We recently had a chance to ask Robert about his travels, current projects, his life spent traveling to "dangerous places" and the unique perspectives he has gained from his years on the road. Q. When did you get hooked on traveling? Was it a particular trip or event? I lived in a car when I was 16 and picked fruit for a living. A year later I bought a $150 ocean liner ticket from New York to Southampton on the SS Canberra and … [Read more...]
Tongue-Tied
The one I want to wrap in my arms and bring home is Nebras. I didn't even know her name when I return to Iraq, shortly after the assault on Baghdad. I am armed only with a photo of a beggar touching her nose with her tongue. I had met her a few months before, when I'd traveled to Iraq with a women's delegation, just five weeks before the U.S. bombings and invasion. Unfazed by impending disaster, the little girl, old enough to be in … [Read more...]
Still Alive
I'm learning to read his jaw. Sometimes I lose the language in his translations, but his jaw telegraphs the unspeakable. But, tonight, I can't see it. We're facing each other, squaring off in the shadows over outdoor vanilla sundaes laced with crisp kiwis and strawberries, arguing about whether I should accompany him to pick up his food rations from the United Nations. The UN had suspended food giveaways, and he finally has an appointment … [Read more...]
Lee Abbamonte: Global Super Traveler
Lee Abbamonte is on a global quest to visit all of the world's countries and furthermore complete this task before the age of 37 years, 9 months, 17 days. In doing so, Lee would be the youngest person on the planet to have visited all the countries in the world. We recently had a chance to ask him about his globe trotting exploits as well as his unique advice. Q. You are quickly becoming one of the world's most traveled individuals, … [Read more...]
Tony Wheeler: Founder of Lonely Planet
Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with Tony Wheeler, the founder of Lonely Planet, in San Francisco. He was on a whirlwind tour in the United States promoting his new book, Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil. We spent about an hour in the interview. Immediately following his book promotion tour he was off to attempt a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa 5,895 meters (19,340 feet). We asked him a series of questions - this is … [Read more...]
Bad Lands
Bad Lands by Tony Wheeler Join Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler as he explores some of the "badlands" in the world. He visited the following nine countries because of their human-rights abuses: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia. … [Read more...]
Iran; the most misunderstood country of the world!
Over the years when talking to a foreign tourist who has come to my motherland for the very first time I've gotten used to hearing expressions such as "wow! I see you have restaurants in Iran!", or "Believe me Iran was not what I'd thought", "I never thought you had such a beautiful country" and so on. For the global public opinions and the mass majority who do not have any particular way of knowing a distant land rather than relying on the … [Read more...]
Lawrence of Arabia Came this Way
To him, like to a number of other Jordanians to whom I had spoken, Lawrence and his Seven Pillars of Wisdom were still alive. His desert exploits, during the First World War, seemingly had not been erased from their minds. After visiting the fabulous rose-red ruins of Petra, we had picked up Ali on a tourist road, encircling this once lost Nabataean city. It gave us one last fantastic view of the breath-taking mountains cradling the … [Read more...]
Death Valley, CA
Death Valley is a very unique and fascinating park. It is a land of stark contrasts and great natural extremes. It is the largest National Park in the lower 48 states and as a National Park, only dates from 1994. It is big, and as a result you need at least 3-4 days to get a "feel" for the park and to visit most of the major attractions which are spread out all over the park. Death Valley is a land of solitude, it is a land of heat and it is … [Read more...]
Morocco – Chefchaouen
According to several locals we met Chefchaouen is not the true Moroccan experience - it has received too much influence from Spain. That said, having received a Spanish influence does in no way detract from this town. This is somewhat of a tourist town - I was here right in the middle of the 2003 Iraq war and there were very few tourists present. Most of the locals I met were very welcoming and some were quite surprised to see an American … [Read more...]