Saudi Arabia Quietly Welcome Canadian Tourists to Visit the Kingdom for the First Time in History
With the recent political clashes between Canada and Saudi Arabia back in November 2018 over humans rights, with Saudi Arabia striking back by shutting down relations between the two countries, coming to the Kingdom was pretty much out of range for most Canadians. There has been no official warm up in the relations, but suddenly the government of Saudi Arabia quietly added Canada to its list of countries who can visit the country under its new “Sharek Tourist Visa”! This is great news for Canadian travelers and even for the relations between the two countries! At the time of writting, this has not yet been reported by news outlet or officially by neither govemenents. Actually I don’t even think the officials actually know about this prior to this article… and I pretty much found it by luck! So a new country is now available for Canadians to travel! and I’d recommend you take advantage of this Visa before the situation changes, yet again… So here […]
Read More...→Cities I’ve Been Map (193/195 Countries) – Updated June 2019
So it seems to be a tradition for me for the past 10 years. Each year or so, I make an update of my map with the app “Cities I’ve Been” app from Tripadvisor (which used to be directly on Facebook). This was my way to track my cities and destinations through the world when I was at the stage of going anywhere whenever I felt like it and wasn’t necessarily counting the cities I’ve been to. I’ve never really been a “Country Counter” until I was getting close to 150 and newspapers started asking for my current count, as well as I wanted to have a way to measure the distance I have traveled. As a world adventurer, my travel map is really what I am proud of, much more than my “countries Ive been” map. It is really not that hard anymore to travel the 196 countries as it once was with all the flights getting cheaper. There are more and more people […]
Read More...→Exploring Niamey in Niger – An Example for African Development – (My 192nd of 195 Country Visited)
Back to French-speaking Africa this time in a west-African nation. It was the peak summer season in Niamey, known to be one of the hottest cities in the world, situated in the middle of the Sahara desert! We landed at night and as soon as the airplane doors opened, we felt a wave of dry hot air invade the interior… Just a preview to what I could expect the next few days, with a thermometer over 47 degrees during the day! In General, my expectations for Niger were totally off target from what I had heard and read through my pre-travel research. It was much better than I had imagined. And here’s why… In This Article…1 One of the Poorest Nation in the world… Really?2 The 4th largest producer of Uranium in the world3 Was Wakanda in the movie Black Panther inspired by Niger?4 Enjoying Niamey with local friends5 Top 10 Things to do in Niamey & Niger6 In Pictures7 Pin to Pinterest One of […]
Read More...→WarTime Aleppo in Pictures – Captured with a Huawei P30 Pro
I usually add pictures of my travels directly in my photo studio or inside my articles about each destination. But my Photographic experience in Syria and Specially Aleppo was so breathtaking and troubling that it deserved to be published in a separate article of its own. After posting on my private facebook some of these pictures taken with the Leica Camera on my Pro 30 Pro, the reception was so impressive from public and private messages that I decided to share them to the world. The photos in this article were all taken in May 2019 during my visit around Syria which is summarized in my article: 5 Days Traveling around SYRIA during War Times. Being one of the first traveler in the country since 2011, I wanted to express the situation that Syrians have endured through those difficult years. Extensive details have been provided about my experience around the country, and for the purpose of clarity, I will only provide a few explanations about […]
Read More...→5 Days Traveling around SYRIA during War Times
As some of you read this article, it is important to time-stamp the events at the time of writing. As fighting is still raging in some areas, the war is coming to an end and the situation is changing rapidly. With the government now in control of the country once again, I expect the situation to improve very quickly through the next 2 years, and people reading this article 2 years from now might get a very different experience on their trip. But Make no mistake, as I was visiting in mid-may 2019, the country was still at war and heavy fighting was going on in the Idlib region and around Aleppo where I stayed 2 nights… Was it worth the risk? I Beleive it did, and here’s why… I decided to come to Syria as I believed it was the right time to come after a long 9 years wait. In my opinion, it marked the safest time to come in recent years, while […]
Read More...→Exploring Syria During War Times… (My 191st of 195 Country Visited)
“You’re traveling to Syria in mid-2019… Are you Crazy???” would I mostly hear when mentioning my intention to explore the country while working on my plan to visit every country of the world… The truth is, there are many more countries which I have been that are in a similar situation but have not received as much media coverage as Syria. Pretty much everybody even from a young age knows that terrible things that happened over there, and even at the time of writing, are still happening as the war is still ongoing. My researches prior to travel had given me enough assurance that I felt it was finally possible to go with enough guarantee of a secure experience with less risk. Overall it was a 5 day expedition from A-Wadi, Homs, Aleppo and Damascus. Being one of the first tourists in Syria since 2011, this was a bet I was willing to take… In This Article…1 Why travel to Syria?2 Is it ethical to […]
Read More...→Exploring Bangui in Central African Republic – My 190th of 195 Country
“Welcome to the Country of Wars” was I told, by my taxi driver taking me from the International Airport to my Hotel downtown Bangui, Capital of Central African Republic. There was definitely something deep about what he said, as from my personal knowledge, this is all I knew about the country prior to coming! Probably this was a reason why I had taken so long to travel here, making it my 51st country visited in Africa, out of the 54 that make the African continent. He then gladly replied: “But finally peace is coming to us”! Among all the United Nations armoured Vehicles and soldiers I could see on the way to the hotel, this positive note was exactly what I needed to hear, as I was ready to begin exploring Bangui. At the time of writing, the government of Central African Republic had just signed, only a few weeks back, a very promising peace deal with the 14 different armed groups who have been […]
Read More...→Exploring N’Djamena in Chad – My 189th Country Visited, 50th in Africa
It was a night I will always remember… I arrived in a heavily guarded airport, where the plane was escorted to the front of the airport by military guards armed with Kalashnikovs. It was an evening of the hottest month of the year in N’Djamena, Capital of Chad, a landlocked country in the very heart of Africa. 41 degrees at nighttime, with pretty much 0% of humidity, and absolutely no breeze… I’ve travelled extensively in Africa but rarely have I been hit in the face with such heat! Simply hard to breath… But still, I was extremely excited to arrive once more in a new country on this beautiful continent that I hadn’t been before. And to make it even more special, I was celebrating my 50th country in Africa which counts a total of 54! So here I am in N’Djamena to learn more about Chad, its history, its culture, in the middle of the Saharan desert! This is actually the first new country […]
Read More...→Rovinj Wins the Title of my Favorite City in Croatia
I’ve travelled extensively throughout Croatia over the years as it is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful countries in Europe. I keep coming back because I never get tired of the blue Adriatic Sea, Venetian fortified towns along the coast, the food, the people, etc… And to win the title of the most beautiful city in Croatia is a hard one to designate. Rovinj is just a masterpiece, like few there are in Europe! I can imagine Dubrovnik being this nice before tourism destroyed it, so be quick to come and experience it before Hollywood comes before you, followed by the masses! In This Article…1 All the beauty of Istria in one single Venitian Town2 Best 2 Days Itinerary in Rovinj3 Top 10 Things to do in Rovinj4 Top Rated and Recommended Cafes in Rovinj5 Top Rated and Recommended Restaurants in Rovinj6 Rovinj In Pictures7 Pin to Pinterest All the beauty of Istria in one single Venitian Town Istria has been under Italian […]
Read More...→3 days in Pula, Epicenter of Istria in Croatia
So many people rush to Rome to see the Romain Arena without knowing that such constructions can be found in so many other places, and such places include tiny little Pula, a city in the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia of only 90 000 people. Apart from the beachgoers coming for the Croatian sun every summer, the impressive Romain arena gets little attention to what it deserves. It is actually one of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. In This Article…1 A Romain Capital with “Italian influenced” Croatia2 Best 2 Days Itinerary in Pula3 Top 10 Things to do in Pula4 Top Rated and Recommended Cafes in Pula5 Top Rated and Recommended Restaurants in Pula6 Pula In Pictures7 Pin to Pinterest A Romain Capital with “Italian influenced” Croatia Arriving in Istria from Dalmatia or the Zagreb Area will be somewhat of a shock. Pula, the biggest city in Istria and eighth in the country, definitely has an Italian flavour left from its past. In […]
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