Extraordinary Travel Festival Update #6
On this episode, I will be providing an update for the Extraordinary Travel Festival. I am happy to share with you the schedule for the event and all of the great speakers. Check out the speakers for the festival. Check out our Extraordinary Adventures with Soviet Tours, ITC Sudan, Large Minority, and WSE Travel. And you can still buy a ticket here to join us in Yerevan. And also remember to check out the Last Tourist, read my review here.
The Last Tourist
I have been fortunate to have partnered with G Adventures over the last several years. Bruce Poon Tip, the founder of G Adventures is also one of the Executive Producers of this film, The Last Tourist, which I review below. G Adventures organizes small group tours across the globe with a strong commitment to making travel a force for good as discussed in the film. This is a sponsored post. The go-kart hugs the curve while another go-kart attempts to pass on the next straight away. This might be a typical sight across the US on a hot summer night on a weekend get-away. But this took place on a gargantuan cruise shape as it traced the pristine coast of Alaska. Some of these cruise ships top out at 7,000 passengers with amenities that would boggle the mind such as zip lines, roller coasters, planetariums, rock climbing walls mixed with personal butlers, ice bars, and craft breweries. Has tourism crossed the Rubicon of sanity? Travel and tourism should be a catalyst to discover and explore the world, [...]
Paul Barbato … Embrace The Trainwreck
Paul Barbato has traveled to over 70 countries Paul AKA Barbs and I met through Gus Rosted. Gus is one of the attendees at the Extraordinary Travel Festival. Gus recommended Barbs as speaker at the festival. I knew Barbs and his YouTube channel, Geography Now! and thought he would be a great addition in Armenia. Barbs agreed to participate in the festival and also to join me on Counting Countries. Barbs has had tremendous success with his YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers. Barbs’s success was not overnight but nearly a 10-year grind of perfecting his craft and attracting new followers. Barbs is also on a quest to travel to every country in the world, but at his own pace. Unsurprisingly, he also enjoys the oddities of geography during his travels, including salients. As many of you have heard, Stefan Kraswoski and I have teamed up to host the Extraordinary Travel Festival, the world’s largest gathering of accomplished travelers. This will take place in Yerevan, 2022. We are excited to produce this event to help grow [...]
Sultan Of Slowjamastan
The World’s Newest Micronation This is a special episode of Counting Countries. Like many in the community I have a keen interest of de facto states and micronations. I love the idiosyncrasies of crossing the border into an Abkhazia or Transnistria. As I have shared with listeners before I was fortunate to visit the Principality of Sealand with the Extreme Traveler International Congress. I have been following the new micronation of the Republic of Slowjamastan on social media, founded by the Sultan Randy Williams better known to listeners as Ramblin’ Randy, a former guest of Counting Countries. He was first interviewed in Episode 36 in July of 2017. He was just at 86 countries at that time. Besides traveling up a storm, Randy has created a micronation in California. As you know, micronations range from high comedy to the deadly serious. The Sultan has poured in a ton of effort and money into creating this desert kingdom. This is a really fun project. I would like to thank everyone for their support of Counting Countries, especially my [...]
Lucy Hsu … It’s A Compromise
Lucy Hsu Counting Countries has traveled to 187 countries Lucy and I met briefly at an impromptu meetup in Jeddah. I knew she was an accomplished traveler who was nearing completion of every country in the world, but did not realize the scope of her travel CV. This conversation was a great opportunity to learn more about her travel history. I always say there are so many fantastically interesting people to talk to in the Chasing 193 community, but simply not enough time to speak to them all. Lucy has managed some deeper travel experiences while balancing a family and teaching full time. I always marvel at the bandwidth of some in the travel community who are able to pursue different passions and manage so many different moving parts of their lives. I would like to thank everyone for their support of Counting Countries, especially my Patrons: Phillip Jones, Simen Flotvik Mathisen, Ted Nims, Bisa Myles, Thor Pedersen, and Adam Hickman for supporting this podcast. They help pay for the production of this podcast. You can [...]
Extraordinary Travel Festival Update #5
A Conversation With ITC Sudan To learn more about the Extraordinary Travel Festival in October 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia, please take a look at our website. www.Extraordinarytravelfestival.com To buy a ticket, use code ETF to save $50. https://extraordinarytravelfestival.com/tickets/ And please take a look at our friends and sponsor in Sudan, ITC Sudan. https://extraordinarytravelfestival.com/tickets/
