Socially Responsible Travel - Global Exchange

Congratulations on the winning photo Susan! "Women Making Change" Reality Tour, 2005.

Congratulations on the winning photo Susan! “Women Making Change” Reality Tour to Afghanistan, 2005.

Congratulations to Susan Hall, Grand Prize winner of the 2013 Reality Tours Photo Contest! Her image of an Afghan man drinking tea was chosen as our Grand Prize Winner for the quality and composition of the image and the strikingness of its subject matter. Susan had this to say about her experience visiting Afghanistan:

“Prior to traveling with the Global Exchange ‘Women Making Change’ delegation to Afghanistan I had not traveled outside the U.S. except for brief trips across the border to Vancouver and Tijuana. At the time, I was a student at Arizona State University and one of my professors had agreed to be a faculty advisor for an Independent Study Project in Photography. My dad had served in Vietnam with the only land based Navy squadron, the Flying Black Ponies, and for as long as I could remember I had been intrigued by the subject of war.

Congrats to Popular Choice Prize Winner, Marie Bodnar! Afghanistan, 2013.

Najib our guide and translator is a native of Afghanistan and lived through the ten year Soviet invasion. The itinerary he created included an unscheduled stop at the Rabia Balki maternity hospital. Najib, at the request of one of the delegates, ran into the hospital while we waited in the mini van and asked permission to visit, which we did! We also took a day trip to Istalif, a village famous for it’s pottery, and drank tea with the mujahideen. OMAR de-miners guided us on a narrow dirt path through a minefield and pointed out an unexploded land mine. At the ICRC rehabilitation center we witnessed staff creating prosthetic limbs and spoke with land mine victims. One of questions we were asked most frequently by Afghan women was how it was that we were traveling alone without a male relative or husband.

I returned home with a newfound appreciation and a resolve to improve educational and economic opportunities for Afghan women and girls.” Susan returned to Afghanistan in March 2007, as a volunteer for the NGO Afghans4Tomorrow, teaching English and photographing in the Afghans4Tomorrow girl’s schools. Thanks Susan, for sharing your image and story with us! Susan will receive $500 off a Reality Tour of her choice in the following year.

We received so many incredible images this year, thank you to all who participated! To see all entries, head on over to our Facebook page. Also see below for our Honorable Mentions picks, click to enlarge.

Take Action!

Consider joining us on the “Women Making Change” Reality Tour to Afghanistan, as both Grand Prize and Popular Choice winners Susan Hall and Marie Bodnar did, to visit with women’s organizations, students, and human rights activists working to make change!

Photo by Paulette Hurdlik, Vietnam at the Crossroads Reality Tour, 2009. Honorable Mention.

Photo by Shannon DeCelle, Food First and Reality Tour to Bolivia. Honorable Mention.

Photo by Tara Russell, Reality Tour to Iran. Honorable Mention.

Photo by Diane Budd, Reality Tour to Iran, 2008. Honorable Mention.

Photo by Windsor Green, Honorable Mention.

Photo by Windsor Green, Reality Tour to Cuba, 2013. Honorable Mention.

The following post was written by Nancy Penrose of Seattle about her recent trip to Burma with Global Exchange.

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In April 2013, I was a member of the first-ever Reality Tour delegation to Burma. I chose to go with Global Exchange to this country that is also known as Myanmar* because I wanted to get beneath the typical tourist surfaces; I wanted to learn directly from the people themselves about their launch on the road to democratic reforms. By the end of the trip, I had been rewarded with a wide spectrum of conversations and insights. I felt humbled by the time that many busy people devoted to meeting with us.

We spoke with leaders of the Generation 88 Students, many of whom spent years as political prisoners and who now work to promote a peaceful and open society. In Yangon, at the headquarters of the National League for Democracy, the political party led by 1991 Nobel Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, we met with a woman who holds an NLD seat in Parliament. Others we spoke with on this trip included hotel owners and managers, professors and businessmen, a Buddhist nun who has founded her own school, medical doctors, leaders of micro-finance programs, puppeteers, and even comedians who have paid the price of imprisonment for making jokes about the government. We chatted with vendors of tourist souvenirs and their children who were helping out during a school break.

Our delegation was small, only four of us, accompanied by our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, Cho, who was also our translator. It seemed that everyone we spoke with has high hopes for their country even as they assess and acknowledge the great challenges that must be overcome to continue on the path of democratic reforms.

Myanmar is emerging from 50 years of dictatorships that have morphed through military juntas and socialism and a kleptocratic group of powerful and wealthy men close to the military and known as “the cronies.” Significant steps toward democracy were taken in 2008; a quasi-civilian government was established in 2010; and in April 2012, NLD members stood for election and won 43 seats in Parliament. Reforms are launched, but five decades of dictatorships have left what is often a crumbling or nonexistent physical infrastructure and a citizenry that often needs empowering and educating about a government’s responsibilities and duties to its people.

We visited four places–Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, and Inle Lake–and were delighted by beauty in each. In Yangon, there was the gleaming gold zedi, or stupa, of Shwedagon Paya, a temple that every Burmese Buddhist tries to visit at least once in his or her life. We were there on a Sunday, a day of no work for many Burmese, and we were surrounded by worshippers, families picnicking in the shade of pavilions, and novitiate processions where young boys preparing to join the monkhood were carried on the shoulders of friends and families under golden parasols. Near Mandalay, we strolled the famous U Bein Bridge and watched a farmer herd his flock of hundreds of ducks, saw women bent to their task of harvesting groundnuts from fields exposed and planted as Taungthanam Lake retreated with the dry season. We spent a day on the Ayerarwaddy (Irrawaddy) River traveling from Mandalay to Bagan and were grateful for the shade of the woven rattan roof. (Temperatures in Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan were hitting 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) or higher every day.) We watched the sun turn red as it cast its final rays of the day over the thousands of 11th- to 13th-century temples spread across the plain at Bagan. And finally, we admired the skills of the fishermen of Inle Lake who balance on the ends of their slender wooden boats and, in a delicate ballet, row with one leg wrapped around the paddle so that their hands are free to cast and retrieve their nets.

These indelible scenes are experienced by many tourists who travel to Myanmar, but as part of the Global Exchange delegation we added depth and context. We discovered the serene persistence and determination of a young Buddhist nun who runs a school in the suburbs of Yangon and who worries about the coming rainy season when the lack of drainage infrastructure may leave the school marooned by water for days at a time. We heard from Bagan’s Director of the Ministry of Culture about the challenges that arise owing to the limited funding available to preserve and protect this ancient and rich heritage site. We spoke with tourism officials who lament the lack of enough hotel rooms to serve the burgeoning numbers of visitors to Myanmar. We learned that in Yangon there are only 2,000 rooms considered tourist quality, even as tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached 1,000,000 in 2012, compared to some 800,000 in 2011. Toward the end of our trip, as we left the beauty and sweet cool air of Inle Lake, we met with the leader of the microfinance group Muditar, based in Nyaungshwe at the northern end of the Lake, who described their partnership with the Shanta project in Colorado and the midwifery, water, and coffee plantation projects they are undertaking with the Pa O tribal villages in the nearby mountains.

For me the trip was a kaleidoscope of experiences in the company of fellow travelers who care passionately about equality and positive social change in our world. My photos, journals, and souvenirs are all attempts to help keep the journey alive. Now, when I read about events in Myanmar, I understand so much more, I care, I pay attention. And I watch for ways to help.

*Regarding the question of using Burma or Myanmar, I refer readers to this article in Mizzima, a media organization formerly in exile that is now based in Yangon.

TAKE ACTION!

Would YOU like to travel to Burma and experience it for yourself? Join us in building people to people ties in Burma on an upcoming journey co-sponsored by Ethical Traveler.

Trip Dates: October 28, 2013 – November 8, 2013

Congrats to Popular Choice Prize Winner, Marie Bodnar!

We’ve had an exciting spring this year hosting the 2013 Reality Tours Photo Contest. All in all, we received 96 photos taken on Reality Tours to countries all over the world.

Your photos inspired us and others, sparked a dialogue, and are beautiful images of the amazing places and people you visited on Reality Tours.

Meet the Popular Choice Winner

Voting for the Popular Choice winner has now closed, and we are happy to announce that Marie Bodnar has won the Popular Choice contest with a total of 63 votes (“like” on Facebook) by midnight on April 13th for her captivating image of a child in Afghanistan. From the comments section on Facebook (where the photo contest took place) one person noted that “you just get drawn in and wonder what the child is thinking.”

Congratulations Marie! You’ll be receiving your special prize soon; a Fair Trade gift package!

Who’s on Second?

Photo by Shannon DeCelle, Bolivia.

In close second for the Popular Choice contest were beautiful photos from Shannon DeCelle from a Food First and Global Exchange Reality Tour to Bolivia.

Shannon describes one of her photos: “He was having fun sharing his flower with me. We explored the area near Tunupa, a dormant volcano (distant left in photo). I was overwhelmed and felt closer to everything for that moment.”

Want to check out all the photo submissions? You can see all of the photos on the Reality Tours Facebook page. If you haven’t had the chance already, we invite you to browse through the stunning photo entries.

Grand Prize Winner Announcement

The contest excitement isn’t over yet! We’ll be announcing the Grand Prize Winner, who will receive a $500 discount off a Reality Tour, on May 9th to commemorate Global Exchange’s Human Rights Award.

Take Action!

Consider joining us on the upcoming “Women Making Change” Reality Tour to Afghanistan!
If you will be in the San Francisco Bay Area, join us May 9th for the Human Rights Award to celebrate the work of Honorees Noam Chomsky, Crystal Lameman, and People’s Choice winner Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Photo by Diane Budd. Taken on a Reality Tour to Iran, 2008.

Our travel photo contest is off to a great start as we have received photos from Reality Tours all over the world, including Venezuela, Vietnam, Cuba, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Lebanon. We have greatly enjoyed receiving and sharing your images and hearing about your memories of the Reality Tours of which you have been a part.

There is still time to submit up to three of your favorite photos from a Reality Tour to be considered for our prizes: a Fair Trade gift package and the Grand Prize of a $500 discount on a Reality Tour! We’re still looking for pictures from any of our Reality Tours to Africa- Uganda, Kenya, or South Africa anyone?

Photo by Tom Hudspeth. Taken on a Reality Tour to Cuba, 2011.

We’re also continuing to look for photos that show interactions between Reality Tour participants and people from the communities we visit.

Submit today, as the deadline for submissions is April 10, 2013. And make sure to vote for the Popular Choice winner by liking your favorite photos on our Facebook Page!

“Guatemalan Weaver” taken during a Reality Tour to Guatemala

Global Exchange was founded 25 years ago, and to mark the occasion, our travel program Reality Tours is hosting a photo contest open to all past Reality Tours participants.

The grand prize winner, chosen by Global Exchange staff, will receive a $500 discount off of a Reality Tour (plus bragging rights!) There will also be a “popular choice” winner who will receive a fair trade gift basket. The photo on the Reality Tours Facebook page in the contest album with the most “Likes” will win the popular choice.

We encourage those of you who have traveled with us, whether two months ago or twenty years ago, to submit to us your best photo(s) that you took while on a Reality Tour. We can’t wait to receive your beautiful photos! Submit now, as the deadline to submit photos for both prizes is April 10, 2013 at midnight!

Submission Guidelines

Photo by Linda Wolf

1. Only past Reality Tour participants are eligible to submit photos and be considered for the prizes. To submit, please email corina@globalexchange.org up to 3 photos per participant. Only digital copies will be accepted; scanned photos are okay. Please include your name, contact information, and the country and date of the Reality Tour for each photo. The photo may be accompanied by a brief caption.

2. All photos will be posted by Global Exchange staff to the Reality Tours Facebook photo contest album. The deadline for submission is April 10, 2013. Voting by liking photos on Facebook for the popular choice photo will end on April 15, 2013 at midnight, and the “likes” will be tallied and the popular choice winner will be announced. The grand prize photo winner will be decided by Global Exchange staff and will be officially announced at the Global Exchange Human Rights Award, May 9, 2013.

3. The grand prize discount of $500 off a Reality Tour may not be used together with any other discount, and expires August 31st, 2014.

4. In regards to the judging process, photos that capture the people and/or the country that you visited are judged very highly. We also appreciate work that includes interaction between you or your fellow travelers with the people you visited. Abstract photos that don’t reflect where you have traveled are not ranked as high.

5. By submitting a photo(s), you agree to allow Global Exchange Reality Tours to use the submitted image(s) in our print and online media. Please specify if you would like to be credited.

Photographer and Reality Tours past participant Linda Wolf

Photographer Linda Wolf is a proud past Reality Tours participant. Through her photographs you sort of feel you know her and those she captures.

Her global journalistic photos seem eerily familiar, even the ones of places you’ve never been. And her people pictures exude the human spirit, as showcased in her video below entitled, “I am a Full Woman.”

Definitely watch the video, but before you do…I asked Linda to share some thoughts for this post about what it was like to travel on a Reality Tour. Here’s what she had to say:

Linda Wolf’s Reality Tours Experience

I went on the Global Exchange trip to China with (Global Exchange co-founder) Kevin Danaher. First, I’d go anywhere with Kevin. He has been an inspiration to me since I interviewed him for my 2nd book, Global Uprising: Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century. Kevin role modeled the best in leaders, I have to say. We were a small rag-tag group, and herding us was like herding sheep.

I once asked him how he could keep his composure when one of us was either dragging too much baggage, or always making us late. He said something I will always remember. “I look at the intentions behind people’s actions.” But, I think Kevin is just super chill – another reason I love Global Exchange. Everyone is super chill.

Everyone was easy to work with and bent over backwards to accommodate my needs, which centered around doing photography. They stopped the bus once so I could get out and take a photo. I felt I had complete freedom to go off on my own, within the confines of making sure I got back to the hotel in time for us to take off for airports or trains on time! I am so glad I went on that tour. In fact, I got some of my most favorite photos of people for Full Woman and other exhibitions, from that tour.

I’m not a person who normally takes tours of countries. I usually go alone because I don’t find tours that I feel care (about) the same things I care about — but Global Exchange went beyond what I would have wanted to do by myself. One thing I was really happy about was the way the tour was set up to support local, Chinese businesses – we only stayed in Chinese owned and run hotels, ate in only Chinese owned restaurants, and we did not follow the tourist routes.

“Graveyard Dominoes” Photo Credit: Linda Wolf

My tour was called “A Sustainability Tour of China” — One of the highlights of my trip was going to the Graveyard of Extinction at The Nanhaizi David’s Deer Park in Beijing. There are approximately 145 tombstones in the cemetery, toppled over on each other like dominoes that cover a space of 100 meters.

“Graveyard Homo Sapien” Photo Credit: Linda Wolf

Each stone is inscribed with the name of the species and the date released by World Conservation Union, that species went extinct. At the end of the line of falling tombstones stands a large concrete hand which represents where we are now, as well as what will happen if each species beyond the hand becomes extinct.

The tombstone for Homo Sapiens is not far down the line behind the hand. Seeing so clearly how interconnected we are to other species was astounding and certainly motivating to spread the messages I learned back home when I got off the tour.

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Watch Linda’s “I am a Full Woman” Video:

TAKE ACTION!

Inspired to travel? Check out a list of Reality Tours we have coming up this year.
Want to see more of Linda’s work? Check out her photography website.
Unite with 1 billion women this V-Day! This V-Day, unite with women all over the world to strike, dance & rise against gender violence! Learn more here about One Billion Rising or at www.onebillionrising.org.

Patty Idler with Shop Keeper in Kabul

One of my favorite parts about working with Reality Tours is listening to past participants reflect on their experiences when they come back to the U.S.

Are you a past Reality Tours participant with a story to tell? Share in the comments below or visit our Share Your Story page. And as Global Exchange celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, share your memories and experiences of Global Exchange with us as we celebrate our past and look forward to the future.

Here are a few of our favorite Reality Tours stories:

Patty and Randy Idler in Afghanistan: “The driver and guide you sent asked if we minded if they brought their kids. It was wonderful. We saw more of Afghanistan than we saw with other guides or on our own. We met our cobblers. We met Afghans everywhere.”

Students in North Korea

Jeremy Jimenez in North Korea: “There were no lack of spontaneous moments that enabled us to see North Koreans as individuals in their own right. When telling a cashier at a rest stop, upon being asked, that I was a teacher, she told me that I ‘have wasted my life…..(I) should have been a film star.'”

Paul Prew in Ecuador: “In the film Crude, I saw a number of the same people, organizations, and locations featured in the movie that I visited on the Global Exchange tour. I was impressed with the ability of Global Exchange to plug us into a variety of social movements and organizations. As an educator at a state university, I use the experience every term in a number of my courses.”

Take Action

What’s your Reality Tours story? Share with us below in the comments.

As 2012 comes to a close, we at Reality Tours want to thank all of you who have traveled with us, you keep us motivated and inspired! As your friends and family consider travel options for 2013, please share our video that celebrates Reality Tours and our journeys with you.

Here is a look back at some of our favorite blog posts and stories from 2012.

Walter Turner, Global Exchange President of the Board of Directors, explains recent changes in policy regarding legal travel to Cuba and calls for unencumbered travel to Cuba, while Global Exchange co-founder Kevin Danaher reminds us that Cuba needs us to see its reality.

Lea Murray shares about how her trip to Venezuela has left lasting impressions, while Costa Rica program officer Marta Sanchez explains how she first became involved with Global Exchange.

The amazing “serial tripper” Jane Stillwater went on her 6th Reality Tour, this time to Uganda, while Global Exchange’s “What About Peace?” program went to Haiti to spread the message of peace with Haitian schoolchildren.

Burmese Temples

We said Aloha to Malia Everette, our Reality Tours Director for over 15 years, and wish her well in her transition.

We announced Reality Tours’ newest destination, to Burma, in 2013!

Every year is an eventful year for Reality Tours, and 2012 has been no exception.

We wish you all a peaceful New Years, and we’ll see you in 2013!

Take Action

We’re building an unstoppable movement for change. Are you in? Make a donation today.

Malia in Oahu

Update 11/28/12: A few photos of our bon voyage Malia staff lunch are now posted on Facebook.

“If you come here to help me, you’re wasting your time. If you come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” —Lilla Watson

In 1991 as a graduate student of International Relations, I signed up for a Global Exchange Reality Tour to Cuba. I wanted to learn about the impacts of the U.S. embargo on Cuba and understand what the current socioeconomic realities of the Special Period were on the nation. That trip dramatically expanded my understanding of the power of travel.

While I had backpacked to over 30 countries before that Reality Tour, I had never experienced that type of life sharing journey before. I engaged with grandparents, doctors, teachers, artists, musicians and politicians. In effect Reality Tours changed my life. I experienced connection and insights, and returned to the United States committed to advocate for sane U.S. foreign policy. Once home, I promptly cut out and placed Lilla’s quote (see above) on my fridge. Little did I know that six years later I’d start working at Global Exchange, where Lilla’s quote found a new home on the Global Exchange office wall.

Visiting Art and Hope in Cuba, with Ethical Traveler

Today it is my bittersweet honor to announce that after almost 16 vibrant years I am transitioning out of Reality Tours. Being the Director has been a true vocation. I’ve had the unique opportunity to combine my skills as an educator, social justice activist and alternative travel business woman to build up Reality Tours’ travel destinations, themes and reach.

Looking back I sit and smile thinking of all the talented, opinionated and solidarity minded people that ebbed and flowed through the Reality Tours department in San Francisco. And I think of the everyday heroes in the U.S. and all around the world whose generosity of spirit welcomed us, collaborated with us and compelled us to meet them as brothers and sisters. We learned about their struggles, successes and aspirations which inspired us to seek changes in U.S. foreign and economic policies.

Princeton University in Mostar, Bosnia, 2012

I know the model of socially responsible travel to educate and inspire advocacy works. In fact, I could fill volumes based on my personal experiences and those often brilliant, joyful and incredibly painful moments of learning.

From the jungles of the Amazon and the struggle of the Sarayuku nation, to the healing and rehabilitation efforts in IDP camps of Northern Uganda; from facilitating thousands through migration in Havana and sharing the incredible tenacity of spirit of Cuban’s through the “fruits” of their Revolution and in their models of sustainability post “peak oil” to learning about how poachers become conservationists in Tanzania; from the smiles and solemn survival stories of children saved from the sex tourism industry in Cambodia, Nepal, Peru & Thailand to the important organizing efforts of elders training the next generation of leaders in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam… I leave Reality Tours personally and professionally enriched with memories and experiences, and breathtaking vistas.

Malia with Yury, Ecuador Reality Tours program officer

To each of the program officers who so diligently work to take care of every creature comfort, airport transit, hotel reservation, and days and days of program confirmations, thank you for your solidarity! It is such necessary work, yet it is painstaking and not so glamorous. When Reality Tours runs a 100 departures a year and 98 go off perfectly, nobody knows how much work it takes to make that happen! You are all stars.

Reality Tours would not exist without our members and supporters. Sometimes I’ve called you strangers, then associates and later friends, collaborators, teachers and alumni. I’ve shared some of my deepest human connections beside you, and cultivated some of my closest friendships.

Some of you “serial trippers” know I will miss traveling with you! Again, I could write volumes on what I have seen as humans blossom, when we disconnect from the phones, computers and to-do lists and when we truly spend time to talk, share and push our comfort zones to be and to grow. How many times have I lead a group when each person typically required 1-2 feet around them to have their “zone” of comfort, only by the end of a tour to see everyone touching arms and hugging their new friends good-bye? There are so many surprising rewards on a group travel experience.

Suffolk Univeristy group visiting an orphanage in Busia, Uganda

For those of you I giggled with trying to find a bathroom to wash my fingers after blue ink was all over my face in Tehran, or scrambled to find “relief” in the fields of Nagpur, India or tried out bartering in crafts markets in Amman knowing but a few words in Arabic, I thank you. To those I cried with, flooded by the power of the human spirit hiking through the Cu Chi and the Sarajevo tunnels; trying to get through check points from the Occupied Territories in Palestine into Israel; and being permeated by the horrific human costs of war in the War Remembrance Museum in Ho Chi Minh City and in Pyong Yang, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg… I thank you. To those I just held hands with as we heard the testimonies of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, and walking through the Killing Fields, I thank you. And, for those that I dragged out to teach salsa dancing to over and over, ya tu sabes, gracias.

Kevin and Reede being “Good Sports” as my sons dress up

Words cannot express my deepest appreciation to the Global Exchange founders Kevin Danaher, Kirsten Moller and Medea Benjamin to whom I have been so blessed to work with. They each are hard working visionaries and phenomenal human beings, yet they are also friends, babysitters and cuddlers, and mentors. How I love and admire each of you!

Global Exchange has been a family to me. To all the members and staff, and especially to those that serve and have served on the Board of Directors, you are brothers and sisters and I thank you for your commitment to make this world a better place. Because of your tenacity and persistence, I know “another world is possible”. I am who I am because of my years at Global Exchange, and I look forward to moving forward pa’lante and continuing to using my life in service to humanity and to the planet, because its liberation is bound up with mine!

With Aloha,
Malia Everette

This week we are thanking and recognizing the people who make Global Exchange’s work possible. We’re highlighting a few individuals who represent the thousands who make up the amazing global network of change makers.

In this post, we thank Lea Murray, Reality Tours traveler extraordinaire! To read about others we’re thankful for, click here.

Lea Murray, Reality Tours Traveler Extraordinaire

Lea (left) with fellow Reality Tours travelers

Reality Tours travelers aren’t tourists.

They’re travelers on a mission.

What makes Reality Tours travelers so awesome is what they do when they get home. They don’t just unpack their suitcases, they unpack a life changing experience. Speaking to family and friends. Hosting film screenings. And in a few instances, starting their own volunteer efforts to address the issues raised on their journeys.

Lea Murray traveled with Global Exchange on a Reality Tour to Venezuela in June of 2012, and her life hasn’t been the same since.

“Now that I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, what will I do? I will re-think my life. I have a new vision. I want to see how other people live and experience life. I want to travel to even more places where black Africans were dispersed during the slave trade. I will travel to Haiti and Cuba and examine the plight of my black brothers and sisters in these small island countries. I will re-think my business…I will open my eyes — see the vision — and do something to make a difference. I will participate,” said Murray.

All of us at Global Exchange are grateful for Lea’s efforts to inspire and educate others about what she’s seen, and for the work done by the hundreds of other Reality Tours participants each year.

Every traveler makes a difference.

So to Lea and all Reality Tours travelers, we say…

Thank You.

Know that wherever your journey takes you, we are honored to have joined you.

P.S. Have you watched our new Thank You video yet?

And the Grand Prize Winner of the 2013 Reality Tours Photo Contest Is…