Our Team
The Explorer’s Passage (TEP) is the premier adventure travel company on the planet. No other operator provides more dynamic outdoor adventure travel experiences in the most raw and stunningly beautiful environments on earth.
Whether you are looking to join one of the world’s great adventures, step back into history through the power of travel, or transform your life and the planet through a socially immersive experience, we have the perfect option for you.
Jeff Bonaldi
When Jeff was young, he dreamed of one day becoming an explorer! He was enthralled with the history, mystery and lore of ancient cities such as Atlantis and Machu Picchu. He often imagined himself exploring deep into the caves of far off lands looking for lost treasures. As a teenager, during visits to some of America’s oldest universities, he found himself enamored by European-influenced architecture. Inspired to learn more, he dug deep into the history behind these universities, and soon began leading his own elaborate tours for friends and family.
In 2013, he launched The Explorer’s Passage to share his love of adventure and travel with other explorers. Since its formation, we have taken people from over 50 countries to all seven continents and the Arctic region. Jeff has personally climbed, canoed and galloped through over 40 countries. He has come a long way since his college campus touring days—and yet, his mission remains singular: to create the most immersive and transformative travel experiences in the industry.
Carly Cappola
Carly Cappola serves as the Chief Commercial Officer at Explorer’s Passage, responsible for the development of new products, execution of sales, and manages strategic partnerships. She is dedicated to providing opportunities for travelers to experience and learn about the wide array of cultures our world has to offer through exploration.
Prior to joining the Explorer’s Passage, Carly earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Union College, completing an independent study on ecotourism in Fiji and volunteer tourism in Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Cameron Kerr
Cameron previously served as an Army officer in the U.S. and Afghanistan. After the military, he and his wife designed and built an energy-conscious “tiny house on wheels” (180 sq. feet). More recently, he served as an Antarctic expedition leader. Cameron enjoys hiking, backpacking, and snowboarding, but a favorite experience that stands out was the ‘Last Degree’ trek to the South Pole in 2020.
With T.E.P., Cameron is passionate about ensuring the outdoors is accessible for as many as possible, as reverence/appreciation for nature only ever leads to improvement (personally and collectively).
Marissa Cho
Marissa has served the world’s top brands while working in Asia to facilitate ethical global trade in the technology sector. While overseas, her wanderlust was activated. She seeks to expand her understanding of the world through travel. Her most unforgettable adventures have been to Kenya and Antarctica.
Prior to joining The Explorer’s Passage, Marissa completed an accelerated Master of Business Administration degree and served as a Delta Leadership Coaching Fellow. She believes that travel can challenge and open minds, and foster connections across cultures. Marissa is honored to be a part of a team that can help make this possible for many through personal adventures, leadership expeditions, and social impact missions. She hopes you will join the journey!
Sarah Horton
Sarah grew up in Seattle and was raised on family road trips to national parks throughout the West Coast. Her career has led her to work at multiple tourist destinations, including Disneyland, the Space Needle, and a hostel in Prague. Intent on spreading the joy of travel, she began working in travel sales in 2018.
Sarah’s favorite adventure travel memories usually involve discovering something while surrounded by trees: hope among Monarch butterflies in Mexico; courage while ziplining in Costa Rica; admiration beside a jungle stream in Kerala, India. With The Explorer’s Passage, if she can play even a small part in creating such experiences for others, she considers it a win. She believes that conscientious travel can make the world a smaller, greener, kinder place.
Alli McCarthy
After spending time solo traveling through Central and South America, Alli completed a Bachelor’s degree in International Business with a tourism and sustainability focus while studying in the redwoods of northern California. Now she uses her love of travel and first-hand experience in places like Patagonia, Peru, Costa Rica, The Galapagos, Vietnam and more to help others experience and fall in love with these places like she has.
When she’s not working, she’s planning her next trip with a craft beer in hand or taking her dog on a hike around Oregon. She enjoys slow traveling and recently completed the O Trek in Torres del Paine and the Camino de Santiago Norte route in Spain and hopes to get more involved in the thru hiking communities throughout the world.
Neptali Ormachea
Without planning to, Neptali found a career in tourism. Ever since, he has not been able to go a day without travel and adventure. Following his degree in Production Mechanics, he went back to school in 2004 to study tourism in the hopes of improving and specializing in what he enjoyed most. Originally from Cusco, Neptali will make your trip to Peru unforgettable, sharing with you his knowledge about Peruvian culture, customs and history. He does not see his work as a job. For Neptali, it is simply a chance for him to share his passion for incredible adventure and the history of his country. Neptali was introduced to tourism in the kitchen where, little by little, he began to dabble in other areas. He quickly went from kitchen assistant to chef to guide assistant and finally the great guide that he is today. A trip with Neptali will be perfect for any type of traveler because he has learned everything he knows in the field and can go into detail about each of the places you’ll visit on your trip.
Pasang Tamang
Pasang Tamang is one of our guides who leads the Everest Base Camp trip. He comes from the lower section of the Solukhumbu District in Nepal, which is about two days’ hike further down from the famous Lukla airport. Pasang started his career in the trekking industry as a porter, and then progressed to being a member of the kitchen crew, helping the cooks while trekking in the Himalayas. Then, in the last 7 or 8 years, he became an assistant guide, and then a lead guide. Pasang has been with us for more than 10 years, and has trekked Everest, Annapurna and many other parts of the country.
Elín Lóa Baldursdóttir
Elín Lóa hails from Ísafjörður in northwestern Iceland, but spent most of her life in Mosfellsbær. She has also lived in Ecuador, Cuba, and Hawaii. She started doing hiking tours in the summer of 2010, but only part time. Being a guide combined many of the things that she loves to do but it was also a way of living outside of Reykjavík, which allowed her to explore Iceland, work in the mountains, and meet interesting people.
Before joining our team as a guide, she worked as a hut warden, a park ranger in Askja, and in a youth center. Her interests include traveling, photography, and languages. Elín Lóa’s favorite places in Iceland are her family’s old house Vonarland in Djúpið in the Westfjords, and Askja in the north of Iceland.
Careers
At The Explorer’s Passage, we are looking for new team members who are eager to learn and invest in growing their careers. We are looking for people who enjoy working individually, but who can also be productive members of a collaborative team.