Our Experienced Staff

Make Your Next Trip a PREFERRED ADVENTURE 1-800-840-8687
Karen L. Johnson CTC: President karen@preferredadventures.com Karen founded Preferred Adventures Ltd in 1989 and has been a leader in promoting nature and adventure tourism to Costa Rica for over a decade. She is a founding member of the Costa Rica- Minnesota Foundation. Karen has traveled in 85 countries on all seven continents and has been active in industry and community organizations for more than 30 years.  Karen"s latest extraordinary adventure was Mountain Gorilla trekking in Uganda! Karen's Bio
. Teri Waataja International Travel Consultant, Lindblad Expeditions Travel Specialist teri@preferredadventures.com Teri advises most of our individual and family clients traveling to Costa Rica. In addition to her extensive travels in Costa Rica, Teri has world-wide experience including  Uruguay, Peru, Baja California, Amazon, Belize, Yucatan, and Egypt. Her cruises in Alaska, Hawaii and the Caribbean give her valuable insite in helping clients plan travel to those destinations.	Gwen Megears Travel Assistant gwen@preferredadventures.com Gwen has a degree in business administration. She assists with a variety of office support tasks. She has personal travel knowledge of a host of worldwide destinations.
Barb Howell Accounting Staff barb@preferredadventures.com Barb earned her B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and acquired extensive experience in accounting before joining the PAL team.	Anne Lynch Administrative Assistant, Webmaster anne@preferredadventures.com Anne has lived and traveled in various parts of the world and holds a master's degree in Latin American Affairs from Stanford University. She is also a very talented database manager.

Our Mission

To use travel as a vehicle for bringing peoples and countries together ... to give you, our clients, an opportunity to discover for yourselves some of our planet's most exotic natural and cultural treasures in a fun, educational experience producing lifetime memories ...and to do this in a way that contributes to the conservation of those resources.

We Are Committed...

To our clients:

• We create for each client, whether an individual, a family or a special interest group, a travel experience that meets and exceeds their unique dreams and expectations.

• We find cost-effective solutions to the customer's travel needs and wishes.

To each other:

• We support one another, sharing responsibilities, to create an efficient, harmonious work atmosphere.

• We help each other attain our maximum potential, to our own benefit and to the benefit of our client friends.

To conservation:

• We encourage clients to travel in an environmentally responsible way, conserving the wildlife and its habitat for future generations.

• We promote tourism consistent with sustainable development.

• We support national and international conservation organizations.

To our neighbors:

• We are members of the Minnesota Keystone Program. Since 1992 we have honored our pledge to contribute at least 5% of our pre-tax earnings to address community needs.

• We work with our providers and travelers with integrity and honesty in a spirit of mutual respect. 2002 Minnesota Business Ethics Award. "Award Finalist in the Small Company Category on this 24th of April, 2002"

We Are Honored!

• National Geographic Traveler Magazine's 80 Experts for your Travel Files, October 2004

• Travel + Leisure Magazine's A-List of 125 Travel Super-Agents, September 2006

• Travel + Leisure Magazine's A-List of 125 Travel Super-Agents, September 2005

• Travel + Leisure Magazine's A-List of 125 Travel Super-Agents, September 2004

• Travel + Leisure Magazine's A-List of 125 Travel Super-Agents, September 2003

• Travel + Leisure Magazine's A-List of 70 Travel Super-Agents, Rated A+, September 2002

• Minnesota Business Ethics Award Finalist, Small Company Category, April 2002

• Minnesota Keystone Program, 10 year milestone recognition, October 2002

We Are Involved!

• American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA)

• International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN)

• Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA)

• International Federation of Women's Travel Organizations (IFWTO)

• Minnesota Executive Women in Tourism (MEWIT)

• Books for Africa

• Costa Rica-Minnesota Foundation

We Are Versatile!

Past and/or present clients include the following:

• Horticulture, bird watching and natural history groups:
  Henderson Tropical Birding Trips, Noble Proctor Natural History trips, Minnesota Horticultural Society, Horticulture Magazine, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, Connecticut Audubon Society.

• International Concert Tours:
   Lake Wobegon^® Brass Band, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, Minnesota Boys Choir, Mound High School Choir, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Owatonna High School Orchestra.

• Community Service and Sports Organizations:
  Indianhead Boy Scouts Council, Girl Scout Council of St. Croix Valley,  Mano a Mano Medical Resources, Minnesota Thunder Soccer Team, Interfaith Service to Latin America.

• Academic Groups:
  James J. Hill Reference Library, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Minnesota medical groups, Center for Lifelong Learning at St. Olaf College, St. John's University Hill Monastic Manuscript Library.

We Are Qualified!

Karen L. Johnson, CTC

President and founder of Preferred Adventures Ltd (1989), Karen has been active in the travel industry for more than thirty years. Karen has traveled extensively, visiting all seven continents and seventy-five countries, including Antarctica, Botswana, Comoros Islands, Madagascar, Nepal, Seychelles, Uganda, Zambia and Zanzibar. In 1983 Karen traveled to Costa Rica, and it was "love at first sight". She has returned again and again, becoming a leader in the promotion of nature and adventure tourism to Costa Rica. Karen is one of the original members of the Costa Rica-Minnesota Foundation, founded in 1991. Preferred Adventures Ltd specializes in travel arrangements to Central and South America.

Teri Waataja

An International Travel Consultant, Teri is an expert in travel to Costa Rica. Annually she advises and provides service to hundreds of individuals and family groups. She has personally explored Costa Rica as well as the Amazon, Baja, Belize, Egypt, Peru, Uruguay and the Yucatan. Teri's cruises in Alaska, Hawaii and the Caribbean give her valuable insight in helping clients plan travel to those destinations.

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What clients say about us!

Steve and Susie, (August 2007)
Thank you for all you have done over these many years to facilitate our travel. Without your encouragement, I think it unlikely that we would have experienced all that we have experienced, and seen all that we have seen.
Take care and be well.

Sam and Harvey,  (October 2006) Trip to Peru
Teri: We are back home, and want to thank you for the perfect trip. Our guides were fantastic, taking care of every little detail and were so informative about the culture, history, and country that we were just blown away. Their kindness and willingness to help us and guide us was so heart warming, we loved every one of them. The drivers were exceptional--the streets there are so haphazard and could have been pretty scary, but the drivers were excellent and we never felt worried. (Walking, however, is a different story--you really have to be on your toes!!) The trip itself was so thorough--we saw positively everything we wanted to see--probably more than we ever dreamed. The hotels were beautiful and the staff at the hotels were just wonderful. After a hard day trekking the ruins, it was so nice to go back to such beautiful rooms, and the staff treated us like family. We had no problem with money, we had no problems with altitude (hard to breathe, but no sickness) and we had no problems with water or food. We had a beautiful, perfect trip.
Thank you for all your help planning this trip. It is a once in a lifetime for us, and we are so grateful for your help and guidance. ....

Al (July 2006)
I'm following up on my promise to write you a longer response to your question about how our trip to Costa Rica was. In a word, it was terrific. All of the arrangements that made went smoothly. Our guides were excellent. Henry at Tortuguero was as funny as he is knowledgeable. He managed our heterogeneous group of about a dozen people very well and kept everyone involved and in good spirits. ... All in all, we were very pleased with the experience, with the value we received for our money, and with the advice and service we received from Preferred Adventures. Thanks!

Ann (February 2006)
I am writing to thank you for a wonderful group program. ...We were guided and escorted by Cesar Sanchez, a most excellent naturalist and educator. All logistics and transportation were safe, timely and well planned. Our accommodations /meals were all perfect for us. We were consistently treated with courtesy and respect, and we always felt safe. My hope was that our group would enjoy a fun and comfortable learning experience, with an emphasis on ecology and conservation. Through the excellent guidance and leadership of Cesar, I believe our group began to understand more about beautiful Costa Rica, the challenges facing all conservation projects and the successes that have made Costa Rica great. In my experience, it is rare  to find a person who is as gifted in the natural sciences as Cesar, AND who is professional, personable, patient, and generous of spirit. Cesar was all of this and much more. Our group was very fortunate to enjoy this combination of person and place and we gained a great deal from our experience. I know I will remember this program for a long, long time.

Clem & Elizabeth (November 2005)
Elizabeth and I just want to say what a wonderful time we had on the Holland America Cruise in Oct/Nov. All the arrangements that you [made] for us and our friends worked out so well. Such memories all along the way. Great pictures! And, we didn't even gain weight... lots of walking, both on board and ashore!.. Thanks again.

Billie (December 2004)
Thanks for the great travel packet you sent out for the Costa Rica trip. It is the very definition of "complete". Thanks for the great service.

Mary and Paul, (May 2004)
... Can hardly wait to see you and tell you all about this spectacular trip. It exceeded our expectations completely. COMPLETELY!!!! It was an awesome trip. ..... Great, GREAT GREAT trip! Can't believe how complicated it was and how smooth it went and how much we enjoyed it! You were exactly right that we would have HATED a 5 week bus trip with 50 people. EGADS!!! You were so right. This trip was perfect for us. We like to see things in depth and the few times we were with big hordes of people they just zoomed in to see the attraction and left. It was as if they wanted to "check it off that they had seen it"! You planned a perfect trip for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cynthia (May 2004)
In May, I had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for a conference ... So, I turned to our resident expert, Karen Johnson of Preferred Adventures and her staff. Karen and her staff made this a truly memorable trip. ...Costa Rica is a fascinating destination, and thanks to Karen and Teri at Preferred Adventures, a memorable experience.

Linda (February 2004)
We have returned tanned, happy and satisfied from our Costa Rica trip. Everything went well. Very well. We wish to extend our sincerest compliments and appreciation to the employees of Preferred Adventures. We were more than pleased with the arrangements, and have nothing but the highest compliments for our guide, Leo Chaves and our driver, Jose.  ...We loved Leo. Most of us are not used to going on an organized tour and having our very own Nanny. But, we could easily get accustomed to the luxury! My goodness. Independent travel may never be the same. Leo is the kind of guide one sincerely invites into one's home should he come to the U.S. Our delightful driver, Jose, said that after watching us have so much fun, he might be inspired to organize his friends to travel together too. Can you tell we have a good time? Thank you for an excellent vacation. We will recommend Preferred Adventures to our friends.

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