The Written Wor(l)d

Over the past six years, nine-time travelers Ramona and Steve Boone, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, have set foot on all seven continents and explored more than 100 countries—including Morocco, Tanzania, India, Egypt, Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia, Vietnam, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Tunisia with OAT.

The couple’s experiences inspired them to write Boomers Going Global! 2.0, a unique guide full of tips, insights, and personal stories designed to help the “Boomer” generation explore the world with confidence. Utilizing everything they’ve learned during their own travels, Ramona and Steve hoped to create a publication that would help travelers transition from full-time worker to savvy world traveler.

As Ramona explains, the book “contains key information and new insights, useful for both the neophyte and the experienced Boomer traveler (and non-Boomers, too!). We’ve included travel tips, information about how much things cost, and ideas about where to go. We’ve also got an easy-to-read chapter called ‘How to Go,’ which we hope will help readers make the most of their travels, regardless of where they venture around the globe.”

 

Steve and Ramona in front of Abu Simbel in Egypt.

Former teacher and first-time traveler Judy Hudson, from Decker, Michigan, credits OAT Trip Leader Modest Bayo with inspiring her recent children’s book.

Shortly after returning from her Safari Serengeti: Tanzania Lodge & Tented Safari adventure with Bayo, Judy enrolled in an online writing class. As one of her assignments, she was asked to produce a short story for children—and decided to draw upon one of the stories Bayo had shared with her about growing up in Africa.

The resulting book, Bayo, A Good African Boy, tells the story of a young boy who grows fearful after losing track of the family goat and, as a result, learns an important lesson about unconditional love. The story was so well received by her instructor and fellow authors, Judy says, she decided to self-publish the book and share it with others.

Having stayed in touch with Bayo since returning home, Judy sent several copies of the book to her former Trip Leader, who had left the travel industry to open up a school in Karatu, Tanzania. “When I told him I’d published a book based on his story,” Judy says, “he was absolutely amazed that anyone would want to write about one of his childhood escapades!”

In publishing Bayo’s story, Judy achieved a lifelong goal. “When I was teaching, reading novels to my students was a very important part of our school day,” she explains, “and that made me want to be a part of the literary industry one day. Now that I’ve published my first book, my sister has suggested I create a series of children’s books about Bayo where he can teach lessons about trust, loyalty, and responsibility—and, who knows? Maybe one day I will.”

 

From left: Trip Leader Modest Bayo; Judy’s father, H. James Fleming; local guide Alex; Judy; and local guide Arnold in Tanzania.

With her husband, Paul, and twelve close friends by her side, Nancy Pinson—a two-time traveler from Wilmington, Delaware—explored The Wilderness Beyond: Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & the Chilean Fjords with OAT. She found the landscapes of Chile and Argentina so breathtaking, she decided to create Moments of Silence, a book that showcases Patagonia’s natural beauty through words and pictures.

But the tome isn’t just a meditation on Mother Nature. As Nancy explains, “The true inspiration for my book came from the people I met along the way. What began as an idea for a travel journal became a reflection of the spirit of the land that I felt, inspired by my new friends.”

In particular, she credits OAT Trip Leader Constanza De La Cruz for her boundless knowledge of and enthusiasm for Patagonia, and a local guide, Julio, who taught the group how to stop and “listen” to the landscapes—and inspired the book’s title. “We were an energetic group—full of chatter and laughter—and ready to learn,” Nancy says. “Julio helped us to slow down: to stop our chatter, stop the clicking of cameras, stop the taking of notes … and just take a moment of silence to absorb the beauty of the land around us.”

 

Nancy and her husband, Paul, admire the icy splendor of Perito Moreno Glacier.