Our Journey Together Begins

Thank you for joining me in this lifelong journey of sharing travel tales, tips and pictures. It is my goal not only to share interesting travel information, but also to entertain and make you laugh with real stories from the road. I believe the journey itself is the destination, so I find that traveling by train and ship are special joys.

Who am I?

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and have always loved maps. At an early age I used to gaze at maps and leaf through atlases, all the while imagining one day I would visit these places. My grandmother Louise stirred the desire to wander in me with postcards sent from places with faraway and fantastic sounding names like Martinique, Helsinki and Fiji.

My first trip to Europe was in 1980 as a 15-year old. I will turn 54 years old tomorrow and will soon need my sixth passport. During my life I have been fortunate enough to:

• Run a marathon on all seven continents (Antarctica was my first!)
• Visit all 50 states of the USA
• Visit 62 different countries of the world
• Cross the Atlantic Ocean four times by ship
• Round Cape Horn, Cape Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope
• Take long-distance train trips in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America
• Live in three different countries (USA, Kazakhstan, Turkey)

After working in the computer industry with the NCR Corporation for 20 years in the USA, I decided together with my wife Shelly to do something different and moved to Kazakhstan in 2006. After our work contract ended there, we moved to Istanbul, Turkey in 2014. We now reside in the city of Trabzon where the Kaçkar mountains meet the Black Sea.

Thus begins this new travel blog, the day before my 54th birthday. I plan to post new travel stories weekly and add more fun features as this website grows. I am glad to have you join me in this adventure, because remember, the journey itself is the destination!

Start with a dream. Everything starts with a dream. Big dreams are the most fun. — Douglas Fears