“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” Saint Augustine
Travel Quest
Vol. 1 No. 1 May 2007
In this Issue:
Welcome 1
Explore With Us
Mountains of Fire
2
3
Profile: Donna O’Meara
Panama Adventure
Travel Tips
4
5
6
Upcoming Tours
6
Welcome
As President of TravelQuest International,
I’d like to welcome you to our inaugural
issue of Travel Quest, an e-magazine that
we plan to publish at least four times a
year. Each issue will include interesting,
original articles about travel and the
places we like to visit. But we are also
looking for your submissions to help us
make this more than just a generic
promotional periodical. To fill it with
relevant content, we want to include your
contributions in the form of original essays, photography hints, and
travel tips. Go to the next page to discover what we’re looking for.
On and off for the past five years, we at TravelQuest have thought about
creating some type of newsletter or e-magazine. From the beginning we
knew that finding both the time and the right person to oversee such a
TravelQuest International
305 Double D Drive
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project was critical to its success. We have found that person in Paul
Deans. Paul is a former editor at Sky & Telescope magazine (Sky
Publishing) who has served as the study leader on TQ tours to Iceland,
1-800-830-1998 (US and Canada)
Panama, Spain, and Turkey. As we have worked with Paul over the years,
we have come to appreciate and benefit from his hard work and attention
1-928-445-7754 (International)
to detail. We are so fortunate to have him lead this project.
Fax: 1-928-445-8771
Web: www.OnlineTravelQuest.com
Email: [email protected]
Copyright © 2007 TravelQuest International.
No part of this publication may be reproduced
by any means without the written consent of
TravelQuest International.
TravelQuest International
Please let us know what you think of this first issue. After all, this is your
Travel Quest.
Regards . . .
Aram
May 2007 page 1
Explore With Us!
Welcome to the first issue of Travel Quest, an e-magazine from your friends at
TravelQuest. It’s one of the ways we’d like to stay in touch with you in
between journeys.
We know you love to travel but want to get behind the tourist façade of the
places you visit. And of course that’s exactly where we like to go. After all, the
TravelQuest motto is “Journeys for Inquisitive Minds,” and we take this
philosophy very seriously. To this end, Travel Quest will feature articles that
provide cultural insights into the countries we’re planning to visit. We’ll also
describe some of the scientific sights (and sites) we’re likely to encounter on
future journeys. You’ll meet some of our tour leaders, and we’ll point you
toward interesting travel-related web sites, books, and more.
But most of all we’d like to hear from you. Do you have an interesting travel
tale — not necessarily from a TQ trip — that you’d like to share? If so, please
write. We’re looking for travel stories about 500 to 600 words in length (see
page 5 for our first story). We’d prefer to receive each tale as a MS Word
document attached to an e-mail. And don’t forget to include a high-resolution
digital photo or two.
We’d also like to tap into your travel experience in other ways. Many of you
are seasoned travelers, so if you have some travel and photography tips you’d
like to share, we’d love to hear them. These travel tips will appear in two
columns: Making Memories and On the Road; see page 6 for more details. So
send your stories, travel tips, and photo hints to [email protected].
In this premiere issue of Travel Quest we look at three major types of volcanoes
on Earth (and check out some out-of-this-world volcanism), introduce you to
volcano researcher Donna O’Meara, and recount an adventure in Panama.
Happy reading!
Travel Trivia
Sometimes knowing a few facts or a bit of trivia about the city or country
you’re visiting (or are about to visit) comes in handy. For example, Mount
Vesuvius (in Italy) blew its top on August 24, 79 AD, and erupted for more
than three days. The eruption rapidly covered the nearby city of Pompeii in
ash and soot and killed more than 20,000 people.
And thanks to its location atop a hot spot in the mid-Atlantic Ridge, geothermal energy in Iceland is plentiful. It’s
even used to heat some of the sidewalks in Reykjavik (pictured above) to keep them ice-free during the winter.
TravelQuest International
May 2007 page 2
Mountains of Fire
Other Worlds
What do Italy, Iceland, Costa Rica, and
Pyroclastic cones (cinder cones) are
the United States have in common?
They all possess active volcanoes. In
literally mounds of volcanic rock and
ash. These are created by blobs of lava
fact more than 50 countries have
and hot ash that are ejected, cool, and
volcanoes within their borders. Some
volcanoes are old and dormant, while
pile up on the ground surrounding the
volcanic vent. Wizard Island in the
others are very active.
middle of Crater Lake in Oregon is
one example.
In their book "Volcanoes of the World,"
Tom Simkin and Lee Seibert list 26
Did You Know . . .
different types of volcanoes! That’s a
lot to cover, so let’s just summarize the
The word volcano is from the Latin
three major types.
volcanus or Vulcan, the Roman god of
fire and metal-
Stratovolcanoes
working.
(also known as
composite
In ancient times
volcanoes) have
the look everyone
just off the coast
of Sicily, was
associates with a
volcano: a
thought by
people living in
towering peak
rising thousands
the region to be
of feet above its surrounding
landscape. As the “composite” name
implies, the cone is formed by a
combination of flowing lava and
eruptive ejection of material occurring
over hundreds, sometimes many
thousands of years. Mount Baker and
Vulcano Island,
the workshop
where the gods forged their weapons.
Stromboli, Italy, (pictured above) was
erupting in the 7th-century BC, about
the time when Greek colonists first
saw and wrote about the volcano. It
still erupts today.
Mount Rainier in Washington State are Kilauea, Hawaii, is considered to be
two examples of composite cones.
the world's most active volcano. It has
Shield volcanoes have a very broad,
sloping lava field — in profile many of
them actually look somewhat like a
shield! They build themselves up over
time as layer after layer of lava flows
from either the caldera at the summit
been erupting almost continuously
since 1983.
The tallest volcano (on land) is Ojos del
Salado in Chile, about 22,600 feet high.
The tallest volcano from base to peak
or cracks in their sides. A good
example of a shield volcano is Mauna
is Mauna Kea in Hawaii at more than
32,000 feet high (about six miles),
Kea on the big island of Hawaii.
though only 13,800 feet of its height is
Would it surprise you to
learn that Earth is not the
only solar-system body with
volcanoes? Mars has Olympus Mons, a shield volcano
some 340 miles across and 15
miles high. It’s the largest
known volcanic structure in
the solar system. However, it
is dead; its last eruption was
at least 200 million years ago.
Earth is also not the only
world with active volcanism.
In 1979 the spacecraft
Voyager 1 saw a plume of gas
rising from the surface of Io,
one of Jupiter’s four large
moons. We now know that
Io (above) is the most volcanically active body in the
solar system. Its eruptions
can even be seen by very
large telescopes on Earth.
Other planets and moons
also show signs of volcanism.
Venus appears to have thousands of volcanic features,
though most are likely
extinct. Triton (Neptune's
largest moon) is dotted with
icy volcanoes that sometimes
spew nitrogen frost during
geyser-like eruptions. And
Enceladus (an icy moon
orbiting Saturn) vents ice
particles into space through
fissures at its south pole.
above sea level.
TravelQuest International
May 2007 page 3
Profile:
Donna O’Meara
her first volcano — Kilauea in Hawaii.
Expeditions Council. But researching
One of their earliest dates was in a
helicopter, hovering over a lake of
volcanoes in the field isn’t the easiest
of occupations. Donna’s standard
molten lava. In 1987 they returned to
“office” wear includes a fire-resistant
Kilauea, landed, and were married
next to one of its erupting vents.
suit, heavy boots, a helmet with a head
lamp, bullet-proof goggles, a gas mask,
As she and Stephen became more
involved in studying volcanic activity,
they moved to Hawaii and, in 1994,
founded Volcano Watch International.
The goal of VWI is to study active
volcanoes and search for clues that
might help predict volcanic eruptions
Donna O’Meara loves volcanoes. Good
thing, since she has climbed nearly 100
of Earth’s active volcanoes, was
married next to a lava flow, and lives
in Volcano Village, Hawaii.
Donna says that as a child, she was
and gloves. Her scariest moment was
being trapped overnight on the lip of
Mt. Stromboli in Italy, with explosions
regularly going off all around her. But
she promises that her TravelQuest tour
of Italian volcanoes in September ’07
will not be as dangerous!
in order to save lives. So for the past 13
Donna’s
years they’ve traveled the world
researching, exploring, photographing,
children’s
book, Into
documenting, and writing about
erupting volcanoes.
The
Volcano
Donna and Stephen are among a select
group of international explorers
supported by the National Geographic
always interested in science and
nature. She attended Harvard
(Kids Can
Press) was
named an
Outstanding Non-Fiction Book for
2005 by the National Science Teacher’s
Association, and was chosen by The
University in Cambridge, MA, where
she graduated with a major in science
International Reading Association as a
“2006 Notable Book for a Global
journalism, while also studying
Society” as part of its K-12 Outstanding Multicultural Literature
natural science and geology.
Program.
She met Stephen James O'Meara, a
planetary geologist and astronomer, in
1986 in Boston when she took his
astronomy class. He needed a field
Her latest book, Volcanoes!, contains
300 amazing images of volcanic
Lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano pours
into the ocean. Courtesy USGS.
assistant and soon introduced Donna to
activity and is due out in the autumn
of 2007.
For More Information About Volcanoes . . .
Smithsonian global volcanism: www.volcano.si.edu/world/
Current volcanic activity: http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/current.html
Volcano world (an educational web site): http://volcano.und.edu/
Stromboli online (the site offers more than Stromboli): www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/
O’Meara images: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/photogalleries/kilauea
A photo glossary of volcanic terms: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/pglossary.html
TravelQuest International
May 2007 page 4
Panama Adventure
Story and images by Pat Price
A couple of years ago, my husband and I took a Travel-
After a delicious lunch of fried fish and plantains wrapped
Quest tour to Panama to see the annular eclipse of the Sun.
It was a great trip — and the eclipse, though short, was
in leaves, we were free to wander the village, buy crafts,
and have our own body parts tattooed (the ink wasn’t
spectacular — but the highlight for me had to be our visit to permanent; it wore off in about 10 days).
an Embera Indian village, deep in the Panamanian jungle.
It had started raining when we arrived, a mild, steady
Because the village is only accessible by boat, our trip began drizzle that was more annoying than anything else. We
on a riverbank. Waiting to meet us
were two dugout canoes (with
didn’t give it much thought, until,
suddenly, a shout went up and
motors) and six Embera, all of
we saw several of the tribesmen
them short, brown-skinned, and
nearly naked but for their
bolt down the stairs to the
riverbank. Alarmed, some of us
elaborately beaded “loincloths.”
After brief introductions, we
hurried over to see what the fuss
was about.
climbed in, 12 per canoe, and
were off up the river. Each canoe
was manned by three tribesmen:
one at the front, watching for
sandbars and whistling
directions; one operating the
motor; and one gripping a long
pole. The pole-gripper, we quickly
discovered, had the toughest job.
Because it was the end of the dry
season, the river was shallow —
in many spots, so shallow that the
pole-wranglers (the tribesman up
front helped) had to dig the poles
into the sand and push to keep us
That’s when we saw it. The river
— just a few short hours ago a
shallow, sluggish stream — was
now a raging brown torrent,
slashing its way through the
jungle, and by the looks of it,
bringing half the trees with it. It
was a flash flood, and in less than
an hour, the water had risen more
than twelve feet, effectively
erasing the sandbar where we’d
arrived, threatening to make off
with half the stairway and, even
more alarmingly, the canoes!
from getting stranded. Meanwhile, the man on the motor
As the Embera scrambled to secure the boats, we huddled at
had to be careful not to mire it in the riverbed.
the top of the hill, watching several months’ worth of fallen
Fortunately, the trip upriver was uneventful, a leisurely
logs, branches, and other debris turn the churning river into
a deadly waterway. We were going nowhere until the river
float past caimans lazing on the shore, other villages, and
lots and lots of trees. When we finally drifted ashore at the
level dropped significantly — and that could take hours.
base of a hill, a band of Embera musicians welcomed us
So, wet and worried, we retreated under the canopy and sat
from atop a nearby sandbar. A steep set of stairs led us up
to the village, where we sat under a canopy while the
to wait it out, making small talk while keeping an eye on
villagers treated us to a presentation on Embera crafts,
music, dance, and “body decoration” (a.k.a. tattooing).
TravelQuest International
the goings-on at the edge of the hill. Then, one of our tour
members stood up. She was a storyteller, she said, and to
help us pass the time, she would tell us a story. And she
May 2007 page 5
did, followed by another one. Long
before the second tale was told,
several of the Embera gathered
around to listen. Despite understanding no English, they laughed,
clapped, and followed the storyteller’s movements with motions of
their own. It was wonderful to see
Travel Tips
Some of you reading this newsletter
have traveled a lot; others, not so
much. For some, a TravelQuest tour is
a trip of a lifetime; for others, it’s a
you have some ideas, hints, and tips
that will help everyone travel smarter
or snap better photos, send an e-mail
with your thoughts to:
[email protected]
Your fellow travelers will appreciate it.
regular occurrence.
this bridging of cultures — this cross-
But as every traveler knows, part of the
lingual communication.
enjoyment of travel comes from the
learning experience and sharing that
experience with others. With this in
mind, future issues of Travel Quest will
include two columns, and we would
like your help with them.
On The Road will offer thoughts and
suggestions to make the journey (from
pre-departure to the return home)
easier and maybe even a little less
stressful. For instance, are you
traveling with a companion and
checking one bag each? If so, split your
clothes and toiletries between the two
bags. Do this, and if a bag does go
Time passed and more stories were
told, including one by the oldest tribal
member (above). Eventually the water
receded enough to assure the Embera
boatmen that it was safe to go. We
clambered into the canoes, most of us
soaked and a little nervous, for the
river was still flowing fiercely.
Unlike the leisurely trip upriver, our
journey back was a quick, whiteknuckle adventure. (If you’ve ever
been whitewater rafting, you’ll know
what I mean.) We shot down the river
Upcoming
Tours
Italy: Mountains of Fire
Join internationally recognized volcano
researcher and award-winning
volcano-book author/photographer
Donna O’Meara as she explores some
of the volcanoes that have sculpted
astray, one of you isn’t left with just the Italy’s landscape and history: Mt.
Vesuvius, Mt. Etna, Vulcano, and
clothes on your back.
These days it’s rare to see a traveler
Stromboli. September 14 - 23, 2007.
without a camera. And there are plenty Iceland: Fire, Ice, and the Aurora
of magazines and web sites that tell
Discover steaming geysers, hot mineral
you how to take great pictures when
you travel. The trouble is, most of
springs, active volcanoes, and pristine
glaciers by day, and stay up late to
them assume you’re on your own and
marvel at the beautiful and elusive
aurora borealis (northern lights) by
have all the time in the world to take
that perfect shot. Making Memories will
night. October 6 - 13, 2007.
explore the much more challenging
task of taking good pictures while on a
group tour.
Just Announced:
Costa Rica: Volcanoes & Rainforests
February 9 - 15, 2008.
in record time — no poling required
While the TravelQuest staff is happy to
now — arriving at our starting point
drenched, exhilarated, and three hours
use these two columns to share our
For details about these and other
travel and photographic knowledge,
upcoming trips, visit our web site:
late. But not one person complained —
we’d all had the time of our lives.
we’d really rather hear from you so we
can all learn from your experiences. If
www.OnlineTravelQuest.com
TravelQuest International
May 2007 page 6