PHOTOS COURTESY OF CELESTE ALLEN Celeste Allen and husband David Swift stand on a section of floating ice off the coast of Antarctica.
When retired Perry Township Schools administrator Celeste Allen was about to set foot from her small expedition Zodiac onto Antarctica on Christmas Day, she paused. It was much more than just stepping onto the Earth’s southernmost frozen desert – it was the realization of a lifelong dream. This would be the seventh of the seven continents of the world for Allen to visit.
“It took over 40 years, but I knew when I first traveled to Europe after college that I wanted to visit all seven of the world’s continents,” she said.
Allen has taken a hot air balloon over the Maasai Mara on the Serengeti in Africa, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, taught an English class in Japan, walked along the Magellan Strait in Chile and researched her ancestry in Wehdem, Germany.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to travel and have so many life-changing experiences,” she said. “Once you experience first-hand people, cultures and lands different from our own, you are never the same. You gain a personal understanding and appreciation of the diversity of our world and other perspectives.”
“I was glad I saved Antarctica for last. It was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined! The weather (it’s summer there and the average high was around 32 degrees) and terrain were humbling, but the ice formations, penguins, seals and humpback whales were beautiful.”
Allen also visited Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong with her sons, Eric and Jason, worked in an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, and helped build a school in remote Guatemala.
“Traveling and sharing global experiences with family or friends creates a unique bond that lasts a lifetime,” she said.
“It took over 40 years, but I knew when I first traveled to Europe after college that I wanted to visit all seven of the world’s continents,” she said.
Allen has taken a hot air balloon over the Maasai Mara on the Serengeti in Africa, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, taught an English class in Japan, walked along the Magellan Strait in Chile and researched her ancestry in Wehdem, Germany.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to travel and have so many life-changing experiences,” she said. “Once you experience first-hand people, cultures and lands different from our own, you are never the same. You gain a personal understanding and appreciation of the diversity of our world and other perspectives.”
“I was glad I saved Antarctica for last. It was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined! The weather (it’s summer there and the average high was around 32 degrees) and terrain were humbling, but the ice formations, penguins, seals and humpback whales were beautiful.”
Allen also visited Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong with her sons, Eric and Jason, worked in an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, and helped build a school in remote Guatemala.
“Traveling and sharing global experiences with family or friends creates a unique bond that lasts a lifetime,” she said.
Gentoo penguins find the weather balmy.
RSS Feed