Greenland Tours

Name:
Martin Charlton

EDUCATION:
Bachelor's Degree in Geography; further studies in Archaeology & Anthropology. Life's real education happens outside the classroom.

LANGUAGE:
English and some French & Spanish.

TOURS LED:
Having led tours for Adventures Abroad for almost 25 years, there are few corners of the globe where Martin’s left a stone unturned: everywhere from North Korea to Nauru, Saudi Arabia to Sudan, Guinea-Bissau to French Guiana. With over 200 tours through over 125 countries under his belt, it might be faster to list the regions where he hasn’t led a tour.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
"My love of travel and infectious enthusiasm for different cultures has taken me to over 155 countries. The further off the beaten path, the better. For a favourite place: perhaps South Georgia Island, the Canadian Arctic, or Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. World's best city = Istanbul!"

ABOUT:
"Don't pack anything that you would be upset to lose, that needs to be ironed, or is encased in glass." - words to live by.

Name:
Jonathan Hodgson

EDUCATION:
BA in Psychology at McGill University; MBA at the University of British Columbia; self-educated passion for history and culture.

LANGUAGE:
English; conversational French; improving Spanish and Russian. And a decent Scottish accent.

TOURS LED:
I have led tours in over 100 countries over the last 14 years of working for Adventures Abroad on all of the continents except for Antarctica.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Where to begin? Each place has something that makes it a special destination. A few that spring to mind: Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; the snow-covered mountains of Ladakh, India; sipping tea in a chaikhana of the old town of Bukhara, Uzbekistan; and watching the changing colours of Uluru (Ayers Rock) at sunset.

ABOUT:
Jonathan has lived much of his life dedicated to the idea that he would rather have a wealth of experiences than a wealth of riches. Having taken up a nomadic lifestyle shortly after finishing his undergraduate degree, he has been on the move on and off over the last 25+ years. The wanderlust has taken him to basing himself in places such as Scotland, Australia and Uzbekistan, and to visiting many more locations around our planet. Now (sort of) settled in Vancouver with his wonderful (and patient) family, he still loves the idea of having the world as his office and always enjoys trying to capture the essence of the locations he travels and tours in with his photography.

Name:
Victor Romagnoli

EDUCATION:
HBA English BA History

LANGUAGE:
Being able to speak several languages has made travelling an enriching experience; the conversations one can so easily slip into with locals - who come from all walks of life - adds greatly to my feel for a place.

TOURS LED:
Over a span of almost 30 years, I have lead tours virtually all over the globe.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Some of my favourite tours just come into being suddenly as a result of a request; someone will ask me to put together an itinerary that will include the highlights of several countries and the next thing you know we have, for example, a tour to Uruguay, Paraguay & Bolivia, or Lesotho, Namibia & Botswana. Sometimes I will be asked to arrange a detailed itinerary to just one region within a country - like a close up look at Sicily or Crete or the Basque Country or Newfoundland. Without the keen curiosity that so many of you travellers have, none of these "spontaneous" tours would come into being. But they do.

ABOUT:
I love the excitement of getting up each morning on a tour and not knowing exactly how a day will unfold. It keeps me on my toes so to speak, and adds a breath of excitement to each day on tour. With almost 30 years of tour leading under my belt, I thank all of you for being a part of this exciting journey.

Name:
Chris Tripodi

EDUCATION:
University for Mathematics. College for Music. But the greatest education I've received has come from Earth while travelling. "Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled."

LANGUAGE:
I can ask 'Where is the toilet?' in 57 languages.

COUNTRIES VISITED:
80%. I need a new passport every 20 months.

TOURS LED:
West Africa to South Africa, El Salvador to Argentina, Samoa to Seychelles, Portugal to Romania, Jordan to Japan.

FAVOURITE DESTINATION:
Departures hall.

ABOUT:
I travel because it is the most interesting thing I can think of doing between meals. The magic and the challenge of this job is seeing the world itself as the tour with several smaller journeys along the way. I enjoy that time at the end of one trip, before the start of a new one, where the sadness of leaving one place mixes with the excitement of approaching another.

Greenland is the largest island on Earth, as well as being the largest dependent territory in the world, and has a staggering 81 per cent of its landmass covered by an icecap that is some 40km thick in places. The population is sparse, with only about 56,000 people residing in the extensive area and around 15 per cent of inhabitants having been born outwith the country borders.

The indigenous and naturalized population, however, hold strong to heritage and tradition and the nation's long history is evident both on the landscape of the country and in the lives of the people. In South Greenland, the remnants of a Viking settlement that dates from more than a millennium ago stands remarkably well-preserved and travellers can also take in the remains of the first Anglican churches built on the North American continent.

Visiting the modern settlements of Greenland, visitors are treated to a vibrant, multi-coloured sprawl - now a trademark of Greenlandic architecture - that could not stand in more contrast to the relics of ancient times. Mingling with the locals reveals an intriguing culture that echoes the lifestyle of the days of yore, as a vast number of people still build their own kayaks, travel on dogsleds and hunt in much the same way as their ancestors once did.

As welcoming and interesting as the Greenlandic people and their culture are, the most memorable aspect of Greenland tours is the scenery. There is an inescapable eeriness and alluring beauty about the primordially barren wonderland and as frigid gusts of unforgiving wind thrusts wisps of shimmering frost over the precipice of a colossal, spellbinding iceberg, you come to appreciate nature and the world in a whole new light.