Valerie Stimac is a space tourism and travel writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She started working with Lonely Planet in 2014, providing local content about Seattle and San Francisco. In 2019, her first book Dark Skies: A Practical Guide to Astrotourism was published by Lonely Planet, and she has also contributed to other Lonely Planet books including The Universe. Her love of space travel was inspired by growing up in Alaska, where she looked at the Northern Lights and saw the comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Although her professional career is focused more on tourism than science, she is working to make space accessible and help more people travel. to enjoy the night sky.

Within the episode:

As a travel writer, Valerie's interest in astrotourism was sparked by her intrigue surrounding the search for the “new and exciting.” She chose space tourism and has created the 'go to' guide for space tourism on Earth at spacetourismguide.com
Valerie's book opened our eyes in a profound way. As travelers we are constantly looking for the awe-inspiring, the new, the interesting, the unique. But most of us never think to look up at the stars and take in the spectacle of the universe.
Valerie was able to explain what astrotourism is and how there are special dark sky parks in the US (and the world). With views of the Milky Way, Auroras and distant galaxies we can all enjoy them under the right dark sky conditions.
How can you have a conversation about space without nerding out, pondering our existence, discussing the potential for light-speed travel, discussing the thought-provoking question, “what is time?”
City people are happy! Dark Skies provides great insight into how you, the city dweller, can bypass the light pollution in your city to have your own unique stargazing experience. Valerie was clear about a few tips you can implement to gain a better view of the visible universe.
One of our goals is to clearly see our galactic neighborhood, an extension of the Milky Way. With Dark Skies we learned that Cherry Spring State Park in Pennsylvania was a Designated Dark Sky site that can provide a clear view of astronomical events, including… when conditions are perfect… the Aurora Borealis.
Of course we can see the moon with the naked eye. However, did you know that you can also see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus with the naked eye. With good dark sky conditions for some of these planets and the right alignment, you can “keep an eye” on what could be a future home for our species (at least we hope so)!
SPACE TOURISM in 2020! Fingers are crossed, and as we've discussed, companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have their technology ready, their facilities built, and the logistics nailed down. What can you expect in 2020? It looks like we'll at least get a chance to do non-orbital space travel.

Contact information/reference

Space tourism guide:
https://spacetourismguide.com

Her website:
https://www.valisemag.com

Tweet
http://twitter.com/valerie_valise

Personal Instagram
http://instagram.com/vstimac

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