Never say Never Part 2: Luxury in Seminyak – Party in Canggu and Beach Hopping through Nusa Penida
Note: This post is the continuation of the story of the brief time I spent in Bali. In this final half, I recount my time exploring the south coast. Keep reading to find out about the three days I spent partying in Canggu, getting pampered in Seminyak, and beach hopping on the beautiful island of…
Never Say Never Part 1: How I Ended up in the Rainbow Nomad Mecca of the World – Ubud, Bali
If you know me at all, you know I can have a strong opinion about many things. One of those things is my friends, the rainbow nomads. If you’re new to this blog, a rainbow nomad is a definition I coined, and it’s for people who fit the following description: A traveler that considers themselves…
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…
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…
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…
Hawaii Pre-Eruption: Volcanoes, Sea Life And Breathtaking Beauty
Hawaii is not an offshore jurisdiction akin to some of the many Pacific Islands I recently visited (Marshall Islands, Vanuatu etc.). But for a tourism destination, the Hawaiian Islands are unmatched in the Pacific, unless you count the Galapagos Islands. Hawaii offers volcanoes almost as startling as Mount Yasur on Vanuatu, beautiful, rugged terrain like…
Going To The Galapagos — A Perpetual Traveler’s Dream Trip
Have you ever dreamt of traveling to the Galapagos Islands? I have. It wasn’t enough for me to just dream of walking and snorkeling among exotic creatures of every sort in the volcanic equatorial islands that Charles Darwin visited on the HMS Beagle. I had to be there. I don’t just travel to check boxes.…
My View Inside An Erupting Volcano In Vanuatu
Have you ever come under fire from a flamethrower? I’m not talking about in a video game. I mean in real life — fireballs flying in your direction and coming within 20 meters of striking you. Not Molotov cocktails, but rather a true force of nature. For me, that force of nature was Vanuatu’s Mount…
Island Hopping The Rarely Visited Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Fiji And Tuvalu
fI had just wrapped up my 5-day stay in the least visited country in the world, Nauru, which as you may recall, was very memorable yet, at the same time, getting very boring by the end. So how would I find the next Pacific Island stops. Would I embark upon exciting new adventures in a…
My 5 Days On The Once-Wealthy ‘Bird Shit Island’ That Now Has A Refugee ‘Gulag’
Have you ever walked in a circle around an entire country? I now have. And I did it in 3 hours and 15 minutes. To put it bluntly, there is not a lot to see in Nauru, the Pacific island nation that is the least visited country in the world. But because of this feat…
Island Hopping My Way To The Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands make for a beautiful snorkeling destination and a tax haven/hideaway for tax evaders. Sounds like a place for me, though I don’t advocate the latter. Without a doubt I enjoyed my short stay in the Marshall Islands. But, as some people say, it’s about the journey. This time was no different. My…
Visiting Pitcairn: Life With The Modern-Day Mutineers On The World’s Most Mysterious Island
Have you ever gone on vacation and stayed in the home of a mayor-turned- … wait for it… wait for it… convicted child rapist?! That’s right. My host was the mayor, and now he is a convicted child rapist. Better yet, he is a direct descendant of the Bounty mutineers, and more than two…
Overcoming Phonebreak On Magnificent Mangareva
It was just supposed to be a stopover on the way to the ultra-isolated Pitcairn Island. Mangareva was where my French Polynesia trip would come to an end and I would brace for my encounter with the descendants of the Bounty mutineers in Pitcairn, the most difficult to reach territory in the world. Entering my…
Dodging German-Eating Cannibals In The Marquesas Islands
Cannibals? They still exist? They eat Germans? They prey on tourists in French Polynesia? No one seems to know exactly what happened. It was 2011. A German tourist named Stefan Ramin was on an exotic trip around the world with his girlfriend. Ramin died after going on an excursion with his girlfriend and a local…
Going Wine Tasting In The Tropics
Having met the seasteaders in Tahiti, Roadstered around Moorea and summited my future honeymoon destination of Bora Bora, I moved on to lesser-known islands for the second half of my French Polynesia trip. Have no worry… the fun will come. Following a pleasant flight that involved no TSA hassles — or any airport security procedures…
Honeymooning with my laptop in Bora Bora
I have yet to find my bride, but I have already found my honeymoon location. In fact, I have already honeymooned there. Some people say to reward yourself first and the desired result will come. The idea is that if you get a taste of what you want in life — even if you are…
Racing through Moorea
Tahiti is famous. Couples dream of vacationing or honeymooning in Tahiti. The island, with its rugged interior surrounded by Polynesian beaches, makes for a great getaway destination. The fact that it is the seasteading capital of the world makes it even better. But when beauty beckons, it comes from the next island over. On my…
Meeting the Seasteaders in Tahiti
The road to the seasteaders of Tahiti was a long, wet, windy one. Well, not exactly. But the road to the hotel was. It was also dark, and I had not driven in four months, let alone in the middle of a rainstorm. Kicking off my excursion into French Polynesia, I landed in Tahiti, where…
Flirting with the Moais on Rapa Nui
Love can be expressed in a multitude of ways. In Latin America, the chicas — and their relentless passion and expressiveness — can bring out the eros in me. The German tendencies inside me subside, and I embrace touch and physical forms of expression. And due to a recent discovery, even more eros has been…