About Marybeth, National Geographic Author, Writer

Curious Explorer. Award-winning author.

Gutsy Traveler: A woman, like travel expert Marybeth Bond, stands among purple flowers, raising her arms and smiling in front of a wooden building in bright sunlight.
Polar bear tracking and snorkeling with beluga whales in the northern Canadian Arctic.

Marybeth knows travel. She has hiked, biked, dived, danced and trekked across all seven continents – from the depths of the Flores Sea near Komodo Island to the summit of Kilimanjaro.

More recently, she tracked polar bears and snorkeled with beluga whales in the Canadian Arctic, then kayaked among icebergs in Antarctica.

Somewhere in between, four years of studying in Paris earned her two degrees – and a taste for good wine and strong cheeses.

Twelve books (three with National Geographic), countless travel articles, and numerous TV and radio appearances have built her devoted fanbase. She won the esteemed Lowell Thomas, Gold Award for the Best Travel Book of the Year from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation.

Woman on cliff in front of a monastery in Bhutan
Yesterday’s Video below. A decade or more later. Is Marybeth still GUTSY? Here in Bhutan.
Marybeth in Antarctica with penguins, snowy mountains, and water—just the kind of moment travel expert Marybeth Bond would capture in a travel video.
Kayaking and camping near penguins in Antarctica.

Yesterday….

Rome and the Vatican

I have to say that religious traditions in any country are a fascinating portrait of the local culture and a jumble of natives and tourists all scrambling towards the same goal. Italy, of course, is no different.

Rome's Vatican Museum has miles of art galleries, celestial ceilings and the Sistine Chapel.
The Vatican Museum has miles of art galleries and celestial ceilings to view before you get to the masterpiece of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

After we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel last Sunday, we joined a huge crowd in the courtyard where we all waited to receive a blessing from the Pope, who appears at a little window.

The Pope has achieved both celestial and celebrity status here as his face graces every kind of trinket imaginable: ash trays, boxer shorts, calendars, beer mugs, coffee mugs and a multitude of rosaries that he evidently blessed.

Who would have guessed that the Pope was so enthusiastic about cigarettes, alcohol and underwear?

***** Click on the words Sistine Chapel to see a utube video. It’s an amazing bit of technology that you would never see in person, as you would never be alone in the chapel, unless you’re royalty or the Pope. It is always very crowded and of course you can’t see Michelangelo’sartwork close up as you can here.

This is especially spectacular if you have a large high-definition screen! There are too many details to view on an iPhone.

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Marybeth Bond