My Travel Bucket List

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I recently finished traveling around the world for more than 13 months. It was an incredible experience, and I saw a lot of places and met a lot of people. Alas, there are still locations that I would like to visit.

That being said, I feel like my desire to see “everywhere” has kind of diminished. After traveling so much, the experience got kind of repetitive after a while and not as exciting. There are still quite a few places I want to visit in Europe, a few places in Africa, some Asian locations, and some places in North America, among other spots. But I would say that most of those are “normal” destinations and not truly adventurous. Not truly bucket-list worthy. Continue reading →

World Trip: Argentina

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We drove in on the bus and arrived at El Calafate.

It was considerably warmer than the previous places we were in. The next day we went to the Perrito Moreno Glacier, which is the main attraction to do in El Calafate. I should have considered the fact that we were visiting a glacier a little farther in the mountains, but I just didn’t think anything of it since it was so warm in the town. I forgot to take a jacket.

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World Trip: Chile

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I’ve been to Chile before, but it was winter when I visited, and I only got as far south as Santiago due to the cold. I have always been enamored by Patagonia, and I finally returned during the summer when the weather is more welcoming.

Do you speak Spanish, English, Portuguese, or Kids?

My flight flew into Santiago from Auckland. I actually had a connection to Buenos Aires, but I had decided to just get out there and only had my bag checked to Chile. While walking around, everything seemed closed. It was a Sunday, but wow, it was dead. I didn’t recall that from my last trip, and it reminded me of Germany on Sundays.

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World Trip: New Zealand

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My flight from Australia landed at midnight in Auckland. My cousin Karen graciously picked me up from the airport, of which I was very thankful for.

It had been quite a few years since we last met and even longer since I was last in New Zealand, and I spent the next couple of days with her and her family.

The first activity we did was visiting the Arataki Visitor Centre, which afforded a spectacular view.

We later went to a sculpture park together, but we unfortunately got rained out, although luckily right as we were almost done anyway. Continue reading →

World Trip: Australia

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Flying from Japan, it was cheaper to fly to Cairns than a lot of other options along the east coast, and I had read that Cairns was a superb gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. So, that’s what I opted for.

My flight had arrived at 5 am, and it took me about an hour to get through immigration and walk and hitchhike into town. My couchsurfing host had left the door open for me in anticipation of my early arrival, so I walked in, laid on the couch, and passed out. Continue reading →

World Trip: Japan

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I arrived in the evening at the port in Fukuoka.

I decided to walk for a while through the city to my hostel so I could just see the city. Other than the obviously different script, it wasn’t dissimilar to walking around in a Korean city.

And then the hostel sucked and charged tons of hidden fees. For what good it did, I reviewed it terribly on multiple platforms. The hostel also wanted to charge to hold my bag the next day while I walked around, which involved nothing more than putting my bag in the corner. So I walked around all day with my bag until my host was free in the evening.

In that time, I checked out the Hakata Old town

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World Trip: South Korea

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I arrived in Incheon and it took about 3 hours to get to my host’s place in downtown Seoul. The transportation wasn’t slow. It was just that it’s actually quite the distance to cover.

The view from my host’s roof

One of the first things I did was to go to Gangnam. I know it from the song, of course, but it’s actually just a district in Seoul, but there is a monument to the song.

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World Trip: Vietnam

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nce upon a time, there was a handsome prince. He was so handsome. Breathtakingly charming, in fact. But he hadn’t yet found someone to be his queen. Prince Bridger left his kingdom to find the most amazing woman in all the lands, and his adventures led him across several continents until he ended up in the harsh steppes of Mongolia.

He found Puujee. Her beauty radiated outward, and it seemed as if her smile and laugh were the only sources of warmth in all of Mongolia. The sight of her made his knees weak, and his heart skipped a beat or two. They fell in love. Prince Bridger implored her to leave with him, to return to his kingdom.

But there was a curse on her. Her beauty had made a very evil witch jealous, and this witch had banished Puujee to frigid Mongolia. The Evil Witch of Visa Requirements was intent on making life hard for Puujee, and her magic was not one that even the dashing Prince Bridger could beat.

Together, they fled Mongolia to lands where the magic of the Visa Witch was weakest. They were very happy together. They went to China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia together. But the Visa Witch had caught up with them, and she whisked Puujee off again during the night. There was an emptiness in Bridger’s heart that no other could fill, so he vowed to find her again.

He traveled through many other lands until he found where the Visa Witch had locked away his dear Puujee. Vietnam. Continue reading →

World Trip: Laos

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The queen has entrusted me with finding the source of the river of beer known as Beerlao. It is known that it lies somewhere in the territory known as Laos, but the exact location of the source has eluded us. In order to record my thoughts on this perilous journey, I have started this journal for scientific integrity.

I had pressed inland through the Kingdom of the Thai on established transportation networks before approaching the edge of their territory. After unsuccessfully trying to charter a trip from Chiang Mai, I found myself on the border of Laos in the village the locals called Chiang Khong. It was there that I managed to secure my passage into the heart of Laos.

 

Day 1:

I awoke in the morning with a start. A rooster’s call echoed in between the houses near my accommodation. I packed up my bags and proceeded across the border, leaving the Thai behind. The Laos side of the border required an actual visa, but they issue them on arrival and took up a page in my travel document.

After entering Laos, I made my way to the pier, where boats waited that would take passengers upriver on the Mekong river.

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