This post is a part of Geek Takeover Week 2013.

This is a guest post by Juno Kim, travel writer, photographer, trained mechanical engineer, and life-long nerd who left her cubic farm to reclaim her creativity and inspiration. She enjoys digging information passionately if it interests her, like astronomy, comedy shows, and musicals. Currently she’s on a quest to find the place where she can call ‘home’ while publishing her work on Runaway Juno and Master Travel Photo.

Traveling the world is glamorous. It’s what I have been hoping to do since I was a kid. I have been fortunate enough to have many life changing experiences on the road, but as an astronomy enthusiast, I have to admit most of the unforgettable experiences were related to science. To celebrate this year’s Geek Week, I present to you the five finest travel destinations for science nerds!

1. Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Seeing the Southern Cross was one of the main reasons I decided to visit New Zealand. Among all the dark night skies I’ve seen in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, Lake Tekapo presented the finest and most amazing night sky I’ve ever seen in my life to this day.

The small town of Lake Tekapo is known for two reasons: as a transit place between the Southern Alps and Queenstown, and for the Mount John Observatory. It is a good place to rest for a day to break your long journey. But most of all, the whole town is quite serious at preventing light pollution. The night sky is protected by law, complete with hoods on each street lamp. Thanks to that effort, Lake Tekapo is one of the darkest places on earth.

2. Socorro, New Mexico, USA

Do you remember the scene from the movie Contact, in which Ellie drives fast through the series of big radio telescopes, when she heard the repeated signals from Vega? The Very Large Array (VLA) in Socorro, New Mexico, one of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories, is the very place where they filmed a big portion of Contact.

The town of Socorro is quite gloomy, frankly, I wouldn’t have been there without any good reason. VLA is fifty miles west out in the desert from the town center. They offer a free guided tour on the first Saturday of each month, lead by enthusiastic students and staff members. Visiting the control room, going through the ‘Jodie Foster door’, and meeting the scientists are all included in the program. On other days, it’s possible to take a self-guided tour with the help of interpretive signs.

3. Iceland

Have you ever dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights? Of course you have. Me too. When my friends were decorating their rooms with posters of pop stars and Leonardo DiCaprio, my room was like a small exhibition hall of a science fair. All the posters from science magazines, especially related to astronomy, were hanging on my walls. I had a few favorites among my extensive collection: our Solar System, colliding galaxies, and the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights). My schedule book was also full of drawings of our Solar System, solar wind, and constellations. I remember I had a page dedicated to the science behind the Aurora Borealis. I couldn’t believe the dark sky could turn into green and purple.

My grand opportunity came last winter. On our way back to the US from Europe, we decided to stop in Iceland because not only it was the cheapest flight, but also because November was a great season for catching the Northern Lights.

On the third night, the solar wind reached level 4 by the Aurora forecast (10 is the strongest). We drove out from Reykjavik city center. About 20 minutes out of the city, we found a dark enough spot to watch this magnificent scene unfold. The various shapes of dancing color made by solar wind decorated the sky like green and purple drapes. I mounted my camera on the ground, and kept shooting to capture the moment. It was, hands down, the happiest night of my life.

4. Poland

Poland gave birth to two of the most well known scientists: Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Novel Prize, and Nicolas Copernicus, who formulated the heliocentric model of the universe. Marie Curie was born and studied in Warsaw, and later spent a majority of her time in Paris. There’s a museum dedicated to her in Warsaw where she was born.

Krakow was where Nicolas Copernicus studied. He transferred to the University of Krakow from his hometown Thorn. His time in Krakow gave him a thorough grounding in the mathematical-astronomical knowledge taught at the university (arithmetic, geometry, geometric optics, cosmography, and theoretical and computational astronomy). Although there’s nothing left to see, I enjoyed feeling the presence of one of the greatest astronomers in history.

Furthermore, there’s a monument of Copernicus at Jagiellonian University’s church. This is memorable because it’s quite unusual for churches to have a statue of a scientist, especially one who wrote a book against the church’s teachings. The heliocentric model was highly advanced theory in the 16th century. Technically Copernicus didn’t have a problem with the Roman Catholic Church during his lifetime (because the book was published after his death). Maybe that was a smart move; we all know Galileo was under house arrest later in his life due to this belief.

Today, Krakow – one of Central Europe’s most beautiful and historic cities – offers plenty of ways to explore its scientific and cultural heritage. There are many great tours in Krakow that bring the city’s highlights to life.

5. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

My interest in the Manhattan Project started with Richard P. Feynman. I always admired his talent on teaching, but never knew his involvement with important projects like the Manhattan Project or Challenger’s explosion investigation. I got to learn a lot about Feynman by listening to his popular autobiographies ‘Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman’ and ‘Why Do You Care What People Think?’. His intelligence, wittiness, and curiosity about the world were quite fascinating.

I was fortunate enough to encounter Room 109 in Santa Fe, where scientists for the Manhattan Project first met, and the Trinity Site in New Mexico during my road trip last year (same trip when I visited VLA).

We stopped at Oak Ridge, Tennessee to visit our friend’s parents, but I didn’t know the town was home to the other half of the Manhattan Project facilities (other than Los Alamos where Feynman worked). The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) had an extensive exhibition, The Story of Oak Ridge, panorama of historical photographs, documents and artifacts explaining the Manhattan Project and the construction of Oak Ridge. They offer a tour to the actual Oak Ridge facilities for US citizens only.

Some of the technical information was too difficult for me to understand, but to see the story of war that was quite closely related to Korea’s history was like reading a history book from the other side. If the atomic bomb wasn’t successful, who knows how the world would be by now.

Juno, I appreciate you sharing these geeky destinations and your wonderful photography with us for Geek Takeover Week. You can follow Juno’s continuing adventures through Twitter @RunawayJuno, her Facebook Fan Page, and blog RunawayJuno.com.

This is a guest post by Dave Dean, who grew up in a small town in New Zealand, which was the perfect incentive to get out and see what the rest of the world looked like as soon as possible. Fifteen years later he still hasn’t quite figured out how to stop. He blogs about travel technology at Too Many Adapters and the highs and lows of life as a long term traveler at What’s Dave Doing?

This post is a part of Geek Takeover Week 2013.

I’ll admit to having been a Star Wars geek for, oh, about thirty years. One of my favorite school memories was swapping Return of the Jedi cards with my classmates, trying to mix and match to get the full set of 132. And yes, I do remember exactly how many cards there were … and that number 88, Baby Ewok, was quite rare. Oh dear.

Now that I’ve apparently reached adulthood and have a few other things to think about, I haven’t had much of a chance to ponder important matters like Star Wars for a while. As a permanent traveler, though, one of the big decisions I need to make is my choice of companion as I wander the globe. Combine these two loves, and we end up with what is obviously the most important question on the Internet in 2013: Which Star Wars character would be best to take a gap year with?

Chewbacca

Everybody’s favorite Wookiee, Chewbacca, has a lot to offer the fresh-faced traveler as they head out on their gap year. For starters, he’s over seven feet tall and incredibly strong – you’re unlikely to get mugged after a night at the pub with Chewie. He also doesn’t speak any human languages, which is both a blessing and a curse – while it’ll be a challenge to get him to ask directions to the nearest hostel, he also won’t annoy you with incessant babbling on that 20 hour bus ride.

On the down side, his hairy coat will be a nightmare to maintain after a few days on a Thai beach, and the smell of wet Wookiee will get pretty overpowering after he has been skinny-dipping at the full moon party.

Yoda

There are several good reasons to on a gap year with Jedi Master Yoda. His sage advice will come in handy in all kinds of situations – “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose” for instance, as you’re trying to pack your backpack before you leave, or “Patience you must have” as the train is delayed for the seventh time that day. He’s very small, meaning that you won’t be crowded out of your seat when you sit beside him on a budget airline, and his Jedi mind-control skills will undoubtedly be useful when negotiating for a cheaper room rate.

On the flip side, Yoda is around 900 years old – he’s far more likely to be sitting at home with a cup of tea and reading Lightsabers Weekly than be out downing buckets with you and partying til dawn. Fun he is not. Sleep he must.

Princess Leia

The great thing about traveling with Princess Leia is that you know it’ll never be difficult to meet new people in a hostel or bar – she’ll attract them (especially male ones) wherever she goes. Sharp-witted, quick to act and handy with weapons, she’d be useful in a crisis – and if she can stand up under torture to Darth Vader, you know she won’t even break a sweat when being questioned at immigration. Oh, and she looks far better in a metal bikini than any other Star Wars character. Especially Jabba the Hutt.

The problem will come, however, when you need to get up and leave in a hurry to catch an early-morning flight. There is no way a hairstyle like that is going to take less than an hour or two to sort out, leading to heated arguments when the plane leaves without you.

C3-PO

There’s really only one reason to drag this tall metal droid along with you on your gap year, but it’s a good one. C3-PO is a protocol droid, so his sole purpose in life is to assist with etiquette, customs and translation – three of the biggest issues that any global traveler faces. He regularly boasts that he’s fluent in over six million languages, so you know that you’ll be able to order a drink and find somewhere to stay whether you’re on the streets of Paris or in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. Now that’s handy.

Unfortunately, C3-PO is also just downright irritating. He’s kinda annoying and definitely a know-it-all, neither of which are traits that likely to endear him to fellow travelers. He’ll be the reason that you stop being invited out on pub crawls after a couple of days – everyone will be sick to death of having him around. There’s not much point in being able to understand everything that is being said to you if nobody wants to talk to you in the first place.

So, while all of the above characters have some compelling reasons to bring them along on your gap year, none of them are stand-out candidates. No, it seems that if you’re looking for the perfect traveling companion from the Star Wars universe, there’s really only one person that fits the bill. That person is, of course:

Han Solo

Smuggler, pilot, adventurer and gun-slinger, Han Solo is the kind of practical, fun-loving guy that you want to have with you on the road. He’ll be the life and soul of every party, and then be able to sweet-talk you both out of whatever trouble he creates.

While those leather pants aren’t the most useful item of travel clothing in the world, his ability to stay cool under pressure makes him the stand-out choice. Sure, you might eventually lose him to a girl that he meets along the way – it is a bit of a weakness of his – but until then you couldn’t ask for a more loyal companion. I mean, if he’ll go in to battle for his friends against evil Sith Lords, morbidly obese crime bosses and armies of storm troopers, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll pay for his share of the drinks bill and then make sure you get home safely at the end of the night.

Just make sure that he puts his blaster into his checked luggage before going through airport security. Explaining it to the TSA might prove too much of a challenge, even for a general of the Rebel Alliance.

So that’s that Star Wars character that I’d choose to come with me on a gap year. Who would you pick?

Thank you Dave for using the Force to bring us this excellent guest post. You can find more of Dave’s writing on his blogs: Too Many Adapters and What’s Dave Doing – plus follow him on Facebook and Twitter @DriftingKiwi. (All photos in this post are Creative Commons from Wikipedia and Wookieepedia.)