by six months back home in Kentucky. On a normal work day, she wakes up at 8 a.m., goes to hair, makeup, wardrobe and then it’s off to filming. By law, she must have 3 hours of tutoring per day, which is sometimes carried out in 20 minute blocks, and it takes some getting used to.
On days when she’s not working, Ciara has to do six hours of math and biology tutoring. For fun, she enjoys teaching herself how to play guitar and piano, horseback riding, and learning French.

As for Big Time Rush, Ciara feels that she is similar to her character, Katie, in the way that she loves her family, but is also slightly sarcastic and devious. However, she feels that she is more unlike Katie than like her. Ciara said that overall Katie is an enormously fun character to play.

The story of how Ciara got the opportunity to play this sweet yet wonderfully sassy and adorable little girl is actually quite interesting. When Ciara was only in fourth grade, she signed with an agent in Cincinnati, Ohio, who brought her to the Dallas Talent Expo, which brought her and her mom to California. There, Ciara signed with another agent and had to travel back and forth between California and Kentucky for four years until finally being matched with her current part. To continue this story, Ciara would like to start acting in movies and having guest parts on more dramatic television shows such as CSI in the future.
Of course, I just had to ask: do you know any other stars, Nickelodeon or otherwise? It turns out that Ciara’s list of celebrity acquaintances includes: Justin Bieber, Leon Thomas, Jennette McCurdy, Madison Pettis, and, my personal favorite, Russell Brand.
At the end of the interview, Ciara left us with these words of wisdom: follow your dreams, no matter how crazy they are or what anybody tells you and NEVER GIVE UP!!

Your first thought as you grudgingly board the massive Norwegian Jewel is “Okay…let me first find the teen club,” where you are pleasantly surprised. ‘Club Underground’ (modeled after an NYC subway station-graffiti and all!) offers an expansive agenda of activities such as ship-wide scavenger hunts, photo shoots, Rock Band and other Wii games, and viewing performances at the Stardust Theater as a group, not to mention all the friends you’ll meet.

As you begin to secretly believe that you’ll enjoy this vacation, that realization only doubles when you view the Freestyle Daily (agenda of all the activities that the ship has to offer on a daily basis). You see nightly karaoke, rock-paper-scissors tournaments, iCarly and Big Time Rush premieres (hosted by the stars!), Beatles cover bands, a basketball court, a pool with a water slide and hot tub, and the opportunity to “GET SLIMED” as just a few of the many various (and surprisingly entertaining) activities offered onboard. You start to mentally plan a week of shows, games, and “Family Improv”- a combination of the two.

Now, what is this “Family Improv” of which I- a mere, humble mortal- speak? Why, it is a show of sorts where the notorious “Splat Pack,” with much help from the audience calling the shots, performs a series of hilarious playful skits. Not to mention the most you’ll laugh during the entire week!

Although you still manage to act too mature for this childish vacation in front of your parents and little brother, there’s still one indulgence you can’t resist- SPONGEBOB! Yes, with Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) and Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick- your parents might recognize him from the TV show Coach), and their band “The High Seas”, you can watch them perform all your SB favorites, including “The Best Day Ever” and “Don’t Be a Jerk: It’s Christmas!”, secretly enjoying the high-pitched soundtrack of your childhood.

With all of this in mind, as you wave goodbye to NYC from the top deck, you take a deep breath, smile to yourself and think “I think I’m gonna have fun this week!”

In front of the NCL Jewel!

When asked about her traveling experiences with Nickelodeon, Jennette responded that this was her third Nick cruise, but her first with NCL; the other two had been with Royal Caribbean. She has also been to Canada to film her newest movie with Jerry Trainor, Best Player. This Nick movie premieres this Saturday, March 12. All of us aboard the Nick All Access cruise got to preview Best Player during our February cruise – I promise you that you’ll enjoy watching it on Nickelodeon!

Being an almost-New Yorker myself, I was pleased to find out that Jennette recently visited the Big Apple, stopping at famous places such as Dylan’s Candy Bar, F.A.O. Schwartz, the Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum, and the Museum of Natural History. She noted that she is fascinated by museums in general.

Of course, similar to TeenTravelTalk’s overall message, Jennette believes that travel is a great way for teens and parents to connect with each other, mostly because stress and tension that is usually present at home is usually gone when you’re traveling together as a family.

On a different subject, when asked about how she is or isn’t like her iCarly character Sam, Jennette said that she believes that “you always have to have a bit of your character in yourself and that can be expanded upon. I have older brothers so I have the tough aspect of Sam…..but I don’t push people into lockers (although sometimes I REALLY want to!). I’ve never been to juvie….I don’t eat as much as her because I don’t think I could consume that much without puking every day! I have a little more restraint than Sam. Oh, and my mom’s awesome!”

However, being a teen star isn’t all fun and games. According to Jennette, it feels like on weekdays she’s always working! Whether it’s makeup, hair, wardrobe, or shooting, days are sometimes endless! Although, when she does manage to find a few minutes to herself, she enjoys reading and learning about crew members’ various jobs and tasks on set. On weekends, she enjoys figure skating because “it clears my head. I am also the biggest movie fan. I love going to movie theaters. I love the smell of the old carpets and cheap popcorn. I also love amusement parks and roller coasters.” She especially loves the Mall of America for its indoor roller coasters.

Speaking of which, throughout March Jennette will be trekking the U.S.A. on a cross-country mall tour. (Heaven, right girls?) For details on where you can see her go to: http://www.jennettemccurdy.com/appearances.html

I also asked her about any other Nick stars that’s she’s close with and they include: Nathan Kress, Ciara Bravo of Big Time Rush (also stay tuned for an upcoming TeenTravelTalk.com interview with Ciara!), and most of the cast of Victorious.

However, some of these stars may not be as lucky as Jennette is when it comes to age placement of their characters. Jennette believes that “When iCarly is over we’ll all be aged out the same way (as we are in real life). The writers have matured us in a good, honest way. The producer always asks us what’s going on in our daily lives because he wants to keep it true to real life. I hope to keep acting and continue on working on music and recording.”

Although I understand what Jennette is saying here, I still hope for iCarly to have a long life!

Jennette was really very energetic and fun yet inspiring. Her final words were those of advice to us teens:

“Live by the quotes of people who’ve done greater things than you can ever imagine. I’m obsessed with them and I find such solitude by reading them. It really just helps to read quotes by really anyone…even Dr. Seuss! They put things into words that we can’t formulate and I love it that someone knows what I’m talking about and feeling, even when I don’t.”

With that, our time was up. Stay tuned for more Nick interviews with Ciara Bravo (Katie of Big Time Rush), Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob Square Pants), and Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick Star, Spongebob’s partner in crime)!

Me with Jennette and Luisa!

fire boat and down town New York

That evening we went to the Britannia restaurant to have dinner and met our waiter for the six days on the ship, Basil. The next day me and my cousins went up on deck and tried playing shuffleboard, at first weren’t that good but by the end of the trip we had gotten much better. Also the that evening we went to the first of three performances by John Cleese who was on of the main people on Monty Python and usually would talk about his experiences and show us some of his work in the royal court theater on board. That night at dinner was one of the tree formal nights at dinner and also during dinner I tried frog legs for the first time as an appetizer. On the Qm2 they have so many places to eat, the Britannia restaurant and the kings court (the 24 hour buffet) are both free and you can eat there as much as you want. Along with those are the Queens grill, the princess grill, the Todd English, the G32 night club, and the commodore club.

Britannia restaurant

On the third day of our Trans-Atlantic crossing we went to the first of our two planetarium shows in illuminations which is the only planetarium at sea. Along with shows it also transforms into a movie theater. Besides the theaters, the restaurants, and the entertainment, my favorite thing to do was go out on deck where you could enjoy the sea air and breeze. Also on deck you could play sports like shuffle board, basketball, paddle tennis and a driving range. Along with sports to play you could also swim in one of the four pools around the ship, or soak in one of the hot tubs that surrounds the pools (or if you are over 18 you can go to the 5th pool in the spa).

Aft decks of the ship.

My final part of the voyage I will discuss is the ship it’s self. The Queen Mary 2 along with the other ships built by Cunard (for more information go to www.cunard.com) in the past is an ocean liner, which I learned is different from a cruise ship because it is literally built to cross rough ocean waters without rocking. along with being extremely stable the ship has a much thicker hull than most cruise ships. As you know by now the Queen Mary 2 is a very large ship and is now the 6th largest passenger vessel in the world, when it was built in 2004 it was still the largest.

View from forward to aft.

Six days after our departure from New York we finally arrived in England.

Cozumel, Mexico is among the most visited places in the Caribbean when on a cruise. Even after visiting it several times, I still had a blast when I was there this summer. Although the beaches may be beautiful, I didn’t do much of that but did something rather adventurous instead. I visited an adventure park where I got the opportunity to zip line, which is something I had never experienced before. Although the thought of ziplining may be scary when climbing to the top platform, once you repel and are on your way down the screams are actually screams of thrill rather than of fear! I personally wanted to keep on going the rest of the day and would have done so had I been given the opportunity to do that.

Instead, right after the zipline, we were taken by the shore excursion staff to an exclusive beachside location where you have the option to go snorkeling with the group, get in the water, use the pool facilities or just sit back and relax. While in the water you can see your feet perfectly since the clear water is an aqua/turquoise color.

After the beach, a taxi took us back towards the port where all the shopping and dining is. Being that you are in Mexico, the place that everyone enjoys visiting is Sr.Frogs. Sr.Frogs is a restaurant where everyone gets the opportunity to order drinks and eat while having a great time dancing on the dance floor with everyone around you doing exactly the same.

The next stop on the eight day cruise was Costa Rica, where we chose to go white water rafting. Although we had done this before we picked a higher class of rapids and figured that it would be a different experience since Costa Rica was new to us. We also thought that since we’d be out in the middle of rain forests we might get the chance to see monkeys and other wildlife. I must admit that although it may have been more intense than we had anticipated it truly was a worthwhile experience that a family can enjoy together. The only thing I can give you a heads up about is, the water is FREEZING! Once finished the tour guide took us a few miles down the road to a place where we sat and relaxed while having a nice Costa Rican meal. The meal consisted of rice, beans, chicken, and fried plantains which are typical Hispanic/Latin foods.

The final but most breath-taking place was Panama City, where we went to see the Gatun Locks. The Gatun Locks is a set of locks in the Panama Canal which are used to transport cargo ships through the canal. Although there are options to visit another set of locks, these locks are the ones which are visited most by tourists. If you get there at the perfect moment you can see the gates open and the ships pass by, with the water level dropping as they do. Once this process is finished the gates close up again to fill the water which will be used for the following ship. Depending on the size of the ship and how many are before this transaction through the canal may take anywhere between 8 and 10 hours to get through.

FOOD

Speaking of which, there is a ton of food to choose from on Epic – more than any other cruise ship. There are 10 eating options which you have to pay a fee for and 11 which are free. If you’re into ethnic cuisine, then you’ll be in heaven. (Teppanyaki Japanese steakhouse is my favorite – great food plus the fun of watching very entertaining and talented chefs cook right in front of you. Make a reservation for this spot as soon as you get on board.)

If you’re not into ethnic food, you’ll still get into all the many choices, even in the buffet. Don’t forget to grab the really good, big, homemade cookies at the buffet at night – chocolate chip, macadamia nut, and more. 

STATEROOMS/BATHROOMS

While this is a matter of personal opinion, I don’t think a lot of teens will like Epic’s staterooms due to the bathroom set up. While the staterooms look really cool and different because there are a lot of curves in them, they really aren’t very functional.

The main area that I think a lot of people won’t like is the lack of privacy in the bathroom. Actually, there isn’t even a typical bathroom in each stateroom. Instead, there’s a toilet stall with a white Lucite sliding door on one side of the entryway to your stateroom and there’s another white Lucite sliding door with a shower stall on the other side of the entryway. (Lucite is a white synthetic material that you can see shadows through.)

The main problem is there’s no private place to get changed before/after you shower other than the entryway. While there’s a curtain that you can pull for privacy so that the rest of the cabin won’t see you as you’re getting changed or dried off in the entry way, it may not be in your comfort zone.

THUMBS UP

Overall, though, I think teens and their families will definitely enjoy Epic. It’s huge…it’s different…it’s memorable….it’s very active….and it’s fun!

There has been a lot of talk for over a year about the groundbreaking Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship Norwegian Epic. It finally sailed over July 4^th and teentraveltalk.com’s founder/editor Luisa Frey sailed aboard the inaugural cruise.

Here is Luisa’s take on the aspects of the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic that people like you will and will not like.

ENTERTAINMENT

Epic is making its mark in regards to cruise ship entertainment. Rather than featuring the typical cruise stage show with dancers in feathers and such, NCL’s Epic has top name entertainers aboard that you’d find in major cities. Here is the evening entertainment you should make sure you see:

Blue Man Group: This show has been featured in NYC’s Greenwich Village for years and now is on Epic. You’ll need to book your show time ahead at the box office desk on Deck 6 near the Spiegel tent or online before your trip.

This show is really quirky but that’s what is cool about it – I can’t really say WHAT the blue men exactly do but it’s all pretty unique and off beat. (As in, rolls and rolls of clean toilet paper are unfurled at one point and the audience has to pass it forwards until it reaches the stage!) Also, during the entire show, not a word is spoken from the blue men.

The Second City: Don’t miss at least one show of this famous comedy troupe – many of the famous comedians from Saturday Night Live got started at The Second City in Chicago. Aboard NCL’s Epic, the comedians do a lot of improv that will make you laugh for sure. Note that you have to book your show ahead of time like Blue Man Group.   

Legends in Concert: Your parents will like this show more than you. But if you’re into Madonna or Elvis, then check this out because the entertainers do a really good job of impersonating their famous look- and sound-alikes. 

Fat Cats: Slam Allen is amazing! He’s the lead singer/electric guitarist at Fat Cats, which is the first blues club at sea. He’s get this low-keyed, talented way of getting everyone into the music that he and his band create, in the style of famed blues pioneer B.B. King.  Even if you’re not into the blues or jazz, you will admire the talent here.

Howl at the Moon: Dueling pianos? I loved it. Howl at the Moon features mostly classic rock ‘n roll that very talented piano players bang out with a ton of energy. If you’re into rock in the least bit, check it out. The two pianists take requests.

Cirque Dreams & Dinner: Tell your parents NOT to waste their money on this! It’s way too long and the side show (the circus announcer and singers) are loud and frankly, annoying. If it were just the cirque-style acrobats featured in the show, it’d be good. But two hours of mostly the circus announcer talking on and on were more than I and many other adults could handle.

There has been a lot of talk for over a year about the groundbreaking Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship Norwegian Epic. It finally sailed over July 4^th and teentraveltalk.com’s founder/editor Luisa Frey sailed aboard the inaugural cruise.

 Here is Luisa’s take on the aspects of the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic that people like you will and will not like.

WATERSLIDES & OTHER ACTIVE PURSUITS

Norwegian Epic’s Aqua Park will not disappoint. With three enclosed slides, Epic’s water park area is pretty impressive for a cruise ship. The best of the slides is the Epic Plunge, which NCL calls the “longest bowl slide at sea”. We call it the “toilet bowl” because you swirl around in your tube in this bowl-like structure until you suddenly plunge down the last part of the enclosed slide. Tip: Try to get on line soon after the slides open up each day to avoid long waits. (Your daily program aboard ship will list the hours.)

 If the toilet bowl is not your choice of active things to do outdoors, then check out the rock climbing wall or the first rappelling wall at sea. The sports deck area also has a basketball court and batting cage.  

Indoors there is a small ice skating rink to keep you cool on a hot Caribbean day. You and your friends or family can have friendly competitions at one of the six indoor bowling lanes or at the huge Wii wall located in one of the public lounges. 

TEEN ROOM

The Epic’s teen room – called Entourage — has by far the best view of any young adult room at sea. Most teen rooms are right by the little kids’ rooms but this one is in a totally different spot, making it private.

What’s best is that three sides of it have floor to ceiling windows with full views of the ocean or port. In the center are Sony PlayStations and couches, Fussball and air hockey. There are even vending machines for when you’re hungry but don’t want to make the trek to the buffet.  

Like on most big cruise ships, there are teen activities throughout the day and night too.