Is it Safe to Travel to the Balkans?

Balkans travel safety at Mehmed in Višegrad

In a few days, I’m going to be flying to the Balkans, where the Adventure Next conference will be taking place in Ohrid, Macedonia. In addition to attending the conference, I’ll be renting a car and visiting some of the nearby countries, many of which I haven’t been to before. Safety is a big concern …

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25 Random Thoughts On Visiting My 250th World Heritage Site

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 …

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World Heritage Best & Worst

I am going to caveat this whole post to say first, that any list of the best and worst things in the world is highly subjective, and second, that most of the “worst” sites fall into “disappointing” rather than downright bad. There is something of value in each site, otherwise it wouldn’t have gained the …

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Off to St. Helena!

In 2011 I did a post listing the 13 places in the I most wanted to visit but haven’t yet. To date, I’ve only visited one of the places on that list: Lord Howe Island in Australia. Today I’m embarking on a trip in Cape Town to cross off the second destination on my list: …

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September 2012 Questions and Answers

This is by far my biggest Q&A column ever. I had a over 30 questions asked this month. If you would like to ask a question for next months Q&A, just follow me on my Facebook page and pay attention to when I put out my next request for questions. Without any further ado, here …

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Damnatio Memoriae: Erasing People from History

Damnatio Memoriae

Transcript The ancient Romans had a practice called Damnatio Memoriae, which was to banish someone’s memory from public life. It was also sometimes known as oblivion. It called for the complete deletion of the person’s name or image from all statues, inscriptions, coins, and texts.  While the practice neither began nor ended with the Romans, …

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Complete List of the NEW Seven Wonders of the World

Complete List of the NEW Seven Wonders of the World

As I shared in Easter Island update, an organization has been taking votes for what should be considered the New Seven Wonders of the World. These seven wonders wouldn’t replace the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but instead a more contemporary list of places worthy of awe and wonder. Before we get to the …

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The Quick and Dirty Guide to American National Parks

This guide is for both Americans who are looking to explore their own country, and for those from outside of the US who are looking to make a trip to America. It is by no means an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but it should answer some of the obvious questions and give you a …

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