To neither condemn nor to condone but merely to observe I spent the day at the bull fights during Peru’s Independence Day celebrations.

Korean Air’s new Airbus 380s are apparently outfitted with 3 bars. Two of the bars will be open (business class) and one attended (first class). From the pictures, these bars look pretty swanky, but I don’t think I’ll be shelling out the extra money for an open bar. I just don’t think I’d be able to drink enough to make it a break even type deal, even on a long-haul flight.

I have Google+ invites to share. Need/want one? Just leave a comment and I’ll get one out to you.

If you’re a world traveler, you’ll almost inevitably be asked “what is your favorite place?” when talking to people who don’t travel a lot. It’s a fair question for sure, but there are no easy answers. My answers are usually contextually based or tongue-in-cheek. That’s a tactic of mine which serves as a shortcut to really thinking about something in depth. If I had to think about my favorite place on earth, and answer honestly, I guess I haven’t been there yet. Maybe that’s what motivates me to keep exploring.

It’s not really about the places.

Travel is more about experiences and people. You meet the most interesting people while you’re traveling. Not that you don’t meet interesting people at home, but when you’re surrounded by the familiar, I believe you’re less likely to be open to the unfamiliar. My own story has become irreversibly entwined with the stories of others. Here’s a short list of some of the most interesting people I have met on the road.

• Guy

Airport and hotel bars are consistently good for meeting interesting people. A bar in a hotel that’s at the airport (I don’t always sleep in the terminal) is a veritable Petri dish full of interesting people. It was at the DFW Hyatt that I met a DEA agent named Guy.

At first, Guy sounded like a bit of a self-aggrandizing blowhard, someone who probably watched too many Mexican Narco films. Guy soon proved to be a wealth of knowledge on the drug trade in Mexico, how it works and what is being done. I couldn’t pull myself away from the conversation. My hunger for knowledge on a topic that seems so important, yet gets hardly any press coverage took over and I found myself asking questions, the answers to which prompted even more questions. It turned into a late night before an early flight, but was worth it for a free education on issues that matter.

• Bionic Russ

The Big Bend region of Texas is full of characters. It’s worth a trip to Terlingua just to meet the eccentric people who seem to gravitate there. Bionic Russ is a character among characters. I met Russ in a motel in Alpine, Texas. He and his wife had moved there to escape the cold of Wyoming winters. See, Russ had had knee replacement surgery. The way Russ told the story, one cold morning he was out feeding his cattle and his new titanium knees froze from the cold. His knees locked up and he was unable to walk. He crawled through the snow for more than a 1/4 mile. When he got to the house, he knocked on the door only to have his wife open the door and look right over him. He told her to look down, and rather than immediately help him in out of the cold, she demanded an explanation of what the hell he was doing. Russ added quite a bit of animation to the story, so it was much better to hear first hand than to read about second hand, but you get the idea.

• Jordan

Jordan was a would-be bone smuggler, and taught me that slowing down and not being in any particular hurry can pay huge dividends in friendship and camaraderie. She was carrying some turtle shells she had collected on a beach in Ecuador. On her trip south, Peruvian customs hadn’t given her any grief at all about them so she figured Chile would be as easy. She figured wrong. I shared a combi with Jordan (and three other people) from Tacna, Peru across the Chilean border to Arica, Chile. When Chilean customs shook her down because of the turtle shells, our combi driver wanted to leave her. At that point, Jordan’s problem wasn’t my problem and I wasn’t keen on waiting out the customs ordeal in the hot Atacama desert sun. For a brief moment, I considered acquiescing to the driver’s demands to get in the car and go, but then I applied a little bit of compassion to the situation. Having had my fair share of customs shake-downs over the years, it was easy to take a stand for what was right. The driver was willing to give up one fare, but not two, so he waited for Jordan. Jordan and I instantly became great friends, and this encounter, however brief is one of my most fond travel memories.

• Honorable mentions:

Elyse – my favorite bar tender in all of Taiwan. Your smile and lively spirit will be with me, always.
Bily – Formerly a Cruise ship bar tender, now bar owner in Huanchaco – your story is an inspiration!
Choco – A passionate and entertaining tour guide. Book him for your tour of any of the archaeological sites in Northern Peru.

Here are a few travel related sites that I have recently found. You’ll probably like them too, because I have good taste like that!

• Roy boldly goes where lots of people have probably gone before and writes about it on Cruisesurfingz

On May 15th, 2004, I left NZ for three months to go work on a special needs summer camp in USA. I’ve basically been traveling ever since.

I really like the site design and the writing. Humorous and informative. Check it out!

• Jack and Jill go around the world.

Volunteering and discovering along the way. Short story is they quit their jobs, liberated themselves of their material things and set off to explore the world around them. Great information.

• Another couple with no possessions & no plan take off to explore the world. They can be found at Hecktic Travels.

They have gotten some really cool house-sitting gigs which allows them to save money and remain in a place long enough to really get to know it.

• Kaitlin and Brian Travel Adventurously at Two Backpacks, One World

Outdoor educators turned world travelers. Always searching for adventure, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of our world. We both love adventuring off the beaten path, camping, seeing live music, exploring cities, meeting new people, and experiencing different cultures. We are trying to stay as open to whatever comes our way as we can.