Lindblad Expeditions has announced their Global Luminaries program for 2010/2011. Renowned for their staff’s expertise in the regions they explore, Global Luminaries will add an extra layer of interest and insight to their expeditions with special guests drawn from the top tiers of world affairs, broadcast journalism, and exploration and research. The Global Luminaries title refers to what these remarkable individuals contribute to the expedition community at large – a relevant global perspective. The unique program is available exclusively aboard National Geographic Explorer and affords guests the opportunity to travel and explore with world-class personalities, as fellow guests, in the intimate and conversational environment of an expedition – and not just in the context of a presentation or talk from the podium.
Some of the upcoming luminaries who will be traveling this season include (a complete list can be found at http://www.expeditions.com/luminaires):
World Affairs:
Gro Brundtland: Former Prime Minister of Norway. UN Special Envoy on Climate Change.
• The Baltics, August 28, 2011 & Antarctica, November 26, 2011
Mary Robinson: First woman President of Ireland. Formerly the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• British & Irish Isles, May 16, 2011
Mikhail Gorbachev: Former President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Peace Laureate, Cold War reformer and 20th-century visionary. President Gorbachev will meet with Lindblad guests in St. Petersburg.
• The Baltics – Aug. 28 & Sept. 5, 2011
Lech Walesa: From electrician to Labor Leader to Nobel Prize winner to the elected President of Poland, he is fascinating and will visit with us in Gdarisk.
• The Baltics – Aug. 28 & Sept. 5, 2011
Journalism:
Elizabeth Kolbert: Journalist, Staff Writer for The New Yorker and Author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change.
• Ice Bears – June 23, 2011
Robert Siegel: Senior host of NPR’s award-winning All Things Considered he has reported from all over Western and Eastern Europe.
• European Odyssey, Sept. 19, 2011
EXPLORATION:
John Evans: Member of an historic 10-member expedition in 1966, sponsored in part by the National Geographic Society, which became the first to summit the highest point in Antarctica.
• Antarctica – Nov. 27, 2010
Peter Hillary: Born into mountaineering royalty. Summited the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, and established a new overland route to the South Pole.
• Antarctica, Dec. 7, 17 & 27, 2010
Tim Severin: Explorer, Historian, Author and Filmmaker; has literally travelled the legendary routes of myth and established maritime and exploration historic facts.
• Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falklands, Feb. 15, 2011
