The Goroka Festival in Papua New Guinea just finished its 2023 run, and PNG’s The National said “Goroka Show hailed a success“. So we’ve begun making plans to attend the 2024 version a year from now. We’ve started a website
The Goroka Festival…2024!
Wildlife at Home!
We’ve seen some amazing wildlife on our trips, but sometimes we don’t even have to leave home; the animals come to visit us! One recent weekend, we had a visitor on the front doorstep, and then an hour later another
Country Count Updated to 121
On our “Barcelona to Berlin” trip we visited the 17th smallest country in the world, Andorra. That was our first visit, so we have updated our “Countries Visited” counter on the website to 121. We also visited the second smallest
“Nit de Foc” (“Night of Fire”)
Every year on June 23rd, Catalonians celebrate La Nit de Sant Joan, the evening before the feast day of St. John the Baptist. Of course this Saint’s day is celebrated everywhere in the Catholic world, but the celebrations of the
“Whisky War” Armistice Day
Celebrating the first anniversary of the end of a war in Canada (a war that nobody even knew about!). Apparently, when we were off in Australia for most of 2022, Canada quietly signed a peace treaty ending a war that
“Ghosts of a forgotten town”
The brown hyenas of Kolmanskop, Namibia We shared a BBC Facebook post about the only remaining inhabitants of the former diamond mining town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. You can also watch that video on the BBC YouTube channel. (Link at the
“They replaced Vimy Ridge…”
Earlier this week, Canada introduced a new passport design which was immediately met with some (OK, a lot of) criticism. Here’s a link to an online article from CTV News. The quote that caught our eyes was from Pierre Poilievre,
Is there a Botswana–Namibia–Zambia–Zimbabwe quadripoint?
(And if there is, who cares?) A quadripoint is a spot on the earth where four countries (or smaller geopolitical areas) meet at one point. When we were on our first trip to southern Africa, on a boat on the
“Midnight at the Pera Palace”
It’s always so much fun to be watching a movie or TV show and be able to say “We’ve been there!”. That happened to us the other night as we flicked through Netflix and came upon the series “Midnight at
Earth Day, Sustainable Travel, and Greenwashing
April 22nd, 2023 marks the 53rd Earth Day, so we thought we’d share earthday.org’s post on “How to Do Earth Day” and a couple of guidelines for making our post-pandemic travels more sustainable. Thankfully, the Earth Day organization no longer
The Bust of Nefertiti
On our Barcelona to Berlin trip we are looking forward to visiting Berlin’s famous Museum Island, featuring several of not just Germany’s but the world’s best museums. The star attraction of one of these, the Neues Museum, is one of
Visiting the Vimy Memorial
We’re publishing this post on April 9th, Vimy Ridge Day. In 2003, the Government of Canada declared April 9 to be “Vimy Ridge Day”, to honour and remember the Battle of Vimy Ridge which took place during the First World
Country Count Updated
The day after we returned to Vancouver from our Arabian Peninsula visit (2023-1 – Arabian Peninsula – Feb-Mar, 2023) we updated our country count; now at 120 UN countries visited. It was raining in Vancouver when we returned; no surprise
Camel Training Races in Qatar
Camel racing is a huge sport everywhere in Arabia, and nowhere more so than in Qatar. We visited the enormous racing complex at Al Shahaniya outside Doha and watched them training the racing camels. Here’s a short YouTube video of
Our virtual travel agent for the Arabian Peninsula
We’re trying something new and different for our upcoming trip to the Arabian Peninsula; a consultation with an AI driven, “virtual travel agent”! Check out the results on our trip page 100countries.info/trips/2023-1-arabian-peninsula-feb-mar-2023 Interested in travel to exotic destinations such as
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada
Hadn’t ever visited this aquarium in Toronto which opened in October of 2013. Very well laid out displays. Especially enjoyed the Dangerous Lagoon, a breathtaking underwater gallery complete with moving sidewalk. Would recommend a visit if you’re ever in T.O.
Up the CN Tower
Ross and I watched the Tower going up in 1974/1975 when we were at university, but we never actually managed to ascend it until now. Got a gorgeous sunny day. Had lots of fun locating landmarks and pointing out places
Country Count Updated to 116
When we booked our 6-month trip to Australia in the spring of 2022 we thought that would be the only international destination that we’d see for the entire year. Our flights were scheduled to transit through New Zealand, but at
Country Count Updated to 115
OK, it’s not much but it’s better than nothing. First new country in almost 2 years, as we added the Bahamas to our list. We’d be lying if we said that we didn’t pick one of the Caribbean islands that
It’s official; we’re not going ANYWHERE any time soon
On March 13th, 2020 Canada issued a level 3 travel advisory (“avoid non-essential travel”) for the entire globe. We’re grounded. Our thoughts are with those countries so much harder hit than Canada (so far), and we look forward to resuming