From the UN to TCC and SISO – All About Country Collecting
While the articles on staatenlos.ch are usually about taxes and various aspects of flag theory, today I want to take a look at the more personal side of perpetual traveling: “collecting countries”. As everyone knows, I plan to visit all the countries in the world by the age of 30 – from January 2020, I’ve…
Workation With Dad Part 2: Cruising Through The Bahamas and Grand Turk
Let’s dive into the five days I spent at sea with my dad cruising through the Caribbean. As you know, this cruise was part of a workation I planned with my father to Florida and the Caribbean. It was also the perfect opportunity for me to cross a few islands off my list. The cruise…
India Part 1: Taj Mahal Trippin in the Other Golden Triangle
You’ve heard all about the time I joined a biker gang in Thailand, battered and bruised myself on a mountain road approaching the Golden Triangle and then invaded Myanmar with my fellow gang members. If you haven’t read about it, what are you waiting for?? Click here and then hit back when you are done.…
Workation With Dad Part 3: Our Road Trip to Key West – Post Cruise
If you’re reading this, you probably know that I invited my father on a little workation to Florida and a cruise through the Caribbean. This post is actually part 3 of the entire vacation. So, if you want to catch up on previous adventures, you can do that here. This post, however, will be about…
Workation With Dad Part 1: Exploring Miami – Pre Cruise
This post is the first of a three-part series about a workation I had with my father around April of 2019. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you probably know I like to vacation with my dad a few times a year. I invite him, or sometimes he invites me, but mostly…
24-Hours of Sightseeing in Taipei: My First Time in Taiwan
After five glorious days in Palau, I had a short stay in Taiwan. Taiwan is a state in East Asia. Some of its neighboring countries include the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the north-west, Japan to the north-east, and the Philippines to the south. It is common for travelers to spend time in Taiwan…
Exploring Palau Part 3: Trying Bat in Micronesia, History Lessons from Peleliu and the Best Views of Palau
If you’re reading this, you probably have been following along my trip to Palau. This last post is about the second half of my time there, let’s dive in! On my third day in Palau, I went on a tour of Peleliu, which is one of the more remote islands in Palau. Peleliu, along with…
Exploring Palau Part 2: Snorkeling in Jellyfish Lake and Kayaking Through the Palauan Archipelago
Palau was the last of the Micronesian islands left for me to discover, and I was excited about my days there. After all, I had 5 full days to adventure and was already scheduled to see some of the best things the country had to offer. If you read my previous article(link), then you know…
The Road To Palau Part 1: A Full Day in the Intramuros of Manila
This is the first of a three-part article about my trip to Palau. It was an adventure-packed trip, and for your sake, I’ve decided to tell the story in three parts. I would like to start by giving you the preamble. I first set foot in Palau in early February of this year. Only 2.5…
Closed World Flag Theory: My Great Corona Escape To Mexico
You’ve already heard all about me getting evacuated from a country simultaneously dealing with civil war and Covid-1984. And the title of this post tells you I escaped to Mexico. So the question remains: How did I get from a Yemeni island next to Somalia to lounging on the playa with corona? You’re about to join me…
Uncertain Times In Yemen: A Civil War, Pandemic And An Alien Island
Have you ever experienced a civil war and pandemic simultaneously? Probably not. But I have. When all was said and done, I was forcibly evacuated from the country. But I survived and managed to enjoy beautiful — and alien — island life along the way. Here is how I pulled it off… Where did things…
What Could Have Been: Why I Would Have Gladly Quarantined in Fernando de Noronha
Today, I want to talk about a destination I really enjoyed exploring a few years back, and where I was initially planning on spending my quarantine. As you probably already know, I am currently riding out the Corona crazy in Mexico, and it’s been pretty delightful so far. They have a very relaxed attitude towards…
How I Conquered my Last Two Polynesian Nations: Tonga and Samoa
Before I take you back to the trip where I discovered the last two nations left in Polynesia for me to conquer, let me start you off with a small geography lesson. In case you don’t already know this, Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands that scatter over…
Tracing Germans, Japanese And Volcanoes In Lovely Papua New Guinea
Remember my recent excursion to the island group with semi-clothed dancing women who are seceding from Papua New Guinea? Yep, that was Bougainville. And it was a blast. Now it’s time to continue and on see what Papua New Guinea proper is like. So get ready for WWII and German colonial history mixed with volcanoes…
My Short Visit to the Country of Bengals
Let’s dive right into my short visit to Bangladesh. First, I want to start by telling you a few exciting things about the country. For starters, its name literally translated means “the country of Bengal.” It is a secular, democratic, and independent state located in South Asia, and it has the eighth-largest population in the…
Bougainville: A Nascent Nation In The South Pacific
What are these semi-clothed women dancing to? You’re going to find that out in this post, along with the ins and outs of the formation of a new country. No, the new country is not the Nation of Staatenlos, though there is a chance this country could play host to a free private city… Setting…
My First Time in a Tiny Monarchy and Being Pleasantly Surprised in Vietnam
This time I’d like to regal you with stories from my trips to Brunei and Vietnam. It all started with a direct flight from Taiwan to Bandar Seri Begawan – the capital of Brunei. I was in Taiwan for a short visit after my stay in Palau. From Taiwan, I arrived in Brunei. If you…
First Time on Horseback and not Dying on the Road of Death in Bolivia
Let’s go back to the most adventurous moments of my time in Bolivia: Horseback riding through the altiplanos in Tupiza and Mountain Biking through the Road of Death. This story is set in 2014 during my first South American trip, in a town called Tupiza in Bolivia, close to the border with Argentina. Famous for…
The Novelty Of Being A Tourist In Saudi Arabia
Do you want to see a beheading? I can’t promise one. But in this Arabian adventure, we’re heading to a beheading square. It’s not in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, nor is it in Mecca. But it is located in the gateway to Mecca — a place known for playing host to pilgrims that…
Nomad Cruising To The Fjords Of Arabia
Did you know Oman has fjords? For that matter, do you know anything about Oman? Most people probably know Oman is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula. Most people probably aren’t aware that Oman was once a powerful empire that stretched all the way to Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Africa…
My First Time in South America and Exploring a Tropical Jungle
Let’s go back to my first time traveling through South America… It was back in February and March of 2014. Let’s start by establishing that my travel experience at the time was quite limited, and this would be my first time, ever, in such environments. It was sure to be an experience I would never…
Naked Wrestlers And Africa’s Greatest Lake: My Travels In South Sudan And Uganda
Right after experiencing the most frightening moment of your travel career — being held hostage in terra nulius by machine gun-toting Bedouins — what do you do? Do you take a break from it all and go lounge on the beach in Bali with rainbow nomads? No! You carry on to one of the world’s…
Lake Hopping Burundi And Rwanda And Dodging Ebola In The DRC
You’ve already heard about my kidnapping in terra nulius between Sudan and Egypt and the adventures that followed in South Sudan and Uganda. It’s now time to hear more about my recent East and Central Africa travels, including my experience in an Ebola-ridden city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We’ll get to Goma, DRC…
Held Hostage By Bedouins In Terra Nullius: My Trek To And Escape From Bir Tawil
I’ve been to Somalia. I’ve been to Venezuela during political unrest, and I’ve been to Syria during civil war. I’ve circled the globe many times and am nearing completion of the United Nations countries list. Yet never before I stepped foot on the world’s last remaining terra nullius — located along the border between Egypt…
Trekking The Stans Part 2: Islamic Architecture And A Dying Sea in Uzbekistan
We left off on my Central Asian adventure on the border between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Following treks across an Afghan border region and one of the world’s highest mountain passes, we were headed for the historic city of Samarkand. Ahead on this journey through Uzbekistan lies a tour of classic Islamic architecture, a cemetery date…
Trekking The Stans Part 1: The Mountain Corridor Straddling Tajikistan And Afghanistan
When many people think about The Stans, what comes to mind is what’s in the news. Afghanistan: perpetual war; conflict in Kurdistan, an unrecognized country. But this Silk Road-occupying region is also rich with history and beautiful sights to see. And it’s debatable whether the more Middle Eastern neighbors — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kurdistan etc. —…
The Overlooked Gem Of The North Atlantic: The Faroe Islands
This wasn’t quite an Arctic excursion. I wasn’t defending against polar bears like in Svalbard or trekking across an ice sheet like in Greenland. But it was certainly a remote North Atlantic adventure — one most travelers skip over or fly by. Visiting the Faroe Islands was similar to exploring Iceland in that it is all about…
Reviving Tourism in Syria: Beach Life and My 15 Minutes of Palmyra Fame
Note: This is part 2 of 2 on my September 2019 trip around Syria. Read part 1 here. Having followed my journey on the road to Damascus from Lebanon and then around Syria and into the soon-to-be dating Mecca of Aleppo, it is now time to explore the gems of Syria that lie outside its…
Reviving Tourism In Syria: Out On The Town In Damascus And Aleppo
Note: This is part 1 of 2 on my September 2019 trip around Syria. At last a country you have all been waiting for. For a while now, I’ve been well on my to visiting every country in the world, so it was only a matter of time before I stepped foot in Syria. An…
Make Greenland A Summer Getaway Again
You may have noticed Greenland has been in the news as of late. Donald Trump wants to make Greenland great again and to erect a Trump Tower in Nuuk. ? Okay realistically speaking, most people don’t know much of anything about Greenland, let alone what life is like in this remote autonomous territory in the Arctic…