With the turning of another new year, the Auld Lang Syne asks us,
“Should old acquaintances be forgotten?”
With the passing of time and the predictions of what the future may bring, we all tend to reflect on past memories and long-standing friendships as foundations for how we define ourselves and the paths we’ve travelled. We look to our family, friends and peers to grasp a measure of who we are and how to preceed.
Academic Travel Abroad has been very fortunate to have had developed such a solid path since beginning in 1950 and understands the value of building further on the future of strong relationships within the staff and among it’s valued partners. We now operate tours for many industry leaders in the world of educational travel such as; National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Brookings Institute, Yale and so many more and can’t help feel a certain level of privilege in this.
2009 is a new year and we look forward to working with our partners and sharing in all of our travelers unique experiences abroad. With a strong focus on our three primary goals of providing unique destinations, luxury travel accommodations and most importantly – quality service – we look forward to the new year and what lasting memories it will bring to all of our travelers.
Even in an unpredictable economy, we are still seeing that people understand travel opportunities as real investments in their personal ”stock” and are still choosing to commit to discovering new places and unique destinations across the globe.
One of our recent travelers mentioned that the added benefit of having a “tour expert” on the trip was something they truly underestimated and concluded that the added insights rendered tangible value that they would not have experienced by touring on their own. Another traveler recently mentioned that they not only met new people on one of our tours, but made life long friends with people that shared a mutual passion and expressed that this also would have been difficult to find on their own.
So venture into this new year with solid foundations of past memories, but seek to create new ones while traveling to hidden corners of the world and developing new life-long friendships.
Best wishes, and safe travels in the New Year!
As my three-year-old daughter tested her dexterity by leaping from cobblestone to cobblestone in Villa de Leyva’s exquisite colonial plaza, I couldn’t help but remember how I explored this village nearly 15 years ago with a friend who declared that he wanted to have six robust sons. The well-preserved white-washed buildings graced with evergreen-colored shutters and doors enchanted me and shortly afterward so did the friend, who was now concerned that his daredevil daughter was going to twist an ankle.
In addition, I discovered that the country’s tourism promotion campaign doesn’t exist in a void. They are also bringing in consultants from countries known for their excellent tourism to assist in training Colombian guides. Even before I married a Colombian, the country was already dear to my heart. The happy, spirited people, the breathtaking landscapes formed by the Andes Mountains and two oceans, the varied cuisine, colorful traditional festivities, and impressive pre-Colombian ruins clearly distinguish it from many other places I have visited. Knowing how much Colombia has to offer tourists, it was very exciting for me to witness these changes and see that Colombia is on the cusp of becoming the next up and coming destination to visit. I have no doubt that it will enchant others as it did me more than 15 years ago.
Grüß Gott! For those of you who have ever wondered if the scenery in The Sound of Music can possibly be real, the answer is a resounding yes! As a German student, I traveled with classmates to Germany and Austria in 2001. Salzburg was our last stop on the trip and it did not disappoint.
The yester-year era of solid pseudo-walls built around companies, big and small, where their inner workings were shielded from the very clients they catered to has come and gone.
