Eric Sailer ’60, perched on a ledge high in the Costa Rican canopy about a month ago, eyed the precipice below him. He inhaled and exhaled, then leapt off the overhang, his harness whistling as he careened from tree to tree.
Sailer ziplined in Costa Rica this year as part of a trip offered by Dartmouth Alumni Travel, a program run by the Office of Alumni Relations that will send Dartmouth graduates on 40 trips this year. Today, a group of alumni set off for Havana on the trip “Cuba: Through the Eyes of the People,” led by history and Latin American and Caribbean studies professor emerita Marysa Navarro. Many of the visits are guided by professors with expertise in the area, and as many as 35 alumni may embark on a single trip, director of continuing education and travel Robin Albing Tu’81 said.
The Alumni Office plans vacations each year to locations like the Galapagos Islands, Cuba, Tanzania and the Baltic, and each trip incorporates a different educational component. Eric Sailer’s trip to Costa Rica, led by biology graduate student Thomas Kraft, emphasized ecotourism. A cruise along the Danube River this September will focus on the central European locales that once gave rise to the classical music of Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart.
“If you’re interested in art, there’s a trip for you,” Kraft said. “If you’re interested in plants and animals and ecology, then there’s a trip for those people, too.”
Albing said alumni from all walks of life attend the programs, although she noted the office has recently sought to recruit younger alumni. As they do so, the office will adapt its travel philosophy to accommodate a younger generation, she said.
Albing emphasized that these travel opportunities allow Dartmouth alumni with the opportunity to pursue education after graduating.
“We’re really looking at it as a holistic program that includes continuing education and travel with the overlay of lifelong learning,” she said.
According to the results of a survey Albing provided to The Dartmouth, which was sent out this January and to which over 1,000 alumni responded, 73 percent of alumni who have never attended a Dartmouth trip and 77 percent who have done so would be drawn to one for the educational component. Eric Sailer and his wife, Joanne Sailer, who also traveled to Costa Rica, said that Kraft’s knowledge about Latin American biodiversity enriched their experience.
According to the survey, 44 percent of those who traveled with the program would participate again for the “excellent accommodations, arrangements and amenities.”
Fine travel arrangements, however, contribute to the sticker price. A cruise up the Seine River costs alumni at minimum $3,495 for an nine-day journey. In contrast, travel company Viking River Cruises offers a comparable tour for as low as $1,400.
Religion professor Susan Ackerman ’80, who has led 16 trips, noted that alumni participation in the program depends on income and work schedule. Since the Alumni Office recognizes that many alumni value vacation time, Albing said the office hopes to add shorter and cheaper vacations soon.
Because the trip to Costa Rica was only 12 days long, Kraft said he felt “obviously limited” in exposing the participants to the depth of Costa Rican culture, but he noted that the participants did interact with Costa Rican kindergarten students, an experience that Eric and Joanne Sailer said they appreciated.
Professors may also face a challenge in lecturing on the area of travel, Ackerman said, adding that she was sometimes asked to lecture on topics outside of her area of expertise. While she teaches courses about ancient Egypt at the College, she once led a cruise to the Baltic region, a place not nearly so “intellectually familiar” as Egypt, she said.
Peer institutions offer similar programs.
