Discover Your Adventure: For the Hikers

Travel Advisor: Xanthe Ostrowski
Personal Interest: Hiking
Destination:  Machu Picchu (Peru)

"I always carry hiking boots on my travels,” says Xanthe Ostrowski, Travel Advisor at AAA Minneapolis Maple Grove office. “Climbing up above a city, ocean or even across the foothills of a mountain range gives me such a different perspective on the place I’m visiting. And whether it’s the Great Wall or Disney World, getting my steps in has been a great way to keep up my exercise routine while I’m away from home.”

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ostrowski had big travel plans for autumn of 2020. This was the year she’d tackle the daunting Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, the Incan citadel perched high in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. Her planned 10-day journey included the rugged 4-day hike in combination with time in the Peru’s sprawling capital, Lima, and colorful Cuzco, a UNESCO World Heritage Center and former capital of the Incan empire between the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Famous for its well-preserved Spanish Colonial architecture centered around a vast central plaza, Cuzco is a walkable city, ideal for active travelers like Xanthe who like to navigate their surroundings on foot.

Once she’s traveling again, Xanthe can look forward to re-booking her Peru expedition, an adventure that features a small group, authentic accommodations, and experiences that will immerse her in the daily life of Peruvians. She’ll be stargazing under the Andean sky, engaging in immersive walking tours through the cobblestone streets of Lima, and paddle-boarding at sunset on Lake Piuray in the Sacred Valley just outside Cuzco. But what she anticipates most is that reason travelers make this trip: the moment she’ll pass through the Sun Gate at sunrise for her first sighting of magnificent Machu Picchu.