by Matthew Allison | Sep 25, 2009 | Asia
A Week Living with Nomads September 2009: I really believe that no one should live their life without sleeping in a yurt at least one night and if you can do so for a week like my friend Kent and I did, even better. Staying in yurts with Mongolian and Kazakh nomads...
by Matthew Allison | May 28, 2009 | Asia
One of My Greatest Trekking Adventures May 2009: I first learned about Papua and its tribes of penis gourded men from a documentary. The idea of a tribe of men wearing nothing but penis gourdes to be honest seemed absurd to me and I couldn’t believe that such a...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 31, 2009 | South America & Antarctica
March 2009/Day 1: I wanted to visit the Galápagos Islands, a remote archipelago of volcanic islands famed for their unique wildlife, which played a crucial role in Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. My goal was to experience the wildlife and raw...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 30, 2009 | South America & Antarctica
March 2009: On this trip to Ecuador, beyond exploring the Galápagos Islands-Independant Travel to the Galapagos Islands | Venture The Planet, my goal was to venture deep into the Amazon Rainforest and visit Yasuní National Park—a place that keeps drawing me back. I...
by Matthew Allison | Jan 23, 2009 | Mexico, North America
A Layover Adventure: Climbing the Pyramids of Teotihuacán In January 2009, with a 10-hour layover in Mexico City on my way to Tijuana from Panama, I decided to make the most of my time by visiting Teotihuacán. Taking a combination of metro and public bus from the...
by Matthew Allison | Dec 3, 2008 | Central America
Darien Gap December 2008/January 2009: Few places in the world are as mysterious and alluring as the dense, foreboding jungles of the Darién Gap. This is a wilderness so deep, mountainous, and hostile that it remains the only break in the Pan-American Highway, which...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 29, 2008 | Europe
Exploring Moldova: Europe’s Least-Visited Country and Its Unresolved Conflict November 2008: As part of a two-week journey through the Balkans and the former Yugoslavia, my friend Dan and I spent three days in Moldova. I was particularly excited to visit Europe’s...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 29, 2008 | Europe
Break-Away Republic of Transnistria Transdniestria: A Soviet Time Capsule and a Break-Away Republic Adventure November 2008: As part of a multi-country journey through Eastern Europe, my friend Dan and I set our sights on Transdniestria—a self-declared breakaway...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 26, 2008 | Europe
Exploring Albania: From Communist Isolation to Modern Transformation November 2008: I visited Albania twice—first in 2008 during a two-week backpacking trip across the Balkans with my friend Dan, and later in September 2021 with my wife Paula. On my first visit, Dan...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 25, 2008 | Europe
November 2008: As part of a two-week backpacking trip across the Balkans, my friend Dan and I spent three days in Serbia. Our main goal was to explore Belgrade and observe how the country has rebounded from the NATO bombing campaign of 1999, which contributed to the...
