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The
TravelQuest Team |
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Aram
Kaprielian - President |
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President and founder of TravelQuest
International, Aram Kaprielian grew
up within the travel industry. In
the 1980's, he worked for and
managed his father's group travel
company, Travel Bug International,
one of the original pioneering
astronomy travel companies.
Having traveled to almost every
region of the world, Aram fell in
love with the mountains of Arizona
and founded TravelQuest in Prescott,
Arizona in 1996. |
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Since that time he and the
TQ team have made it their
passion to create innovative travel
programs to all parts of the world -
from the American Southwest, to
Latin America, Europe, Asia, the
Middle East and even Antarctica and
the North Pole.
Aram
personally scouts out emerging
destinations, and has visited all
seven continents. His passion for
sharing unique, one-of-a-kind travel
experiences with travelers from
around the world is evident in every
TravelQuest program. |
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Trish Bustria -
Administrative Assistant |
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Born and raised in San
Francisco, one of the most diverse and
beautiful cities in America, Trish grew
up with people from all over the world
and has a vast appreciation for all
cultures. New to the Prescott area,
Trish enjoys exploring Arizona and
discovering the hidden treasures of the
desert. As a natural born artist Trish
is pursuing her Fine Art Degree while
working at TravelQuest. She brings a
youthful energy to the office and helps
keep all aspects of the workflow
organized. In her spare time, Trish
enjoys
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Shakespeare, all types
of music and spending
time with her dog
Oliver. |
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Kari
Hull - Office Manager |
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Born in Phoenix and
raised in Prescott, Arizona, Kari earned
her Bachelors degree in Hospitality
Management at Northern Arizona
University. After 17 years as a small
business owner, Kari most recently
served as Program Director for a
non-profit organization that took her to
Western Africa and Haiti, and inspired
her to start her own non-profit charity,
Children’s Peace Project.
A natural leader, Kari brings to TravelQuest
skills that focus on team
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building that
motivates change and progress in
business development. At home Kari
enjoys spending time with her husband
and two lovely daughters. |
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Christine Broiles - Logistic
Coordinator |
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Growing up in both
Kodiak, Alaska and Mililani, Hawaii,
Christine has an immense appreciation
for different lands and cultures,
allowing her to feel right at home amid
the city lights of Honolulu or in a
cabin tucked in Alaska's Kachemak Bay.
Her wide range of life
experiences, as well as her insatiable
thirst for knowledge and attention to
detail make her well suited as our
TravelQuest Logistic Coordinator.
Christine, her husband and |
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daughter enjoy exploring
all the wonders Northern Arizona has to
offer. |
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The Industry Leader in Astronomical
Tours |
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Michel Girardin |
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Michel has been involved in the South
African eco-tourism industry for the
past 24 years. He spent 16 years as
Operations Director of Sabi Sabi Private
Game Reserve and has owned and managed
his own lodge in South Africa for the
past 8 years.
His association with TravelQuest started
back in 2002 when he coordinated their
South African Total Solar eclipse tour,
and was instantly hooked on the
astronomical niche.
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Michel has subsequently
worked for TravelQuest as a
Tour Director in Turkey (2006) and China
(2008). |
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Jay
Anderson |
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Jay was born
in Saskatchewan, Canada. After high
school, Jay moved to Vancouver to attend
the University of British Columbia,
acquiring degrees in physics and
astronomy and a job as a weather
forecaster with Environment Canada, the
Canadian government’s official forecast
agency.
Combining his interests in
astronomy and meteorology, Jay
compiled a study of weather
prospects for the 1979 total
solar eclipse that was widely
distributed to eclipse
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chasers. Jay has been producing studies
of the climatology along eclipse
tracks ever since. In 1990, Jay
joined with Fred Espenak to create official studies under
NASA auspices.
In 1994, joined with Travel Bug — the
precursor of TravelQuest - to help find
an eclipse viewing site in Bolivia. When
Travel Bug became TravelQuest, Jay
became an instrumental part of
TravelQuest’s eclipse-finding team and
has worked with Aram Kaprielian steadily
since that time.
“Aram and I have seen many weird and
wonderful places together, investigating
the sites along the eclipse tracks:
Madagascar, Botswana, Western China,
Siberia, and Easter Island.” And so many
eclipse memories and friends as well —
to Jay, that’s what really makes shadow
chasing so special. “Eclipses are
stunning, wonderful events” he notes,
“but the magic also comes with friends
around the globe and at TravelQuest, who
come together in exotic places every now
and then to reconnect under the shadow
of the Moon.” |
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Deborah Carter |
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Deborah has been leading tours
for Travel Quest since 2001 when she led
her first total eclipse on safari in
Zambia. Since then Deborah has led two
other total solar eclipse tours with TravelQuest - one Egypt and most
recently to Russia.
Born and raised in the
United Kingdom, Deborah
has visited numerous
places around the globe
including many countries
within Africa, eastern
Australia, Europe and
Russia
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and
enjoys travelling
immensely.
Deborah has been leading tours since
1987, is very good with details, and
just as importantly has a great sense of
humor and is always on hand to help out
in sticky situations.
Over the years Deborah has made lots of
friends on TravelQuest adventures and
looks forward to her next TravelQuest
journey. |
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Paul Deans - Astronomer |
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For more than three
decades, Paul has been helping others
discover the
wonder and beauty of the night sky.
While working at several planetariums in
Canada, he wrote and directed more than
100 multimedia astronomy shows, gave
countless lectures and night-sky
presentations, and organized and ran
numerous astronomy outreach programs.
In 2002, while an editor
at Sky & Telescope magazine, Paul
joined his
first TravelQuest tour
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lights tour to Alaska. Since
leaving S&T and becoming a
freelance astronomy writer/editor, Paul
has combined his enthusiasm for
astronomy with his love of travel. He is
also an eclipse enthusiast (having seen
seven total and two annular solar
eclipses) and is the editor of Travel
Quest, TQ's quarterly e-zine.
Paul leads TQ's annual trip to Iceland
for our Fire, Ice & the Aurora tour, and
can be expected to be seen on TQ trips
to various worldwide destinations. |
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Holly Gilbert |
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Dr. Holly Gilbert is the
Associate Director for Science in the
Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center. She earned
her B.A. in physics from the University
of Colorado, Boulder, and her Ph.D. in
theoretical astrophysics from the
University of Oslo, Norway. Before
joining NASA she worked at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research’s High
Altitude Observatory and at Rice
University.
Holly has extensive experience
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studying the solar
atmosphere, especially
the dynamic phenomena
associated with coronal
mass ejections (CMEs)
and solar flares. Her
research is driven by
the desire to gain a
better understanding of
the magnetic environment
that controls these
violent eruptions
(“solar storms”) and the
forces behind
space-weather events.
One of Holly’s roles at NASA is to manage the education and
outreach activities of
the Heliophysics Science
Division. In this
capacity she has
appeared in television
documentaries on the
History Channel,
Discovery Channel, and
National Geographic
Channel. Her commitment
to education and public
outreach was recognized
in 2007 with the
dedication of the Dr.
Holly Gilbert Solar
Telescope at St. George
Observatory in Schriever,
Louisiana. |
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Cesar Higueras |
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Residing in Spain with
his wife and daughter Daniela, Cesar is
a student of history, art, language (he
speaks Spanish, French, Italian and
English), food and good wine. He has
guided numerous TravelQuest groups
through Europe as well as eclipse trips
to North Africa and Asia.
Besides possessing great knowledge about
the peoples and places he leads groups
to, it is probably Cesar’s charming wit
and humor that makes him so
popular a
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TravelQuest trip leader. |
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| Jean Morrison |
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Jean was born and raised in the leafy
southern suburbs of Cape Town, South
Africa. After graduating from the
University of Cape Town with a Bachelor
of Arts Degree, she started work with
the South African Tourism Board and also
spent time in New York and Los Angeles
promoting SA as a wonderful tourist
destination.
She then returned to Johannesburg to get
married and spent 10 years working for
Sabi Sabi Private Safari Game Reserve. Her work then took |
her back to the USA where she and her husband, David, spent 8 years in Tucson, AZ promoting many travel destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her travels have taken her to many African countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe and of course, the USA and Canada which she knows well.
She now resides in the UK and travels a
lot in Europe and Southern Africa. She
has observed 2 total eclipses and loves
the challenge of leading travelers
through new destinations. |
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Dr. Will Smith |
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Will is
from Jackson,
Wyoming, and
currently serves
as the Medical
Director for
Grand Teton
National Park,
Teton County
Search & Rescue,
and Jackson Hole
Fire/ EMS. Dr.
Smith is an
Emergency
Department
Physician and
serves in the US
Army Reserve —
recently
completing
medical missions
to Panama and El
Salvador — and
has been
deployed twice
to Iraq. His
combat
experience,
pre-hospital EMS
experience as a
paramedic, as
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as his technical
Search and
Rescue
skills, have
lead to numerous
speaking
engagements at
Wilderness and
EMS conferences
around the
country.
As
an avid
outdoorsman and
dedicated
physician, Dr.
Smith continues
to apply and
master his
medical and
rescue skills in
wilderness
settings. He
also provides a
multitude of
other consulting
services in
regards to
wilderness
medicine.
Will’s first
glimpse of
totality with TravelQuest was
on Easter Island
in 2010.
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| Dean Schroeder |
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Dean was
born and raised on a dairy farm outside
of St. Louis, Missouri , in the great
American Midwest. He always knew that
travel was his passion and he started
his career as a travel agent fresh out
of high school. He started with Air 1,
an all-first class carrier based in St.
Louis. A bigger and better opportunity
landed him a fifteen-year career with
TWA.
When American Airlines purchased TWA
several years back, many
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employees were furloughed. Dean has been on recall status for five years, and is currently involved with an agency assisting with both corporate and leisure travel.
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| Chris Slevin |
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Christopher's travels since the mid-60s
have taken him to all seven continents
including three total solar eclipses
with TravelQuest to Africa, Egypt &
Russia.
His creativity was reflected in trip
development for such European tour
operators as Kuoni and Thomas Cook, and
in the US, Lindblad Travel and Ker
& Downey Safaris. However he says,
"Escorting tours is my greatest pleasure
since one experiences the outcome of all the planning directly
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with an
incredibly diverse and fascinating melange of
travelers." In addition to being a great
organizer, Christopher is also a great
storyteller – which makes traveling with
him even more enjoyable. |
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Paul
Swart |
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Paul began his travel career in the safari
industry in 1987 as an apprentice guide
in the remote Linyanti Region of
Botswana.
He
steadily
worked
his way
up
through
the
ranks at
some of
the
finest
game
reserves
and
lodges
in
Southern
Africa.
Paul has
been
recognized
as a
preferred
African
safari
guide by
the
Condé
Nast
Portfolio.
Before
moving
from
South
Africa
to the
USA in
1997,
Paul
served
as
General
Manager
for the
award
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Private
Game
Reserve
in South
Africa.
When he is not in his office he enjoys
whitewater kayaking, snowboarding, and
horseback riding. A master of logistical
planning, Paul has led 4 previous
TravelQuest eclipse trips to Zambia,
South Africa, Libya and most recently
Western China. |
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Rick Fienberg -
Astronomer |
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Dr. Rick
Fienberg is the American Astronomical
Society’s Press Officer and Education &
Outreach Coordinator. Earlier he spent
22 years at Sky & Telescope magazine,
the last 8 as Editor in Chief. He’s a
Fellow of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, and the
International Astronomical Union has
named asteroid 9983 Rickfienberg in his
honor. |
Before joining S&T, Rick earned his B.A.
in physics at Rice University and his
M.A. and Ph.D. in astronomy at Harvard
University; he has done research on the
aurora borealis, planetary nebulas,
active galaxies, and the center of the
Milky Way. He is a co-creator of the Galileoscope educational telescope kit,
a Cornerstone Project of the
International Year of Astronomy 2009.
Though trained as a professional astronomer, Rick remains an
amateur at heart, observing the sky and
taking astrophotos from his homebuilt
hilltop observatory in southern New
Hampshire. An inveterate traveler and
eclipse-chaser, he has visited all seven
continents and the North and South
Poles. . |
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Caren Banks |
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Caren went to work for a top safari
company in Southern Africa at the ripe
old age of 17 and her life changed
forever. After moving to the United
States, Caren spent the 1980’s in a
highly successful detour through the
world of mergers, acquisitions and
finance. Her holidays, however, were
spent traveling in Africa, and it was
not long before sustainable tourism
worldwide became more important than
financial portfolios. In the early |
1990’s Caren founded Nature Encounters,
a small
boutique travel company
specializing in custom designed
adventures. In 2002 Caren approached her
favorite owner-operated properties and
put together Caren’s Best, an exclusive
collection of outstanding camps and
lodges, inns and retreats, and remote
private stations worldwide.
She was introduced to the world of
eclipses by TravelQuest International in
the Gobi Desert in China, and really
enjoys being part of the on-site,
organizational team who makes these
trips as enjoyable, and smooth, as
possible, anticipating every possible
detail along the way. |
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Gary
Seronik
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Astronomer |
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Gary
has
always
had
stars in
his
eyes.
From
childhood
on, the
night
sky has
excited
his
imagination
and
fueled
his
curiosity.
Gary has
spent
the past
two
decades
sharing
his
passion
for
backyard
astronomy
with the
public.
From his
early
work as
a show
presenter
and
producer
at
Vancouver
British
Columbia’s
famed
MacMillan
Space
Centre,
to his
current
positions
as
Contributing
Editor
at Sky &
Telescope
magazine
and
columnist
for SkyNews
in Canada, he
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has encouraged
thousands
of
people
to look
up and
enjoy
the
wonders
of the
universe.
This
past
summer
he was
awarded
the
Royal
Astronomical
Society
of
Canada’s
prestigious
Simon
Newcomb
in
recognition
of his
outstanding
writing.
Gary is
a
seasoned
traveler
and was
a leader
on
TravelQuest’s
eclipse
tour to
Egypt in
2006. He
has also
served
as the
‘resident’
astronomer
for
TravelQuest’s
annual
Costa
Rica
Southern
Sky
Fiesta
since
its
inception
in 2004. |
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Martina Potzsch |
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Although born and raised
in northern Germany, Martina fell in
love with the Icelandic countryside at
the age of 18. For several years
thereafter, Martina lived in both
Iceland and Germany. She attended the
Iceland Tourist Guide School and
graduated in 1992. That same year she
started guiding visitors as a summer
job. After receiving her bus-driving
license and moving permanently to
Iceland in 1996, she began working full
time as a freelance driver-guide.
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Martina
specializes in leading hiking
and camping tours through Iceland’s
wilderness during the summer, but in the
winter she takes groups all around the
country on hotel/bus tours. Her favorite
Icelandic sites are usually well off the
beaten track, located primarily in the
highlands of the interior. She also
loves Icelandic folk tales and saga
stories, and delights in sharing them
with her touring companions. She has
guided each of TravelQuest’s Iceland
aurora tours since the first one in
2002. |
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Gabrielle Kaprielian |
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Gabrielle
grew up in Prescott, Arizona.
After high school, she attended the
University of Arizona in Tucson where
she studied political science and
French.
After graduation she
worked in the Dominican
Republic, France, and
the Southern Caucasus.
She spent a year and a
half living in Yerevan,
Armenia, working on a
project to develop
democracy in the
country. Currently,
Gabrielle plans to begin
a master’s degree
in conflict resolution and
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international relations
in Washington, D.C.
Gabrielle is a lifelong traveler. Her
first eclipse was in Brazil at the age
of 10 and she has been following them
ever since. In her spare time, she
enjoys reading, yoga, hiking, and
watching the Green Bay Packers. |
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Dr. Jim
Little
Jr. |
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Jim is a
Family
Physician
who grew
up in
Jackson
Hole,
Wyoming,
where he
now runs
a busy
family
medicine
and
urgent
care
clinic.
Jim has
a
special
interest
in
wilderness
and
travel
medicine.
His
father
started
a family
tradition
of
chasing
total
solar
eclipses
in the
1970’s.
Most
recently,
Jim
travelled
to the
Cook
Islands
with TravelQuest
for his
fifth
eclipse.
When he
isn’t
working,
Jim
enjoys
travel,
skiing,
hiking,
paragliding, |
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scuba
diving,
home
brewing
and
photography.
He is
looking
forward
to the
August
2017
solar
eclipse
when the
center-
line
passes
directly
over
Jackson
Hole and
he can
host an
eclipse
trip a
little
closer
to home! |
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Josu Camacho |
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At the age of just 18 years Josu began
his travel career working as a guide for
one of Spain’s first expedition tour
operators. During his free time he
traveled the world gathering a global
perspective that serves him to this day.
On 1996 Josu created his own
Madrid-based tour company with his wife
Kitty. His first project with
TravelQuest was to organize a
prehistoric cave art tour through Spain
and France in 2000. Since then Josu |
has
led TravelQuest tours through Europe and
North Africa, including Morocco and
Libya.
Josu loves music and good food, as these
things, “keep his spirit awake!” |
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Chuck Simpson |
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Chuck has called Phoenix, Arizona his
home since the age of six. He has worked
in the transportation and tourism
industry since 1974. In 1999 graduated
from the International Tour Management
Institute in San Francisco and began his
career as an Independent Tour Director
and Guide.
Since 1998 Chuck has worked with
TravelQuest on trips both in the USA and
abroad to Central America, North Africa
and China. Chuck’s
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management
experience
relates to any
country he
travels to, and
he loves to
extend his care
and knowledge to
make our
travelers’
experience with
him as rewarding
and special as
possible. |
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