Meet the Adventure Travel Specialists

Stephanie Holdenried

Stephanie's a 6th generation Californian and dedicated yogini as well as a beach bum and Michael Franti-groupie. Inspired by parents who were travelers, Stephanie has been a lifelong traveler herself and has been with Adventure Center since 1992. Africa is a particular passion and she's logged many miles there. Recent adventures include kayaking in the Arctic and Antarctic and cycling through South India. She also volunteers for a program that brings sustainable, community-supported schools to rural Cambodia and travels there any chance she gets..
Future Travel Plans: Trying to choose between mountain biking in Morocco or trekking in Ethiopia.
Can't Travel Without: a yoga mat which is handy when sleeping in airports or striking an impromtu downward dog pose.
Favorite Trip: Kerala & Tropical India Cycling

Risa King

Risa has worked at Adventure Center for 17 years. She enjoys yoga, reading, and sampling unusual food. In her spare time she often shops at her favorite dollar store while searching out all meanings of life. Last year while in the Galapagos she discovered an unknown species soon to published in "Darwin's Secret Memoirs." You might find her dusting and cataloguing her ancient collection of rare menorahs.
Future Travel Plans: bring Buddhist sand mandelas to the the Namib Desert
Can't Travel Without: Swiss army knife with tiny scissors, Supersoft nose-blowing handkerchief, Dust mask cloth bandana.
Favorite Trip: Discover Sri Lanka

Carmel Moore

Carmel has been working at Adventure Center since 2003. In her spare time she loves swimming, cycling, hiking, boogie boarding, reading and travel. Her favorite place in the world is Antarctica, where she would really love to go back and spend more time exploring the area.
Future Travel Plans: Africa, either Madagascar or West Africa
Can't Travel Without: Camera
Favorite Trip: Spitsbergen, East Greenland & Iceland

Vicky Papa

Vicky has been with Adventure Center for over 6 years. She enjoy travelling, belly dancing, scuba diving, wildlife and photography. Vicky has travelled to over 35 countries.
Future Travel Plans: dog sledding in Sweden
Can't Travel Without: Sarong, camera, notebook/pen, wet wipes
Favorite Trip: La Ruta Maya

Vivian Wong

Vivian joined Adventure Center in 2005 after discovering the joy of independent travel. Her favorite place is Southern America. She loves fabulous scenery, friendly people and animals (penguins, whales, seals, and more). She enjoys hiking around waterfalls and scenic trails, finishing the day with a delicious hearty meal.
Future Travel Plans: trekking to Everest Base Camp
Can't Travel Without: MP3 Player loaded with songs that would last for hours, best gear for killing time in air transit (flight delays, stopovers, airport strikes, etc.)
Favorite Trip: Cusco & The Inca Trail

Maz Livingston

Maz is drawn to the less visited places in the world, enjoys the unpredictability of adventure travel and welcomes a chance to get grubby. She spent a year camping in Africa, worked on a Cruise ship and took a detour through Silicon Valley before joining AC 16 years ago. Some of her favorite places visited are Bhutan, Antarctica, Mali, Bolivia, California and Libya. She enjoys photography, the ridiculous and spending time with friends.
Future Travel Plans: China and Laos
Can't Travel Without: Baby Wipes, Ear Plugs, Eye Mask, Copy of passport pages, Hand Sanitizer, Camera and Cash
Favorite Trip: Pamir Tajikistan Expedition

Christine Supawit

Christine joined Adventure Center in 2000. Her favorite place to travel is Asia, where she enjoys the varied cultures, friendly people and delicious food. One of her favorite activities when traveling is exploring ruins of exotic temples.

Future Travel Plans: visit Burma to see the extensive temple ruins at Pagan.
Can’t Travel Without: Sarong, can be a sheet, towel, emergency cover-up.
Favorite Trip: Burma - The Golden Land

Stefan Conde

Stefan is one of the newer employees at Adventure Center having started in June of 2006. He highly recommends a visit to Palawan in the Philippines where you can find your own private white sand beach. Stefan studies capoeira, an Afro/Brazilian martial art, and enjoys hiking, getting lost on the California coast, playing video games and as you can see from his picture, DOMINATING 80's dance contests! All challengers are welcome.
Future Travel Plans: include Tibet, Nepal, Jordan and India.
Can't Travel Without: A comfortable pair of slippers, extra socks (because wet socks are the most uncomfortable thing in the world), a camera, and a good travel companion whom I won’t want to kill after a month of travel.
Favorite Trip: Cairo to Istanbul

Sonja Rongstock

Sonja originally hails from Berlin, Germany, and has been with Adventure Center since 1998. Her most memorable adventure was hiking and horse riding in Ecuador's tall Andes Mountains. Her most bizarre travel experience was having sticks thrown at her by monkeys while exploring Tikal's ruins, and her favorite places are the ones she's yet to visit. Sonja loves shopping at the local farmer's markets, gardening, reading, skiing and spending time with her family.
Future Travel Plans: Asia
Can't Travel Without: Trip journal
Favorite Trip: Himalayan Adventure Family Holiday

Bill Shaw

Bill has been with Adventure Center off and on since 1997. He loves to travel to SouthEast Asia where he expecially loves the people, culture and food. Laos and Cambodia are the most fascinating countries he has visited so far.
Future Travel Plans: Guatemala
Can't Travel Without: Day-pack
Favorite Trip: Highlights of Morocco

Agnes Cerda

Agnes joined Adventure Center in 1998 from Hawaii and has been bringing the Aloha spirit to Adventure Center ever since. Although she returns frequently back to Hawaii for family visits, she's also managed to visit Europe, Asia and Canada and hopes to travel to Africa and the Middle East in the future. Her two daughters keep Agnes very busy when she's not at work.
Future Travel Plans: Africa & the Middle East
Can't Travel Without: cell phone, camera, toys for the kids, magazines, and her cosmetic bag!
Favorite Trip: Highlights of Northern India

Alan Abonyi

Alan got his start in travel at a very early age, spending most of his childhood living in Europe and the Middle East. Having worked for the airlines for several years, Alan celebrated his 20th anniversary with the company in 2008. His travels have taken him to 70 countries world-wide, but bush-camping in Africa remains one of his top experiences. Alan's latest hobby is scuba diving. Certified in the chilly waters of Monterey Bay, Alan now prefers the tropical waters of the South Pacific.
Future Travel Plans: diving in South Africa and Mozambique
Can't Travel Without: Cameras for both above and below the water, and my inflatable travel pillow
Favorite Trip: Galapagos Islands Cruise

Kasia McCarthy

Kasia, which is short for Katarzyna, originally hails from Poland. She joined Adventure Center in 2004. She came to California via Mexico after she went on an adventure camping trip and met her future husband. Among Kasia's favorite travel moments were a sunrise at the Mayan ruins of Calakmul, a train trip across the hinterlands of Russia, and celebrating the New Year at Copacabana.
Future Travel Plans: a trip to Vietnam to explore the rich culinary tradition and a voyage to Antarctica aboard a Russian frigate
Can't Travel Without: Travel diary
Favorite Trip: Backroads of Botswana

Ranjani Dahanayake

Ranjani was born and raised in Sri Lanka. She has been keeping the books at Adventure Center since 1999. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and playing tennis. Ranjani has brought her magic gardening skills to the office, where lush tropical plants abound.
Future Travel Plans: back to Sri Lanka for a visit
Can't Travel Without: A camera
Favorite Trip: Classic Thailand

Richard McConnell

Richard led camping trips around Europe, driving a bright yellow, open-topped double-decker bus (yes, this was a LONG time ago) and spent 4 years running safaris and expeditions in Africa before arriving at AC over 20 years ago. Africa still beckons, although he also wants to explore more of Central America. Richard's favorite color is green (as in - yes, this trip is showing available to book on our website). He says the best thing about his job is never knowing what today's technological challenge will be! Just knowing that it will be a learning experience! He looks forward to his next weekend trip, camping under shady trees next to a quiet creek, with some great hiking trails close by!
Future Travel Plans: exploring Tikal
Can't Travel Without: His favorite travelling song - Truckin' by the Grateful Dead. Jackson Browne's 'Running on Empty' is a close second...
Favorite Trip: Central America Explorer

Johno Wells

Johno founded Adventure Center in October 1976 after spending several years leading three to five-month camping expeditions across Africa, Asia, Central and South America. His favorite destinations are the more remote corners of the world where modern facilities are limited, food is fresh, and refrigeration is non-existent. Johno's best travel memories are of visiting African and Asian villages where life is simple and children are charming and imaginative. He enjoys the dynamics of traveling in small groups with like minded people from around the world.
Future Travel Plans:
Can't Travel Without: his wife, Annette.
Favorite Trip: Explorer's Route (Antarctica) via the Falklands and South Georgia