Podcast Transcript Almost everyone knows that the first people to climb Mount Everest were Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, who reached the summit and returned in 1953. However, some believe another group might have reached the summit nineteen years before they did. It is a debate which had raged for decades, and recently discovered evidence …
This the fifth installment in a series for my 4th Travelversay Celebration. In many ways, this list was easier than creating a list of historic places. Natural sites and national parks tend to be much larger and you have to get out of the city to experience them. Most of the sites on this list …
Southern Oregon and Northern California is a sparsely populated part of the country with some of the best scenery and natural attractions in the United States. Across California there is no shortage of beautiful places to visit, and that includes in the north of the state, where fewer travelers venture. Those road tripping the area …
From the World Heritage inscription: In a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia, some 645 km from Addis Ababa, eleven medieval monolithic churches were carved out of rock. Their building is attributed to King Lalibela who set out to construct in the 12th century a ‘New Jerusalem’ after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages to …
When the New Seven Wonders of the World came out, I added my two cents—it wasn’t always favorable, because there’s a lot that doesn’t make much sense in how that global contest panned out. Buy that list inspired me to look the countries—including the USA—that I visit with an eye toward the natural, manmade, and …
My three month North America road trip is over. This was by far the most driving I’ve ever done in a single period in my life. The final tally for what I saw and experienced was more than what I initially expected. It was a busy three months and in the end it was something …
As you may have noticed, I have a slight fetish about visiting world heritage sites. To date I have visited over 375 of sites and I have made a point of featuring each one I visit as a daily photo. Some of them are incredible and some are……less than incredible. I’ve had several people ask …
Last month I spent 2 hours exploring the Emperor Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli, Italy. It marked my 250th visit to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is a collection of thoughts and facts about world heritage sites that I’ve collected over the last 6 years: 1) As of the time of writing, there are 962 …
The Canary Islands are a unique part of Spain. Geographically part of Africa and politically part of Europe, this small island chain is unlike anywhere where else in Spain or the EU. In addition to being different from the rest of Spain, the islands are all different from each other as well—sometimes having radically different …