You might have heard of some people who have visited all 195 countries on earth. Whoa! How do they do that? Isn’t this hugely expensive? Could a person like you or me visit all countries? Possibly, yeah, but if you think money is the greatest obstacle to visiting all of the world’s countries, you’re wrong. It’s actually the passport you hold – if you can afford one, to begin with. Out of curiosity, I tried to calculate how many people cannot visit one or more of the world’s 195 countries. If one country doesn’t let you in based on your nationality,Continue reading
Iquitos, Perú to El Coca, Ecuador by Riverboat!
If you came to this article from YouTube and just want to know the price to travel this route by riverboat, scroll down or elegantly click here. The “downside” of traveling to a jungle city only reachable by riverboat, is that you know you’ll also have to leave it by riverboat! Our journey to and stay in Iquitos had been quite the experience. Last week I had to leave Perú. My 90 days stamp would expire on the 17th of May and I don’t like the idea of overstaying my welcome in a foreign country. I had spent about 10Continue reading
Atacama, Andes & Amazon: Lima to Pucallpa
OK, maybe Lima’s desert is not called the Atacama, but the “Peruvian Coastal Desert“, but this was the more poetic choice for obvious reasons. On the 20th of April, I left Perú’s capital Lima for a city named Pucallpa, a journey of 789 kilometers, four nights and five days. A map for reference: I wanted to hitchhike, dammit. I had just spent five weeks exploring the enormous capital of this country for the sake of writing the next Digital Nomads Guide. It was fun again to really get to know a city, but I really needed to go back toContinue reading
How to Become a Ninja of the Lima City Bus
Public transportation isn’t my expertise at all, but over the last few weeks in Lima (writing a new Digital Nomads Guide!) I had to learn and master the art of navigating the Lima City Bus system. A big thanks to Marian Knittler for letting me use his photos for this article. Check out his photography on Flickr. A little background information: Lima is Perú’s capital city and the metropolitan area is home to about 9 million people. That’s almost one third of the country’s population. Enormous! The city has a very primal and basic metro system that doesn’t really do anythingContinue reading
Should You Flush the Toilet Paper? A Flowchart
I made a little something after encountering a clogged-up toilet and a hostel cleaner who looked frustrated. Perhaps you never even considered your toilet paper’s destiny… but should you flush the toilet paper? I made a cool flowchart to help you determine whether to bin it or flush it! Follow these easy steps: But really. Clogged toilets and sewage systems are a huge problem in many parts of the world – and the traveler isn’t helping the cause. I’ve met a few travelers who were proud to announce they would straight up refuse to bin their used toilet paper whenContinue reading
Mudslides and Floods on the Road to Lima, Perú
A Natural Disaster Always wanted to drink soda first thing in the morning? Before breakfast? I never had that ambition, but here I am in Lima – the capital of Perú – and there’s no running water. Nothing from the tap and all bottled water in units of less than 20 liters is sold out. This is supposedly everywhere in the city. For reference, Lima is a place beside the Pacific Ocean that hosts almost 9 million people. I first heard the news about the floods in a hostel in Paracas, a small beach town with a rad bird reserve andContinue reading
71 Reasons to Visit South America in 2017
Whether you’re a hitchhiker, a digital nomad, or a holidaymaker, South America is absolutely phenomenal. Let’s not hold off on that long-desired trip to the southern hemisphere any longer! Without further ado, here’s your randomly ordered justification to go ahead and get south the coming year: 1. Firstly, pick up fifty shades of Spanish! As a result of colonialism, South America is quite homogeneous language-wise, with Spanish and Portuguese being the most spoken. Or mix ’em up and you get “Portuñol“. Learn just enough Portuguese to make your trip to Brazil easy-peasy with Duolingo or Memrise. So instead you want toContinue reading
Take It Slow: 20000 Kilometers Hitched in South America
Over the past few months, I’ve been trying to get a better insight into how long my hitchhiking trips have been. It has also inspired me to take a look at the current leg of my three-year trip and tadaaa! it turns out I was about to cross the 20000 kilometers hitched mark in South America alone. That’s actually pretty slow! To clarify for non-metric people: that’s 12427 miles by thumb and foot overland. Why do I care? I don’t. Other people seem to care, though, and keeping some statistics can be fun. Other people asking stuff is the main reason IContinue reading
A Sandy Hike to Cabo Polonio in Uruguay
A few weeks ago I went to the famous Cabo Polonio in Uruguay, an off-the-grid town. It’s not connected to the water or electrical system, supposedly. The lighthouse at the tip of the cape is connected, somehow. Anyway, that’s some stuff I read on Wikipedia before going there myself. An unusual level of preparation for me! Before a Lonely Planet author discovered it, this village got no attention whatsoever. I get all skeptical when it comes to places like that. Overrated or not, I’d have to go there to find out myself. I was stationed in La Pedrera at theContinue reading