Extreme Travelers

My last three posts have all been about baby, so now let’s go back to travel.

This couple has driven their 1999 Dodge Intrepid through every single county in the lower 48 states. There are 3,108 counties if you didn't already know that (I didn't). They have also made their way up to Alaska and plan to ship the car to Hawaii to complete the U.S’s full 3,142 counties.

{Jon and Jenn Riehl, Source}

Their current plans are to finish visiting Alaska and then make the trip to Hawaii (which I know they will love) but I’m not sure how they will ship the car from island to island but where there is a will there is a way right?!

To date they have put 540,000 miles on the ol’ Dodge that was bought used back in 2002. I am a little impressed with the Dodge but not surprised. I have had two vehicles in my life and both have been Dodges. My first was a Dodge Ram 1500 and it was a great truck that was passed onto my brother. It served us both very well through high school and college. And now I have my little Dodge Caliber that only recently needed a big fix with its fuel injection. But its running great now and I hope to get a good 5 more years out of it.

{the green depicts when they visited the county seat, Source}

Have you ever wanted to take an epic road trip? What is the longest road trip you have taken? Mine was back in 2013 when my friend and I drove to Destin, FL from Houston, TX.

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Extreme Travelers: Reasons to Keep Kids out of School for Travel

Did your parents ever take you out of school to go on vacation? Mine did, but only once. And I think they did it in the coolest way.

I was in 5th grade and it was a few days before Thanksgiving and my mom took me and my little brother on a walk. She told us we were going somewhere tomorrow but we had to guess. I think she might have said it was a theme park and we grew up north of San Antonio so I started to guess Sea World, Fiesta Texas, Schlitterbahn and she said "bigger"...what else is bigger? Disney Land? Bigger! Disney World? Yep! Pack your bags when you get home because we're leaving tomorrow!

We got to miss one day of school.

The Armstrong family has decided to keep their 5 year old son out of school for a whole year while they travel from their home country of Australia to Thailand, Japan, three months in the U.S. and four months in Europe.

{Eiffle Tower, dressed in kimonos, U.S.A, photos from Donna Armstrong, source}

I think this is great but, I think their kids might get more out of it if they were a little older (their 2 year old probably won't remember most, if any, of this trip). I know that I get more out of travel now than I did when I was kid. Like when my parents took us to Muir Woods and we had to hike... my 14 year old self says "ugh" but my 27 year old self says, "ah! Let's hike all day!"

What do you think? Do you think it's worth taking your kids out of school for travel? Even holding them back a year?

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Extreme Travelers: 90 year old is Running Across America

Ernie Andrus, the 90 year old World War II veteran started running/jogging/walking across the country last October from San Diego. In June, when CBS News profiled him, he was in Payson, Ariz. And now, more than 10 months after he started, he has crossed into New Mexico.

{Source, Ernie's Facebook Page}

Ernie runs three days a week. Each running day he covers as much ground as his legs will carry him, and then catches a ride back to his RV. He drives to the spot he stopped running and chills out until he's ready to set off again.

Ernie explains that his journey will end when he reaches the Atlantic Ocean, near Brunswick, Georgia, some two to four years down the line.

There is a point to his running, he is helping to raise money for the LST 325 SHIP MEMORIAL, INC. Ernie was one of the crew that brought the LST 325 back from the Isle of Crete, Greece to the US in 2000, 2001 as aired on the history channel as The Return of LST 325. One thousand fifty one LSTs were built during World War II. The 325 is the only one left that has been restored and is still operational. Plans were being made to return the ship to Normandy for the D day memorial service (D day plus 70, 2014) and beach it at the same location where it was on Omaha beach 70 years before. The cost of taking this ship across the Atlantic and back is tremendous. Shortage of finances caused the 2014 trip to be canceled. Perhaps we can raise enough money for D Day plus 75 in 2019.

{Source, Ernie's Facebook Page}

You can also join Ernie on his runs. Catch up with him using the links below.

Facebook     E-Mail   Original Article

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Extreme Travelers: Rockall World Record

Rockall is a remote granite rock painted white by seabirds, the only inhabitants of the rock located 286 miles west of Scotland in the Atlantic Ocean. But last week Nick Hancock set the world record of longest stay on Rockall by spending 43 days on the tiny rock. He ate army rations, read books, and talked to seabirds to his pass time. The rock has been described as “…desolate, despairing, and awful.”

Nick lived in a yellow RockPod as his shelter on the outcropping measuring 60 feet tall and 82 feet at its widest point. His initial plan was to stay on the rock for 60 days but that was not possible after a storm at the beginning of July caused four of his supply barrels to fall off.

{Source}

During his stay on the rock he was able to raise $17,000 for the Help the Heroes charity. And when he surpassed the current world records (40 days for a solo stay and 42 days for a group) the Scotsman broke out a tiny bottle of champagne and celebrated alone. 

Nick's Blog     Original Article

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Extreme Travelers: Visit All 50 States In 365 Days

Kelly Will was a celebrity journalist that was tired of writing about famous people (there is only so much one can take of the Kardashians). So she sold everything she owned, all her posh evening gowns and Jimmy Choos, furniture and artwork (she did keep her car for the trip). All that money funded her mission to visit all 50 of the United States in 365 days. On a small budget of $175 a week she was able to accomplish her goal and see all the wonders of these great states.

All this got me thinking…if I was going to take a road trip like this how would I do it? I made my map below! I have always wanted to take a huge/long road trip, I want to hop in an RV and head to Yellowstone National Park!

{I figured I would fly to Alaska from Washington and fly to Hawaii from California}

Kelly Will     Facebook     Twitter     Instagram 

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Extreme Travelers

On May 30th two double-hulled vessels set sail from Hawaii on a three year journey around the world. The 62 foot double-hulled Hokulea is made up of a couple of sails, a wooden oar to steer and about five miles of rope to hold the canoe together – what you won’t find on board is any type of navigational equipment. That’s no GPS and no compass, not even a watch to tell time.

Hokulea will be tailed by Hikianalia, its sister vessel, for safety. They will travel to 26 countries and over 50,000 miles on their journey to try and prove the idea that the Polynesians and Hawaiians actually did purposely transit the oceans.

The two vessels set sail from Hawaii on the evening of May 30th with the stars to guide them on the first leg of their voyage. First stop, Tahiti!

See the full story here.

{Hikianalia, Source}

{Hokulea, Source}

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Extreme Travelers: The Longest Way

Christoph Rehage started his trek on November 9^th, 2007, his 26^th birthday. He got the idea while he was attending the Beijing Film Academy and it sort of spurred from a walk he did in 2003 when he walked from Paris to him home town in Germany.

{Source}

In the video you see him on a plane and he only flew because he had to deal with some passport issues. Other than that he walked the WHOLE way! His trek stopped on October 25^th, 2008. He clocked 4,646 km (2,886.9 miles). His original plan was to start in Beijing and head to Western China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Armenia, Turkey, and back home through Europe to his home in Bad Nenndorf, Germany. The trip would have only taken ten hours by plane but walking is going to take than two years.

You can check out all his social media pages below for more information on his journey.

Facebook      Twitter      YouTube      Web Site

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Extreme Travelers: Into the Empty Quarter

{Source & Photo}

Back in December 2013 Yahoo Travel shared their exclusive story about Alastair Humphrey's 45 day trek across the desert. And now I would like to share it with you for my Extreme Travelers series. I haven’t done an Extreme Travelers post in a while so I am excited to start up again and share this crazy story with you!

Alastair got the idea of crossing the Oman desert, the largest desert in the world, after he read Arabian Sands. This part of the world is known as the Empty Quarter.

Why did he do this? He says it best in his own words:

"When I first began dreaming of traveling the world, and doing so in an adventurous and challenging way, one of my holy texts was Wilfred Thesiger’s book, Arabian Sands.

The consummate English gentleman, Thesiger was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. He wore tweed and smart three-piece suits. But he was also a hard man and an epic traveler. He boxed for his university and later fought with British Special Forces - the SAS - in the deserts of North Africa in World War II.

{Source & Photo: Courtesy of Alastair Humphreys}

Arabian Sands describes his exploratory journeys through the Empty Quarter desert, located on the Arabian Peninsula, with a handful of charismatic, knowledgeable, loyal Bedouin guides in the late 1940s. His book beautifully captures the harsh beauty of the desert, the terrible hardships of crossing it by camel, and the wonderful blend of camaraderie, solitude and personal discovery that emerge with all the greatest adventures.

Ever since I first read Arabian Sands I dreamed of one day making a journey of my own into the Empty Quarter. And so, when I set my eyes upon the empty gravel plains for the first time a little over a year ago, I was seeing a place I had thought about for more than a decade. I was thrilled to be somewhere I had never been before. But I was excited also to be looking out at a landscape so familiar to my hero, Thesiger.

My journey was not aiming to replicate Thesiger’s adventures. I could not afford a camel, had no idea how to travel with one and - truth be told - I’m scared of them too. Nor could I roam at will across the desert. Saudi Arabia is off limits to today’s adventurous tourists, so I would be constrained to the desert in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

{Source & Photo: Courtesy of Alastair Humphreys}

My aim then was to become a human camel, hauling a homemade cart with 660 pounds of supplies for 1,000 miles across the Arabian Peninsula from Salalah in southern Oman to the glitzy madness of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I would need some help with this madcap plan, so I recruited Leon McCarron, a friend of a friend and a fellow fan of Thesiger. We set a 45-day time limit because Leon promised to be home to see his girlfriend for Christmas.

We looked a strange sight, hauling our ludicrously overloaded cart along the side of the busy motorway out of Salalah. Bemused and amused drivers hooted their horns and waved as they passed. Already this journey was totally different to Thesiger’s experience. But you can never replicate someone else’s journey. It can be an inspiration or a catalyst, but you must seek out the adventures and experiences for yourself."

Alastair Humphreys is a British-born traveler who was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2012. In this exclusive story for Yahoo Travel, he recounts his 45-day desert crossing that is the subject of the 2013 documentary, "Into the Empty Quarter." You can buy his DVD here.



Would you ever do something like this? 

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Extreme Travelers: The 23 Year Vacation

See full and original article here. 

After visiting more than 190 countries over the course of more than two decades, Mike Spencer Bown, the world traveler, is ready to come home. And he has some stories to tell!

The 44-year-old might just be the most extensively traveled person in history. The Calgary resident left his town 23 years ago with a backpack and a goal: to visit every country and region on Earth.

{Source}

And we're not talking flyby. Bown made sure to get to know each and every place he visited. "Some of the least-traveled people I've ever met have been to 100 countries, or even as high as 170 countries — what they do is fly between major cities and especially capital cities, stop off in the airport or take a hotel for the night, and then say that they've 'done' such and such country," Bown told the Sun.

"To my view, such people are passengers, not travelers."

I do count my "flyby" landings as places I've been to...I mean I don't plan to go to places like Iowa and Ohio any time soon so why  not count it when I have a layover? 

Bown has had hair-raising experiences that include "taking local transport across Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and hitchhiking through Iraq during the U.S. invasion, including a visit to Saddam Hussein's hometown," according to the Sun.

He also made it to far-flung outposts like Antarctica, Greenland and Easter Island.

The intrepid adventurer made headlines when he became the first tourist to visit Mogadishu, Somalia, in more than 20 years. Puzzled officials at first tried to put him back on the plane, mistaking him for a spy. But eventually they let him stay for a few days.

"We have never seen people like this man," Omar Mohamed, an immigration official, told the blog Middle East Online at the time. "He said he was a tourist, we couldn't believe him. But later on we found he was serious."

When it comes to exploring new places, Bown is definitely serious. This kind of itinerary is not for the faint of heart. As a guest blogger for the website Backpackology, the traveler told the site he's been arrested "more times than he can count." He then shared the top 80 highlights of his extensive trip. They included:

- Standing in the graveyard of the blue whales, South Georgia Island, Antarctica (No. 79)

- Learning to drive a reindeer sleigh while drunk with the Yakuti tribe, Yakutsk, Russia (No. 74)

- Getting lost on the three interlocking subway systems in Tokyo (No. 71)

- Hitchhiking past bandits, Central African Republic (No. 43)

- Avoiding capture in the land of pirates, Puntland State of Somalia (No. 30)

According to NPR, Bown's idea for such a quest began all those years ago on a mountainside, when he "wondered if it was possible to visit the whole world ... (and) see everything of interest."

Bown told NPR that he was able to keep up his travels by living frugally and staying at cheap hotels, like one in Nicaragua that cost him the equivalent of just 3 cents a night.

As an importer-exporter out of Asia, Bown had plenty of free time to travel, but even then it still took him more than two decades to go everywhere. "I would never have thought it would take so long to see it all. It's enormous."

Do you want to follow in his footsteps? I kind of think that people that travel to Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq for fun are kind of nuts...but that's just me.

Extreme Travelers: Warrior Princess

Mindy Budgor was a California girl living the California dream. She had a great job, drove a nice car and was able to shop at all the expensive stores such as Gucci and Prada. But she still felt empty inside.

Mindy decided to take a humanitarian mission on Kenya to help build a health clinic in a Kenyan game reserve. While she was there she learned about the Maasai tribe from a member that was also a local chief named Winston and he spoke English. Winston told her about the tribe's warriors and how they protect their community. When Mindy asked if women could be warriors he said no because "women aren't strong enough or brave enough to do it."

This didn't sit well with Mindy and she made a deal that if she could leave behind her old glamorous lifestyle then he would take her through the traditional rites of passage to become a Maasai warrior.

Mindy returned to California where she trained for 6 weeks with a personal trainer to make sure she was in shape for her upcoming challenge. Mindy returned to Africa with a friend ready to take on the challenge but Winston reneged on his offer. Mindy wasn't going to let that stop her so she found Lanet in Nairobi and he agreed to take her and her friend on.

{Source}

They headed into the African bush with "essentials": tartan sheets for clothing, metal tips for spears and, for Mindy, a bottle of Chanel Dragon red nail polish (“It just made me feel fierce,” she said) and a pair of pearl earrings to remind her of home. 

Lanet and six other warriors then led them through a month of surreal tasks that were both physically and mentally challenging: sleeping on the ground in a communal bed of leaves and branches, going days without food, getting bloody blisters on her hands as she practiced spear-hunting skills, and, incredibly, suffocating a goat to death and drinking its warm blood (which Mindy vomited up immediately). 

During this whole time Mindy never put a brush through her hair, she would wash herself with the same water cows and buffalo used, but yet she still felt beautiful. She felt strong. She felt proud.

In a final test of bravery, Mindy speared a massive buffalo, inspiring cheers from her warrior trainers. She had passed, and was deemed a warrior, and succeeded in changing the Maasai gender policy; this year, 12 girls in the village she had been in will go through the warrior training. 

{Source}

Since leaving the Maasai tribe she went on to graduate from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and currently lives in New York.

{Original Yahoo! article}          {the Guardian article}          {Glamour article}

{Warrior Princess: My Quest to Become the First Female Maasia Warrior}

Extreme Travelers - Most Countries Visited in One Year by Scheduled Ground Transport

British travel blogger and filmmaker, Graham Hughes has accomplished something quite incredible.  He has visited all 201 countries and 15 territories without stepping foot on a plane!

All I can say is WOW! And I wish I could do that!

{Photo Credit}

It took him 1,426 days (almost 4 years!) to cover all 160,000 miles (257,494 km)! This adventure has made him the Guinness World Record holder for "Most Countries Visited in One Year by Scheduled Ground Transport".

He describes his trip by saying, "I've fed the crocs in Australia, hunted the dragons of Komodo, befriended the orangutans in Borneo, played with the lemurs in Madagascar, washed the elephants in India and eaten live octopus in South Korea."

During his travels he kept his budget to just under $100 a week (Yahoo's article says per day but Graham's site says week) but still hit some bumps along the way. He spent a week in a Congolese prison and was arrested from sneaking into Russia!

You can check out his travels on his Nation Geographic show, Graham's World.

{The Odyssey Expedition}      {YouTube}      {The Check List}         {Yahoo! Article}

Extreme Travelers: Home Free Adventure

In 2011, Lynne and Tim sold their house in central California, gave away the furniture, and stuffed all the stuff they wanted to keep into a storage unit. They said goodbye to their children and friends and now they live in rented apartments and houses all over Europe (for now).

They have no property taxes, roof repairs or home insurance, so all of their spendable income is used to fund their new way of life. They do have small suitcases, an appetite for new experiences, good computers, and the savvy and flexibility to make themselves at home in almost any situation.

They sail home for the holidays to visit family and friends; they also use this time to make doctor visits. In 2012 they lived in: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; the USA; at sea to Rome, Italy; Turkey; Paris; Florence, Italy; England; Ireland; Marrakech, Morocco; Barcelona, Spain; and then were at sea again bound for the USA.

2013: USA - @ sea to Venice, Italy - Lisbon, Portugal, Kenmare, Ireland - Paris - Berlin, Germany - London - Copenhagen, Denmark - @ sea to USA

{Blog}             {Facebook}                 {Twitter}

How many of you want to live this way some day? I know I do!

P.S. I also updated my Where I've Been page with a new map!

Extreme Travelers: Hitchhiking Across the World

Frenchman Jeremy Marie has spent the last five years hitchhiking across 71 different countries! He started in 2007 and didn't spend a single penny on travel expenses, instead he relied on the kindness of others to give him a lift across the world. You can read articles and see more pictures on the links below.

{dailymail.co.uk}                {Yahoo! News}

{Jeremy's journey, Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Extreme Travelers: The Kellogg Family

Happy May everybody! This year is flying by!

I think most people day dream about just quitting their jobs and day to day life and pack up and take an adventure. Some people do this during their retirement, buy an RV and head out for the great unknown. Well the Kellogg family thought, why wait? Let's start this adventure now! So Dan, Susie, their 12 kids (oldest 19 to youngest 7 months) and 2 dogs sold their house and started their carefree life RV-ing around North America. 

{Source}

Dan and Susie home school their kids and they are lucky enough to be able to work remotely from laptops (Dan is software engineer). After school is done the kids are free to have all the adventures they want - swim in the ocean or lake, hike some trails or just mess around the camp site. You can read all about the Kelloggs and their adventures on any of the links provided below.

{Source}

{Blog}             {Facebook}                 {Twitter}          {YouTube}

If you could do something like what they have done would you? If so where would you go first?

Extreme Travelers: 2 People 1 Life

Back in 2011 Alex and Lisa started out on their great adventure. In 2011 they packed up their life and bought a 25 year old camper van they loving refer to as Peggy and hit the road to exchange vows in unique and special wedding locations. You can read more about their journey here. They have been all over the Americas having truly unique and different wedding ceremonies. But they funny thing is that they are actually not married…legally anyway. Here are some pictures of their travels

{Facebook}       {Twitter}       {Blog}

{Costa Rica, Source}

{Hawaii, Source}

{Colorado, Source}

{Houston, Source}

{Myrtle Beach, Source}

{UK, Source}

{Source}