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Volunteering to Get Bumped Off a Flight

How we made $3,000 at the airport

It was a Sunday evening, one week into the new year. We had just boarded United flight #1566 to Mexico City in the second boarding group. After we got seated, we noticed no one else was boarding. Earlier they made an announcement about the plane being overweight and were looking for volunteers to agree to be bumped to another flight for $500 credit. We didn’t pay too much attention, since we…

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Explorer's Enclave: The Comoros

New feature: the Explorer's Enclave. This will be a shorter text-only post highlighting a place you may not be familiar with.

Have you ever heard of ylang-ylang? It is a tropical flower used frequently in the perfume industry, and forms the base note of the famous Chanel No. 5 perfume. The world’s largest producer of this fragrant flower is the Comoros, nicknamed the “Perfume Isles” for a good reason. This exotic and remote location off the east coast of Africa between Mozambique and Madagascar is made up of three…

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A New Year, A New Podcast Interview

On another podcast! Check out my interview with country counter extraordinaire Ric Gazarian

Just as the confetti settles on this new year, an interview I did with podcast host Ric Gazarian of Counting Countries went live yesterday. I would like to share it with you from his website, Global Gaz. Click on that direct link to listen to the episode. It also serves as an update for the Extraordinary Travel Festival II. Excited to attend the inaugural Extraordinary Travel Festival in…

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2023: The Travel Year in Review

Happy New Year! Here is my summary of 2023, the year in travel. Enjoy!

I haven’t posted much on this blog in 2023, but I can tell you it was a banner travel year. Perhaps that’s exactly why I haven’t written much…I’m traveling too much! I do plan on including some articles eventually. For now, I will recap the year’s major travel destinations and experiences. A towering mountain looms over the Tierra Del Fuego National Park, near Lapataia, Argentina At the end of…

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Armenia: How Much Does It Cost?

How much does it cost to travel to Armenia? Check out my latest post!

As a budget-minded traveler, I always find this a challenging question to answer. I don’t like to spend much money on accommodation because I prefer seeing what each place has to offer and really just need a place to put my stuff and rest. Of course, it’s nice to have a few amenities and feel like you know what you will be getting. Spending is both personal and circumstantial in addition to…

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"Icebergs Awe Kansan in Antarctica" Article Published

My article on icebergs is now available online (no paywall)

I’d like to share the article I wrote about Antarctic icebergs, which was recently published in my hometown newspaper, The Times. Here is the paywall-free link, and below is a portable network graphic file of the page the article appeared on. Thank you for reading!

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Extraordinary Armenia: An Underrated Country with Plenty to Offer

Here is my Armenia trip report from when I visited in October 2022

I visited Armenia in the fall of 2022 with few expectations. At first glance, tourism in Armenia seemed limited to the Armenian diaspora or Russians who were coming in by the droves to escape the Ukraine war draft. I hadn’t expected it to be such a delightfully easy country to travel around, and I didn’t plan to fall in love with it. Although I had initially planned on visiting in 2008, what…

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18vP20S0f5Y)

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Islas Galapagos