About Us

Airy: The Ecotourism Buff

I am a conservation biologist and tourism researcher who loves the outdoors, and I spend much of my time struggling with my wanderlust. My dream is to see the world one country at a time, and I have a few places under my belt so far (South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia just to name a few). Since world travel is expensive, I get most of my exploring done in Arizona, and there is no lack of new places to see here.

In my professional life, I study ecotourism, and between my research and the traveling that I do, I think alot about the ethics of tourism. I am the most interested in environmental sustainability, but I will discuss cultural and economic sustainability as well. Besides exploring- I dabble in mountain biking, kayaking, and snowboarding.

Finally, I am a self-described wallflower, so I would love to share my tips for seeing new places and meeting new people while being an introvert and a shy person.

Katie: Professional Storyteller (Nightborn Sidekick)

I’m a wayward journalist at the intersection of travel and culture (often, those two are synonymous anyway).

I like:

• To know what gets people out of bed in the morning
• Listening to people talk (hearing accents, dialects, slang – how fun and fluid is  language, amirite?)
• Historical (old) buildings

I will:

• Ask a lot of questions (mostly serious, but some silly)
• Take a ton of photos (and then cry as I try to edit and sort through 300 of them)
• Eat all your snacks