How Traveling Changed My View of Possessions

Despite 5 years of traveling around the world I think I am still fundamentally the same person I was before I started traveling. I’m kind of a smart ass and a bit cantankerous. There hasn’t been any sort of spiritual epiphany which has lead to a brand new Gary. That being said, my attitude towards …

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The Two Continent Club

I have this crazy thing I do where I categorize people based on the number of continents I’ve met them on in person. It all started in the first year of my travels with some random German girl who I first met in Japan and I later saw in Australia. I realized “Hey, we’ve met …

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Gutsy Women – A Traveler’s Life Lessons

No matter how long I travel or how many places I visit, there are certain questions that I will never be able to answer. One of them is what you need to know to travel as a woman. I’ve talked to many female travelers over the last several years, and without question, they have to …

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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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Everything Wrong With the Animaniacs Nations of the World Song

If you grew up during the ’90s, or if you were just around for it, you might remember a catchy tune sung by Yakko Warner of the Animaniacs. That song recounted all the nations of the world in one fast-paced list. If you have never heard Yakko’s World before, take a listen right now. It …

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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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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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