Cuba, Iran among new offerings in Times Journeys program

Cuba, Iran among new offerings in Times Journeys program
By Johanna Jainchill

NEW YORK — Times Journeys, the New York Times' travel program, has
expanded its offerings to include 29 itineraries that visit 36 countries
on seven continents.

New itineraries for 2015 include places identified as having "troubled
pasts," such as Cuba, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Iran.

Times Journeys launched in 2012 with primarily cruise product. Earlier
this year, it expanded to include 21 land-based tours.

All Times Journeys trips include insight from New York Times experts,
primarily former and current Times reporters, into the events and
history that brought the destinations to worldwide attention.

The Times works with tour operators including Abercrombie & Kent,
Academic Travel Abroad and Mountain Travel Sobek, to develop customized
Times Journeys itineraries.

In a press conference here with several Times journalists who will be
hosting 2015 trips, the reporters explained that they would be offering
tour participants years of reporting experience that has given them
uncommon access to people and places in these countries.

"What we are offering is all of our stories over decades," said Elaine
Sciolino, speaking via Skype from Paris. Sciolino, who is hosting a trip
to Iran called Tales From Persia, was on the plane that brought the
exiled Ayatollah Khomeini back to Iran in 1979 and has been reporting
about the country ever since.

"We are not travel guides," she said. "What we have to say is, 'This is
where they fired shots into this hotel, and we were there.'"

Richard Bernstein, host of a March itinerary titled "A Taste of the
Orient: Discover China," was one of the first American journalists to be
stationed in the People's Republic of China, in 1972, and he opened the
Times' bureau there in 1980.

Sue Jaeger, manager of small group journeys for Abercrombie & Kent, said
that the journalists offer complementary perspectives to those of the
company's own local expert guides.

"The guides live in these communities and can speak as locals, while the
journalists can speak as visitors who have unique access as
journalists," she said.

Other experts include Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters such as John
Burns, Jeffrey Gettleman, Serge Schmemann and David Shipler.

Times Journeys will be offered in six distinct trip styles: Activities &
Sports includes hiking the mountains of Patagonia; Food & Wine focuses
on Italian or Provencal cuisine; Arts & Culture offers immersion in
subjects such as Irish opera and photography in Morocco; History &
Context includes trips to China, Cuba and Iran; Science & Nature offers
visits to Antarctica and Africa; and Politics & Perspective includes
trips to Ireland, with a focus on the Northern Ireland peace process.

Source: Cuba, Iran among new offerings in Times Journeys program -
Travel Weekly -
<http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Cuba-and-Iran-among-new-offerings-in-Times-Journeys-program/>