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….

Travel Expert, Marybeth knows how to add an adrenaline rush to every vacation.  My motto is “active days and comfortable nights” with a dash of adrenaline for the thrills.  Here are my favorites from Europe, Canada and beyond.

In the Swiss Alps I stepped into a safety harness connected to a zip line and  whizzed down to the valley. I was instructed not to wear a scarf or hat because it would never survive the trip. My sun glasses were plastered to my face, as tears streamed out of my eyes and I screamed with fear, zipping above green meadows at 54 miles per hour. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

Hiking Adventures in the Swiss Alps

For adventure addicts, Interlaken Switzerland is the perfect place to set up base camp. You’ll see hand gliders land in the town square every afternoon (in good weather). Vendors along the main street have booths offering hang-gliding, scooter bike, mountain biking and climbing excursions.

A network of trails covers Switzerland for bikers, canoers, in-line skaters and walkers. And the Swiss are plugged in! Hiking tips and itineraries for over 440 hikes are available on an integrated search engine at www.mySwitzerland.com/hiking. It’s available in 15 languages, just in case you want to read it in Hindi.

Hiking and Adventure in the Canada 

For High Adrenaline Via Ferrata Mountain Climbing and Helicopter Hiking 

I love heli-hiking because it’s both relaxing and invigorating in a way that a spa or other vacations are not. And you can easily take the adventure to the  next step – try climbing with guides on a vi ferrata.

Via Ferrata are vertical pathways with permanently fixed cables for safety and metal rung ladders to easier climbing.

The last day, a hardy group of us opted to go “mountaineering”, which means white-knuckled, adrenaline-pounding technical climbing up vertical peaks. We didn’t have to have previous climbing experience. Our group ranged in age from 15 to 65 and the majority of us were women. Thanks to the support, encouragement and knowledge of our expert climbing guides, who ensured our safety, we rose to the challenge and made it to the summit.

The helicopter dropped us off near the base of the climb. Read more here.

Biking in France, Italy, Scandinavia and the USA

In 2010 my daughter and I biked 3,015 miles across the USA.  That’s a story by itself. Now I choose to do something much easier; I rent a bike everywhere I travel and just tool along seeing the sights. Memories made from the seat of a bike stick!  The Loire Valley in France is a flat, well-marked area for biking. If you choose, like we did, to rent for an afternoon, or just an hour, it’s possible at Chambord Castle.

Denmark, Sweden and Holland are super bike-friendly countries with bike rental stations in popular tourist areas.

 

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Marybeth Bond