What better way to end the year than by hitchhiking through the Sahara Desert on top of one of the longest trains in the world with some of your favorite travelers? The Mauritania Railway has been transporting iron ore across the country since 1963. The 704-kilometer (or approximately 437-mile) railway links the mining center of…
Staring out of the window, at the horizon, my thoughts slowly started to drift away into the cloudy abyss. Hovering in the trippy state between wakefulness and slumber, I was quickly brought back to consciousness by a tap on my shoulder. After spending a day in Djibouti visiting the lowest point in Africa at Lake…
Bolivia has been on my list for quite some time. From Chicago, round-trip airfare consistently costs over $1,000 USD – not affordable for a long weekend trip. I had been saving up miles through the Oneworld airline alliance in order to take my grandmother to Australia. I finally booked our flights, and surprisingly had just…
The purpose of my trip to Ukraine was to visit Chernobyl. I wanted 2017 to be the year of unusual destinations. I kicked off the New Year in North Korea [see post: Off the Beaten Path: North Korea], and after returning, wanted to continue the theme. Logistically, visiting Somaliland in a four-day weekend was not…
Note: This post was published in January 2017. Since then, things have changed. Effective September 1, 2017, United States citizens are banned from traveling to North Korea [see post: North Korea Travel Update] – So, please keep that in mind when reading the following. It is safe to assume that most Americans think they cannot…
