Inspired to live life more fully following the death of a friend, New Jersey native Tom Turcich, set himself a goal to see and experience the world on foot.
After finishing college and saving enough money, Turcich, with his dog Savannah by his side, embarked on a seven-year trip, visiting 38 countries. Now living in Kentucky, he shared with Lonely Planet’s Sara Stewart his philosophy of travel and lessons learned on the road.
I wanted to be forced into adventure, because I was timid and introverted. And I wanted a slow way of traveling. It came down to knowing what I wanted out of this very limited time I have here. If your goal is to discover the world, you’re willing to do that – even if you never get a hotel room, even if you’re eating peanut butter and jelly every day. That’s part of the adventure.
I knew that by walking that I couldn’t skip over anywhere. If I had been on a bike, if someone told me, “Hey, the town up ahead is dangerous,” I could fly through it. And I didn’t want that option. I wanted to see how the world actually was.
Everywhere you go, it’s just people living. You have this image in your head of what a place is like – and then when you get there you go, Oh, this is just like anywhere else, except the food changes. The world is made up of people trying to make a living, hanging out with their friends. People warned me about some places like El Salvador and Honduras – and those are, objectively, more dangerous places than other parts of the world. But when you think about any neighborhood, there’s kids going to school, there’s people walking to work. You’re just a stranger walking through a place where other people walk as well.
In Colombia, in particular, the older generation was scarred from La Violencia, that 50-year period of political violence. And so every town I would get to, people would tell me, “Be careful about the next town, it’s dangerous!” And when I would get to the next town, it was like, “Be careful about the next town!” But if you talked to the younger generation, they didn’t have any of that. It was only the older generation who rememberd.
When I would get to a town, I would head to the square. Literally every other country does this except for the USA. It’s a place in your town that you wander over to because you have nothing else going on. It’s a good way to seek out culture and life, especially at midday and after sundown. The value of it, really, is happiness and community and sharing ideas and having a place to let kids ride circles around on their bikes, and for teenagers to hang out and have strange conversations.
In Argentina, when it was particularly hot, I needed a place to sit in the shade for a few hours. So I stop in a square, and I find this
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Lapped by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other, the southeastern US state of Florida is best known for its Disney parks and glittering cities. But go beyond the big hitters and you’ll find a world of natural attractions — from wetland-filled parks stitched with boardwalk trails to bays shining with nighttime bioluminescence that beg to be explored by kayak. Discover the best of them on this four-part round trip.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 44-year-old Denmark native Torbjørn "Thor" Pedersen. It has been edited for length and clarity. Although world travel isn't well-documented, record-keeper Harry Mitsidis told Condé Nast Traveler that about 199 people had traveled to every country; claims appear to be based on the honor system, the magazine reported. Pedersen spoke to Insider while he was still on his journey. He finally returned home to Denmark on July 26.
Captivating Cartagena stands as one of Colombia's top tourist destinations owing to its unique style and culture, wrapped up in a disarmingly beautiful package of well-preserved historic architecture.
This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Justin Miller, a Tokyo-based DJ and English teacher. He shares what he's learned about Tokyo after living in Japan for 15 years. It's been edited for length and clarity.
Chicago has enough cloud-poking towers, rockin’ live-music clubs and world-class museums to keep you occupied for weeks, but just beyond city limits, you can also scale sand dunes at a national park, rev a Harley and amble around wineries.
Every year, retired cruise ships are sold to ship-breaking yards in Turkey and India where thousands of workers painstakingly dismantle the massive vessels and sell their parts for scrap.
When Muslim Advocates and the NAACP issue a joint letter accusing the U.S. airline industry of racism, it’s big news. And when the NAACP, the “nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization,” follows that up with an advisory specifically questioning the racial policies of the nation’s largest airline, American, it’s nothing less than a media firestorm. Indeed, all the major news media covered the story exhaustively. And “American Airlines” has been a trending Twitter topic for several days.
If you haven’t heard about the U.K.’s heated debate on cutting ties with the European Union—dubbed a “Brexit”—you certainly will this week. Britons headed to the ballot box on Thursday and made the historic decision to leave the European Union.
Every summer, Americans selectively schedule their vacation time, typically taking a week or two to get out and enjoy the sun or a dreamy, far-off destination. But as the midyear heat wanes and the holiday season approaches, more of us should assess the vacation days we’re not using—all 658 million of them.
Looking for a new museum to add to your travel to-do list? TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) has released the Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Museums of 2018, including the top 10 worldwide and the top 10 in the United States, with some surprising frontrunners. The findings also highlight bookable ways to see each winner—think VIP tours and scavenger hunts—with some offering the added perk of allowing you to skip the lines to get in.
We all know that air travel isn’t great for the environment, but a new study has found that tourism is four times worse for the environment than previously thought. The alarming research conducted by University of Sydney researchers and published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that the tourism industry (including direct sources like flights and indirect sources such as souvenir manufacturing) is responsible for eight percent of global greenhouse emissions, which is four times higher than scientists had previously estimated.
Summer, also known as high season for travel, is almost here. And according to AAA just about everyone is poised to hit the road. The organization predicts two-thirds of what it categorizes as “leisure travelers” plan to take vacations this summer, meaning millions of Americans will be hitting the road.