Paperback

Travel writing can offer scenes of great buildings and landscapes or can introduce the reader to new friends from fascinating cultures. This anthology of stories about villagers living in 12 exotic cultures allows everyone to experience the wonders of our fascinating world both visually, through 321 images, and in a colorful narrative.

By sharing the trailblazing adventures of Jackie Chase, a Midwest housewife and mother of four, you can experience:

• The warmth of unexpected friendships and smiles half a world away from home
• Photo opportunities that capture extraordinary lifestyles or giggling children
• Rituals of life's passages like marriage, puberty, elaborate funeral processions, or holidays
• Memories of Moroccan bisteeya, a three-layer sweet pie in thin pastry, eaten with fingers
• Close observation of the daily lives of people in unfamiliar settings
• New perspectives on the practices of family customs in foreign lands

The journey with Jackie takes puts you behind her camera and lets you share her journal, away from the mundane habits and predictable schedules of everyday life. Like good fiction, there is adventure and surprise, but here, it's all true.

Would you like to peek behind the scenes of the world’s largest floating resort to see how 79 different cultures work and live together ‘24-7’? Universally relevant stories create an inclusion recipe that celebrates human differences including race, customs, gender, age, religion etc. They open minds to cross-cultural awareness or respect in organizations worldwide. Current technology makes it possible to deliver an eBook to every worker in an organization to enhance its mission and stimulate a widely-shared attitude adjustment that produces success through cooperative creativity. Diversity at work pays creativity dividends for employer and worker. Imagine applying this team-building magic in government, campus, non-profit or business settings!

This guide will assist HR professionals who wish to improve the climate for "inclusion" in their organization. It contains suggestions and referenced to two books, in either eBook or print format, that are fun to read and contain many stories from the mouths of workers on how they celebrate "differences" between themselves and other workers and guests and how strangers become friends.

Crew Life presents an anthology of stories told by crew members. The stories are personal and professional, but they have a unique role for today’s times. That role is to share specific ways they have experienced where they came in contact with people from manydifferent countries and cultures, and the result was genuinefriendship.

This book shares a number of stories about fellow workers or crew members who live and work together aboard a floating resort. If you are part of any type of team, whether for profit, government, academic or charity, the stories will likely help you to perform better and perhaps help you advance in your chosen occupation. The stories will certainly show what life is like aboard ship, and why it takes a month or so to get comfortable working at sea; but it will also satisfy your curiosity about the many skills needed to be a success in the hospitality or any other industry.

The setting is the Columbus, one of a fleet of six cruise ships operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV). The people interviewed range from old timers to new hires, and they simply tell about their lives, jobs and family, but they all have in common the desire to get acquainted with their fellow crew members who just happen to be from over a couple dozen countries. That makes for some interesting friendships and reading.

The stories describe the process of befriending people who are different; by the last page, you will remember a number of examples showing how you, too, might be able to greet someone, perhaps born in a foreign country or culture, or at least “different” in some way. If you are curious about the cruise business, you have many more reasons to want to peek beneath the waterline of a cruise ship and learn about the lives of those in this industry who have the pleasant task of pleasing passengers aboard ship.

Curiously, the benefits are not limited to large companies. One seafarer we know reported that his mom, a hairdresser, used the smile and greet friendliness and found her solo-worker business nearly doubled as a result. And this book reports many cases where  promotions seemed to follow inclusion, teamwork, and leadership.

This book shares stories from crew and management on how to deal with life aboard, and how to apply the golden rule of respect for others who may have quite different cultures from yours. The principles shared in this book’s crew comments are applicable to any group of people associated in any type of organization. They are intended to help the reader learn to become a better representative for their employer and even their own families. Respect and smiles help the “smiler” as well as the “smilee”!

Your first introduction will be to the Captain! He is waiting foryou to turn the page and start your exciting journey around the world.

On the surface, this is about the world’s largest cruise ship. But in fact, it is a blueprint for managers to encourage teamwork to serve customers whether the organization is a business, charity, or government. The fact that the crewmembers are from 79 countries makes the story an especially interesting and exceptional one. For readers who want to be treated like royalty, they can learn about life in the never-ending voyage of cruising. All Hands Working Together peeks below the waterline and behind water-tight doors to discover the secrets of how a crew from those 79 nations blended into a guest-pleasing team.

Cruise travel conjures up words like passion, yearning, and intense satisfaction. The laid-back attitudes, awesome entertainment, and superb food flavors awaken a wonderful place inside. But let's not rob ourselves of the most precious gift of all: the legends, history, music, food, and superstitions, of foreign traditions. Whether you are a cyber-traveler or one with cruise tickets in hand, you will want to climb aboard for a fun tour of this massive floating resort. Anchor yourself on a comfy cushion and experience a vacation that gets under your skin as its ideas change your life.

Especialmente impresos a color, accesibles, con impresionantes imágenes a color con iluminación de fondo, este sencillo narra las aventuras de Jackie Chase en Panamá.

Para sus fans, la antología de sus viajes a doce países titulado “100 personas que debe conocer antes de morir: Viaje a culturas exóticas” contiene muchas imágenes de este sencillo además de otras historias, igualmente fascinantes, sobre culturas de todo el mundo. 

Bring cultures to life with real people! “Giraffe-Neck Girl” introduces ten-year-old Mucha and her family. Wearing the brass neck rings sets the Padaung apart as a unique tribe. Young readers are intrigued by how and why girls wear these heavy rings around their necks. Lush, colorful photographs show how this community maintains harmony. Become a part of Mucha’s family by sharing her daily activities, like catching locusts and eating them for a snack. Visit the school, play with children having water fights at the local well, help a father build a porch, and watch two neighbors roasting a pig. Then, go with Mucha to pick out a live duck for dinner in her small, rural village in northern Thailand.

“How to Become an Escape Artist” A Travelers’ Handbook is the tool that could save any traveler from disappointing mistakes, lost opportunities, and financial loss. If you’ve ever dreamed of traipsing through wet jungles, anchoring your boat off hidden islands, or tossing coins into a magic fountain, get this book. A “road map” for travel, it contains tips and strategies based on practical travel experience in over a hundred countries. You will learn about:

• Strange or familiar cultures, gestures, food, and customs
• The how-to details on travel research as one of 192 sections packed with hints
• Ideas for applying the lessons from inspiring stories and cautionary tales
• Valuable pointers to prevent/cure health issues
• Dealing with loneliness, compromising with co-travelers, and other personal issues
• Ways to prepare as a senior, parent, single woman, or a cautious newbie
• Opening your life to the rich variety of options for the traveler

You can take a journey vicariously or, armed with the author’s invaluable advice, visit exotic cultures yourself. Jackie Chase has more than four decades of travel experience in and out of over one hundred countries. She has lived temporarily in remote villages with tribal people and offers several fascinating books in this photo-journalism series. Links to hard-to-find websites help subgroups of travelers looking to share cruise cabins or swap homes or find guides or uncover other rare resources. Handy lists of all kinds, advice to request multiple entry visas, and the joys of communication without words make this a true handbook for everyone.

Absorb a rare experience. Follow in the footsteps of Jackie and her teenage daughter, Katherine, as they offer a compulsively readable story of their conspiracy of curiosity and courage to explore the jungles of New Guinea. The story pierces time and place to treat the reader with an intimate peek inside a Stone-Age culture. Living in one of the most extraordinary and dangerous places on earth for four weeks, they realize the destination is not important. The richest treasure veins of life's experiences can be mined away from home.

Travel is the book's vehicle for the learning/growing process. It is the process of change, the awakening of a new dimension within them. Dramatic gains in self-confidence and self-sufficiency developed as these females responded creatively to challenges, overcame fear, raised tolerances for pain and discomfort, and found the courage within their inner resources. The trekkers invite the reader to reconnect ourselves to our inner hearts. The book offers inspiration to parents and teens who, in trying to be so many things to so many people, lose themselves. In each other, we see a reflection of our sixth sense, the passion for searching.

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Bali. For her fans, the anthology of travels to 12 countries titled, “100 People to Meet Before You Die” Travel to Exotic Cultures, contains many of the images from this “single” and eleven equally fascinating stories from cultures around the world. One of her fans actually followed her description of arranging to stay at the palace of a prince in central Bali and found her discovery equally as fascinating as her description in this book.

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Borneo. This story begins, “Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the canoe, my elbows scraping the raw splintery sides, I felt the intensity of Borneo on my skin. Small and sweaty, my guide strained his muscular arms to paddle hard, propelling the canoe around a river bend, well-traveled and cut deep in the mud. As the expanse of the brown lake water widened, an occasional view of water buffalo or a pair of freshwater dolphins offered diversion during the four hours I sat scrunched in the narrows of the leaky canoe. My legs felt like Jell-O. The smell of leaking fuel burned my nostrils…  The silent boat driver maneuvered the wobbly canoe with skill as razor sharp slivers of coconut grass crisscrossed my arms in red.”

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Burma. This story begins, “The donut holes burned my fingers. The oily funnel-shaped paper wrapper slipped to the ground, freeing the fried dough to roll under the market-woman’s feet. With an ear-to-ear smile, she prepared another paper cone of pastry. I pointed to my camera. She nodded, taking a practiced pose of looking down, hiding our sociable encounter. What a perfect scenario to describe Burma. Initial smiles fade, dissolved by the obscure chemistry of the Burmese government's perplexing authority, seeping into the soul of its people. [In the comfort of your home, see through the author’s lens and flavorful words what few tourists see inside the mystery of Burma.]

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in China. She typed emails on primitive keyboards, and wrote, “I planned to see the cormorant fishermen tonight. When I got there, they offered a real touristy thing they had set up. They had put huge floodlights and birds on the bamboo, and a ninety-seven-year-old man with a pointed, white beard sat beside them, with seats on the raft behind him. I want to see the real thing, not something set up for tourists. The cormorants learn, as babies, to give the fish they catch to their owners, but for safety's sake, the owner ties string around their necks to prevent them from swallowing the fish. Legend says the owner takes the string off after they dive seven times so they can enjoy some fish for their hard work.” [The author set out to see rural China, not what the tourist sees; this book is incredible to read as you ride on the bicycle seat with her, peering through her camera lens.]  

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Ecuador.

This story begins, after a touching story of pre-trip doubts within her family, “The fifty-foot canoe forged through the downpour, not caring that passengers, luggage, and food got drenched. Huddled together for warmth, Katherine and I sat motionless, sharing a tarp with numerous wood crates packed with camping gear and food. Our safety net, Louis Garcia, had our lives in his hands. Louis knew the ins-and-outs of jungle life from studying for his role as a medicine man, and he came recommended by the South American Explorers Club.

The canoe jerked to a stop on the muddy shoreline. I could hear foreign voices, undecipherable in the distance. After we removed the rain-soaked tarp from over our heads, Katherine and I noticed the angry sky had gone quite dark. People stood on the banks of the river, pulling the canoe forward in the mud. Out of nowhere, Katherine said, ‘I’m freezing cold and wet but not sad.’

‘Why would you feel sad?’ I asked.

‘Racing down the river in a fifty-foot canoe, trusting our boat driver in the dark, and fearing the unknown, maybe?’ Katherine smiled as her slender, ice-cold fingers squeezed my hand. Our brand-new boots sloshed through the mud while we climbed a steep embankment. A Quechua home on stilts graced the river with candles, and steaming hot chocolate and tea waited for us… At lunchtime, we’d eaten hot pasta with lentils, peas, corn, potatoes, tuna, bread, and dripping orange slices over huge banana leaf placemats; could our dinner menu match that? I thought the chances were good.”

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Ethiopia.

This story begins with a quote, “"Not I nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it for yourself." Walt Whitman. [Luckily, you have the author’s gift of images and colorful language to save the expense and reduce the fear associated with primitive cultures.]

“Paint a picture of a dry desert with starving people, and Ethiopia comes to mind. Ethiopia, one of the most compelling countries in Africa, opens pathways that allow us to step back in time. The word “history” found its initial breath millions of years ago with the first human remains unearthed near the capital, Addis Abba. Away from the scramble of city life, ripples of vivid lime to dark pine feed the eye…Looking for an anthropological expedition? Make contact with primitive tribes in the southwest, the richest concentration of aboriginal tribes in the entirety of Africa. These primitive tribes share ethics, values, and goals of non-materialistic traditions…Compensated with the symbolic and ornamental wealth on their embellished bodies, people live satisfied and balanced lives…The Mursi, Hammer, Karo, Konso, Galeb, and Borana tribes all co­exist in a cracked and craggy environment, forgotten by the rest of the world. Here, the visitor can see the Africa of yesterday. In their hidden cloisters, these tribesmen’s symbolic customs flourish through body adornment. The power of nature dominates while strong ties link them to the Omo River as their main life source.”

[The story of the author’s encounters will find you turning pages in disbelief as this Midwest mother of four tackles the impossible.]

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in India.

This story begins, “Travel virgins, inquisitives, or globetrotters succumb to the magnetism India exhales. Discover the authentic India through your mind's eye. The maze of sensory overload when you arrive weighs heavy on the heart. Outside layers of sights and sounds flirt with the senses, hoping to satisfy your expectations. Take giant steps to find the essence of India, buried in the richness of India's soul: the people. No other country in the world offers such a delectable palette: a melting pot of religions, cultures, and languages brought together by traders, pioneers, and soldiers for the last five thousand years. Escape a life sentence of boredom; join me in the labyrinth of alleyways painted with the sparkles, reflecting from mirrored baubles of Gujarati and Rajasthani women and Tibetans, standing guard in street-stall doorways. Landscapes, dotted with the powerful depth of vision transmitted in variations of extravagant architecture accent the scent of incense, spices, and poverty, as well as the sounds of claustrophobically dense cities. Colors more brilliant than any rainbow and tastes and textures of exotic foods combine to embroider the lush texture of India.”

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the author’s adventures in Kenya.

This story begins, “The agency charged extra for an armed driver for the trip north from Nairobi toward Ethiopia and Somalia. Newspaper headlines reading, ‘Americans Robbed Again,’ warned of the lack of security along the dusty northern roads. One rumor passed along from hotel to hotel hinted that robbers killed a white woman for her money and passport.

Although I paid for an armed guard, the driver said he had no guns. The driver assured me of a safe trip and lacked any concern for robbers or hijackers. The grungy left-over-from-some-war vehicle had lost its doors and seat covers, so comfort and cleanliness were not on my travel menu. Miles and miles of hard-packed sand filled the horizon without a sign of a village or even tire tracks. Shapes of camels followed by strange-looking donkeys caught my eye…”

Specially printed in color, and accessible with stunning back-lit color images, this “single” recounts the adventures of Jackie Chase in Morocco.

The story begins with a quotefrom Eleanor Roosevelt, “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."

"Oncoming traffic signaled us to pull off the road. The marshmallow sand of the road shoulders tempted the tires of our car to sink deep. Great time for some stretching, I thought, after hunting in several bags for water. The shiny bottles I pulled from my pack caught the attention of black spots, moving down the hillside opposite the road. Those tiny spots turned into children, doubled over with heads low to the ground and carrying stacks of firewood taller than their little bodies. Three adorable girls, about eight years old, came rushing toward the car begging for food or water. My camera captured their smiles and heavy loads, and I thanked them with a few small coins.”