Teachers explore the world’s wonders

Ecuadorian journey

Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher Kristen Thomson can pinpoint the time in which she became enamored with the rainforest and wildlife—her summer vacation in Ecuador.

“I would say every summer [in which] I’ve gotten to travel to another country is the best,” Thomson said. “However, the most memorable [summer] was right before I started teaching here at Saratoga when I went on a trip with my college roommate to Ecuador.”

Thomson was first truly exposed to the beauty and ecological complexity of a rainforest during her trip to Ecuador at age 26. This vacation inspired her to see other rainforests in the future.

“It was my first trip to a rainforest,” Thomson said. “I have visited several more since then.”

During her trip to Ecuador, Thomson met her future husband and developed a love for wildlife, as well as being inspired to take trips in the future to other exotic destinations. 

“I ended up falling in love with many things, the rainforest, the trees, monkeys and of course my husband,” Thomson said  “It was also here that I caught the ‘travel bug,’ which led to other trips to South America, Africa and Asia.”

Thomson recalls flying into Ecuador's’ capital, Quito, and saying there for a few days days. She then took a short plane ride to Coca, an oil town, and took a motorized canoe down the Napo River to get the Lodge where her husband worked.

While staying in the Amazon rainforest, Thomson was exposed to the largest aggregation of different organisms on earth and reveled in her surroundings.

“We stayed in the Amazon rainforest for a week,  looking for elusive organisms, we canoed through the black waters into swamps, and climbed up to their canopy tower,” Thomson said. “We then went to Otavalo to shop, hit Banos to explore a bit and then headed home.”

Thomson’s trip to Ecuador truly resonated with her, since she went back to Ecuador for the next two summers. Thomson even brought her AP Environmental science students to Ecuador one year.  

“When I took students to Ecuador we were on a bus and there were some kids that came on the bus to sing for us and sell us things, and my students asked me why the kids weren’t in school,” Thompson said. “My students ended up truly understanding how much of a privilege education is.”

Thompson’s trips to Ecuador have allowed her to appreciate the circumstances of her life and advises others to take similar journeys.

“Everyone should go traveling somewhere that isn’t a first world country because it makes us appreciate how lucky we are to live in such fortunate conditions,” Thompson said.

Flying by the seat of his pants

During the summer of 2010, English teacher and Speech and Debate coach Erick Rector boldly traveled to Europe alone at the age of 27 with nothing more than a suitcase and plane tickets to and from Paris.

Rector began his trip in Paris, and flew to Rome after following the advice of a Parisian that he should visit the historic city. He then took a train to Venice and took day trips from Venice to the Italian cities of Caldonazzo and Verona. Rector then flew to Madrid, flew back to Paris, and then took a train out the the border of Paris and Switzerland. At the conclusion of his adventure, he traveled back to Paris and then flew home.

Rector’s strong desire to relax and take a break from his stressful teaching life motivated his idea to go on a trip and be completely free to travel wherever he wanted to around Europe.

“I really needed to relax because I had been teaching for four years and I hadn’t had a real vacation,” Rector said. “I also had been coaching speech and debate on many weeknights and weekends. I was overly worked and really stressed out, so my dad advised me to take a trip.”

During his trip, Rector fueled his interest in architecture and desire to taste the local cuisine, as well as engage in a liberal amount of sightseeing in order to unwind. 

“I did touristy stuff, and I only visited one museum, the Reina Sofía in Madrid,” Rector said. “I pretty much wanted to see architecture, taste the food, and bike or walk around seeing as many things as I could.”

Although some people may dislike traveling alone, Rector believes that his choice to travel solo was a profoundly good decision.

“The fact that I went by myself was a good thing because it  forced me to adapt and be culturally aware on my own,” Rector said. “It was also a lot of good time for me to reflect and think.”

According to Rector, the only concrete plans that he had was one plane ticket to Paris and another ticket leaving Paris three weeks later. Everything else about the trip was up in the air.

“It was the first real trip that I had taken as an adult without family, and I enjoyed experiencing all of the fun things that there were to do,” Rector said. “I didn’t know where I was going to sleep because I didn’t have hostel or hotel reservations and I didn’t know where I was going to eat. It was all very fly by the seat of your pants travel and I really enjoyed it.”

Rector’s trip was such a success that he traveled to Europe again during the summer of 2011. However, this time he was accompanied by a friend for the five-week trip and had a more defined travel schedule.

“The following summer I went back with a friend and we planned out the cities that we wanted to go to and how many days we’d be able to stay in each place,” Rector said. “Other than that, the first thing that we’d have to do was find out where we were going to stay when we got to a new city, because we didn’t make hotel reservations. It was really interesting and it kept the excitement going.”