The Story

   

So here I am, I finally decided to start a blog about my travels! I started traveling independently by the turn of the millennium and never stopped since, during that time I visited 336 cities in 56 countries spanned across 5 continents. At the time, and till lately, it was not my intention to create a blog based on my travels as I did travel out of passion, but I guess as Ibn Battouta, the most famous traveler in history, once said:

        “traveling, it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

As I travel independently, this blog is intended towards like-minded independent, adventure, and budget travelers who aspire to explore the world on their own, venture off-the-beaten-path, and are willing to get out of their comfort zone to discover the sheer beauties of the stunning planet we live in. For me, adventure traveling doesn’t only include trips where you do some kind of extreme sports or strenuous physical activity, any trip venturing into an unknown land to you ON YOUR OWN, is an adventure trip & I’ll show you how. For this reason, you’ll find blog posts for extreme places in the middle of nowhere as well as the most visited cities in the world; and all these blogs will share the same concept… “On your own”. This blog will not tell stories or review places; however, it is aimed at providing ideas and suggestions about how to explore different destinations, yet leave room for the true spirit of independent travelling. In this blog, you will find tips of how to visit the world’s most spectacular and inspirational destinations independently, without a guide or a guidebook, and on budget; yet to maintain the spirit of independent travelling and preserve the joy of discovery, I will not give all the details of how to plan the trip, but, rest assured, every trip in this blog can be completely done independently with some hard work and research. For the same reason, you’ll find throughout the blog posts links to request these details in case you are short on time or for some reason you could not find the necessary information required for your trip; including: maps, transportation, routes, accommodation…etc. through these links, you will be able to contact me and I will help you with your requests personally, as I intend to make this blog an interactive platform for me to share my trips, experiences, and recommendations with my fellow travelers from around the world.

The pictures you’ll find in this blog are all taken by myself with my ordinary or phone camera, not a fancy couple of thousand dollars one. These pictures are pictures that can be taken by any ordinary traveler like me; and unlike the pictures you see in most travel blogs, you don’t have to wait for days to take a perfect shot or from impossible angles that, unless you are a professional photographer, you won’t be able to take…at the end no camera on earth can capture what the human eye can.

SO WELCOME TO MY BLOG, I HOPE IT WILL HELP YOU ENJOY YOUR NEXT TRIP MORE

Know More About Me & My Traveling Style

    

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Places I Explored

56 Countries       336 Cities      5 Continents

List of Explored Places

USA:

• Alabama: Desoto SP, Little River Canyon SP, Lookout Mountain Parkway
• Alaska: Exit Glacier, Denali NP, Wrangell St. Elias NP 
• Arizona: Coyote Buttes North Wilderness Area (The Wave), Grand Canyon NP, Glen Canyon NRA (Horseshoe Bend), Picacho Peak SP, Sedona, Sunset Crater NM     
• California: Death Valley NP, Joshua Tree NP, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Redwoods NP & SP, Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP, Yosemite NP  
• Colorado: Aspen, Great Sand Dunes NP, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Devil’s Causeway, Flat Tops Wilderness Area, Garden of Gods SP, Rocky Mountain NP
• Connecticut: Mt. Frissell
• District of Columbia: Washington D.C.
• Florida: Big Cypress National Preserve, Bill Baggs SP, Everglades NP, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Oleta River SP, Sanibal Island, The Keys
• Georgia: Savannah
• Idaho: Goldbug Hot Springs, Idaho Falls 
• Illinois: Chicago, Starved Rock SP
• Kentucky: Mammoth Cave NP
• Louisiana: New Orleans
• Maine: Acadia NP
• Maryland: Annapolis Rock, Catoctin Mountain Park
• Massachusetts: Boston 
• Missouri: St. Louis
• Montana: Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP
• Nevada: Las Vegas, Valley of Fire SP
• New Hampshire: White Mountain, Monadnock SP
• New Jersey: Atlantic City, Union City
• New Mexico: Bandelier National Monument, Bisti Badlands Wilderness Area, Columbine-Hondo Wilderness, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Santa Fe NF, Taos, Wild Rivers National Recreation Area
• New York: The Adirondacks, Letchworth SP, Niagra Falls, New York City
• North Carolina: Great Smoky Mountain NP, Blue Ridge Parkway
• Ohio: Cincinnati
• Oregon: Redwoods NP & SP
• Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
• Rhode Island: Providence, Newport
• South Carolina: Charelston
• South Dakota: Badlands NP, Custer SP, Mount Rushmore NM
• Tennessee: Great Smoky Mountain NP, Blue Ridge Parkway
• Texas: Houston, Galveston
• Utah: Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Capitol Reef NP, Glen Canyon NRA (Horseshoe Bend), Cedar Breaks NM, Coyote Buttes North Wilderness Area (The Wave), Zion Canyon NP, Bonneville Salt Flats
• Vermont: Bald Mountain, Lye Brook Falls
• Virginia: Shenandoah NP, McAfee Knob, Dragon Tooth, The Channels Natural Area Preserve
• Washington State: North Cascades NP, Mount Rainier NP, Seattle
• West Virginia: New River Gorge NP, Seneca Rocks
• Wisconsin: Milwaukee
• Wyoming: Grand Teton NP, Yellowstone NP

EUROPE:

• Austria: Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves, Vienna, Mayrhofen, St. Johann im Pongau
• Belgium: Brussels 
• Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sarajevo, Mostar, Hajduka Vrata, Lukomir, Kravice Waterfalls 
• Croatia: Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes NP, Split, Zadar, Zagreb,     
• Cyprus: Nicosia  
• Czech Republic: Prague
• Denmark: Copenhagen, Odense, Funen Island
• England: London, Manchester, Dover, The Cotswolds, Peak District NP 
• Finland: Helsinki, Rovaniemi (Northern Lights) 
• France: Paris, Lyon, La Plagne (Ski Resort), Toulouse, Cauterets, Carcassonne, Cirque de Gavarnie, Marseille, Nice, Parc National des Calanques, Parc National Mercantour
• Germany: Berlin, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Koln, Munich, Stuttgart, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• Greece: Athens, Crete, Rhodes
• Hungary: Budapest, Holloko, Visegrad 
• Iceland: Reykjavik, Skaftafell – Vatnajökull National Park, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Fimmvorduhals Hike, F-Roads
• Italy: Bolzano, Etna Volcano, Kasterluth, Lucca, Florence, Milan, Pisa, Rome, Seiser Alm (Ski Resort), Siena, Portofino, Amalfi Coast, Napoli, Lake Como, Taormina, Venice, Cortina d’Ampezzo  
• Latvia: Riga
• Liechtenstein: Vaduz, Malbun
• Luxembourg: Luxembourg City
• Malta: Valletta, Gozo
• Monaco: Monte Carlo
• The Netherlands: Amsterdam
• Norway: Geirangerfjord, Jostedalsbreen NP, Sognefjord, Oslo
• Portugal: Lisbon
• Romania: Bucharest, Sasca Montana, Baile Herculane, Arad, Brasov
• Scotland: Ben Nevis Mountain, Cairngorms NP, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hidden Valley, Isle of Skye, West Highland Way 
• Slovakia: Bratislava
• Slovenia: Nova Gorcia, Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Predjama Castle, Soca Trail
• Spain: Barcelona, Canary Islands, Cordoba, Grenada, Madrid, Monserrat, Seville, Palma de Mallorca, Soller 
• Sweden: Kiruna (Northern Lights), Stockholm
• Switzerland: Luzern, Interlaken, Geneva, Jungfrau, Zurich
• Turkey: Goreme, Istanbul, Pamukkale
• The Vatican: Vatican City
• Wales: Bangor, Llandudno, Llyn Idwal

LATIN AMERICA:

• Argentina: Buenos Aires, Puerto Iguacu
• Brazil: Angra Dos Rios, Iguazu Falls, Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro 
• Chile: Pucon, Punta Arenas, Santiago de Chile, Torres del Paine NP, Valparaiso    
• Peru: Cusco, Lima, Machu Picchu, Salkantay Trail, Sacred Valley

NORTH AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN:

• Costa Rica: Montverde, San Jose, Santa Elena, Santa La Fortuna
• Mexico: Cenote Chaok Tun, Chichen Itza, Coba
• Jamaica: Kingston, Blue Mountain, Ocho Rios
• Curacao: Willemstad
• Puerto Rico: San Juan

AFRICA:

• Algeria: Algiers
• Egypt: Alexandria, Aswan, Cairo, Hurghada, Luxor, Marsa Alam, Sahl Hasheesh, Sharm El Sheikh, Taba, Western Desert, Red Sea Mountains, St. Catherine 
• Morocco: Casablanca, Marrakesh, Mt. Toubkal, Ouzoud Waterfalls, Essaouira    
• South Africa: Addo Elephant NP, Cape Agulhas, Cape Town, Drakensburg Mountains, Durban, Otter Trail, Table Mountain NP 

ASIA:

• China: Beijing, The Great Wall, Mt. Hua, Terracotta Army, X’ian
• Hong Kong:  
• Jordan: Amman, Dead Sea, Petra
• Japan: Arima Onsen, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji, Osaka, Tokyo
• Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek, Karakol, Osh, Lenin Peak    
• Lebanon: Beirut, Jeita Grotto
• Mongolia: Chinggis Khaan Statue, Tavan Bogd NP, Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur NP, Ulaanbataar 
• Oman: Muscat, Jabal Shams, Misfat al Abriyyin, Wadi Tiwi, Wadi Ash Shab, Bandar El-Khiran
• Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore
• Qatar: Doha
• Saudi Arabia: 
• UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai
• Uzbekistan: Tashkent, Samarkand, Andijon