The New 7 Wonders of Nature & 7 Overlooked Natural World Wonders

Grand Canyon NOT a New Wonder of the World

If you have been paying attention to the news the last several days, you might have heard that the New 7 Wonders Foundation released their list of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. You also might remember a similar announcement a few years ago for the New 7 Wonders of the World. The New 7 …

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Commentary: The More I Travel, The Dumber I Get

The first question you are probably asking yourself is “what is a video of Donald Rumsfeld doing at the top of this blog post?” Go ahead and click on it and watch the video. It is only 21 seconds. I’ve seen a lot of people make fun of Rumsfeld for this quote, and honestly, I …

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Why I Am Not One Lucky Bastard

One common thread I’ve noticed when people interact with me is that they will often refer to me as being “lucky”. “You are so lucky to be able to travel that much!” “You are so lucky to have visited Fiji!” “You are so lucky to have gone to the Rugby World Cup!” With my latest …

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The Futile Quest for the Authentic Experience

One reason people claim travel is to have an “authentic experience”. They envision traveling to a foreign country and living, eating and doing the things which locals do in their native culture. I have exchanged emails with people ready to set out on a long adventure who see themselves living with tribespeople in the African …

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Commentary: Put Down the Guidebook, Pick Up the History Book

As I have previously written, I’m not a big fan of travel guidebooks. That does not, however, mean I am not a fan of books. I am a voracious reader and during my almost three years on the road I have consumed so many books that carrying them around became a serious issue for me …

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Paris Syndrome and Setting Travel Expectations

Recently on This Week In Travel, we came across a story about Japanese tourists who visit France and come down with something called “Paris Syndrome“. Paris Syndrome is a condition that strikes tourists who visit a place and find that it doesn’t live up to how they imagined it. Some Japanese have a vision of …

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Commentary: Of Things Which Are Different, Both Little and Large

The first time I ever visited Canada I was fascinated by all the things which were different. The road signs, the occasional sign in French, the metric system, and the different products in the stores. The reason why those things stuck out is because, as much as Canadians hate to admit it, America and Canada …

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The Sorry State of the Travel Channel

Given the amount of traveling I do I don’t have many opportunities to watch television. When I am back in the US I use Hulu and Netflix to catch up on some of my favorite shows as well as watch some of my favorite channels. In addition to the Discovery Channel and the History channel …

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