We are delighted to present to you an opportunity to join Archaeological Institute of America lecturer and host Betty Hensellek and trace the path of traders, explorers, and emperors along the fabled Silk Road, with most of the travel aboard a comfortable and convenient private plane. Begin appropriately in Venice, Marco Polo’s home, where many expeditions originated; visit a variety of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and important archaeological finds along historic routes in Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; and conclude in Istanbul, terminus for many caravans. Following the fabled silk trade route by land involves long drives and restrictive, time-consuming commercial air travel. Traveling by train limits the time available to explore the most intriguing cities along the way. Having our own private aircraft allows us to maximize the time spent at key points of interest and historic outposts. Most stopovers are two to three nights to provide ample time to delve deep in each location. This is the perfect itinerary for a privately chartered aircraft! We’ll travel aboard a Canadian-built De Havilland Dash 8-400, the world’s most advanced turboprop, significantly more efficient than aircraft with jet engines. Ours is configured with 72 Economy Class seats, but we are assigning two seats per person, so each of our maximum of 32 trip participants will have both a window seat and a free seat next to them, with ample overhead storage and an armrest that can be raised to provide extra space and comfort. The eight on-tour flights average about one hour and
45 minutes in duration.