Hi! I'm Ian
I’m from Quebec City in Canada, and at a very young age, I had dreams to discover the world. I imagined a life of endless travel, off the grid, out of the ordinary… In 2002 I designed a system to make it possible through online income. Little did I know, this new form of lifestyle would later become widespread with thousands of new adepts, known as digital nomads.
Fast forward today, more than 17 years on the road, non-stop and counting, I how visited 230 countries, including every one of the 195 recognized by the United Nations. I’ve circled the globe more than 6 times and filled 11 passports on the way… My digital nomad lifestyle is now deeply encrusted in me and I pride myself every day to have inspired travelers from around the world to grab their backpacks, and embark on their own journey on the open road!
Countries I've Been: 230, including 195/195 U.N. Countries
Latest Articles
Saudi Arabia (Country 193/195) – 1 Week Traveling between Jeddah and Riyadh
I had been waiting for years to figure out a way to reach Saudi Arabia on my quest to travel to every country of the world. Being one of the closest countries in the world, Saudi Arabia recently made a 180-degree shift of policy to open its doors in a bid to kick-start tourism in the country. Not only did they start issuing tourist visas for special events starting late 2018, but it also has plans to build a touristic city a little bit in the style of Qatar and Dubai in the middle of the desert, and is already starting to invite several countries to come since 2018. I took advantage of a recent event called Jeddah Seasons to finally being able to explore the Kingdom after years investigating all the possible ways to come. This marked my 193rd country visited out of the […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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… One of the Poorest Nation in the world… Really? I was on my guard when arriving in Niger since I had read a report of the United Nations ranking Niger 189th out […]
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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 […]
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