Outdoor/Travel

"We jump off the plane in the middle of the afternoon and there are buses waiting to take us to the first sightseeing destination," travel photographer Bob Krist says. "Meanwhile, an unseen crew takes our luggage to the hotel. When we get back to the hotel in the late afternoon our luggage is in our rooms. We eat dinner. The next day is a full day on site. The following morning we get on the jet, take off and do it all over again. We're the Cultural Commando Delta Force."

Samoa

All Photos © 2006, Bob Krist, All Rights Reserved

Bob's rapid-fire delivery reflects the pace of the "Private Jet Around the World" tour he made earlier this year with National Geographic Expeditions, the travel arm of the National Geographic Society. Eighty people took part, visiting 10 countries--Peru, Chile, Samoa, India, Tanzania, Australia, Cambodia, Tibet, Egypt, and Morocco--in 23 days in a high-end, highly-organized pursuit of knowledge and experience.

"Expeditions charters a 757 and follows a theme," Bob says. "Say, `Footsteps of Man,' where they'll visit 12 places where the first traces of mankind were found. They'll have speakers who are experts on the theme--an archeologist, a historian--and they usually include a photographer. On the 'round-the-world trip my job was to give three lectures on photography and help folks with their cameras." Documenting the event was voluntary. "I think I'm the first photographer who volunteered to shoot the thing and then make a slide show for the folks."

Peru

It was not a typical itinerary for Bob, who is more likely to spend 23 days in one country when he's shooting an assignment. He participated in his first expedition, "Crossroads of Humanity," last fall, and it was a shock. "I had no idea of how little time I'd have in each location. Usually when I'm on a job I spend a lot of time in one place, really getting to know it, really digging into it. I was totally flummoxed by how fast things were moving. And I was not used to being on a bus, being told when to go where."

Yet he signed on for the private jet expedition. "After the first trip I kind of got into the idea of it. I said to myself, what's better--having two days in Peru or no days in Peru? One day to see Easter Island or never seeing Easter Island? In the end I thought, this is a gift; take what you can and be happy with it."

Cambodia

While the other participants were learning about the world, Bob was learning about being a tourist. "As a workshop teacher, it made me much more sympathetic to the plight of the normal traveler. I see a lot of portfolios of people's trips, and often I say, `Well, jeez, that's not a bad shot, but you really should have taken it at sunrise.' And they say, `Well, we were on a tour that was leaving....' So for my teaching experience it gave me a new perspective on the way most folks have to travel and what the real world is like for most tourists."