Around the World
October 27-November 18, 2008

Overview
Destinations

Overview (Return to top)

Join us for an extraordinary 23-day journey around the world by private jet, to explore the world’s most treasured and legendary places—places that have for ages inspired and captured the imagination of the world.

Download PDF brochure of complete tour itinerary

Priced at $49,950
Starquest Expeditions

For reservations or additional information, contact:
Jan Breitman [jbreitman@alumni.iastate.edu]
Iowa State University Alumni Association
Fisher-Nickell Hall
Ames, Iowa 50011-1370

Phone: (515) 294-6526 direct or (877) ISU-ALUM toll-free
Fax: (515) 294-9402

Destinations (Return to top)

Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Depart your hometown independently on a commercial flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Meet with your fellow travelers and the expedition staff during a welcome dinner at our fine hotel.

Cusco & Machu Picchu, Peru
Sacred Inca Treasures in the Peruvian Andes
Cusco is the legendary city that was the center of the Andean world for centuries, and is now where Inca and Spanish history are inextricably intertwined. The city’s marvelous Spanish Baroque palaces and churches were built directly on foundations laid by the Incas, resulting in a complex urban center that is a breathtaking manifestation of its fascinating history. Machu Picchu, in its isolated mountaintop setting among cloud forests, is the sacred citadel abandoned by the Incas, reclaimed by the jungle, and lost to history until it was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. It is truly one of the world’s most extraordinary architectural achievements.

Easter Island
Silent Sentinels of a Vanished Culture
Easter Island is the most remote inhabited island in the world and an open-air museum of ancient stone villages, sanctuaries, and giant statues called moai. Since it was discovered by a Dutch admiral on Easter Sunday 1722, it has been the subject of debate. How did its native people first arrive? What transpired over the centuries? What do the tall, brooding statues mean?

Apia, Samoa
Unspoiled Natural Beauty & Traditional Polynesian Culture
Samoa has changed little from ancient times, making it one of the most traditional of Polynesian cultures. This beautiful island world is well known for its hospitality, traditional ceremonies, and distinct communal customs known as fa’a Samoa, or “the Samoan way.”

Port Douglas & The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Resplendent Sanctuary of Undersea Wildlife
The Great Barrier Reef is home to an exceptionally rich variety of marine life, unparalleled in the world. Stretching over 1,250 miles from the Tropic of Capricorn to Papua New Guinea, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest known coral deposit in the world, and is the habitat for 1,300 species of fish, 300 types of coral, and more than 200 species of birds.

Angkor, Cambodia
Angkor Wat & Other Treasures of the Ancient Kingdom of the Khmer
Built between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, the city of Angkor is one of the world’s great architectural triumphs. Abandoned in 1434, the city was gradually forgotten—until four centuries later when European explorers discovered it hidden amidst the dense jungle undergrowth. The French naturalist Henri Mouhot was amazed when, in 1860, he came across the Angkor temples. When asked who built them, the Cambodians shrugged, “Who else but giants or the King of the Angels.”

Lhasa, Tibet
Historic Home of Buddhas at the Rooftop of the World
Nestled deep in the snowy Himalaya mountain range is Lhasa, Tibet, a fabled place that was, until only recently, the exclusive domain of Buddhist monks and pilgrims, nomads and traders, and the most intrepid of curious travelers. This bustling, colorful center of Buddhist pilgrimage—with the spectacular Potala Palace dominating its skyline—retains an otherworldly mystical atmosphere.

The Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Designed by Giants, Finished by Jewelers
The Taj Mahal is one of the world’s most famous monuments, perhaps the most extravagant ever built for love. It was created in the seventeenth century by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal. This architectural masterpiece soars majestically above the banks of the Yamuna River.

Tanzania Safari Adventure
An Unmatched Spectacle of Scenery and Game
Tanzania is home to one of the largest, wildest animal populations in the world. No other place on Earth has more land devoted to national parks and game reserves. Explore this naturalist’s and photographer’s paradise during a fine time of year, when the days are sunny and the nights are brilliant with stars.

Luxor & Giza, Egypt
The Pyramids, The Sphinx & Other Treasures of the Divine Pharaohs
Along Egypt’s great Nile River are treasure-troves of ancient monumental achievements, admired the world over for thousands of years. At Luxor, the site of the ancient city of Thebes, the great temples and tombs of kings and queens remain in marvelous condition. And at Giza, one can find what are arguably the most celebrated symbols of the ancient world—the Pyramids and the Sphinx.

Fez, Morocco
The Medieval Legacies of Saharan Kings
Fez was founded in the ninth century and flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries under the Merinid Dynasty. It is the most complete Medieval Islamic city in the world and continues to be considered the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual capital of Morocco.