var textForPages =["Vol. 10, no. 2<br/>DISPATCHES<br/>D<br/>fi<br/>fie<br/>el<br/>l<br/>d<br/>d<br/>n<br/>no<br/>o<br/>t<br/>te<br/>es<br/>s<br/>f<br/>f<br/>o<br/>or<br/>r<br/>O<br/>O<br/>.<br/>.A<br/>A<br/>.<br/>.<br/>T<br/>T<br/>.<br/>.’<br/>’s<br/>sS<br/>S<br/>i<br/>i<br/>r<br/>r<br/>E<br/>Ed<br/>dm<br/>mu<br/>u<br/>n<br/>nd<br/>dH<br/>Hi<br/>il<br/>ll<br/>la<br/>ar<br/>r<br/>y<br/>yC<br/>Cl<br/>lu<br/>u<br/>b<br/>b<br/>m<br/>me<br/>em<br/>mb<br/>be<br/>er<br/>rs<br/>s<br/>SM<br/>","“Every inch of Angkor Wat is covered in painstaking detail: thousands of celestial beings carved into the walls, each one of them unique . . . history and myth told through epic bas relief. Exploring up close, every inch captivates the eye. When you step back, though, you can truly appreciate the grandeur of this place— then the pride of the Khmer kingdom, now Cambodia’s crowning jewel.”<br/>","","6 Letter from the Editor<br/>7 Correspondence<br/>Our readers share letters, photos, and more<br/>10 Where in the World<br/>Can you identify this picture?<br/>11 O.A.T. Photo Contest<br/>Congratulations to our 2016 winners!<br/>12 Spotlight on What’s New<br/>New Adventures for 2018<br/>14 Immersions<br/>O.A.T. travelers connect with local culture<br/>15 In the Know<br/>Global eating etiquette<br/>16 World Calendar<br/>Upcoming events of interest<br/>24 Call of the Wild<br/>Botswana’s elephants<br/>25 Outlook on Women<br/>The Society of Women Geographers<br/>26 Adventure Countdown<br/>Sports and games from around the globe<br/>33 Trailblazers<br/>A conversation with Filipa Fernandes<br/>34 Literary Adventure<br/>Selection Day by Aravind Adiga<br/>35 Field Notes<br/>Traveler Steve Cutright rounds Cape Horn<br/>36 Moveable Feast<br/>Korean cuisine<br/>39 O.A.T. Philanthropy<br/>Community service trip to Nepal<br/>41 Setting Sail<br/>Travelers Geraldine Freeman and Thomas Mangone visit the Panama Canal<br/>47 Cultural Moorings<br/>T.E. Lawrence<br/>48 Stepping Ashore<br/>Meet Trip Leader Darko Perojevic<br/>49 Hands on Deck<br/>Meet Ships Operations Administrator Melinda Kurti<br/>50 Adventure Update<br/>News briefs from O.A.T.<br/>“So when I found myself standing in the echoing ticket hall of the central Sarajevo bus station on a cool August morning,<br/>with a wide-open<br/>red tote bag and no iPhone to be seen, I thought instantly of my mother and her unbearable habit of always being right.”<br/>40 Spotlight On<br/>Small Ship Adventures<br/>Backpacking through the Balkans PAGE 18<br/>","“Many O.A.T. Trip Leaders ask their group at the end of the tour ‘What was your best day?’ Mine was that day.”<br/>“Even many who are a bit more familiar with Polish culture (by way of vodka, polka, and pierogis) may not know that Poland’s maritime history is as rich as that of Croatia, and that its coastline has been key to its identity in times of war and peace since its founding.”<br/>Crossing the Strait of Messina PAGE 28<br/>Changing Tides in Gdansk PAGE 42<br/>","A Message from Harriet Lewis<br/>Dear Traveler,<br/>Thinking back over a lifetime of travel, it’s difficult to put myself back into my 21-year- old’s shoes, backpacking through Europe on a shoestring budget with practically no plan to speak of. As my very first overseas trip, how did this experience shape me?<br/>It certainly taught me to go with the flow—<br/>it’s hard to believe I once slept on the floor of a bus terminal! It taught me about camaraderie, and how traveling brings people together—not only the girlfriends with whom I shared my adventure, but also the people we met along the way. And it confirmed my suspicion that I would be a traveler for life ... and I haven’t looked back since.<br/>While I’ll never reclaim the wide-eyed wonder of my first trip, there’s so much to be said for traveling with wisdom—and I know our experienced O.A.T. travelers agree with me! In this edition of Dispatches, we’re sharing stories from both ends of the spectrum.<br/>First, on page 19, staff writer Erin Fahy recalls her own post-college backpacking adventure through the Balkans. Erin was just a child in the 90s when war tore the region apart—but as a history major with a specialty in modern European history, she wanted to witness firsthand what textbooks couldn’t begin to tell her. Her most valuable lesson came, as most do, from someone who lived through it. (I’ll ignore the other lesson Erin learned by not listening to her mother. I was young once, too!)<br/>Then, on page 28, meet Henry Rilling, who finally—after 26 trips—decided to write a story for us. In it, he reflects on his “best day” from Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Traditions—an exercise prompted by many of our Trip Leaders at the end of each adventure. For Henry, it was the day he crossed the Strait of Messina during his optional extension to Calabria. In an email to our editor, Henry wrote: “My math tells me that I had lived 29,402 days in my life up until my ‘best day’ of that particular O.A.T. trip.” We wish him many more “best days” to come.<br/>We’ll also explore rich maritime history of Gdansk, Poland, on page 43—a vibrant seaside destination that Americans, judgment clouded by Cold War connotations, have long overlooked ... until now. And there’s plenty more to discover here in Dispatches—whether you’re looking for inspiration toward your next adventure, or fondly looking back upon journeys past. Personally, I prefer every day to bring a little of both.<br/>Warm regards,<br/>Harriet R. Lewis<br/>Vice Chairman<br/>Overseas Adventure Travel<br/>DISPATCHES<br/>Summer 2017<br/>Vol. 10, no. 2<br/>field notes for<br/>O.A.T.’s Sir Edmund Hillary Club members<br/>PUBLISHERS<br/>Harriet R. Lewis Alan E. Lewis<br/>EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br/>Laura Chavanne<br/>MANAGING EDITOR<br/>Ashleigh Osgood<br/>CORRESPONDENTS<br/>John Bregoli<br/>Andrea Calabretta Meghan Colloton<br/>Steve Cutright<br/>Erin Fahy<br/>Hannah Geise<br/>Al Gentile<br/>Henry Rilling<br/>Pamela Schweppe<br/>Paige Solomon<br/>Jenna Thomas<br/>David Valdes Greenwood Elizabeth Whiting<br/>MANAGING DESIGNER<br/>Jessica Pooler<br/>ASSISTING DESIGNERS<br/>Ali Shakra Andrea Vita<br/>PHOTO EDITORS<br/>Amanda Fisher Meredith Gausch Susan Greene Meredith Mulcahy Tina Rivosecchi<br/>PRODUCTION MANAGER<br/>Erin Aitken<br/>PROJECT MANAGER<br/>Alyssa Meers<br/>Story ideas, manuscripts, photos, artwork, and other contributions are welcomed and should be mailed to<br/>Editor, c/o Dispatches Overseas Adventure Travel One Mifflin Place, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>or emailed to editordispatches@oattravel.com<br/>So that we may properly credit you, please include your name, address, phone number, and number of times you have traveled with O.A.T. The magazine regrets that we cannot acknowledge receipt of or assume responsibility for the return of manuscripts, photos, artwork, or other material.<br/>Dispatches is a publication of Overseas Adventure Travel, One Mifflin Place, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>6 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Correspondence<br/>Letters, photos, and more<br/>Correspondence<br/>It’s the people that make the trip<br/>While we were flying back from Israel last Saturday (our 12th trip), a fresh realization came to mind:<br/>O.A.T. trips provide a valuable and sustainable life benefit in addition to the education and experience gleaned from the guide and where you are. The benefit is the people you are traveling with. They engage you in a very temporary and unique culture, and leave you with a responsibility. This temporary culture can never be reconstructed again. The natural and necessary exposure to each other gradually brings out our personal folklore events to date that have shaped your life and now shape this modest village—the O.A.T. group. All of this unexpected experience is played out with the trip as a colorful, stimu- lating backdrop. The responsibility we have is to absorb lessons from this temporary culture and deploy them in your own daily life. And, if you are lucky and thoughtful, you have new lifetime friends.<br/>Thanks, O.A.T., for adding a new dimension to our travels.<br/>Steve Anderson San Francisco, CA 12-time traveler<br/>Truth and reconciliation<br/>rice—that they had managed to work their way out of poverty after the end of apartheid through their jobs at the telephone company, eventu- ally buying this house. And now they were sending their son to college. They beamed with pride as they introduced him.<br/>After dinner, we sat and discussed the social and political issues of the day (having been encouraged by both our guide and our hosts to do so) over coffee. Then the husband invited us to ask any questions we liked of them. He said he welcomed the conversation and was open to discussing anything at all.<br/>For a moment, we grew quiet. And then, my partner, who had been struggling to come to grips with the role that her country, The Netherlands, had played in the institution of apartheid in South Africa, and the terrible consequences it had on the nonwhite citizens of that country, asked if she could say something.<br/>“I am from a Dutch background” she said, her voice shaking, “and<br/>I am struggling with the shame and regret that I feel over what my country did here. I want you to know how badly I feel about my country’s actions. It was a terrible system that inflicted great cruelty on all of you.”<br/>He reached across the table and took her hand. “You know”, he said, “we are all of mixed blood. We come from many races. Now it is time for us to move forward, knowing that we are all one, without regret or recrimination. Please do that with me. Together, we can build a world of peace and harmony.” He squeezed her hand, looked her directly in the eyes, and his smile was filled with compassion and love. I watched as tears filled her eyes. “Yes”, she said. “I would like that very much.”<br/>Jean Golden Venice, FL 2-time traveler<br/>Praise for Zoran<br/>I was pleased to see your very complimentary article about Zoran Kikic in the latest issue of Dispatches (Spring 2017, p. 49).<br/>My wife and I took an<br/>Adriatic tour aboard M/V<br/>Athena this past February<br/>and were fortunate to<br/>have Zoran as the Hotel Manager.<br/>Simply put, he was one of the highlights of the trip for us. His droll<br/>wit kept us in stitches and he was the perfect emcee for many of the ship’s evening entertainments. He is an asset to your company, and it is people like him who make O.A.T. trips so enjoyable.<br/>Robert Broach Orange Park, FL 6-time traveler<br/>My partner, who is Dutch, and I were traveling with O.A.T. on your fabulous Ultimate Africa tour of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. One of the highlights was a dinner with a host family in the outskirts of Cape Town. A couple, about our age, greeted us at their door and welcomed us in to their clean, but spare block built house, in what must have been considered an upper middle class neighborhood, though to us it seemed barely enough.<br/>By then we had learned from our very knowledgeable guide, as well<br/>as our tours of Soweto and the townships outside of Cape Town, that South African society is still very much divided by class and race.<br/>Our hosts were what they themselves referred to as “colored,” or of mixed race. They shared—over a simple dinner of stewed chicken and<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 7<br/>","Reading Recommendations<br/>I’ve enjoyed the articles in the winter issue of Dispatches [Vol. 9, No. 4] and thought of two books that I have enjoyed set in areas relating to O.A.T. destinations where I have traveled. Maybe you know of these, if not, hopefully you might enjoy too!<br/>• The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony (South Africa)<br/>• A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute (Australia)<br/>A Shared Song on the Seti<br/>Diane Sherwood Southampton, NY 13-time traveler<br/>I just received my copy of Dispatches and certainly enjoyed your review of Hero of the Empire [Vol. 10, no. 1, page 34] since Churchill has always been of great interest to me. I<br/>too was an avid reader as a child and still remember my mom scolding me for reading too much, late into the night. My favorite gift I ever received as a child was Alice in Wonderland and the best day at school was opening my new textbooks and smelling the lovely aroma of knowledge to learn!<br/>Last fall we took the Bhutan and Nepal trip and had a serendipitous experience we won’t soon forget.<br/>The Nepal portion of<br/>the trip included two<br/>days of rafting on the<br/>Seti River. On day<br/>two, which included more formidable rapids, the oar on<br/>one of the rafts bent when the raft pitched downward on one section of the river. The raft didn’t overturn and everyone was okay, but we all paddled to the shore so the oarsman could walk back to the base camp to retrieve a new oar. We were told he’d be met half-way, but we’d have to wait 30-45 minutes.<br/>Looking off in the distance, we saw a building which our Trip Leader, Avash, told us was a church. Having seen many temples and dzongs thus far, we asked if we could go to check it out. Avash agreed and led us through a rice field.<br/>When we arrived at the church, the pastor’s wife greeted us and<br/>Avash asked if we could see the inside. It was a very humble, one-story building with no pews—only a well-worn carpet on the floor. There was an altar, banners in Nepalese, and a guitar in the corner. I (John) asked if I might try the guitar and was told that I could. Unfortunately, it was quite out of tune, so I left it alone.<br/>Acting as our translator, Avash was able to answer the many questions we asked the pastor’s wife. She was most gracious and told us all<br/>about her life and the church. At one point, Avash asked if she would sing a hymn for us. After a few measures, we immediately recognized the tune she was singing and a few of us joined in, but in English. At first it appeared that she didn’t know what to make of our singing, but she quickly realized that we shared a common song, albeit in a different language. Her face lit up with a huge smile and the rest of us were touched to the point of tears. It was truly a “learning and discovery” moment which we have shared with many friends. Experiences like this one keep us coming back to O.A.T. time and time again.<br/>Carol & John Mitchell Hampton Bays, NY 9-time travelers<br/>I still love to read and belong to several book clubs since they expose you often to books one would not normally select. With that said, I have several to recommend, though you may have already found them on your own:<br/>• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. It follows a Lithuanian family caught up during the Stalin times. I had never heard about this period of time though I knew of all the atrocities committed by Stalin. Now I want to certainly visit this area on a Grand Circle or O.A.T. tour.<br/>• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Very moving story set in both France and Germany.<br/>• Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave. Tells the story of London bombing during WWII.<br/>• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng. A survivor of a brutal Japanese camp in Malaysia tries to heal.<br/>• In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson, one of my favorite non-fiction writers.<br/>• The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. Tells the harrowing tale of the siege of Leningrad during WWII.<br/>I’m looking forward to reading more of your reviews. My husband and I had a lovely trip to the Dalmatian Coast and Greece.<br/>Joyce Keller Baltimore, MD 3-time traveler<br/>8 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Krishna’s Butterball<br/>Editor’s Note: In the “Where in the World?” section of our last edition ([Vol. 10, no. 1, p10], we featured Krishna’s Butterball from Mahabalipuram, India, which is a 20-foot boulder weighing 250 tons, teetering above a four-foot base. One of our loyal readers provided an even better viewpoint.<br/>Thanks for the great job—this is one classy magazine and I enjoy reading it.<br/>In the latest one, you had a picture of that huge Indian pebble. It really is huge, and the picture would have been much more impressive if it had some people near it to show the scale. Also, how fearless they are in using it as an umbrella<br/>without worrying about<br/>it rolling over them. Note that it is on the edge of a pretty steep hill. I kept my distance.<br/>Hal Behl Albuquerque, NM 25-time traveler<br/>Standing Her Ground<br/>A test of my courage came in Botswana when my friend and I had come to a new camp on the Okavango Delta.<br/>Our Trip Leader gave us our tent assignments and gave each<br/>a small whistle to wear around our necks. This was to blow<br/>to warn the<br/>others if we<br/>encountered a stray<br/>animal on the path. I set off alone, a little ahead of the group, to find our tent. As I rounded a corner, guess what? There came toward me a huge male elephant (all the females stay with the herd but the males wander freely), and I was all alone facing him from a distance of about 20 feet! I stopped and blew on my whistle but out came only a faint peep! No human could possibly have heard that pathetic, weak, peeping attempt at warning the Trip Leader and group that I was in big trouble!<br/>I decided to do what I knew about animals in order to avoid alarming the elephant. All my instincts told me I wanted to turn and run back to our group, but I stood perfectly still as the beautiful beast and I stared at each other. “At least elephants aren’t carnivores,” I told myself. Neither of us moved at all so I started slowly taking steps backward. The elephant stayed still, evidently not perceiving me as a threat.<br/>After what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only about<br/>five minutes, our Trip Leader and group came along and the Trip Leader took us all safely on an alternate route to our tents, avoiding the elephant.<br/>I felt very proud that I hadn’t panicked and had kept my cool! I will never forget this experience!<br/>Kathleen Bivens Preble Huntington Beach, CA 12-time traveler<br/>Dropping a Note<br/>I always look forward to each issue of Dispatches. I especially like your well-documented article, “Grab Your Dancing Shoes” [Vol. 10, No 1, pages 26-27] with excellent photos.<br/>Being a dancer all my life, I have integrated both eastern and western styles of dance. I’m a graduate of Juilliard with a foundation in ballet/ modern dance, and I was on Broadway in The King and I, South Pacific, and West Side Story. Then I went on to Java, Bali, and Africa on grants from Ford and Rockefeller.<br/>Sorry for the long introduction, but I just wanted to let you know I appreciated the article. My current favorite dance style now is flamenco. I’m looking forward to my Bhutan and India trip in October!<br/>Hazel Hood Ellicott City, MD 3-time traveler<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 9<br/>","Note from the Editor<br/>I owe my editorial team a special thank-you for this edition, because I took off for vacation halfway through the production cycle. Before I did, I had the pleasure of speaking with Henry Rilling, a 26-time traveler who contributed our feature story on page 28. When I told Henry I was headed to the Czech Republic with my husband, I could practically hear his eyes light up as he told me how magical he found Cesky Krumlov, and how excited he was for me to see it. Right after we arrived, while I sipped a glass<br/>of wine at a sunny riverside café within view of the castle, I remembered our conversation—and had to agree he was right.<br/>As travelers, we naturally want to share our experiences—just as we crave insight and advice from others who have been somewhere before us. It’s what Dispatches is all about—so I hope you’ll share your thoughts with my team and me in an email to editordispatches@oattravel.com.<br/>Happy reading!<br/>Laura Chavanne Editor-in-Chief<br/>Editor-in-Chief,<br/>Laura Chavanne in Prague<br/>Share your travel experiences<br/>Dispatches is your magazine—and as O.A.T.’s best travelers,<br/>we know you have many stories to tell. Want to see your memories in print? Consider sending us ...<br/>• Photos from your adventure, with brief descriptions of what’s going on.<br/>• Stories, anecdotes, or travelogues—whether they’re just a paragraph or several pages in length.<br/>• Artwork or poetry inspired by your adventure.<br/>• Comments and feedback about Dispatches—and what<br/>you’d like to see.<br/>• Don’t fancy yourself a wordsmith? Send an idea for a story and one of our writers will contact you.<br/>Send your submissions via email to: editordispatches@oattravel.com, or by regular mail to:<br/>Editor, Dispatches<br/>c/o Overseas Adventure Travel One Mifflin Place, Suite 400 Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>Artwork submitted by email should be attached as a .jpeg with 300 dpi resolution; artwork submitted by regular mail should be at least 5\"×7\" in size.<br/>So that we may properly credit you, please include your name, address, phone number, and number of times you’ve traveled with O.A.T.<br/>Where in the World?<br/>Which rocky mountain got its entire nation named “dark” despite the summit itself being composed of nearly white stone?<br/>Test your knowledge of the world by identifying this landmark and the country where it can be found.<br/>10 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>(For the answer, see page 51)<br/>","Enter O.A.T.’s 2017 Photo Contest<br/>2016 GRAND PRIZE:<br/>A FREE Overseas Adventure Travel trip for two, anywhere we travel<br/>Jamie Stamey • 6-time traveler • Sherrills Ford, North Carolina<br/>Winners of our 2017 photo contest will be announced at www.oattravel.com on January 19, 2018 and also in the winter issue of Dispatches magazine.<br/>HOW TO ENTER<br/>Upload your photos to our Traveler Moments page at www.oattravel.com/moments OR email your photos to OATphotocontest@oattravel.com<br/>GRAND PRIZE WINNER<br/>Contest Rules<br/>• Eligible subject matter includes shots of scenery, cultural attractions, local people, a special moment with fellow travelers— anything that evokes the spirit of discovery.<br/>• Photo must have been taken by you on an O.A.T. or Small Ship Adventure within the past 5 years.<br/>• When uploading your photos to Traveler Moments, please include a short descrip- tion of the photo or your trip.<br/>• Entries must be submitted no later than November 30, 2017.<br/>• Visit www.oattravel.com/photocontest for more information.<br/>• If submitting your photos by email, you must include the following information in your email:<br/>1. Your name, address, and how many times you've traveled with O.A.T.<br/>2. Name of O.A.T. adventure and where and when photo was taken.<br/>3. Names of the people pictured (if you know them). Short stories about the photos are also welcome.<br/>Important Terms: All photographs become the property of Grand Circle Corporation, and may be reproduced in our pub- lications and on our websites. First prize is an O.A.T. adventure of your choosing for you and one companion, main trip only, with a maximum value of $10,000 per couple. All applicable taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner, who will receive a form 1099 reflecting the actual retail value of the prize. Please visit www.oattravel.com/photocontest for full terms.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 11<br/>BEST IN CATEGORY 2016 WINNERS: $300 in Travel Credits<br/>LOCALS<br/>Mark Feider • 9-time traveler • Glendale, Wisconsin<br/>NATURE<br/>Joaquin Espejo • 13-time traveler • Milan, Illinois<br/>LANDMARKS<br/>Phil Mastores • 5-time traveler • Scottsdale, Arizona<br/>TRAVELERS<br/>Kathy Vitale • 5-time traveler • Walpole, Massachusetts<br/>","Spotlight on What’s New<br/>New Adventures<br/>By land and small ship in 2018<br/>Our travelers are incredibly experienced—especially Sir Edmund Hillary Club members like you. So we continually strive to offer you new horizons to explore. To satisfy your insatiable thirst for discovery, we’ve announced 35 new adventures by land and small ship over the past four years. We’ll always share the newest itineraries here in Dispatches—and to see a full list of what’s new for our 2018 season, visit www.oattravel.com/new2018.<br/>Fjord Cruise & Lapland: Norway, Finland & the Arctic—<br/>17-day Small Ship Adventure<br/>Oslo, Flam, Bergen, Alesund, Trondheim, Rorvik, Bodo, Svolvaer, Tromso, Kirkenes • Finland: Ivalo, Helsinki<br/>Optional extensions:<br/>4 nights pre-trip in Copenhagen, Denmark 3 nights post-trip in Stockholm, Sweden<br/>• Ride aboard the vintage Flam Railway train with your small group—and pass some of the most stunning scenery that Norway has to offer.<br/>• Sail for 6 nights along the ruggedly beautiful Norwegian coast, making your way towards the Arctic Circle. Along the way, step ashore in small ports and peaceful fishing villages.<br/>• Journey far above the Arctic Circle to the northernmost point of Europe: The North Cape. Rising 1,000 feet above sea level, this massive cliff is home to hundreds of thousands of puffins, gannets, and cormorants.<br/>View the full itinerary, watch films and videos, and more at www.oattravel.com/scn<br/>Mediterranean Cultures & Islands: A Voyage from Barcelona to Athens— 19-day Small Ship Adventure<br/>Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca • Sardinia: the Barbagia • Sicily: Trapani,<br/>Erice, Siracusa, Agrigento • Malta: Valletta • Greece: Zakynthos Island, Delphi, Corinth Canal crossing, Athens<br/>Optional extensions:<br/>4 nights pre-trip in Madrid, Spain<br/>5 nights post-trip in Ancient Glories: Olympia, Nafplion & Athens<br/>• Feel the pinch as your 89-passenger ship slips through the Corinth Canal, which splits the Peloponnese peninsula from the Greek mainland. Flanked on both sides by sheer rock cliffs, it’s just 70 feet wide.<br/>• Discover a realm of myths and legends as you spend three days exploring Greece. Feel the spiritual tug of Delphi, and explore the iconic Acropolis.<br/>• Journey 100 miles off the coast of mainland Spain to Mallorca, a popular play- ground for international artists and the Spanish royal family.<br/>View the full itinerary, watch films and videos, and more at www.oattravel.com/cbh<br/>12 DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017<br/>","The Aegean & Mediterranean: A Voyage from Athens to Jerusalem & the Greek Islands—12-day Small Ship Adventure<br/>Greece: Athens, Santorini, Patmos, Symi, Rhodes • Cyprus: Paphos • Israel: Haifa, Jerusalem<br/>Optional extensions:<br/>5 nights pre-trip in Ancient Glories: Olympia, Nafplion & Athens 4 nights post-trip in Jerusalem & Masada, Israel<br/>• Enter a realm of legend as you explore the iconic Acropolis, and then descend to the Plaka, with its flower-lined patios and family-owned shops.<br/>• Marvel at a contrast of color and myths as you cruise among the Greek islands that dot the Aegean: from the blue-roofed cities of Santorini to whitewashed Patmos and pastel Symi.<br/>• Experience the dramatic intersection of three faiths in Jerusalem, from the Jewish Quarter, to the Temple Mount and the Islamic Dome of the Rock, and on through Christianity’s “Way of Sorrows” and Mount of Olives.<br/>View the full itinerary, watch films and videos, and more at www.oattravel.com/cth<br/>Northern Italy: The Alps, Dolomites & Lombardy—<br/>15-day Small Group Adventure<br/>Milan • Tirano • Franciacorta • Verona • Bressanone (Dolomites) • Bassano del Grappa<br/>Optional extensions:<br/>5 nights pre-trip in Genoa & Cinque Terre 4 nights post-trip in Venice<br/>• Explore Alpine villages and uncover the melding of Italian and Austrian cultures beneath the towering peaks of the Dolomites, backdrop to fierce World War I battles.<br/>• Cross the Alps into Switzerland aboard the Bernina Express, and step off the train to walk on an ancient glacier.<br/>• Discover contrasting ways of life in Northern Italy, from the fast-paced metropolis of Milan and bustling piazzas of Verona to serene Alpine villages and hilltop towns.<br/>View the full itinerary, watch films and videos, and more at www.oattravel.com/itr<br/>South Africa Safari & Swaziland: Kruger National Park, the Garden Route & Cape Town—19-day Small Group Adventure<br/>Johannesburg • Kruger National Park • Swaziland • Hluhluwe •<br/>Port Elizabeth • Tsitsikamma • Cape Town<br/>Optional extensions:<br/>4 nights pre-trip in Big Five Bush Safari: Entabeni Game Reserve 3 nights post-trip in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe<br/>3 nights post-trip in Cape Town<br/>• See South Africa’s rich diversity of wildlife during a bush-walk at Kruger National Park and multiple game-viewing drives in both Kruger and Hluhluwe- Umfolozi Game Reserve<br/>• Discover the independent kingdom of Swaziland, spending time with a subsistence farmer, and visiting Ngwenya Mine, where ochre and iron ore having been mined for centuries<br/>• Visit Boulders Beach along the Cape Peninsula’s rocky coastline, home to a thriving colony of African Penguins<br/>View the full itinerary, watch films and videos, and more at www.oattravel.com/sak DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017 13<br/>","Immersions<br/>Immersions<br/>A photo journal of O.A.T. travelers “going native” as they connect with local cultures<br/>Good Vibrations<br/>All \"Rallied\" Up<br/>18-time traveler Swee Shubkin of Baton Rouge, LA, shared this mystical moment from the pre-trip extension of The Wilderness Beyond: Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & the Chilean Fjords. On Easter Island, some claim they can feel soothing vibrations from magnetite rock. We’d like to give it a try.<br/>Learning in Laos<br/>When our photographer, 15-time traveler Dora Parsons of Orange Beach, AL, encountered a political rally with her group during Heart of India, these ladies wanted to keep fellow traveler Peggy Bullion for themselves.<br/>Brick by Brick<br/>Willard McGraw, 3-time traveler from Newton Center, MA shared this shot from Ancient Kingdoms: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam. His fellow traveler gave him a picture-perfect moment as she led a group of Laotian children in song.<br/>5-time traveler Barbara Mallon of Livermore, CA, loved Safari Serengeti: Tanzania Lodge & Tented Safari so much, she returned a second time and brought her family along. In this photo, her son is working hard in a brick-making community in the Ngorongoro Highlands.<br/>Share Your Travel Moments ... and Enter to Win<br/>If you have memorable photos like these, we encourage you to upload them with our website’s Share Your Travel Moments feature. When you do, you’ll be automatically entered into our 2017 Photo Contest. See page 11 to learn more.<br/>14 DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017<br/>","Global Eating Etiquette<br/>Think twice before you take a bite<br/>In the Know<br/>“<br/>Keep your elbows off the table;” “Chew with your mouth closed;” “Place your napkin on your lap;” these<br/>common phrases can be heard around tables across America. General table etiquette and good manners are<br/>By Ashleigh Osgood<br/>Ashleigh is a co-Managing Editor of Dispatches<br/>and has been with O.A.T. since 2013. Not the most adventurous eater, she once tried guinea pig in Peru, but only because she was being polite.<br/>In following proper salt and pepper etiquette around the world, you should always pass both shakers, even if someone at the table is requesting just one.<br/>When eating with chop- sticks, be sure not to stick them straight up in a bowl of rice and refrain from using them to spear your food.<br/>In England, make sure you don’t clink your teacup with a spoon while stirring, and be sure to place the spoon on the saucer immediately after.<br/>things we learn from a young age, creating learned behaviors we aren’t often conscious of when we dine. ut how does our specific set of culinary rules translate when we travel abroad? Test your knowledge on these table<br/>B<br/>rules from around the world.<br/>1. While in some cultures, eating with your hands is encour- aged, where should you use cutlery for everything? (Yes, even sandwiches!)<br/>a. Peru<br/>b. Colombia c. Chile<br/>d. Argentina<br/>2. Don’t strive to be a member of the clean plate club in this country. Leaving some food leftover at the end of the meal is a sign of respect to your host, letting them know they provided you with plenty to eat.<br/>a. China<br/>b. Japan<br/>c. Turkey<br/>d. Botswana<br/>3. Which of the following statements is true about Egyptian table etiquette?<br/>a. Don’t place your napkin in your lap; it shows that you are a messy eater.<br/>b. Don’t ask for a straw in your beverage; it alters the flavor of the drink.<br/>c. Don’t ask for salt or pepper; it implies your food is not seasoned properly.<br/>d. Always accept tea when it is offered to you; it is disrespectful to your host to refuse<br/>4. “More cheese, please” is a phrase you should refrain from uttering in this country, especially if you are about to dig into a seafood dish.<br/>a. France b. Iceland c. Norway d. Italy<br/>5. While slurping one's food is generally frowned upon, this country actually encourages it. They believe it indicates you are enjoying your meal, plus some even believe it improves the flavor of the dish.<br/>a. Japan<br/>b. China<br/>c. Laos<br/>d. Cambodia<br/>6. In India, why should you only eat with your right hand?<br/>a. Most people in India are right-handed<br/>b. The left hand is considered unclean<br/>c. The left hand is considered clean and should<br/>remain that way<br/>d. The right hand is generally stronger than the left<br/>7. Drop the utensils! In which country should the entire table let the oldest person present set the pace of the meal by taking the first bite?<br/>8.<br/>9.<br/>a. Thailand<br/>b. Vietnam<br/>c. Japan<br/>d. South Korea<br/>In Thailand, the fork only serves one purpose and it’s not what you’ve grown accustomed to—what is it used for?<br/>a. To hold food in place while cutting with a knife<br/>b. To push food onto the spoon<br/>c. To twirl noodles<br/>d. To separate food into different sections on<br/>the plate<br/>Fork, knife, spoon, and ... bread? Where is bread considered a utensil, enough so that it belongs directly on the table and not on a plate?<br/>a. France b. Spain c. Ireland d. Greece<br/>10. No, you may not be excused. In this country, dinner- goers are encouraged to stay at the table after the meal is complete to relax, digest, and converse.<br/>a. Morocco b. Sweden<br/>c. Spain<br/>d. Costa Rica<br/>Answers appear on page 51.<br/>DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017 15<br/>","World Calendar<br/>By Al Gentile<br/>Al just started writing for O.A.T. and is gearing up for his first international trip to Norway.<br/>World Calendar<br/>O.A.T. Trip Leaders and regional staff share upcoming events of interest<br/>August<br/>August 10-13 Puck Fair (Ireland)<br/>Ask an Irishman in Killorglin the deal with the crowned goat, and he’ll say it was he who saved the town from the British. A centuries-old tradi- tion, a herd of goats warned Killorglin of an English attack. Animal rights activ- ists argue the main attraction—“King Puck” in a cage 60 feet in the air—is animal cruelty.<br/>August 25-September 6 Onam (India)<br/>During the Malayali month of Chingam (August to September), Onam marks the homecoming of legendary King Mahabali. Celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala, people decorate their homes with ornate flower arrangements. From the electrifying Vallamkali (Snake Boat Race) to intricate pookalam— floor sketches made with brilliantly colored flowers—Onam is a popular attraction for both domestic and international tourists.<br/>September<br/>September 19-20 Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri (Japan)<br/>Known for its many ornately-carved danjiri, or wooden floats, the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri is Japan’s version of the Running of<br/>the Bulls. Each<br/>float represents a different neighborhood<br/>in the city of Kishiwada in Osaka. For thrill-seekers, seeing the floats pulled down the narrow streets at breakneck speed makes this festival<br/>one of the most popular in Japan.<br/>September 27-October 2 Dashain (Nepal)<br/>One of the biggest festivals of the year in Nepal and some parts of Northern India, Dashain commemorates the victory of Lord Ram over the demon king Ravana. People paint their homes to invite the mother goddess to bless their families, ride traditional bamboo swings, and partake in multiple blessing traditions.<br/>October<br/>October 10-17 Musica dei Popoli Festival in Florence (Italy)<br/>For Italians, the Musica dei Popoli festival is one of the best ways to experience folk music from around the world. Based in Florence, this annual celebration draws performers from all over the globe. A curated set of performances of Jazz, Latin, African, and everything in between bring the party and the beat to Florence throughout the month.<br/>16 DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017<br/>","October 13-15 Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival (New Zealand)<br/>For those who are either professional or amateur stargazers, the Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival at the University<br/>of Canterbury is an opportunity to gaze into the heavens. Professionals in the field of astronomy and astrophysics give lectures, and multiple documentaries look into the scientific, environmental, and social aspects of stargazing.<br/>December<br/>December 5-6 Mount Popa Nat Festival (Myanmar/Burma)<br/>In one of the most important religious events in Burma, thousands of pilgrims trek to Mount Popa to pray to 37 revered guardian spirits, known as nat. During the festivi- ties, the nats are called upon through song, dance, and the offering of liquor. It is said the bigger the celebration, the happier the guardian spirits.<br/>December 11-19 Havana International Jazz Festival (Cuba)<br/>One of the histori- cal hotbeds of jazz, the Havana International<br/>Jazz Festival<br/>brings many big<br/>international<br/>names—and the<br/>best local talent—<br/>to the stage. As<br/>Cuba is still a<br/>breeding ground for the jazz world, music fills each part of Havana’s cobbled streets. Sounds of Cuba, Africa, the United States, and beyond fill the air for nine days.<br/>November<br/>November 29-December 6 Fiestas De Quito (Ecuador)<br/>To celebrate the founding of the city of Quito, its residents partake in a week-long bonanza full of exciting events<br/>including the crowning of the Reina de Quito—the Queen of Quito. Bull fighting, flamenco dancing, and special opera and theater productions throughout<br/>the city make all of Quito a destination.<br/>November 30 to December 1 Mawlid – Birth of Mohammed (Indonesia)<br/>Dressed in vibrant colors, Muslims in Indonesia join together for a procession to celebrate the Prophet Muhammed. A<br/>big part of Mawlid is the recitations of poetry and acts of charity, and in Indonesia the day usually brings carnivals throughout the country.<br/>January<br/>January 2 Kaapse Klopse (South Africa)<br/>Originally the only day African slaves had off, Kaapse<br/>Klopse is everything a street party should be. Minstrels<br/>sing and dance throughout the streets with all kinds<br/>of instruments dressed in outlandish, brilliantly-colored outfits. The Klopse—meaning troupes in Kaapse Afrikaans— vie for recognition in competitions to be named the best street band.<br/>January 31 Thaipusam (Malaysia)<br/>Over a million Hindus in Malaysia travel to the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the birth of Murugan, the youngest son of the gods Shiva and Parvati. Devotees will<br/>pierce their<br/>bodies with metal skewers and hike several miles with bowls of milk<br/>and other offer- ings on their heads, bringing statues of the gods with them.<br/>DISPATCHES•SUMMER2017 17<br/>","Backpacking through the Balkans<br/>A Historical Journey through the Powder Keg of Europe By Erin Fahy<br/>18 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>My mother always nagged me to keep my purse zippered and close to me at all times. I had a bright red tote bag,<br/>the kind with a long mouth that gaped invitingly and only a<br/>single zipper running along its edge, which I was too lazy to zip<br/>closed most of the time. She referred to this tote bag as a “pocket- book,” which was reason enough not to take her advice, but<br/>I didn’t particularly need any reasons: I was young, a col- lege graduate of all of two months, and full of the kind<br/>of brash and newly-acquired independence that led me to embark, alone, on a backpacking<br/>trip through the Balkans.<br/>","DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 19<br/>","Previous page: The 16th century Old Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia & Herze- govina is illuminated in the distance.<br/>Previous page inset: Erin chose a solo backpacking trip through the Balkans for her post-collegiate tour and gained more knowledge than any text- book could ever teach.<br/>Right: An aerial shot of Kotor and also the Bay of Kotor, which Erin rode across on a ferry during her adventure.<br/>Mostar’s old bazaar, Kujundžiluk, is bustling with shops and street merchants selling their finest wares, pieces<br/>of art, and handmade crafts.<br/>So when I found myself standing in the echoing ticket hall of the central Sarajevo bus station on a cool August morning, with a wide-open red tote bag and no iPhone to be seen, I thought instantly of my mother and her unbearable habit of always being right. I considered, with a burgeoning sense of dread, the call I would have to make to tell her that yes, my phone had been stolen and no, my bag hadn’t been zippered. And then, the pit of dread blooming into a cold sweat, I realized instantly the utter impossibility of now making such a call.<br/>This was not at all the sort of independent foray I had envisioned the trip being.<br/>Continuing education<br/>My decision to backpack through the relatively less-trodden Balkans for my post-collegiate tour, instead of jaunting off to the more popular Paris, say, or Barcelona, stemmed largely from the desire to be cooler than my peers—after all, how many of my friends could say they had been to tiny Mostar, Bosnia, or taken a ferry ride across the brooding Bay of Kotor in little-known Montenegro?<br/>But added to this juvenile ambition was a more studious pursuit: I had graduated with a History degree, specializing in modern European history, and yet I knew next to nothing about the violence that had rocked this region throughout much of<br/>my early childhood. I set off to the Balkans that summer determined to learn more about the conflict and to fill in this gap in my education.<br/>And so I took tours, explored museums, and visited every war memorial I could get to. In Croatia, I hired a car to take me to Montenegro, and peppered my driver, a Croat national, throughout the long drive with questions about his wartime experience.<br/>As we zoomed along scenic coastal highways that transformed into foggy mountain passes, he told me of the economic hardship brought to Croatia by the war, the scarcity of food and the sound of bombings that could be heard in the distance. And yet he maintained Croatia’s absolution: the war was terrible, he said, but it was not the Croatians’ problem. He was bitter the war’s reach had affected his life, but spared little sympathy for the thousands of Bosnian lives that had been lost in the conflict.<br/>Croatia is a stronghold of Catholicism; more than 86% of the population identifies as Catholic, and 90% identify as ethnic Croats. With such homogeny, perhaps my chatty driver simply couldn’t relate to the religious and ethnic divisions that had provoked such horror in neighboring Bosnia.<br/>But in Mostar, these divisions were more glaring. This ancient town in Bosnia’s south is best known for its UNESCO World Heritage Stari Most (Old Bridge), a majestic stone arc that soars above the trickling Neretva River and stars in just about every visitor’s holiday snaps of the town. At one time, the Old Bridge divided Mostar into two quarters: Bosniak Muslims on one side, Christians on the other. Mortar fire during the war destroyed the bridge, severing the town physically and spiritually, and making the bridge a poignant symbol of the war’s wreckage.<br/>20 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Mostar: A look beneath the surface<br/>During my time in Mostar, I awoke at dawn to the call to prayer and watched daring young Bosnian men, Speedo-clad and glistening with oil, make the perilous 70-foot dive off the meticulously restored Old Bridge.<br/>One afternoon, I wandered down Mostar’s central tourist artery, Kujundžiluk Street, where vendors peddle Turkish lamps, talismans to ward off the evil eye, and other trinkets out of open-air store fronts and laden carts. Immersed as I was in the sights, the sounds, the sheer exoticism of the scene and of being there, alone, I strolled merrily along until I ran out of lane and found myself in a run-down neighborhood, surrounded by bombed-out buildings and stray dogs. I quickly turned back.<br/>In Mostar’s miniscule war museum, housed in a crumbling stone house overlooking the river, a permanent photography exhibit showcases with moving intensity the difficulties of daily life for Mostar’s residents during the war.<br/>While I was there, the museum was also showing<br/>a temporary exhibition on the women of Srebrenica. Srebrenica, a small town some 170 miles east of Mostar, is the site of the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim boys and men by the Bosnian Serb army. This temporary collection featured portraits of<br/>and interviews with the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of the slain men, who had only just recently begun to get answers on their loved ones’ fates, nearly two decades later. I left the exhibit with hot, angry tears running down my face.<br/>Sarajevo: Scars and survival<br/>From Mostar, I traveled by bus to Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital and the epicenter of conflict in the 1990s. Sarajevo is a small city, but it has played an outsized role in world history; it was here, after all, that a young Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princep shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, famously kicking off the start of the First World War.<br/>But although today it is best known for bloody sieges and assassinations, Sarajevo long held a reputation for being a city of tolerance, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in harmony. In fact, it is the only major European city to have a Catholic church, Orthodox church, temple, and mosque within the same neighborhood.<br/>I visited these houses of worship on a walking tour of the city. Our guide, a young man not much older than me, shepherded our group around Sarajevo’s main sites, from the touristy old quarter Baščaršija to the flickering Eternal Flame, a memorial honoring those Bosnians who lost their lives in World War II.<br/>Often, along the way, we would spot a “Sarajevo Rose,” a crater in the pavement formed by mortar shells, which has since been filled with red resin<br/>in remembrance of those killed by the bombings. They bloom all over the city with a striking, macabre beauty—in the central square market, outside a women’s clothing store, in front of a church. Though to me the vivid gashes were impossible to ignore, locals—accustomed to the business of carrying<br/>on with daily life even in the face of unspeakable horror—stepped over them blithely.<br/>“I had graduated with a History degree, special- izing in modern European history, and yet<br/>I knew next to nothing about the violence that had rocked this region through- out much of my early childhood.”<br/>Left: A woman prays at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery for the victims of the 1995 genocide.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 21<br/>","Top right: Although locals have grown accustomed to the “Sarajevo Roses” throughout the city, the images are jarring for most tourists.<br/>Bottom right: In Sarajevo, a woman peers out of her apartment window, which is riddled with bullet holes from the siege.<br/>“Perhaps if my phone hadn’t been stolen, I would never have taken<br/>the time to get to know the stranger in the seat next to me.”<br/>By the time of my travels, in 2013, peace had been restored in Bosnia, but the war’s scars could be seen all over Sarajevo. Bombed-out husks of buildings lined the city’s main thoroughfares like ghostly sentinels; entire sections of Sarajevo stood untouched, apparently deemed too far gone for repair. Even in<br/>the city’s busier downtown areas and pedestrianized shopping center, pockmarked walls bore testimony to the violence that occurred here.<br/>Sarajevans survived the siege thanks largely to the Tunnel of Hope, a secret underground passage that stretched from the UN-controlled airport to the mountains outside the city. The tunnel was Sarajevo’s lifeline: food, fuel, and weapons were transported through the tunnel, and those daring or reckless enough used it to escape, too.<br/>I visited an 80-foot stretch of the tunnel at the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum, and marveled that anyone would be able to stomach being inside it long enough<br/>to reach the tunnel’s end: at some points little more than three feet high, and frequently flooded, the muddy tunnel would have been a nightmare to get through—to say nothing of the fear plaguing tunnel-goers that they would emerge to an ambush of waiting Serbs.<br/>Unplugging and connecting<br/>My time in Sarajevo was fascinating and educational, but somber too, and I was not sad to be leaving the city for sunnier pastures in seaside Split, Croatia. Which is why, as I stood in the bus station that August morning with a racing heart and beads of sweat trickling down my back, I realized that I had no choice but to forge on without my phone and the comfort and<br/>security it represented. Travel, I was quickly learning, is rarely a comfortable experience.<br/>Flinging the offending red tote bag over my shoulder, I raced through the station and managed to board the bus to Split just in the nick of time, startling the surly driver who was midway through closing the bus’s doors. After handing over my ticket, I surveyed my fellow passengers and trooped down the aisle in search of a seat. There was only one left.<br/>A dark-haired woman about my mother’s age moved her bag from the empty seat and I slid in beside<br/>her. After so many days of impenetrable Bosnian ringing in my ears I was happily surprised to hear her greet me in English, and we quickly fell into companionable chatting. Normally I avoided this sort of small talk with strangers, preferring instead to listen to music, but I found myself suddenly without a music-playing device.<br/>Perhaps if my phone hadn’t been stolen, I would never have taken the time to get to know the stranger in the seat next to me. But talking to her turned out to be the highlight of my trip.<br/>As we sped through the dusty hills of the Bosnian countryside, I learned that she was a Sarajevo native who had immigrated to Australia some twenty years earlier to escape the war. She told me, calmly yet candidly, of her heartbreaking experience during the siege. One day about a year in, her musician husband ventured out in search of bread and never returned: he was gunned down in the middle of the road by Bosnian snipers, his body left in the street all day until night fell and it was safe to retrieve it.<br/>The eternal flame in Sarajevo is dedicated to the military and civilian victims of World War II.<br/>22 DISPATCHES • SPRING 2017<br/>","I was blown away by this woman’s raw honesty and willingness to share her story, but I was even more blown away by what she told me next.<br/>Left a young widow with two small children, in a city with no electricity<br/>or running water and very little food, she and her children braved the squalid conditions of the secret tunnel—the very same tunnel I had visited days before—to flee the besieged city. Under cover of darkness, they traveled to her parents’ farm beyond the mountains, where they hid out for the duration of the war.<br/>Throughout my Balkan travels, I had<br/>sought out memorials, museums,<br/>and even guides to teach me about<br/>the conflict, but until that moment I<br/>don’t think I truly understood the depth and scale<br/>of the war’s horrors. It’s hard to fully internalize the thousands of lives lost in war when you’re reading about it on a plaque in a museum exhibit, but the connection I formed with this woman on the bus helped me to understand the conflict with my heart, and not just my head.<br/>THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO<br/>In April of 1992, two peaceful protesters were shot by Serbian snipers during a demonstration in Sarajevo, signaling the start of the Bosnian war.<br/>Tensions had long been simmering among the former Yugoslavian states, a collection of six countries and myriad ethnic groups which had been effectively united under the communist regime of General Tito. These tensions reached a boiling point after the dissolution of communism in the early 1990s, when the Serbs— hoping to take power and establish themselves as the rulers of<br/>a Serbian Yugoslav state—embarked on a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Bosniak Muslims and other non-Serbs.<br/>The Bosnian Serb army set up outposts in the mountains that encircle Sarajevo, cutting the city off from outside supplies and preventing travel into and out of the city. Half a million people were left stranded. For three years, ten months, and three weeks, the world watched on in horror as Sarajevo lay besieged, victim to falling mortars, bombs, and sniper fire.<br/>For residents of Sarajevo, each day was a struggle to survive. Without electricity or running water, even the simplest of daily tasks became impossible, and the near-constant mortar fire from the Serbs made every excursion outside of home fraught with danger. Meša Selimović, Sarajevo’s main boulevard, became known as “Sniper Alley;” here, hundreds of civilians lost their lives at the hands of Serbian snipers who hid out in the boulevard’s many high rise buildings. It’s estimated<br/>Erin Fahy is a staff writer for O.A.T. She used to live in London, where she spent her weekends exploring Europe’s popular hotspots and hidden gems.<br/>Left: Many Sarajevans were able to escape through the Tunnel of Hope, which was also used to transport food, weapons, and fuel.<br/>Discover the Balkans with O.A.T. during Crossroads of the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia. Visit www.oattravel.com/foy for more information.<br/>Though I never learned her name, her story has stayed with me. We parted ways in Split, she to stay with friends who lived nearby and I to my hostel. Now, when I travel, I make it a point to always leave my phone behind.<br/>that an average of 330 shells fell on the city each day of the siege.<br/>And yet, life in<br/>Sarajevo went on.<br/>The story of the<br/>“Cellist of Sara-<br/>jevo,” a lone man<br/>who risked his life<br/>to play classical<br/>music amidst the rubble of bombed out buildings, garnered worldwide attention. The cellist was, he said, determined not to let the Serbian army strip the humanity from the people of Sarajevo.<br/>In February 1994, as news of the atrocities in Sarajevo continued to garner attention in the West, the U.N. Secretary-General ordered NATO troops to carry out an airstrike against the Serbian army after a par- ticularly bloody day in the besieged city. NATO strikes continued on and off over the next year and a half, until a ceasefire was reached in October, 1995. Still, it would be another few months before the Dayton Agreement was signed, and not until April of 1996 that the Serbian army officially retreated from the mountains, leaving Sarajevo and its citizens in peace.<br/>It was the longest siege in modern history, and claimed 10,000 lives.<br/>D<br/>3<br/>DI<br/>I<br/>S<br/>SP<br/>P<br/>A<br/>A<br/>T<br/>TC<br/>CH<br/>H<br/>E<br/>ES<br/>S<br/>•<br/>•<br/>S<br/>S<br/>U<br/>UM<br/>M<br/>M<br/>ME<br/>E<br/>R<br/>R2<br/>2<br/>0<br/>0<br/>1<br/>1<br/>72<br/>7<br/>23<br/>","Call of the Wild<br/>By Jenna Thomas<br/>Jenna Thomas is a staff writer for O.A.T. Her most recent adventures include an inspiring five-day visit to Cuba.<br/>Right: A herd of elephants crosses the bush in northern Botswana at sunset.<br/>Botswana’s Elephants<br/>A glimmer of hope as their neighbors fight for survival<br/>African elephants use their tusks for self- defense and to dig for food and water.<br/>Appreciate the African elephant with O.A.T. during Ultimate Africa: Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe Safari. Visit www.oattravel.com/bot for more details.<br/>Elephants were once the undisputed monarch<br/>of the African savanna. Standing ten feet tall and weighing in at six tons, they cut a majestic figure—and an intimidating one, with gleaming white tusks that come to an elegantly threatening point.<br/>At the peak of their dominance, with almost no preda- tors brave enough to take them on, the African elephant numbered as high as 26 million and roamed from the Mediterranean coast to the far southern reaches of the continent.<br/>Ironically, it was the elephants’ built-in weapon, their tusks, that proved to be their greatest weakness. That lustrous ivory was irresistible to European colonists,<br/>and the danger in facing down an elephant to procure<br/>it only heightened the romance that drove the worldwide demand for ivory goods. By the time European empires came to dominate Africa, the demand for ivory combs, piano keys, billiard balls, and décor was insatiable—in 1913, only ten million African elephants remained.<br/>That decline, as dramatic as it was, is nothing compared to the loss of elephants that Africa has experienced in the last century. A growing middle class in China— where carving ivory is a national art form—sent demand for raw materials sky-high, and elephant poaching evolved into a sophisticated industry. In 2014, conserva- tionists knew the situation was dire, but they lacked<br/>the data to prove it. That year, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and a team of philanthropists launched the Great Elephant Census, an aerial survey of 18 African countries that covered 93 percent of the African elephants’ territory. It took nearly three years, but in 2016 they announced their results—they counted<br/>just 352,271 elephants throughout Africa, a decline of nearly 97 percent in just one century.<br/>Over a third of Africa’s remaining elephants can be found in Botswana, one of the few places on the conti- nent where the population has remained stable in recent decades. With its ban on trophy hunting, vast national parks, and anti-poaching military task force, Botswana has made big strides in the fight to save the African elephant. The country’s relative political stability and small human population certainly help.<br/>However, even in Botswana, the fight is far from over. The military task force has no jurisdiction across borders, and in Botswana’s northern reaches poachers can flee to Zimbabwe, Namibia, or Zambia within minutes—long enough to kill an elephant and take its tusks. While demand for ivory continues, the slaughter of elephants will persist.<br/>On that front, conservationists have long recognized<br/>the need for government action and lobbied for ivory bans. In the last several years, two of the world’s biggest ivory markets—the United States and China—agreed<br/>to nearly complete bans on the ivory trade. The U.S.<br/>ban went into effect last June. And this March, China began the unprecedented step of shutting down all<br/>of its licensed ivory carving factories and retailers. It has yet to be seen whether the bans on legal ivory will help, since legally-traded ivory has traditionally come from elephants that died naturally. Some fear that the ban will give black-market traders (those who keep poachers in business) a lucrative monopoly.<br/>The value of a living elephant—their majesty, wisdom, and innate appeal—is undeniable to anyone who<br/>has encountered one in the wild. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to override the human appetite for ivory in time to save them from extinction.<br/>24 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","The Society of Women Geographers<br/>Outlook on Women<br/>By David Valdes Greenwood<br/>David has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle for 15 years. He is also a playwright and the author of several books.<br/>Left: Jane Goodall, known for her extensive work with chimps, was one of the many women inducted into the Society of Women Geographers.<br/>“There was still<br/>so much world to be discovered in the 20th century and in the relative calm between wars, some of the most adventurous women on earth were crossing borders no men had ...”<br/>There was still so much world to be discovered in the 20th century and in the relative calm between wars, some of the most adventurous women on earth were crossing borders no men had, rewriting history, and making contact with cultures never before known. What was their thanks? To be rejected by the Explorer’s Club, to which their most acclaimed (but sometimes less accomplished) male peers belonged.<br/>Irked but fiercely unbowed—not surprising for women who had scaled mountains alone and negotiated with mighty warlords in distant lands—a group of these rejected adventurers established the Society of Women Geographers (SWG). Over the course of the ensuing decades, the most famous women on earth (includ- ing Earhart, Leakey, and Goodall) would join their ranks, and they became a staple of National Geographic coverage. It would be 50 years before their male coun- terparts started admitting women and, by then, SWG was so prestigious, people wanted to be in both.<br/>So far, fewer than 20 women have ever received the SWG’s highest honor: The Gold Star, a symbol of an extraordinary life. One of the winners, Freya Stark, had become fascinated with Asia and Africa at age nine, reading One Thousand and One Nights. She learned Latin, French, Arabic, and Persian. She went to explore western Iran, proving the existence of the long-rumored Valleys of the Assassins. She also explored parts of southern Arabia no western man ever had. She wrote 25 books, but never entirely gave up travel, visiting Turkey and Afghanistan late in life. When she died at 100,<br/>there were very few people on earth—men or women— whose explorations could match hers.<br/>7 More Pathfinders from the Society of Women Geographers<br/>Marguerite Harrison, a single mom, who rode on horseback through what is now Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia to help film the nomadic journey of the Bakhtiari people. During an early exploration of Russia, she was jailed twice because they were sure she must be a spy.<br/>Blair Niles explored by ox cart, living among indigenous groups from Mexico and Colombia to Southeast Asia. She was a rare woman allowed to spend time on Devil’s Island,<br/>the infamous prison on French Guiana, and her published account of an inmate’s life there led to prison reforms.<br/>Gertrude Emerson kicked off adulthood with a round-the- world trip at age 20, which included stunt flying planes and spelunking. The youngest of the SWG founders, she turned her attention to India in her 30’s, adopted northern India as her home, and wrote extensively about life there. She traveled with and wrote journalistic reports about Mahatma Gandhi.<br/>Harriet Chalmers Adams, the Society’s first president, was no stranger to firsts: by that time she had already been the first female correspondent granted access to the French front in World War I, and the first female journalist allowed to photo- graph battles. She covered the war dually for Harper’s Magazine and National Geographic.<br/>Elizabeth Dickey, who was best known for her tropical jungle excursions, was featured on the front page of a newspaper with the headline, “She brings them back alive.” She disproved that claim when she showed up for an SWG banquet carrying<br/>a mummified head. (The New York Times noted that her fellow women explorers were fine with it but a male guest swallowed his olive pit at the sight.)<br/>The great-granddaughter of Teddy Roosevelt never rested<br/>on the family name. Anne Curtenius Roosevelt led the explorations of Painted Rock Cave in Brazil, where she found the walls adorned with hand prints and drawings of humans and beasts. When the walls were dated it proved her correct theory that human habitation went back twice as long as other scientists believed, making this the world’s first cave art.<br/>Like Freya Stark, Sylvia Earle is a Gold Medal winner. The first female chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, her Deep Ocean Engineering Team designed Deep Rover, the research sub that dives to 3,300 feet below sea level. Time magazine called her the Hero for the Planet, but her fans also call Earle “Her Deepness” and the “Sturgeon General.”<br/>Dr. Sylvia Earle, another well-known member of the society, on Padre Island National Seashore.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 25<br/>","Adventure Countdown<br/>By Hannah Geise<br/>Hannah is a new writer for O.A.T. Of the 13 countries she’s explored, South Africa and Australia are her favorites.<br/>Facing the Competition<br/>Sports and games across the world<br/>Often rooted in history and tradition, recreational pastimes and athletic competitions can offer a peek into what a culture values, or at least what they used to value. Teamwork and victory are common themes among both sports and games, but whether the activity involves intense physical energy, great mental toughness, or simply a good sense of humor, here are ten that stand out to us.<br/>playing as a team. In a ceremony held just before the game, the goat is slaughtered with prayers and blessings. Minutes later, the game begins with the roughness of rugby and a sense of bravado that would make the region’s nomadic ancestors proud.<br/>2. Pesäpallo—Finland<br/>Finland’s national sport is similar to America’s baseball, yet there<br/>are a few differences. One major distinction is that the ball is thrown vertically over home plate in pesäpallo—which places the pitcher and the batter startlingly close—and the pitch must propel the ball at least one meter<br/>above the<br/>pitcher’s head.<br/>Additionally,<br/>there are three<br/>bases, which<br/>form a “zig-<br/>zag” pattern<br/>of running,<br/>with a rectan-<br/>gular outfield<br/>directly<br/>behind the<br/>base area, an<br/>unusual setup<br/>that must be<br/>seen to be<br/>understood.<br/>1. Kok-boru— Kyrgyzstan<br/>Two teams, with ten players each, ride atop horses and work to score a goal by tossing a freshly slaughtered— often decapitated—goat carcass into a muddy hole. Known broadly<br/>as Buzkhasi, the game is played across many countries in Central Asia, but Kyrgyzstan’s version places a stronger emphasis on<br/>3. Cheese Rolling—England<br/>Participants in this annual tradition are equal parts crazy and coura- geous as they chase after a nine pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down a dangerously steep hill. The event is held at Cooper’s Hill in a large village called Brockworth in Gloucestershire county, and the first person who crosses the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. Sprained ankles and other injuries abound, but thankfully a much-needed first aid service is on-site.<br/>4. Picigin—Croatia<br/>This beach game<br/>blends elements<br/>of water polo<br/>and volleyball<br/>and originated<br/>in Split, Croatia’s<br/>second-largest<br/>city. Typically<br/>there are five<br/>players involved,<br/>although no<br/>formal rules are<br/>in place about<br/>the number of<br/>players allowed.<br/>Standing in<br/>knee-high water,<br/>the players form<br/>a circle and bounce a peeled tennis ball around with the palm of their hand, careful to keep the ball from touching the water. Although no score is kept in this non-competitive game, there is plenty of running and diving to keep both participants and on-lookers entertained.<br/>26 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","5. Takraw—Thailand<br/>Undeniably unique and<br/>mesmerizing to watch, takraw<br/>looks like a volleyball game<br/>played with the moves of<br/>soccer. The game, native to<br/>Southeast Asia, consists of<br/>two teams with three players<br/>each using their feet to kick a<br/>woven ball across the net. At<br/>the professional level, fantas-<br/>tic flips and aerial twists make<br/>the competitor’s kicks even<br/>more impressive. Thailand and<br/>Malaysia are the powerhouses in the international arena, with the sport gaining traction in places such as Vietnam and Singapore.<br/>6. Tejo—Colombia<br/>At first glance, tejo may seem similar to an innocent game of bean bag toss, but add some explosives and alcohol to the mix, and you’ve got tejo. This traditional Colombian sport involves throwing<br/>a metal puck—called a “tejo”—across nearly 65 feet to a clay-covered board. The goal is to a hit a small target on the board, which is a box full of gunpowder. Sparks from the impact and screams of celebration can make the game become rowdy, quickly.<br/>7. Chinlone—Myanmar<br/>Once utilized as a way to entertain Burmese royalty, chinlone is over 1,500 years old. The non-competitive game is a mix of dance and sport and is played similarly to “hacky sack” in that players must stand in a circle and use only their heads, knees, or feet to pass a woven, rattan ball between them. There are six main “strokes” or moves that can be used to pass the ball, but once the ball touches the ground, the current round is over and a new round begins.<br/>8. Hurling—Ireland<br/>This popular<br/>field game has<br/>been played for<br/>over 3,000 years.<br/>Players use a<br/>hurley (stick) to<br/>pass or carry the<br/>sliotar (ball). The<br/>sliotar can be<br/>transported many<br/>different ways: hit<br/>through the air<br/>(like in baseball),<br/>struck with the<br/>hurley on the ground (like in hockey), caught or scooped with the hurley (like in lacrosse), or carried by hand for no more than four steps. It’s fast-paced and high-impact; in fact, all players must wear helmets due to regulations passed in 2010. Goals are scored by shooting the sliotar into the net for three points or over the crossbar for one point.<br/>9. Pato—Argentina<br/>Argentina’s national sport has a history<br/>of violence, but modern updates to the game have softened some<br/>of the brutality. Two teams of four players ride on horseback and compete for<br/>possession of a volleyball-like ball, which is held within a harness<br/>of six handles to make it easier to toss and catch. Live ducks were previously used as a “ball” until about the 1930s, hence the name of the game (“pato” means duck in Spanish). To score, players shoot the ball into a net, similar to basketball.<br/>10. Bandy—Russia<br/>Combine the length of an American football game, the equipment<br/>of field hockey, and the setting of ice hockey, and you’ll find a Russian sport called bandy. At first, it looks almost exactly like ice hockey, but a small ball is used instead of a puck and goalies have gloves but no sticks.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 27<br/>","28 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Crossing the<br/>Strait of Messina<br/>Reliving the “best days” of a Sicilian adventure<br/>By Henry Rilling, 26-time O.A.T. traveler<br/>You can really see where the origins of the saying “Between a rock and a hard place” began (eight centuries before Christ) if you are on the O.A.T. post-trip extension, Calabria: Southern Italy’s Heartland, on Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions. Standing on the deck of the ferry boat crossing the strait of Messina from Sicily to mainland Italy, you can see the whirlpools on the left and the big rock cliff of Scylla on the right.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 29<br/>","Previous page: As Henry mentions, the distance between the “boot” of Italy and Sicily (the Strait of Messina) is larger than one might think.<br/>Previous page inset:<br/>Some travelers men- tioned their best day of their trip was viewing the fourth century Roman mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale.<br/>Right: A major highlight for Henry was visiting southern Italy’s coastal city of Reggio di Calabria, which is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina.<br/>“Once you have seen it, you can no longer look at a map and just think of the ‘boot’<br/>of Italy kicking the ‘football’ of Sicily; you just think of that little distance between them and how difficult and terrifying<br/>it must have been to ancient sailors.”<br/>Every eight hours, the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea on the north and the Ionian Sea on the south change directions as the flow through this strait equalizes the currents and tides of this part of the Mediterranean. Being only just over one mile wide at this point, it becomes like a nozzle for the flow of water. Once you have seen it, you can no longer look at a map and just think of the “boot” of Italy kicking the “football” of Sicily; you just think of that little distance between them and how difficult and terrifying it must have been to ancient sailors.<br/>There must have been many myths and legends<br/>about seafarers in the eighth century B.C., and Homer captured many when he wrote the sequel to the<br/>Iliad, The Odyssey. In it, his hero Odysseus (Ulysses in later Roman translations) has his rowers go closer<br/>to the rock of Scylla (and only loses six men to the six-headed monster) instead of taking a chance on the whirlpools of Charybdis and losing the whole ship.<br/>Other tales from Homer’s Odyssey come alive during the O.A.T. Sicily tour. His Medusa (snake-haired woman) is part of the symbol of Sicily—the Cyclops story and the singing Syrenes luring seamen to the rocks are all part of the tales. Odysseus/Ulysses had his men tie him to the mast and put wax in their ears so that he could hear the Syrenes song, all in nearby waters.<br/>Many O.A.T. Trip Leaders ask their group at the end of the tour “What was your best day?” Mine was that day. Not just the Messina Straits crossing, but what else we did on that day. We visited a unique war museum prior to the crossing, and a fabulous one after (more on that later).<br/>But the highlight of that day for me was having lunch in a little local restaurant on the beach side of the Rock of Scylla (small town now called Scilla) then sending the Mercedes minivan to the other side so we could “walk the point around” to the rocky fishing village side of town.<br/>There is now a Crusader castle on top of the Rock, and a covered pedestrian walk and a new small harbor<br/>at the base of the Rock. The fishing village is unique in that each boat has to be winched up next to the owner’s house so the strong, changing current doesn’t take it away.<br/>The second best thing that day was after the crossing, we headed south to a fantastic small museum that had two bronze statues from the fifth century B.C. that were intact! Now called the “Bronzes of Riace,” they were discovered underwater in 1972 and it took them<br/>a decade to carefully clean the barnacles and coral off of them. We had the museum to ourselves (occasional schoolchildren tours) because Reggio di Calabria is<br/>30 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","off the beaten tourist path, hard to get to, and sadly, not well known.<br/>Having been on many O.A.T. and Grand Circle trips where I saw “The Charioteer” in Delphi; “The Scraper” in Zagreb; “The Dancing Satyr” in Mazara (on this trip); and dozens of bronze heads and parts in Athens,<br/>Rome, the Vatican, Florence, New York, and Santorini; I can say that these are beyond doubt the best preserved, intact bronzes in<br/>the world—and the very least seen of all bronzes. No cruise ships and few tours go there. For example, there were only eight of us (on the post-trip extension) from the 16 on the Sicily main tour. What a privilege!<br/>The other museum earlier that day was revealing too. There are 7,861 dead Americans still buried in Sicily, part of the 104,366 still buried in Europe left over from World War II, when they gave their lives “to save the world for democracy.” That fact is overlooked in the war museum in Messina, where they have a replica<br/>air raid shelter on springs that shakes during a loud simulated bombing and scares/impresses school tours and other visitors who can feel what it was like during Allied bombing of the German occupation.<br/>When asked by our Trip Leader what their best day was, others picked different days than mine described above. For my wife it was A Day in the Life where we visited a family farm, learned how to make Ricotta cheese, and she milked a cow. For another traveler,<br/>it was when we visited a dairy and saw how they make buffalo mozzarella. The buffalo have been selectively bred through over 2,000 years, and are completely different than the Cape Buffalo of Africa or the water buffalo of<br/>Southeast Asia. We got to<br/>see a wet calf that was one<br/>hour old try to stand up<br/>and get to his mother.<br/>Several of the men in our group thought the day we went to the hill town of Modica and zoomed through the narrow streets in vintage Fiat 500s with the Modica<br/>Car Club was best, while another picked the day we 4-wheeled and hiked the crater on volcanic Mount Etna. The pre-trip extension in the heel of<br/>Italy was mentioned, where we visited conical-roofed houses called trulli. The fourth-century mosaics<br/>that are the finest examples of Roman mosaics in<br/>all of Europe (at the Villa Romana del Casale) were mentioned too. Many nodded their head in agreement when the village of Civita was mentioned; we stayed in B&B’s in that town where the people are Christian descendants of refugees from Albania who fled the 15th-century Ottoman invasion.<br/>Top left: The “Bronzes of Riace” date back to the fifth century B.C., but weren’t discovered in the sea until 1972<br/>and displayed even later in 1981.<br/>Middle left: Civita di Bagnoregio is an Italian town that rests on volcanic rock on the slopes of Mount Pollino, overlooking the Tiber river valley.<br/>Bottom left: Maneuvering through Modica’s narrow streets is a breeze for locals who often zip around in vintage Fiat 500s, which are the perfect size.<br/>With so many fond memories of his trip,<br/>it’s no wonder Henry was all smiles!<br/>Henry is a 26-time traveler from Sierra Vista, AZ. His next adventure will bring him to Spain and Portugal later this year.<br/>Have your own “best day” during Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions. Learn more at www.oattravel.com/bya<br/>Not surprisingly, the Greco-Roman theatre at Taormina and the three gigantic Greek temples at Paestum were not mentioned, probably because of the tourist throngs which we had been able to avoid until then. The tourists there were a reminder of how special our tour had been.<br/>Before the invasion of Sicily during World War II, General Mark Clark, who was to lead the airborne portion from North Africa, was asked by a war correspondent: “General, do you like to jump out of airplanes?” To which he replied, “No, but I like to be around those who do.” Similarly, I like to be around O.A.T. people, for they like to learn, and have adventures. We had a good group and a lot of excitement and fun.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 31<br/>","Gallery: Other travelers' best days<br/>Right: Hopping on 4-wheel-drive vehicles to explore caves and<br/>hiking the crater of the currently active Mt. Etna was another traveler’s<br/>best day in Sicily.<br/>Above: Henry’s wife’s best day was when the group visited a Sicilian family’s farm, during which they learned how to make Ricotta cheese<br/>and of course, how to milk a cow.<br/>BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE<br/>“My men turned pale with fear; and now, while all eyes were fixed<br/>on Charybdis and the quarter from which we looked for disaster, Scylla snatched out of my boat the six ablest hands I had on board..... ‘Odysseus!’ they called out to me in their agony. But it was the last time they used my name.” —Excerpt from Homers’ Odyssey.<br/>Down through the centuries, authors (Virgil, Aristotle, Erasmus, Shel- ley, Hugo, and Monsarrat) have used Homer’s “Between Scylla and Charybdis” to describe a dilemma, and it has come to “Between a rock and a hard place” or “Devil and the deep blue sea” after it entered idi- omatic usage.<br/>A Latin line “He runs into Scylla wishing to avoid Charybdis” was re- corded among over 3,000 proverbs in Erasmus’ Adagia, and it was in a 12th-century epic poem by Walter of Chatillon.<br/>Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey formed the basis of what became western literature and a classic education as it was joined by other works. Virgil rivaled Homer’s 800 BC works in his own 29 through 19 BC The Aeneid when he took other characters from Homer and ran them through similar tribulations. One of his characters gets caught in the whirlpool of Charybdis and driven out to sea and eventually encounters Cyclops as did Homer’s character.<br/>Leftft: One traveler’s best day was witnessing<br/>the trulli in Alberobello<br/>(<br/>(<br/>c<br/>o<br/>n<br/>i<br/>c<br/>a<br/>l<br/>-<br/>r<br/>o<br/>o<br/>f<br/>e<br/>d<br/>h<br/>o<br/>m<br/>e<br/>s<br/>c<br/>o<br/>n<br/>i<br/>c<br/>a<br/>l<br/>-<br/>r<br/>o<br/>o<br/>f<br/>e<br/>d<br/>h<br/>o<br/>m<br/>e<br/>s<br/>m<br/>a<br/>d<br/>e<br/>o<br/>f<br/>l<br/>i<br/>m<br/>e<br/>s<br/>t<br/>o<br/>n<br/>e<br/>a<br/>n<br/>d<br/>n<br/>o<br/>32 DISPATCHES • SPRING 2017<br/>More myths were<br/>created later about<br/>Scylla’s origins as<br/>a beautiful nymph<br/>before being turned<br/>into Homer’s mon-<br/>ster. Paintings of<br/>that nymph abound<br/>when she caught<br/>the imagination of<br/>Renaissance paint-<br/>ers. (She did a lot of<br/>nude bathing in pools.) A later myth also makes Charybdis a beautiful daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who so angered Zeus, he turned her into the monster that thrice a day swallowed huge amounts of sea water and belched it into whirlpools.<br/>When classic education became common, Scylla and Charybdis were in a lot of the 17th & 18th century AD political cartoons and poetry. They have more recently cropped up in the lyrics from the band The Police on their 1983 album and also the heavy metal band Trivium in 2008.<br/>m<br/>a<br/>d<br/>e<br/>o<br/>f<br/>l<br/>i<br/>m<br/>e<br/>s<br/>t<br/>o<br/>n<br/>e<br/>a<br/>n<br/>d<br/>n<br/>o<br/>c<br/>e<br/>m<br/>e<br/>n<br/>t<br/>)<br/>d<br/>u<br/>r<br/>i<br/>n<br/>g<br/>t<br/>h<br/>e<br/>p<br/>r<br/>e<br/>-<br/>c<br/>e<br/>m<br/>e<br/>n<br/>t<br/>)<br/>d<br/>u<br/>r<br/>i<br/>n<br/>g<br/>t<br/>h<br/>e<br/>p<br/>r<br/>e<br/>-<br/>t<br/>r<br/>i<br/>p<br/>e<br/>x<br/>t<br/>e<br/>n<br/>s<br/>i<br/>o<br/>n<br/>t<br/>o<br/>P<br/>u<br/>g<br/>l<br/>i<br/>a<br/>.<br/>t<br/>r<br/>i<br/>p<br/>e<br/>x<br/>t<br/>e<br/>n<br/>s<br/>i<br/>o<br/>n<br/>t<br/>o<br/>P<br/>u<br/>g<br/>l<br/>i<br/>a<br/>.<br/>","A Conversation With ...<br/>O.A.T. Trip Leader Filipa Fernandes<br/>Filipa Fernandes has a passion for the country she calls home—and she embraces Portugal’s good, bad, and ugly as she leads travelers on our Northern Spain & Portugal: Pilgrimage into the Past adventure. Thanks to the traveling she did as a child and her love of history, she knew becoming a Trip Leader was the perfect job for her. Filipa took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to chat with us about the difficult years her country experi- enced before she was born, and why she urges travelers to come to Portugal now.<br/>Trailblazers<br/>Born in:<br/>Lisbon, Portugal<br/>Resides in:<br/>Lisbon, Portugal<br/>Trip Leader since:<br/>1999<br/>Languages spoken:<br/>Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English<br/>Hobbies & Interests:<br/>Going to the movies and gym, spending time with my kids, reading history books or historical novels<br/>O.A.T.: What made you decide to become a Trip Leader?<br/>Filipa: I started traveling with my parents when I was a child. It was a passion for my mother—she thought it was the base to a good education.<br/>I definitely got the travel bug from her. We explored Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, and with my grandparents, I went to Canada and the U.S. I was exposed to many different cultures, people, and of course, tour guides—and that helped shape the person I am today. I grew up in the Belém neighborhood of Lisbon, which is linked to Portuguese discover- ies. Every day, I would see travelers visiting<br/>the monuments that were built 500 years ago. When the time came for me to choose my future, I didn´t have any doubts.<br/>O.A.T.: What was it like growing up so close to that history in Portugal?<br/>Filipa: I was born just after a 50-year dictatorship ended and the turmoil that followed. I was very lucky because it was during my childhood that the country started recovering financially and democracy was reestablished.<br/>O.A.T.: What was life in Portugal like during that difficult time?<br/>Filipa: My parents didn’t open up about what it was like during that time until I was 12 or 13. They told me that after the dictatorship ended in 1974, communists that were living underground emerged and took over the country for a year. We had family friends who were given two<br/>days to leave their property or they would be killed. My grandfather owned a factory and it was taken over. He was forced to stay in the factory for a whole week—the people who took it over wanted him to manage it, but made it clear that the factory was theirs. Even those living in colonies in Africa were chased out and forced to leave with just their clothing.<br/>It took my parents a while to want to discuss this time with me. When they did, I started understanding how fortunate I was to be born in a democracy.<br/>O.A.T.: Do you discuss this time in your country’s history with travelers?<br/>Filipa: Of course. We have so many controversial things to talk about. We also visit Spain on this trip, and I always try to discuss what’s happen- ing at the moment. Currently, there’s a lot of controversy around refugees. Another topic I like to discuss is something not many travelers know about Spain—that it has the second largest number of mass graves because of the Spanish Civil War; Cambodia is the first. Those who were killed and tossed in these graves were never identified. The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory was created to excavate the graves of victims and gather their DNA for proper identification.<br/>O.A.T.: Are there any other topics that are especially interesting for travelers now?<br/>Filipa: Another hot topic at the moment is the strike on homework. There are two sides of the coin: Some parents feel they need to encourage their kids at home, but the other side is against so much homework—which could be up to 6.5 hours each night. It’s really something to think about—I have a son and daughter myself.<br/>O.A.T.: Is it hard to be away from them when you are leading groups?<br/>Filipa: It is very difficult to be away from them, but<br/>I know that when my trips are over, I will have quality time with them. I try to balance my time when I’m away—making sure to always have time after trips to spend with them. But<br/>I throw all of my energy into what I am doing at the time—when I’m leading groups, that is where my mind is, and when I am home, I am completely at home.<br/>O.A.T.: What is your favorite thing about your country?<br/>Filipa: Portugal is a hidden jewel ready to be discov- ered. It is not very well advertised, but it is a pleasant and exciting surprise. It has great<br/>food and wines, fantastic culture and traditions, rich heritage, varied landscapes, impressive history, and great people.<br/>By Meghan Colloton<br/>Meghan has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle for six years and has been to six continents.<br/>“Filipa was better than excellent, she was outstanding! She was always available whenever group members had needs.”<br/>—Harvey Gold, 3-time traveler from Encino, CA<br/>Experience Filipa’s country during<br/>Northern Spain & Portugal: Pilgrimage<br/>into the Past. Visit www.oattravel.com/spg for more information.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 33<br/>","Literary Adventure<br/>By John Bregoli<br/>Aravind Adiga’s homeland of India is<br/>a cricket-mad nation. That’s something we learn<br/>right off the bat (so to speak) in Selection Day, the award-winning author’s newest novel about<br/>two young boys from Mumbai whose father raises them to<br/>be “the number one and number two batsmen in the world.”<br/>Mohan Kumar is an impov- erished chutney seller from a remote Indian village who has just moved to Mumbai with<br/>his sons Manju and Radha when the novel opens. Mohan’s all-consuming goal is to gain<br/>a lucrative cricketing contract for his talented sons—which would mean a ticket out of the slums and international fame.<br/>Life in Mumbai for Mohan and his sons is all leading up to the selection day of the book’s title, a time when millions of Indian boys enter “the filtration system that sucks in strong wrists, quick reflexes, and supple limbs from every part of the city, channels them through school teams, club championships, and friendly matches for years and years, and then one sudden morning pours them out onto an open field where two or maybe three new players will be picked for the [trophy] team.”<br/>While Mohan does everything to push his sons forward in achieving his dream, life is a sticky wicket for the 13-year-old Manju. For years Manju has lived under his older brother’s shadow, accepting the fact that Radha is the one destined for greatness, not him. After all, Manju thinks, “He has a secret contract with God, and I do not.”<br/>But nothing goes as planned for the two boys, of course, as they journey along their rocky road to judgment day. While the tyrannical Mohan submits them to endless days of grueling practice, he warns the boys about “the three principal dangers on their path to glory: premature shaving, pornography, and car driving.” Other influences include Tommy Sir, a cricket coach who dreams of the discovering the next superstar, and Anand Mehta, a scheming businessman who<br/>Selection Day<br/>by Aravind Adiga<br/>invests in the boys’ future. Mehta’s skewed philosophy on the Indian character includes gems like this: “We want to see ourselves depicted as soulful, sensitive, profound, valorous, wounded, tolerant and funny beings—all that Jhumpa Lahiri stuff.” But in actual fact, he says, “we are animals of the jungle, who will eat our neighbour’s children in five minutes, and our own in ten.”<br/>And then there’s Sofia, a schoolmate of Radha’s, who puts things into perspective about the importance of cricket. “Nothing that stops for lunch” she informs him, “can be called a sport.” For Manju, however, his biggest influence is Javid, a talented young cricketer from an affluent Muslim family. Seeing right through the hypocrisy of the sport, Javid walks away from it—and wants Manju to do the same.<br/>“Selection Day offers a front row seat into caste-culture, the Indian mindset, and a sport that unites more than a billion people ...”<br/>Through it all, Manju is the driving force in Adiga’s novel. His dreams aren’t so much about cricket, but center on things like becoming a forensic scientist or driving across India on a motorcycle with Javid— the Muslim boy for whom he has very complicated feelings. And while his father, coach, and cricket sponsor all want him to take one path, in the end Manju must decide what he wants for himself.<br/>You’ll learn a lot about the contemporary world of Indian cricket in the engaging novel, but you don’t have to know the game at all to get swept up in the storyline. Like most sports novels, there’s more going on here below the surface—Adiga skillfully interweaves issues like class, religion, sexuality, and the widespread corruption and injustice endemic to Indian society.<br/>Selection Day offers a front row seat into caste-culture, the Indian mindset, and a sport that unites more than a billion people, yet most Americans know little—if anything—about. While it may not quite match the literary brilliance of his Booker Prize-winning novel, The White Tiger, Adiga hits this one right out of the park.<br/>Explore India, a nation of cricket obsessives, with O.A.T. during Heart of India. Learn more at www.oattravel.com/hoi<br/>In the decade John Bregoli has been writing for O.A.T., he’s become our resident expert in literature. Like his favorite historical figure, John Adams, he always has a book within reach, and one of his earliest memories is getting scolded to go to sleep while reading beneath the covers with a flashlight. If you have any reading recommendations for John— especially books with settings relating to O.A.T. destinations—send him an email at DispatchesJohn@oattravel.com. He’d love to hear from you!<br/>34 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Sailing Through History<br/>Field Notes<br/>Our trip with O.A.T. to Patagonia and the Chilean Fjords in February, 2016, was aboard the Stella Australis, an expedition ship well-outfitted<br/>for such a trip. Here was a chance for Rena and me to explore an area of the world as exotic as it is storied: the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago and its southernmost point, Cape Horn of South America. We already had an appreciation for the Southern Ocean, having crossed the Drake Passage to Antarctica two weeks before.<br/>Some of my ancestors developed an appreciation<br/>for these waters, as well. The last time anyone in<br/>my family had been to the Cape Horn region was in September of 1869. The Gregorys, a family of five,<br/>had arrived in New York from Liverpool, shortly to book passage around “the Horn” on the Young America, a three-masted extreme clipper ship out of New York Harbor bound for San Francisco, a voyage of 13,328 nautical miles (over 15,300 statute miles). Like many immigrants to California, they were headed to the gold fields in the Sierra Nevada. My direct connection with the family was with the eldest daughter, Mary Emma Gregory, at the time a 15-year-old English girl who, two years prior, had been formally introduced to Queen Victoria. Mary Emma is my great grandmother.<br/>Approaching the Horn had its own special drama for us. As we traveled south, the wind became stronger and the seas larger. We arrived off the east side of<br/>Isla Hornos later that day to find conditions too rough to land on the island. The scene from the ship’s top deck inspired awe. While watching the combers hit the landing beach, the monster waves off the rocky<br/>point, and the roiling ocean south of the Cape, we were suddenly hit by a local wind event called a Willowa. Over half the people on the fifth deck were knocked down by a hundred-plus mph wind blast.<br/>The reputation of this area began to take on<br/>personal meaning for me. In the four hundred years since its discovery by serious mariners, Cape Horn<br/>has been much storied, much feared, and much respected as the roughest ocean stretch in the entire world. Never so much as in the Golden Age of Sail.<br/>To take a square-rigged ship around the Horn was considered the ultimate test of seamanship, unsur- passed by challenges elsewhere. And the world’s mariners in those years paid a steep price at Cape Horn. The monument on Isla Hornos is to the mariners who didn’t survive the passage: over 800 ships of<br/>that era were lost attempting to round the Horn, and over 10,000 sailors perished. That’s not including their passengers. Today, rounding the Horn is considered to be the Mt. Everest of ocean sailing.<br/>The Young America had precious cargo. And my trip<br/>to Cape Horn was a voyage of personal discovery. In my mind’s eye as I gazed into the southern seas, I<br/>saw through the mist the outline of a tall ship beating its way westward in the teeth of a gale, its sails reefed, waves washing aboard her starboard beam and over her bow, her helmsman at the wheel, and her master on the poop deck beside him, braced against the<br/>wind and sea with a wide stance. As the image faded,<br/>a wave of thankfulness washed over me—for my trip and for theirs.<br/>By Steve Cutright<br/>Steve is a 10-time traveler from Pinole, CA. Besides Patagonia, his most recent travels with O.A.T. have taken him to Australia.<br/>Left: When Steve rounded the tip of Cape Horn during his O.A.T. adventure, he was following in<br/>the footsteps of his ancestors.<br/>“Some of my ancestors developed an appreciation<br/>for these waters, as well. The<br/>last time anyone in my family had been to the<br/>Cape Horn region was in September of 1869.”<br/>Experience Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego with O.A.T. during<br/>The Wilderness Beyond: Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & the Chilean Fjords. Learn more at www.oattravel.com/mau<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 35<br/>","Moveable Feast<br/>Korean Cuisine<br/>An experience for the senses<br/>By Paige Solomon<br/>Paige is an O.A.T. and Grand Circle staff writer and self-proclaimed foodie. She enjoys every- thing from Korean bar- becue to sushi and any Asian cuisine in between.<br/>Right: From upscale restaurants to small food stalls in local markets, traditional dishes like kimchi and bibimbap can be found throughout South Korea.<br/>Bulgogi, which literally translates to “fire meat,” and Korean barbeque<br/>in general have seen a significant growth in popularity in the U.S. in recent years.<br/>Sample kimchi with O.A.T. during South Korea & Japan: Temples, Shrines & Seaside Treasures. For more information, visit www.oattravel.com/jko<br/>South Koreans understand that food isn’t just a necessity, but an experience for the senses.<br/>Located on the Korean peninsula and defined by almost 1,500 miles of coastline and stretches of mountainous landscapes, it is easy to understand the practicality behind Korean cuisine. Of the 37,000 square miles of land that the country occupies,<br/>18% is used for agricultural purposes. With rice<br/>being the main crop of South Korea, vegetables and fruits, such as oranges, strawberries, and cabbage are popular components in many Korean dishes as well. The fishing industry is also important, as South Korea is sandwiched in between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. Sardines and cuttlefish are popular seafood catches, as well as seaweed.<br/>When it comes to innovative dishes that utilize<br/>these ingredients, the country is a trendsetter for Asian cuisine. From kimchi to bibimbap and bulgogi, it’s no wonder South Korea is a culinary powerhouse. Bulgogi is a beloved regional favorite that primarily consists of thin cuts of beef or pork that are barbecued.<br/>Bibimbap is another influential and quintessential Korean dish that goes beyond its simple ingredients. The meal is a bowl filled with a mosaic of vegetables, and sometimes meat, that are arranged over steaming rice and accompanied by a side of gochujang, or fermented chili paste. The thoughtfulness behind this dish may not seem so obvious, but due to the layout of the dish’s ingredients (which aren’t mixed together), the consumer is more mindful of each individual<br/>flavor. Bibimbap has been around since the begin- ning of the 20th century and has impacted the way Americans approach and prepare food, paving the way for restaurants like Chipotle or Sweetgreen.<br/>In addition to gochujang, kimchi is a popular—if<br/>not the most popular—fermented food in South Korea. Fermented foods have been an important part of the Korean culinary landscape for thousands of years— kimchi has been around since 37 BC. The fermented favorite is made with cabbage, radish, and gochu,<br/>or the red pepper that counteracts harmful bacteria. Koreans use the culinary technique of fermenting foods to preserve ingredients, which is important during harsh winters when it may be more difficult<br/>to cultivate crops.<br/>If your gut is telling you to try kimchi, listen to it. Research has prove that this trendy food has great health benefits. Kimchi protects the immune system, is rich in vitamins A and C, and controls bad bacteria. If that isn’t reason enough to try it, it’s also a versatile ingredient that can be added to a variety of dishes. Kimchi is so revered in South Korea that the “tradi- tion of kimchi-making” was added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2015.<br/>South Korean dishes may seem typical of the Asian culinary landscape, but ancient ingredients and cooking techniques and spices borrowed from other cultures (chili peppers were brought to Korea from South America by European explorers in the 13th century) set this country’s cuisine apart.<br/>36 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Kimchi<br/>Ingredients<br/>1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sea salt 1⁄2 gallon water<br/>2 heads Napa cabbage, cut into quarters or 2-inch wedges, depending on size of cabbage<br/>1 bulb garlic, cloves separated and peeled<br/>1 (2-inch) piece of ginger root<br/>Instructions<br/>1⁄4 cup fish sauce or Korean salted shrimp<br/>1 Asian radish, peeled and grated<br/>1 bunch of green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths<br/>1⁄2 cup Korean chili powder 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)<br/>1. In a large sauté pan, melt butter on low heat. Add onions and<br/>stir until sizzling (about 2 minutes). Add kimchi and kimchi juice. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil (about 3 minutes). Place your meat of choice in the pan and cook until sauce dries out (about 5 minutes).<br/>2. Add the cooked rice to the mixture and, with a spatula, break up the rice. Increase your heat to medium. Stir the rice mixture until it has absorbed the kimchi juice (about 5 minutes). Add soy sauce and sesame oil. Turn the heat back down to low.<br/>3. In a separate pan, heat vegetable oil and add eggs. Fry the eggs while letting the rice cook. Serve the egg on top of the rice mixture. Add seasoning and enjoy!<br/>Serves: 2<br/>Kimchi Fried Rice<br/>Ingredients<br/>3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1⁄2 small onion, medium dice<br/>1 cup roughly chopped kimchi<br/>2 tablespoons kimchi juice, or to taste<br/>1⁄2 cup small-dice Spam, ham, or leftover cooked meat (optional)<br/>2 cups cooked, cooled rice<br/>Instructions<br/>2 teaspoons soy sauce, or to taste 1 teaspoon sesame oil, or to taste<br/>2 teaspoons vegetable oil 2 eggs<br/>Salt to taste<br/>Roasted seaweed for garnish Sesame seeds for garnish<br/>1. Add 1 cup of salt to a 1⁄2 gallon of water. Place cabbage in the salt water and let sit for 3 to 4 hours.<br/>2. In a food processor, mince garlic, ginger, and fish sauce or shrimp. Combine garlic mixture with radish, green onions, mustard greens, chili powder, 1 tablespoon salt, and optional sugar. Toss ingredi- ents together (Please note: Wear gloves if you choose to toss with your hands to avoid chili burn).<br/>3. Remove the cabbage from the salt water, rinse, and drain. Place the radish mixture in between the cabbage leaves, starting with the outermost leaf. Spread the radish mixture evenly over the leaves. Once the cabbage is filled, wrap the largest leaf around the whole cabbage. Place cabbage in a 1-gallon jar—make sure to seal the jar tightly.<br/>4. Place the jar in a cool setting and leave it for 2 to 3 days.<br/>Take kimchi out of the jar and cut into pieces. Keep refrigerated after opening.<br/>Please note: The kimchi can be consumed alone for about 3 weeks. After<br/>4 weeks, the kimchi gets too fermented, so it is recommended that you cook it alongside a hot dish.<br/>Recipe produces enough kimchi to fill a 1-gallon jar<br/>Request a recipe—or share one of your own<br/>Do you remember a favorite O.A.T. meal that you’d like to see featured here? We might be able to find it for you. Or maybe you have a recipe of your own to share, inspired by your adventures. Email us your culinary inspiration at: editordispatches@oattravel.com<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 37<br/>","Philanthropy<br/>Changing Lives in Nepal<br/>Our first associate-led international community service trip<br/>By Elizabeth Whiting<br/>Elizabeth has been with Grand Circle and O.A.T. for six years. She is a copywriter for Pre-Trip Materials and recently traveled to Nepal on our first international community service trip.<br/>O<br/>countless buildings destroyed or badly damaged. Two years later, progress has been made, but many of the Nepali people continue to rebuild and repair the damage.<br/>For the two-year anniversary of the earthquake, Grand Circle Foundation assembled a group of 12 volunteers to travel to Nepal to bring much needed supplies to<br/>the locals, meet with the great organizations with whom the Foundation has partnered, and to work in Dharampani village.<br/>After a long journey from Boston to Kathmandu’s spectacular setting of craggy mountains and narrow, winding roads, our group arrived in Dharampani<br/>on the evening of April 23, ready and eager to meet the villagers and get to work the following day.<br/>The next morning, we made our way to the village<br/>and after an hour of hiking, we arrived to find all of<br/>the villagers there to greet us with song and dance.<br/>The Chairwoman welcomed us individually and applied tika (a rice paste) to our foreheads. After some introduc- tions, the Chairwoman unveiled a plaque honoring Grand Circle Foundation and we had the opportunity<br/>to distribute six duffle bags full of donations to the villagers, which included t-shirts, jackets, shoes, school supplies, fleece blankets, and medical supplies.<br/>Over the course of the next three days, we helped<br/>to paint and mud plaster the villagers’ homes; we distributed reading glasses causing an excited throng<br/>of villagers to gather as they tried on pair after pair of various strengths until finding the right one; and we built a goat pen out of salvaged wood with a few old tools for one of the women in the village who raises goats for a living. She had nowhere to keep them at night to prevent predators and had been bringing the goats into her home. She was so grateful for the new goat pen that she offered to sacrifice a small goat for us, though we assured her that her smile was thanks enough!<br/>During the course of the trip, we also had many oppor- tunities to meet with Grand Circle Foundation partner<br/>organizations, such as the Himalayan Trust, which has been working diligently to rebuild schools with a new construction method to prevent damage in case of any future earthquakes.<br/>Upon our return to Kathmandu, we visited the Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH) to meet with the hospital leaders and to bring another six duffle bags of dona- tions for the hospital. The hospital leadership gave us a tour of their facility to see the projects that have been completed with funding from Grand Circle Foundation, such as purchasing new machines to sterilize equipment, which minimizes the number of patients that develop infections after treatment. They were proud to share the special services that the hospital offers, including free care for those who otherwise could not afford it<br/>and special training opportunities to their doctors to ensure that they are aware of the latest techniques.<br/>One of the most memorable visits for me was when<br/>we met with Seven Summits Women, an organization dedicated to educating and empowering women. Here we met Shailee and Maya. Maya shared her inspiring story about leaving home at a young age to escape an arranged marriage and the consequent decision by<br/>her family to disown her. Despite the tensions with her family, she continued to pursue her dreams of becoming a mountaineer and went on to climb Everest. She has since repaired her relationship with her family and has become a role model within her local community.<br/>The original mission of Seven Summits Women was<br/>to become the first female team to climb the highest peak on each continent, which they achieved in December 2014. Since then, they have started training female trafficking survivors to empower them and equip them with the necessary skills to acquire a job in the trekking industry so they can provide for themselves.<br/>While our work in the village and discussions with Grand Circle Foundation partner organizations and non-profits will never be forgotten, it was the Nepali people who made the greatest impact on us, from getting to know the villagers in Dharampani to impro- vised conversations with people we met along the way.<br/>n April 25, 2015, a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck near Kathmandu, Nepal<br/>leaving 9,000 dead, nearly 22,000 injured, and<br/>O.A.T. associates handed out reading glasses to locals, among plenty of other helpful supplies.<br/>See the difference being made in Nepal during Nepal & the Mystical Himalayas. Learn more at www.oattravel.com/nel<br/>If you are interested in learning more about Grand Circle Foundation, please visit our website at www.grandcirclefoundation.org Email: foundation@oattravel.com or contact: Grand Circle Foundation • 347 Congress Street • Boston, MA 02210<br/>SM<br/>38 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","“Although the purpose of our trip was to help the Nepali people, my life will be forever changed after meeting and getting to know them. I will always remember their gratitude, the way they greeted us in a line of singing and dancing, the way they gathered around and laughed as we put cow dung clay on<br/>the walls, their smiles as we interacted with limited English, and how their faces lit up when we brought bags of supplies. They helped me to appreciate what I have and reminded me that you don’t need material things to be happy.”<br/>—Lori McMillan, Account Manager, 7-year Associate<br/>“This community service trip to Nepal was a life changing experience for me. I’ve taken many trips, visited homes, and communicated with the locals while traveling, but nothing will surpass the fact that I was able to spend entire days in a village communicating with the people mostly through body language. My emotions ran high multiple times, not because I felt sorry for the people, but because of the gratitude they showed each and every day.<br/>I could feel what they were thinking—their faces said it all.”<br/>—Mary Ann Lawrence, Receptionist, 12-year Associate<br/>“Returning to the Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital was an emotional and humbling experience for me. I had been there on the day of the second earthquake in 2015, when the grounds were covered with people, beds, and triage tents because nobody would go indoors. The hospital staff is very proud of the difference the equipment funded by Grand Circle Foundation has made. The equip- ment allows them to provide better medical care and generates much needed income which is used to offset the free care offered since they do not deny medical care to anyone.” —Jan Byrnes, Vice President of Grand Circle Foundation, 12-year Associate<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 39<br/>","Spotlight on Small Ships<br/>Why O.A.T. travelers should consider Small Ship Adventures<br/>In some parts of the world, small ocean ships are the best and most adventurous way to explore. They allow us to dock in smaller, lesser-known ports and explore unobtrusively in small groups—much like the experience our travelers have come to expect from O.A.T. adventures.<br/>In this issue of Dispatches, we feature a destination<br/>that’s often overlooked when it comes to seaside destina- tions in Europe: Poland’s maritime city, Gdansk. With<br/>a rich history that includes the very first shots fired in what would become World War II, and shores similar<br/>to California’s Venice Beach, Gdansk offers something<br/>for everyone. Our Grand Baltic Sea Voyage Small Ship Adventure includes a stop in this city-by-the-sea while traveling aboard the 89-passenger M/V Clio. We explore Gdansk on page 42.<br/>These pages offer just a brief introduction to the places you can discover by small ship. If you like what you see, you can explore more at www.oattravel.com.<br/>Please note: O.A.T. Small Ship Adventures are operated by Grand Circle Cruise Line.<br/>TABLE OF CONTENTS<br/>41 Setting Sail<br/>Travelers Geraldine Freeman and Thomas Mangone visit the Panama Canal<br/>47 Cultural Moorings<br/>A Very Inspiring Gentleman Adventurer: T.E. Lawrence<br/>48 Stepping Ashore<br/>Meet Trip Leader Darko Perojevic<br/>49 Hands on Deck<br/>Meet Ships Operation Administrator Melinda Kurti<br/>“Even many who are a bit more familiar with Polish culture (by way of vodka, polka, and pierogis) may<br/>not know that Poland’s maritime history is as rich as<br/>that of Croatia, and that its coastline has been key to its<br/>identity in times of war and peace since its founding.”<br/>40 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>Changing Tides in Gdansk PAGE 42<br/>","Practical Magic<br/>9-time travelers Geraldine Freeman and Thomas Mangone<br/>Setting Sail<br/>Geraldine Freeman is not your typical Panama Canal visitor. Unlike so many who come to see the engineering marvel, “‘Panama Canal’ was just a name to me,” she says. “It didn’t mean anything yet.” She didn’t choose this Small Ship Adventure in Panama because she had any fascination with either engineering or shipping; her reasons were more practical. “My husband and I had never been to Central America, which we wanted to visit, and the distance<br/>for us was not too bad—just three hours from Florida.”<br/>But once she was there, the 9-time traveler from The Villages, Florida understood what all the fuss was about. “I still think about the canal. It was baffling how they made it all work. And since we were on a smaller boat, we got to be right there in the canal for a couple of days, watching them get in all these massive cargo boats,<br/>one after the other.” She laughs at the memory of how she took “picture after picture of those boats, as if I had to get every single one.”<br/>The canal wasn’t the only part of the trip that defied expectations for her. “I was leery about the foods, and whether my stomach would bother me. We often ate just where the local people ate, so we’d be in a little place, standing in line, and the people at the counter would be filling plates with foods I didn’t recognize. But I jumped right in and tried things—it was fun.”<br/>She says it’s the people of Panama who really made it special. Their Trip Leader “was so excited about his country. He brought us to the tiny house he built himself for him and his wife.” Another time, they visited an Embera Indian village, where she especially enjoyed seeing the children. She snapped a photo of three youngsters happily playing in a canoe, and it hangs on the wall of her home as a reminder of the journey.<br/>Geraldine and her husband, Thomas Mangone, weren’t always world travelers. They were 67 and 78 respectively when they took first trip with Grand Circle 10 years<br/>ago. They began with Sicily; then, as now, they made<br/>the choice for practical reasons. “It seemed economical enough or we wouldn’t have gone, and it looked like things were well-scheduled.” Once they got to Italy, they discovered that this impression was correct. “Everything happens on time. You don’t get tied up trying to get things ready. We were where we supposed to be when<br/>we were supposed to be there. We had tickets for certain things that meant we could skip the crowds. Really, the planning is terrific.”<br/>Knowing that they could rely on Grand Circle, the couple started making an annual journey. So far, they’ve done land trips in Spain & Portugal, and England, Scotland & Wales, as well as four River Cruises spanning the Rhine, Mosel, and Danube. “If there’s a river, we’re going on it,” she jokes. “We love a cruise because it’s so relaxing.”<br/>Her favorite trip of all was the former Nile River cruise in Egypt. The excitement in her voice is palpable as she says, “Oh my god, the pyramids! The sights were all amazing—just a marvelous time.” (Happily, the iconic sites she so loved are now part of O.A.T.’s new Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea Small Ship Adventure.)<br/>If all goes well, Japan’s Cultural Treasures is next up for the couple. Geraldine points out that Thomas is now 88. “Every year, we get the catalog and Thomas says, ‘This is probably my last trip, so where are we going?’ And the next year, he says it again. We’ve been taking his ‘last trip’ for five or six years now!”<br/>By David Valdes Greenwood<br/>David has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle for 15 years. He is also a playwright and the author of several books.<br/>Left: Geraldine<br/>and Thomas picked Panama because of its convenient location, but were soon fascinated by the canal and the culture in general.<br/>Thomas and Geraldine at Stonehenge during England, Scotland & Wales.<br/>“Every year, we get the catalog and Thomas says, ‘This is probably my<br/>last trip, so where are we going?’ And the next year, he says it again. We’ve been taking his ‘last trip’ for five or six years now!”<br/>Discover the inner workings of the canal during Panama Canal Cruise & Panama:<br/>A Continent Divided, Oceans United. Visit www.oattravel.com/pma for more information.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 41<br/>","Changing Tides in<br/>GDANSK<br/>The history of Poland’s coastal gem is deeply tied to the sea<br/>By David Valdes Greenwood<br/>42 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","When Americans think of seaside destinations in Europe, the same few locales always seem to come to mind first: the French Riviera ... the Greek Isles ... Spain’s Costa del Sol. But Germans and other Europeans have long flocked to one Baltic Sea beauty that we tend to overlook: Poland.<br/>I know what you’re thinking: Poland? Blame the Iron Curtain era<br/>for the distorted view too many of us have in the states: a dreary grey vision right out of the Communist era. Even many who are a bit more familiar with Polish culture (by way of vodka, polka, and pierogis) may not know that Poland’s maritime history is as rich as that of Croatia, and that its coastline has been key to its identity in times of war and peace since its founding.<br/>While it is true that Poland<br/>is largely surrounded by<br/>seven other nations, and<br/>that Warsaw and Krakow<br/>are both inland cities, the<br/>country is not landlocked.<br/>It boasts a sprawling<br/>300-mile coastline in the<br/>northern region known as<br/>Pomerania, replete with white sand beaches, charming port towns, and natural harbors. And the crown jewel of them all is Gdansk.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 43<br/>","Previous page: Poland’s 300-mile coastline in- cludes Gdansk, which was established in 980 in order to access the Baltic sea trade routes.<br/>Previous page inset:<br/>This illustration from 1877 depicts Gdansk as it once was, including the famous Zuraw crane.<br/>Right: The twice<br/>rebuilt, rocket-shaped, Zuraw crane on the Motlawa River played an important role for ships throughout history.<br/>The Neptune sculpture of the Neptune Fountain faces the townhouses where Polish royalty would stay, bowing before them in respect.<br/>City by the Sea<br/>The very first record of Gdansk is a proclamation that calls it “that which divides the kingdom from the sea.” The city was established in the 980s by King Mieszko<br/>I to give the newly founded Polish state access to<br/>Baltic sea trade routes. Mieszko was wise, as Gdansk not only served ships trafficking east-west between Denmark and the Baltic States, but north-south, via the Vistula River, which for a time was part of the so-called “Amber Road,” connecting St. Petersburg to Venice and beyond.<br/>As Gdansk earned itself a key place in the Hanseatic League of the 14th-17th centuries, the city blossomed, palaces and grand mansions joining the more humble merchant buildings of its early years. Its piers were crowded with vessels, its beaches full of holiday- seekers. And its popularity was further fanned by<br/>its welcoming attitude; it was unusually tolerant of people of different faiths, languages, and origins.<br/>Sadly, in the 20th century, the German occupation<br/>of Poland began a cycle of division and recrimination that led to diminished diversity, and the Iron<br/>Curtain years limited tourism dramatically. But<br/>the post-Communist era has seen Gdansk reclaim<br/>its centuries-old reputation as a destination for vacationers and trading vessels alike. To celebrate the rebirth of Gdansk, we’ve picked five places<br/>where you can get a sense of the role of the sea in the city’s history.<br/>The Zuraw: Giving the economy a major lift<br/>In the 14th century, as the Hanseatic League became the dominant shipping force, vessels sailing from the heart of Gdansk into the Baltic Sea often originated on the Moltawa River. And they got a little help from a massive piece of engineering, the Zuraw crane. Rising 90 feet over the water, and flanked by brick towers, the Zuraw looks like a cross between a rocket and a giant’s zipper, but not much like cranes today.<br/>The wooden crane was outfitted with enormous interior wheels to act as pulleys for lifting heavy cargo from shore to vessel and for setting masts into place on ships. They were treadmills of the original variety: wheels each big enough for four men at a time to<br/>step inside and walk on, their footsteps turning the wheel. It was likely an exhausting task, as the crane reportedly lifted as much as four tons at once.<br/>The Zuraw was a marvel for sailors and spectators alike, so when it burned down in the 15th century, it was immediately rebuilt and reinforced. During World War II, the wooden part of crane was again destroyed, and again rebuilt, with careful attention to authentic detail. Now, it is home to part of the Maritime Museum of Gdansk, the city’s biggest museum by area. The Maritime Museum spreads out on both sides of the river to accommodate the breadth of Gdansk’s history as a port; but the Zuraw remains its star attraction.<br/>44 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","The Neptune Fountain: Where the King Bows<br/>The most enduring icon of Gdansk is its Neptune Fountain. Designed in 1606 and cast in bronze in 1615, but not erected until 1633, the sculpture depicts the great god Neptune, ruler of the sea. The fountain was placed in front of Artus Court, the grandest building in the heart of Gdansk, where the aristocracy and shipping magnates mingled. Town Hall was to one side and Neptune himself faced the townhouses where Polish royalty stayed whenever visiting. Mighty Neptune, with trident in hand, was depicted with his head bowed to show humility before the Polish kings. The full message of the fountain was that Poland had tamed the ocean.<br/>For a grand symbol, it had one fatal flaw: not actually being close enough to the sea, it lacked sufficient water pressure from the existing underground system. Instead, water for the fountain had to be pumped from tanks set atop Town Hall and the Artus Court. Even that system worked only so well, and the fountain<br/>was dry much of the year, its stream released only for official holidays and important occasions. It wasn’t until Gdansk improved its water system in the 19th century that the fountain began to flow routinely.<br/>During World War II, when so much of old Gdansk was destroyed, the fountain was disassembled and hidden away for safekeeping. A decade after war’s end, it<br/>was returned to its place. Though the days of Polish kings are over, the statue is a reminder that the fate of Gdansk is entwined with the sea.<br/>The resistance by the Polish soldiers is legendary. Only 205 soldiers lived at the garrison and they had not imagined suddenly engaging in full-on combat, yet they found themselves facing 3,000 German troops, two warships, military aircraft, and heavy artillery guns. What should have been a rout turned into a heroic (if doomed) stand. For a full week, the Polish soldiers held off the Nazis, and when the fort finally fell, they had killed 300 of the enemy.<br/>Since 1966, the spot has been marked with the “Monument to the Coast Defenders,”<br/>an abstract rendition of<br/>a bayonet plunged into the earth.<br/>The 82-foot bayonet, composed of more than 200 stones weighing six to twelve tons each, sits<br/>atop a wide,<br/>terraced 66-foot base. Though the Communist-era authorities were always nervous about making too much out of the site—which might inspire Polish nationalism—the monument is now the scene of annual commemorations of the defenders’ bravery. Though visitors can access the park surrounding the monument by car, most people still think the best way to visit Westerplatte is the first way: by boat from the Old Town.<br/>Heroes at the Docks<br/>It’s not a surprise in a major port city that those who work in the shipyard are key to the economy and culture. But in Gdansk, they also changed the course of history.<br/>In 1970, Communist authorities suddenly and quite dramatically raised the prices of food. Shipyard workers led the charge in demonstrations against the regime, putting their lives on the line for change. At least 40 protestors were killed during the demonstrations and another thousand wounded.<br/>Their sacrifice was not in vain. It forced the resignation of the Communist Party Leader, and food prices returned to normal. More importantly, it set in motion a resistance that culminated a decade later in the birth of the Solidarity movement right there in the shipyards. That same year, a Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers was erected, the first tribute to victims of Communism ever to appear in a<br/>Far left: The German ship, SMS Schleswig- Holstein, fired the first shots of World War II on September 1, 1939.<br/>Left: The Monument to the Coast Defenders pays tribute to the<br/>205 Polish soldiers who took on 3,000 German soldiers during World War II.<br/>“What should have been<br/>a rout turned into a heroic<br/>(if doomed) stand. For a full week, the Polish soldiers held off the Nazis...”<br/>Westerplatte Peninsula: Launching a war<br/>Between World Wars, when Gdansk was known as the Free City of Danzig, Germany resented the Polish freedoms granted by the Versailles Treaty. Germany wanted control of the port, but the treaty promised free use of the harbor, and even a Polish garrison on the Westerplatte Peninsula. By the 1930’s, Germany was aggressively advocating for the return of Gdansk to its holdings, and it finally decided to act. On September 1, 1939, German troops attacked the Westerplatte garrison, firing the very first shots of what would become World War II.<br/>The Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers was the first to honor victims of Communism in a Communist-ruled country.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 45<br/>","David has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle for 15 years. He is also a playwright and the author of several books.<br/>Right: One might not think of beaches when<br/>it comes to Poland,<br/>but Gdańsk-Brzeźno is actually very similar to California’s Venice Beach.<br/>Immerse yourself in<br/>the history of Gdansk during our Grand Baltic Sea Voyage Small Ship Adventure. Visit www.oattravel.com/crb for more details.<br/>Communist-ruled country. The future of a free Poland was already set in motion, and when Lech Walesa became President in 1990, the Iron Curtain dropped away for good.<br/>Gdańsk-Brzeźno:<br/>Sun & Sand, Polish Style<br/>While the city is still a thriving maritime hub, its docks busy with merchant vessels and passenger ships alike, not all the<br/>action is at the Port of Gdansk. Inland Poles and neighboring Germans don flip flops and sunglasses to hit the local beaches.<br/>There are multiple beaches, some with<br/>lifeguards and boardwalks, others more rustic<br/>and quiet, and all of them boast pale, sandy<br/>shores. A bike path runs from the Jelitkowo<br/>district to the neighborhood of Brzeźno, with ocean views filling the horizon. The route ends at a stunner of a beach. While most Americans have never<br/>pictured a Polish equivalent to California’s Venice Beach, Gdańsk-Brzeźno is just that; with its long and lovely pier, it attracts as many as 50,000 visitors a day in peak season.<br/>Since 2000, Gdansk has made it a priority to maintain the quality of its prized beaches, and put practices<br/>in place to make them sustainable. As a result, Gdańsk-Brzeźno received Blue Flag status, a trademark designation that recognizes water quality, safety, and environmental management. With stringent criteria, the Blue Flag is only awarded to beaches around the world that demonstrate sustainable practices and the highest standards all around. So if a Polish sunbather ever tells you that Gdańsk-Brzeźno is one of the best beaches in the world, believe them—they can prove it.<br/>NOT QUITE LIBERTY: THE “FREE” STATE OF DANZIG<br/>Gdansk wasn’t al- ways just a city—at one point, it was almost a nation unto itself. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles declared the Free State of Danzig (the German name for Gdansk)<br/>to be a semi-auton- omous city-state. Tension between Germany and Po- land still ran high, and the Treaty of<br/>Versailles specified that the Danzig was to be wholly consumed by nei- ther. It was protected under the League of Nations, but had its trade agreements bound up with Poland, even as Germany still retained military equipment and a presence in the seaport.<br/>It was not an ideal situation. The biggest problem was that the Free State of Danzig was majority German, but the city’s new policies were geared to promoting the interests of the Polish minority. Unhappy with<br/>this arrangement, the German residents took out their frustration on the Poles, treating them as inferior.<br/>In 1933, the Nazi Party took over the local government, leading many of the city’s Jews to flee. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the free state was dissolved and annexed to the Reich. The Nazis declared Jews and Poles alike to be “subhuman,” pressing some into forced labor and sending others to concentration camps. But the tide turned the other way when the Soviet army claimed the city at the end of the war in 1945, and most Germans were expelled.<br/>With Danzig now part of the Communist People’s Republic of Poland— and once again officially Gdansk—it was time to rebuild. But with Poles and Jews having been dispersed before or during the war, followed<br/>by the exodus of Germans after, the 1950s dawned on a dramatically underpopulated city. In time, displaced Poles from elsewhere began to return—some relocating there after the Soviets booted them from parts of Poland annexed by Russia—and the city started to revive. By the end of the 1950s, Gdansk was booming again, thanks in part to<br/>the Communist emphasis on expanding the port and the shipyards to boost Soviet interests in the region.<br/>Little did the Communists know that those same shipyards would someday bring down their entire regime, finally making Gdansk—and Poland—truly free.<br/>46 DISPATCHES • SPRING 2017<br/>","T.E. Lawrence<br/>A very inspiring gentleman adventurer<br/>Cultural Moorings<br/>By Andrea Calabretta<br/>Andrea is a Philadelphia- based writer who has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle since 2008. Her curiosity about the world has taken<br/>her to more than thirty countries.<br/>Left: Photographs of Lawrence dressed as a Bedouin leader, which were publicized in London by the American journalist Lowell Thomas, earned him<br/>his popular moniker, “Lawrence of Arabia.”<br/>The man who would become Lawrence of Arabia began his life as “Ned,” a young Welshman with an early passion for adventure and the open<br/>road. At 21, he undertook a solo, thousand-mile trek of Ottoman Syria and Palestine, visiting the castles of the Crusaders. His enthusiasm for Arabia, as it was then called, only grew when he joined a British Museum archeological dig in northern Syria upon his graduation from Oxford. There he made close friends among the local people and grew to admire their way of life. But World War I soon intervened to divert him from archeol- ogy. Lawrence was recruited to military intelligence work—and through map-making in the Syrian desert, he gained an intimate familiarity with the starkly beautiful landscape.<br/>Ultimately, Thomas Edward Lawrence would be regarded as one of the most iconic and enigmatic figures of<br/>the 20th century: a hero of the Arab people to some—<br/>to others, an imperialist partly responsible for the current troubles of the Middle East. His exploits have been the subject of countless books and films—most notably Lawrence of Arabia (1962), starring Peter O’Toole.<br/>At first, his wartime role was constrained to that of liaison officer to the Arab leaders—specifically Sharif Hussein of Mecca. Turkey had aligned itself with the Axis powers, and the Allied forces of Great Britain and France threw their support behind the Arabs fomenting a revolt against Ottoman rule. Though he was a servant of the British empire, Lawrence privately saw himself as a romantic hero who would foster a new nation: the independent kingdom of Arabia.<br/>Together with Hussein’s son Faisal, Lawrence began working to unite the various desert tribes to plan raids on the Turks. In order to gain their esteem, he took<br/>to dressing in Bedouin costume, speaking Arabic, and performing feats of endurance in riding camels.<br/>Though their numbers were small, the strength of the Bedouin fighters lay in guerilla warfare, and Lawrence proved a skillful strategist. His greatest success came<br/>at the siege of the coastal city of Aqaba. It took him two months to cross the Negev desert on camelback—suffer- ing malaria, dysentery, and open sores—in order to surprise the Turks in the hills above Aqaba. The raid was a resounding success. A fellow officer wrote, “Though a price of £15,000 has been put on his head by the Turks, no Arab has, as yet, attempted to betray him....[H]e is just the finely tempered steel that supports the whole structure of our influence in Arabia. He is a very inspir- ing gentleman adventurer.”<br/>As Lawrence’s successes mounted, Britain and France poured money and weaponry into the conflict, promis- ing autonomy to the Arabs once the war was over. But behind closed doors, they were dividing the territory amongst themselves. Lawrence was tormented by the deception, which plagued him even after his withdrawal from military life.<br/>In Oxford after the war, he published an account of<br/>his experience titled The Seven Pillars of Wisdom—a<br/>work acclaimed for its poetic descriptions of desert locales. The most remarkable of these is Wadi Rum, a valley near Aqaba surrounded by towering walls of rock he compared to Byzantine architecture. Lawrence called it the type of landscape dreamed about in childhood,<br/>a place so “vast, echoing, and Godlike” that he would often go there to clear his senses “by the ride down its dawn-lit valley towards the shining plains.”<br/>Sadly, he never returned to the desert lands he held<br/>so dear, and at the age of 47 met an untimely death.<br/>By then he had changed his name, trying in vain<br/>to escape the media frenzy drawn to his mythology. At his funeral, Winston Churchill said, “I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time ... His name will live in history ... It will live in the legends of Arabia.”<br/>T. E. Lawrence began his remarkable quests at the age of 21, when he em- barked on a trek through Palestine and Ottoman Syria that spanned one thousand miles.<br/>Follow in the footsteps of T.E. Lawrence on<br/>our Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan &<br/>the Red Sea Small Ship Adventure. Visit www.oattravel.com/rde for details.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 47<br/>","Stepping Ashore<br/>By Meghan Colloton<br/>Meghan has been writing for O.A.T. and Grand Circle for eight years and has been to six continents.<br/>A Conversation With ...<br/>O.A.T. Trip Leader Darko Perojevic<br/>Darko Perojevic—Trip Leader on our Hidden Gems of the Dalmatian Coast & Greece Small Ship Adventure—<br/>may call Dubrovnik his first home, but today he finds himself jet setting between Hong Kong, Dubrovnik, China, Indonesia, and Australia regularly with his wife and son. Darko took some time to chat with us about what it was like growing up amid war in Croatia, juggling three restaurants of his own, and his favorite place to bring travelers to on his trips.<br/>Born in:<br/>Dubrovnik, Croatia<br/>Resides in:<br/>Dubrovnik, Croatia and Hong Kong<br/>Trip Leader since:<br/>2013<br/>Languages spoken:<br/>Croatian and English<br/>Hobbies & Interests: Food and wine, photography, and windsurfing<br/>Experience an attentive and knowledgeable<br/>Trip Leader like Darko during our Hidden<br/>Gems of the Dalmatian Coast & Greece Small<br/>Ship Adventure. Visit www.oattravel.com/das for more details.<br/>O.A.T.: What was it like growing up during the war in Croatia?<br/>Darko: I had an amazing childhood, and then the war happened. My generation still feels the effects of the war even today. Our teenage years should have been spent falling in love with girls and worrying only about doing our homework, but instead, we spent our time trying to earn a few coins so we could buy food to eat.<br/>Most of our parents lost their jobs. The economy fell, and that influenced us a lot. We had to find a better future somewhere outside of Croatia. Most of my friends that stayed in Dubrovnik seem to be stuck in the past. It’s sad to see that.<br/>O.A.T.: You live in both Dubrovnik and Hong Kong. Is that correct?<br/>Darko: I have been living between Hong Kong and Dubrovnik for the past five years because my wife, Dian, is a Hong Kong resident. She has been working with Cathay Pacific for 21 years, and our son was born in Hong Kong. The three of us divide our time between Hong Kong, Dubrovnik, China, Indonesia, and Australia— depending on time of the year and what my work schedule is like.<br/>O.A.T.: How did you decide to become a Trip Leader?<br/>Darko: I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel & Resort Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as an MBA from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Economics. I have worked in bars and restaurants all over the United States—from Galveston, Texas to Manhattan and Los Angeles.<br/>I have also been a hotel General Manager in Croatia, as well as Corporate Food & Beverage director for a company operating five hotels in Croatia. I started working with O.A.T.<br/>when I left my hotel career. It was also during that time that I decided to open my own restaurant company.<br/>O.A.T.: Tell us more about your restaurants.<br/>Darko: So far, I have three restaurants: Azur Restaurant in Dubrovnik, which serves Mediterranean cuisine with an Asian twist; Azur Bar & Grill in Zhuhai, China, which serves Southeast Asian favorites; and The Bar in Dubrovnik, which serves signature bar snacks like truffle bacon and grana padano (cheese) quesadillas, and it has an extensive drink list serving more than a hundred premium liquors, as well as old-style cocktail favorites and selected Croatian wines and craft beers.<br/>O.A.T.: Have you always been interested in the restaurant business?<br/>Darko: I’ve always enjoyed eating different and new things. It runs in my family. My father, Bruno, was an amazing chef and fisherman. My brother, Vedran, is a chef and we work together as business partners.<br/>O.A.T.: What do you love most about the countries you introduce travelers to on this trip?<br/>Darko: We have the most open-minded and welcoming people here. My favorite place is Kotor Bay. Kotor feels like a smaller version of Dubrovnik. Cruising through the bay is a special experi- ence with the calm water surrounded by huge mountains. It makes it magical.<br/>O.A.T.: What do you hope travelers experience when they’re on this trip?<br/>Darko: I just want travelers to relax and enjoy them- selves, and to open their hearts and let<br/>me know about any special interests they might have, so I can make their visit to my country the most memorable experience.<br/>“Darko MADE the trip! His special attention to every aspect of the journey, and to everyone on the trip, made our travels so much fun.”<br/>—Gail Hearn, 19-time traveler from Blowing Rock, NC<br/>48 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Behind the Scenes at Sea<br/>How Melinda Kurti helps create a quality onboard experience<br/>Hands on Deck<br/>You might not expect someone who hails from a landlocked country to adopt a seafaring life, but that’s exactly the course Melinda Kurti has charted for herself. Born and raised in the Hungarian countryside, she embarked on her career in 2001, working as a cabin attendant on Grand Circle’s M/S River Concerto. After her first year, she was promoted to head cabin attendant.<br/>By 2007, however, she was eager to advance her education, so she left Grand Circle to pursue a college degree in business communications and coaching. From there, she went from ships of the river to ships of the air, becoming a flight attendant for a local airline and eventually an instructor. After eight years, however, she had “had enough” of flying, and a look around at her career options brought her back to Grand Circle, this time as Ships Operations Administrator.<br/>Today, she is part of a seven-member senior manage- ment team that handles operations for the entire<br/>Grand Circle fleet of six European river ships, three Mediterranean small ships, and two ocean-going ships. “I’m really honored to work with the team I’m working with,” says Melinda. “I’m always impressed by their knowledge and professionalism.”<br/>She reveals that the goal of every itinerary is to bring in the local angle, from food, entertainment, and décor<br/>to books and music that relate to the region. “I think that’s what makes us different from other cruise lines,” she says. “The goal of learning and discovery is very important, so we’re showing as much as possible of the country our travelers are visiting.”<br/>Melinda reports to the Vice President of Hospitality,<br/>and her duties include making sure the ships are<br/>stocked with such supplies as costumes, decorations, and books, and also tracking quality results from returning travelers. “If quality drops, we try to find the reason and implement an immediate solution,” she reveals.<br/>O.A.T.’s commitment to providing the highest-quality service to travelers resonates strongly with Melinda.<br/>For example, she appreciates the company’s practice<br/>of giving Trip Leaders contact information for the travelers in their groups, so that they can get acquainted even before the adventure begins. “What makes Grand Circle different is that personal approach,” she says.<br/>She herself extends that approach to the crews aboard the Grand Circle Cruise Line fleet. “When we visit the ships, we make ourselves available to the whole of the crew, so they know where to ask for assistance when they need it,” she says.<br/>One of the challenges of the job is the unexpected events that inevitably crop up and having to find solutions on the spot—for example, figuring out what to do in case<br/>of severe weather, high or low water conditions, or the irregular availability of supplies. Many times, solving the problems involves enlisting other departments within the company.<br/>Once, it even involved interacting with another company altogether. A ship of a rival company experienced a blackout recently due to engine trouble. Grand Circle’s M/S Bizet was closest to the ship in crisis, and the captain didn’t hesitate to pitch in, which helped avert<br/>a possibly dangerous situation. “This event is a<br/>great example of how we are committed to offering a great experience based on a close-knit, compassionate, family-like crew environment,” Melinda recalls.<br/>When she’s not at her desk in Budapest or out on<br/>the rivers and seas visiting the fleet, Melinda enjoys traveling in her own right. Together with her husband Jerry, the founder of an online language school, she most recently visited New York City, and the couple has plans to venture to Slovenia next. “Travel is my life,” she says. “I love it.”<br/>By Pamela Schweppe<br/>Pamela served as Copy Director for Grand Circle Travel before becoming a full-time freelance writer.<br/>“The goal of learning and discovery is very important,<br/>so we’re showing<br/>as much as possible of the country<br/>our travelers are visiting.”<br/>To learn more about the river and ocean ships that Melinda oversees, visit www.gct.com/ourfleet<br/>Born in:<br/>Szentes, Hungary<br/>Resides in:<br/>Budapest, Hungary<br/>Languages spoken:<br/>English, Hungarian, German<br/>Hobbies & Interests: Travel<br/>Favorite ports:<br/>Lisbon, Barcelona, French Riviera, British Isles, all of them!<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 49<br/>","Adventure Update<br/>Looking ahead to 2018<br/>All of our 2018 Land and Small Ship Adventures are announced and open for reservations. With new adventures available for<br/>2018 in addition to our traveler favorites, there’s an itinerary for everyone. And no matter what part of the world you discover next year, you’ll enjoy an intimate look at everyday life as you explore in small groups. To see a list of all adventures available to reserve in 2018, visit www.oattravel.com/2018 or call one of our Adventure Specialists today at 1-800-955-1925.<br/>wild beauty is unlike anywhere else in this stratosphere. From the adobe houses of tiny San Pedro to Santiago’s sophistication and the lunar landscapes in between them, discover Chile’s spirit and awesome nature up close.<br/>NEW to our website: Destination Pages<br/>Our new Destination Pages on our website are designed to help you research countries around the world as you plan your next adventure. Each page features one country and includes independent films about the destination, an interactive map highlighting points of interest, comparisons of our adventures that visit the country, traveler photos, and more. Visit www.oattravel.com/india to check out our India destination guide today.<br/>News Briefs from O.A.T.<br/>NEW optional extension: Tel Aviv, Israel<br/>O.A.T. Chairman Alan Lewis personally recommended this new pre-trip extension to our popular Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea Small Ship Adventure. It’s a long flight to Israel, so take this opportunity to relax and refresh before your main trip while exploring more of this culture-rich and cosmopolitan city. We’ll show you the highlights—and your centrally-located hotel on the Mediterranean boardwalk will help you make the most of your free time.<br/>Explore all 5 Stans of Central Asia: Extension dates added<br/>Many travelers on our Stans of Central Asia: Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan adventure choose to add three additional “Stans” with our optional extensions. To keep up with demand, we’ve added our popular post-trip to Tajikistan to additional depar- tures. So there’s even more opportunity to experience all five Stans—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—on one epic journey.<br/>NEW optional extension: Santiago and the Atacama Desert, Chile<br/>On this new optional post-trip extension during Southern Peru & Bolivia: Inca Landscapes & Lake Titicaca, you’ll travel through South America’s longest and narrowest country and explore lively Santiago, Chile’s capital in the Andes, then witness the surreal and otherworldly landscapes of the Atacama desert—the driest place on earth. It’s no wonder NASA chose this area to simulate Mars exploration: with rust-colored valleys and canyons, striking rock formations, and the largest salt flats in Chile, the Atacama’s<br/>50 DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017<br/>","Where in the World?<br/>Continued from page 10<br/>ANSWER:<br/>Lovcen Mountain, Montenegro<br/>Inland from the Bay of Kotor, glowing bright in the sunlight, a pair of rocky mountain peaks rise from pine forests. If they were described on appearance alone, you might call them the Pale Mountains or the Almost White Range. So how on earth did they become known as “black mountains”? Blame Italy.<br/>For nearly 400 years ending just before the dawn of the 19th century, Venice ruled the coastal area around Kotor, controlling it as part of what was then Venetian Albania. Venetian rule dominated architecture, trade, and official traditions during this time, despite the fact that what we now call Montenegro already had its own culture, its own royalty (a family of Prince-Bishops), and its own Serbo-Croatian language.<br/>What it didn’t have was a single name for the country, which had been divided into several realms (Duklja, Travunia, and Rascia)<br/>for its first few centuries, though the majority of the territory was named Zeta by the time the Venetians arrived. The interlopers fixated on the mountain that stood between their boats and Cetinje, which was the capital of Zeta and the seat of all official business. When viewed from the sea, the pine forest cloaking the mountain slopes looked like pitch black shadows in contrast to the white stone peaks, and the Venetians were not crazy about having to pass through such ominously dark territories to get to the capital.<br/>Lovcen was then both an obstacle for them to conquer and a mighty symbol of their new territory, which they named Black Mountain (Montenegro). Almost immediately, the locals began using that name as well, but in their own language: Crna Gora. Both names<br/>are still in play: the locals call the area Crna Gora and the country Montenegro—but the mountain itself is called neither. By any name, Lovcen’s two peaks (Jezerski and Štirovnik) continue to dominate the skyline and offer the best views in the nation.<br/>Witness Lovcen Mountain during Hidden Gems of the Dalmatian Coast & Greece. Visit www.oattravel.com/das for more information.<br/>In the Know<br/>Continued from page 15<br/>ANSWERS:<br/>1. c. Chile<br/>2. a. China<br/>3. c. Don’t ask for salt or pepper; it implies your food is not seasoned properly.<br/>4. d. Italy<br/>5. a. Japan<br/>6. b. The left hand is considered unclean<br/>7. a. Thailand<br/>8. b. To push food onto the<br/>spoon<br/>9. a. France<br/>10. c. Spain<br/>Have you been published?<br/>Did you experience a life-changing moment during an O.A.T. adventure? Now, when you write a story about your discoveries and have it published on select travel websites or blogs, travel magazines, or in a local paper, you can enjoy a $100 travel voucher towards your next O.A.T. adventure. To claim your voucher, your story must:<br/>• Be published online so that we can share it instantly with other interested travelers<br/>• Mention O.A.T.’s website (www.oattravel.com)<br/>• If published in a local newspaper, have a<br/>circulation of at least 25,000 readers.<br/>Limit one voucher per trip. Guidelines subject to change. For more information or to participate, please contact Priscilla O’Reilly at poreilly@oattravel.com.<br/>DISPATCHES • SUMMER 2017 51<br/>",""];