All through my life I had lived to hear stories about canoeing, camping and kayaking. I had watched several movies and documentaries about canoeing and had dreamed of experiencing it for myself. Being a city boy, it was hard to imagine being on the waters, camping and paddling. It seemed like a distant dream, a mere wish until it actually happened.

It started one day when my friend Jake (another city slicker) came to me with a travel magazine that had advertisements about canoeing camping packages around the globe at reasonable prices. We looked through  and picked the one that suited us best.

The whole camping trip was put in categories; full packages that included canoeing and lodging, while the other were just canoeing trips alone. Since we both had some savings, we decided to go all out, and do the full package, this was to avoid spending money unnecessarily during the trip, as most everything was provided.  There was an easy option of an online payment and we would be sent the program of the whole canoeing trip. The program included a lot of info on the region, which was great, as we were not familiar with the place we were going. We paid and eagerly waited for the day.

Finally, the wait was over and the day came. Jake was excited as I was, though we were a bit nervous because we didn’t know what was awaiting us. With our tickets ready, our travel guide and program, we set of for the airport with an awesome taxi airport transfer service that Jake had found online. The driver was great, he helped us with our gear and during the long drive, he even entertained us with a few camping stories of his own.

The flight took one hour and forty-five minutes to our destinations. The plane touched down and we alighted. Upon arriving, we found our tour guide ready to receive us. He lead us to a taxi that carried us to the hotel were we spent our first night. What amazed most was, for the service that we got, the prices were fair and affordable. From our point at the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to a local airstrip, everything was well pre-arranged. The taxi rides from hotels to our camping sites, the airport transfers, to the hotels… everything!

The morning came and we met up with the gang and set out for our camping site. What I need to mention about is about the staff and crew of our travel agent. They were nice, welcoming, and well informed.

We got to our launching point and we found it incredible. We were in groups with others who came to have fun too. Our guides were nice people and well informed about camping, and most importantly about the river itself. Finally, we got into the canoes. I can remember how the cold water dripped onto our arms as we paddled awkwardly through the choppy water. We had fun, sang, splashed water, and in general got crazy reckless.  Over lunch, we brought our canoes together and pulled the gunnels together so we could float as one, then we ate some of the packed lunches that were provided for us. We canoed the whole day and due to our inexperience, we got weary and went for a rest.

In the evening we stopped at a ferry tale forest where we were to camp. We made our own campfires, which was amazing. We cooked different local foods. It was fun and lovely how we could come from different countries and work together to make our camping memorable. After we ate, we sat around the campfire, sang and shared ridiculous stories. Afterwards, we crawled into the tents that we had pitched earlier and slept until the following day.
I have never experienced so much fun in my life. I would recommend the same for everyone else. The canoe camping trip was fun and most interestingly affordable. All the air travels, taxi, foods, and drinks were all affordable and delicious!