Finding The Fountain Of Youth And Bridge Of Death – Pakistan Part 4
Want to live to eternity, or at least to 120? Well you may want to move to Pakistan’s Hunza Valley, where the local people have metaphorically found the Fountain of Youth. On this leg of our grand Pakistani excursion, we’ll see if we can boost our longevity in, of course, the Hunza Valley… Then we’ll…
Cruising The Roof Of The World – Pakistan Part 3
As a German tourist, you don’t want to be dropped off or left behind in the middle of nowhere on Nuku Hiva, which is part of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. While a remote area of Pakistan’s Hindu Kush Mountains, located close to the “Roof of the World,” is not a place where German-eating…
French Guiana: Not the Shit-Hole I Expected
This post picks up right after my layover in Paris. I’d made my way to French Guyana and made my way to the boat, which was waiting in the waters near Kourou. Back with my crew in Kourou The crew received me with a nice welcome dinner, and I woke up early the next day,…
Getting Cultured In The Kalash Valleys – Pakistan Part 2
Trekking Pakistan’s renowned mountainous terrain involves more than just skillful driving, sightseeing and getting acquainted with the topography. This type of travel is also about getting cultured. We left off in the last post still at the beginning of my journey to and through Pakistan. After a disastrous time trying to exit Libya, we traveled…
Ups And Downs Of Journeying To The Hindu Kush – Pakistan Part 1
While traveling to Afghanistan was a major accomplishment of mine, I was surely not going to overlook neighboring Pakistan, a country that is the fifth largest in the world by population and that is famous for its rich culture, mountainous terrain and turbulent political history. After an amazing yet challenging trip to Libya, I planned…
First Time in Paris in Over a Decade
As a perpetual traveller, the start of every new travel adventure is almost always intertwined with the ending of another travel adventure. Sometimes, I even manage to make the in-betweens and layovers noteworthy as well. Such is the case of my layover in Paris, the prelude to French Guiana. This story begins in Munich, where…
La Digue and Praslin: Seychelles pt. 2
This story picks up right at the end of my time on the main island of Seychelles. I had just spent a few days road tripping through Mahé, and I was ready for new horizons. So, I gave back the car rental shop and walked onto a ferry to La Digue. La Digue 101 La…
Ancient Civilization, Modern Marsh Life And Shia Islam – Iraq Part 2
You should already know that after wrapping up my travels around Afghanistan, I headed to Iraq. In the first half of my trip, we checked out Baghdad and Central Iraq and got to climb the Great Mosque of Samarra. Now in the second half of this Iraq adventure, we’re heading south from Baghdad to trace ancient civilization and…
Ancient Mystique In Modern Iraq
Upon escaping Afghanistan, where better to travel than Iraq? Not because Iraq is the country the U.S. invaded after Afghanistan. But rather it’s a not so far-off land home to incredible ancient ruins, ranging from Persia to Babylon — which we’re about to explore, along with some modern ruins as well. Let’s get this started.…
My lonesome honeymoon in the Seychelles pt. 1
After three weeks of roughing it in Afghanistan and Iraq, I decided to reward myself with a lonelymoon in Seychelles with me, myself, and I. I’d never been to the Seychelles before, meaning it was still on my list. So when I found a direct, three-hour flight from Dubai, it was a pretty obvious choice.…
Crossing borders to the Casamance Region of Senegal
By now, our time in West Africa was coming to an end. As you know, we’d spend our time learning about things like the West African Slave trade and Islamic Polygamy. We also visited the smallest country on the African mainland. Lastly, it wouldn’t be a proper trip to West Africa without having our fair share of wildlife…
Reminiscing The Valley Of Resistance – Afghanistan Part 3
I’ve already told you about my pre-Taliban takeover entry into Afghanistan and my encounters with this troubled land’s beauty and blown-up Buddha statues. Now it’s fittingly time to drive directly into what was and always had been — up until very recently — the valley of resistance. There we’ll visit a couple assassination destinations before…
A two-day pitstop in the smallest country of Mainland Africa
This post is a continuation of the time I spent visiting my first two West African countries. Senegal and the Gambia. After a few days of exploration through Senegal, we were finally due to cross borders into the Gambia. The morning of, we woke up early and hit the road right away. It was only…
Breathtaking Beauty And Blown-Up Buddha Statues – Afghanistan Part 2
You’ve already heard about my just-in-time arrival in Afghanistan. And I know you’re presuming I got out in time as well. But before we get to my Afghan exit, we still have a lot of ground to cover in this crucial and complex country — home to everyone from Pashtuns to Uzbeks to Tajiks to…
Islamic Polygamy and the Holy City of Touba
During my time in Senegal with Alana, we had quite a bit planned. Since you already know about our sightseeing day in Dakar and Goree Island; on this post I’ll tell you about the other parts of the country we visited before crossing borders to The Gambia. The plan was to head to The Gambia…
My Just-In-Time Dream Trip To Afghanistan
Do you think 2021 is a good year to visit Afghanistan? Of course there’s been the fall of Kabul and basically the whole country to the Taliban, U.S. diplomats being airlifted from the American embassy, Afghans falling from a plane in the sky and chaos and bloodshed at the airport amid rushed evacuations. While some…
Vacationing in Senegal: Slave trade tourism in Dakar and Goree Island
After a long hiatus, from this blog – it feels really good to be sharing my adventures with you once again. Africa is the theme for this comeback season. I’ve already begun telling you about Libya and my troublesome trip to Tripoli. For this post, I wanted to change gears a bit. Keep it light-hearted…
A Troublesome Trip To Tripoli, Libya
A couple years had passed since my visit to Mogadishu, Somalia. As time went on, I found myself chomping at the bit to visit another failed state on the African continent. This one wouldn’t be so easy — not in the sense that I might come under actual gunfire, rather than merely getting hit by…
Making The Final Preparations In Praia
I had just survived food poisoning – well sort of – on the final stop of the sailing adventure around Cape Verde prior to the SY Staatenlos’s grand crossing of The Atlantic Ocean. Having recovered from this near-death experience, there were still sights left to see on the island of Santiago, which you may recall…
Final Cape Verdean Destination: Santiago Island
Have you ever wondered how a seasoned sailor could be killed by a fish? It could happen in more ways than one. And it nearly happened to me. 😵 The location was Cape Verde, specifically Santiago Island… Sailing to Santiago The final destination on the SY Staatenlos’ Atlantic island hopping voyage around Cape Verde would…
Exploring Wreckage From The Volcanic Island Of Fogo
Would there be an eruption during the SY Staatenlos’s visit to the Cape Verdean island of Fogo? I’ll spare you the suspense. The volcano will not erupt during our stay, and lava will not destroy the SY Staatenlos. However, we will encounter wreckage both at sea and on the island, due in part but not…
Braving The Sea To And From Beautiful Brava
In sailing as in life, there is often a calm before a storm. Cape Verde’s little luscious green island of Brava would make for a calm few days in the SY Staatenlos journey around Cape Verde. So what would come next? A storm, or a volcanic eruption perchance? Let’s just explore beautiful Brava — from…
Hopping Along the Canary Islands pt. 3: Lobos Island and Fuerteventura
As you may know from my previous post, I had somewhat spontaneously decided to embark on a solo escapade, and my first solo stop was Fuerteventura. Well, it wasn’t completely solo since I traveled to the island by ferry with two girlfriends who had just come to visit me in Lanzarote. The evening I arrived…
Hopping Along the Canary Islands pt. 2: Exploring Lanzarote and Ideating my Solo Escapade
Even when you’ve carefully curated a precise schedule and plan… Shit happens. Leaving La Graciosa was very exciting; I was so looking forward to our time in Las Islas Canarias. I had it all mapped out… two nights on this port, two days on that island… We would have been done seeing the best all…
Hopping Along the Canary Islands pt. 1: Sailing From the Iberian Peninsula to La Graciosa
This next saga is a little overdue; due to technical difficulties and multiple ocean crossings, I find myself just now able to recount my time hopping around the Canary Islands in the last few months of 2020. So much has happened since then that it almost feels like a lifetime ago. Let’s go back in…
The SY Staatenlos Sails To Sal
We escaped Cape Verde’s island of São Nicolau just in the nick of time. After being hauled off in a police car to get our covid-1984 tests done, we left the marina of São Nicolau. We had been having a nice time on the island up until we were forced by police to be subjected to…
Sailing Into The New Year On The SY Staatenlos
Do you think sailing into the new year was a breeze? It kind of was. We traversed the Atlantic waters that separate the islands of Cape Verde, successfully navigating a channel effect and discovering a mountain village paradise. But traversing this African archipelago did involve circumventing covid-1984 restrictions that eventually landed the SY Staatenlos crew…
From The Canaries To Christmas At Cape Verde
Once upon a time, I yearned to voyage across the Atlantic aboard a cruise full of nomads. I completed that journey, stopping in the Canary Islands and Cape Verde before crossing the ocean and docking in Brazil. In the age of covid-1984, it is only natural that I again sail across the Atlantic. But this…
The Narrow Staatenlos Escape From Mainland Spain To The Open Atlantic
The SY Staatenlos crew was enjoying touring Southern Spain after nearing completing a long first voyage from the Adriatic to the Atlantic. We had sailed all the way from Montenegro, overcoming stormy seas and a faux kidnapping along the way, and possibly seeing the tip of Atlantis as well. But suddenly everything was at risk.…
One month land-bound Part 5: Sardinia – Saving the Best for Last
Welcome to the final installment recounting the time I spent off the Staatenloss this fall. If you’re jumping in now, be sure to check out the weeks leading up to the grand finale in Sardinia. To give you a quick recap, about three weeks prior to the events on this post, I flew from Montenegro…