{"id":4606,"date":"2026-07-10T11:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4606"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:08:58","slug":"an-evening-of-exploration-with-national-geographic-expeditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4606","title":{"rendered":"An Evening of Exploration with National Geographic Expeditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Go inside Elite Traveler’s exclusive dinner with National Geographic Expeditions, where guests discovered the brand’s around-the-world private jet journeys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

On a recent summer evening in Manhattan,\u00a0the\u00a0doors to the private dining room of New York\u2019s\u00a0most exclusive\u00a0members club, Coco\u2019s at Colette,\u00a0opened\u00a0to welcome\u00a0an intimate group\u00a0for an evening of\u00a0discovery courtesy of\u00a0a brand that\u2019s become synonymous with the word\u00a0over its\u00a0storied\u00a0138-year history:\u00a0National Geographic<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The soaring skyline views from the 37th<\/sup>\u00a0floor of the General Motors building were\u00a0particularly suited to the evening\u2019s main topic of discussion,\u00a0with the\u00a0assembled guests gathering\u00a0to learn more about\u00a0National Geographic Expeditions\u2019<\/a>\u00a0flagship itineraries, in partnership with\u00a0Elite Traveler<\/em>, of around-the-world journeys by private jet.\u00a0Even among the seasoned luxury travelers in attendance, the unique perspective of a continuous\u00a0multi-week\u00a0trip to the most fascinating, breathtaking, and historically significant destinations\u00a0across the globe\u00a0\u2013\u00a0including\u00a012 UNESCO World Heritage sites\u00a0\u2013\u00a0was\u00a0a\u00a0continuous\u00a0source of\u00a0wonder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"National<\/figure>\n

See also:\u00a0<\/em>\u201cOnce in a Lifetime\u201d Happens Every Day on National Geographic Expeditions by Private Jet<\/em><\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost private jet programs sell access, whereas National Geographic Expeditions sells\u00a0understanding, and\u00a0I think that\u2019s a key difference,\u201d said Andrew Nelson, longtime travel correspondent and guide for the magazine as well as the evening\u2019s featured speaker. \u201cThe guests we\u2019re talking to understand luxury;\u00a0it\u2019s what they\u2019re getting for their money that money\u00a0can\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0buy. That\u2019s perspective shaped by more than 100 years of\u00a0National Geographic<\/em>\u2019s engagement with the world and all that\u2019s in it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"National<\/figure>\n

Befitting the event\u2019s theme of An Evening of Exploration: Journeys Around the World, the food and beverage team at Coco\u2019s at Colette developed a menu that ranged across continents, incorporating elements of Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Peruvian,\u00a0and\u00a0Moroccan\u00a0cuisines, from\u00a0sweet potato hummus with dukkha\u00a0and tuna tataki\u00a0canap\u00e9s to an\u00a0entr\u00e9e of striped bass featuring turmeric beurre\u00a0blanc, dill, mint, haricot verts,\u00a0and\u00a0Fresno peppers. Between courses, Nelson held forth on everything from\u00a0the effects of social media\u00a0on luxury travel\u00a0to the common trait he notices in the\u00a0explorers\u00a0he most admires\u00a0(hint: don\u2019t be afraid to\u00a0cut against the flow of the crowd). His role, as he sees it, is \u201cteaching people how to see the world. Not simply where to go, but how to understand what they\u2019re experiencing once they get there.\u00a0We can stand before the pyramids, watch wildlife in Africa, or walk\u00a0ancient streets in Asia, but proximity isn’t the same thing as\u00a0connection. We provide context\u00a0\u2013\u00a0historically, culturally, artistically.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"National<\/figure>\n

See also:\u00a0<\/em>Three Globe-Circling Private Jet Trips that are Greater than the Sum of Their Destinations<\/em><\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As desserts of mandarin\u00a0orange\u00a0givree\u00a0were served, talk turned to the\u00a0nitty-gritty, with National Geographic Expeditions SVP\u00a0and general manager Nancy Schumacher stepping in to answer the type of detailed queries that can only come from an\u00a0Elite Traveler<\/em>-caliber audience, from\u00a0relationships with\u00a0celebrated local guides\u00a0\u2013\u00a0try Explorers-in-Residence Maeve and Louise Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzania\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to contingency plans for unforeseen mechanical issues (a longtime partnership with Icelandic Air means a backup jet is always primed for delivery should the first become grounded). But\u00a0again and\u00a0again, discussion\u00a0returned to the spectacular opportunity to weave together a singular, globe-spanning travel narrative unrivalled in its depth and access\u00a0\u2013\u00a0particularly\u00a0at a time when, according to Nelson, \u201cthe world has become easier to visit\u00a0but in some ways\u00a0harder to understand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"National<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe best hotels, cities, landscapes, and cultural experiences act as portals into larger stories\u00a0\u2013\u00a0they help us understand a place, not merely visit it,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnybody\u00a0
can go somewhere, but far fewer people know what they’re looking at\u00a0when they arrive and then return home with a deeper understanding of\u00a0why places matter.\u00a0The greatest travel object isn\u2019t a souvenir; it\u2019s a new way of seeing the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"National<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go inside Elite Traveler’s exclusive dinner with National Geographic Expeditions, where guests discovered the brand’s around-the-world private jet journeys.\u00a0 On a recent summer evening in Manhattan,\u00a0the\u00a0doors to the private dining room of New York\u2019s\u00a0most exclusive\u00a0members club, Coco\u2019s at Colette,\u00a0opened\u00a0to welcome\u00a0an intimate group\u00a0for an evening of\u00a0discovery courtesy of\u00a0a brand that\u2019s become synonymous with the word\u00a0over its\u00a0storied\u00a0138-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}