Category Archives: tourism

astronomy, tourism, travel

Come Sail Away

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Exploration and Travel are the Keys to the Cosmos

sunset over bermuda and travel
Come sail away and travel the planet… or out to the stars!

I’m listening to Styx’s Come Sail Away piece right now and it really brightened a cold, winter morning.  Not that I’m sad; quite the opposite. I just returned from two periods of extended travel to Iceland and Europe. My task: to serve as an astronomy lecturer for Smithsonian Journeys on a land trip. That was followed aa few weeks later by an assignment on a transatlantic cruise.  They were fabulous experiences. On the cruise, I had the privilege of bringing my mom along as my guest.  We had fun times, fun experiences, and  it was another chance to share the cosmos with fellow travelers.

Each time I go on a journey, I think about how much travel can broaden a person’s horizons. It doesn’t have to be very far  — many people find inspiration as they travel from one town to another, or even to another neighborhood in their own metropolis. The important thing is that when a person travels to a new environment, be it next door or around the world, they see a new vista, a distant horizon, and meet new and different people.

Travel and Exploration are How We Learn

That’s the essence of exploration – to learn new things from new places. It’s why I enjoy going around sharing astronomy and space science with others. It’s sort of a “meta” experience — reaching out to others about how we explore the universe and what we learn about it (and ourselves). That’s probably why I am so fascinated with astronomy and space exploration; they are important journeys to make, and the journey of my life has been to study astronomy and then share it with others. Each time we look up and out, we make progress toward understanding our place in the universe. each time we travel around our own planet, we make progress in understanding our brothers and sisters on this planet, and the places they live in. Progress is the greatest journey of all.

 

tourism, travel

Back in the Cloud

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A Short Journey West and Some Thoughts about Future Tourism

Our part of the Intertubes came back late Sunday. It wouldn’t have been too bad except when our access went away, so did our phones. If there’s a downside to bundling services, that’s it — when one goes, they all go. It reminds me of those sound systems that have all the components in one box. When the CD player goes and you want to get it repaired, you have to take the whole thing in and you’re out of sound for days until it comes back.

But, I’m back. Just before the ice storm hit we went out to Colorado for a few days and managed to get in some sight-seeing around the family visit we were making. What do geeky science types do on vacation?  Well, in this case, we went to the Denver aquarium.  It’s really a nice place to visit — no astronomy or space science involved in it, but a lot of really interesting exhibits about Rocky Mountain area fish and water wildlife, desert area fish and wildlife, some ocean exhibits, and at the top of the building a lovely rain forest with four male tigers in it (on loan from San Diego).  They were absolutely gorgeous creatures and apparently quite content in their huge surroundings.

I wonder what our future generations will visit when they go on vacation to other worlds?  Will the Chryse Planitia city council decide that Mars needs an exhibit of Earth flora and fauna and bring up a whole zoo and eco-environment for future Martians to visit?  Will the Xanadu Pleasure Dome on the Moon decide that it would be cool to re-create Las Vegas in their casino city just as Las Vegas has recreated New York in the Nevada desert?   Will the city fathers and mothers on Europa decide that it would be a great idea to build an Earth-like ski slope on Connemara Chaos and so they create a mini-Aspen resort there, complete with celebrity mansions and aprés-ski lodges?

Those probably wouldn’t be the first things they do — after all, pioneers in any age have to secure the environment first, building safe homes for the long-term settlers. Museums and aquariums and parks and casinos and all the accoutrements of the tourist trade would come long after that. But, those are the kinds of things I think about as I fly around listening to channel 9 on United on these trips across thecountry.