MY TRAVELS 2022
The year started oddly. I was in Pakistan and wanted to go to Bangladesh but they had a 14-day quarantine, so I went to Trinidad & Tobago. That is how so much of where I go is determined – on the fly. I have a general idea, but things change. I usually don’t book flights until a week or less ahead and rarely book accommodation more than a day or two ahead and more often arrive in a town with no reservation.
At the end of 2022, I had been to 161/193 countries (24 new countries, seven countries I had been to before and 6 new territories). I am the ultimate Nomad Maniac as it keeps track of where you have been, the only travel website that has verification to prove where you have been.
Nomad Mania regions – 830/1301– #54 in NM and #2 in Canada. Number of regions seen in 2022 – 105 – #5. World Heritage Sites – 784/1,154 – #7 in NM. Along with 670/1,722 Tentative WHS, my total WHS – #3. The Series is a list of 59,087 places separated into about 60 categories. My favourites are House Museums, The Dark Side and Bizzarium. Total Series ranking – 15,030/59,087 places – #5. NM’s TBT – The Biggest Traveler uses 20 categories to assess the most complete traveler – #13 in the world.
These are the things I almost never do – travel in groups (2022 was an exception as many were in Central Africa), go on tours, lay in the sun on a beach, drink alcohol, take taxis, stay in hotels, stay in resorts, fly business class, use airport lounges, or go to bars or nightclubs. I much prefer to travel alone, travel independently, take public transport, stay in dorm rooms in hostels and often sleep in airports. I buy a SIM card in every country. I spend a lot of time on my website ronperrier.net/Travelogue. I am an avid reader with subscriptions to Time, The Atlantic and the Economist. I read a lot of books. I would highly encourage you to read “The Meaning of Human Existence” by Edward O. Wilson. I rarely take a day off. I walk a lot especially in large cities with much to see (Mexico City, Paris, Cairo). In each, I averaged 80 km. I wear flip-flops 100% of the time. I rent or buy cars (sometimes scooters) whenever I can.
Because I am obsessed with seeing each country as completely as possible and seeing every Nomad Mania site, my travel can be intense. This year, for the first time, I traveled with a carry-on backpack with a sleeping bag and air mattress. I have finally found the ideal light-weight travel gear and can handle -5 degrees and up. I doubt that many of you travel like me, but we all find our own way. I feel very lucky.
My eventual travel goals: 1. All 193 UN countries 2. The most traveled Canadian ever and to remain there for a long time 3. High in World Heritage Sites 4. High in the Nomad Mania Series General Ranking and 5. Top five of TBT.
2022 country list. *Indicates countries I have been to before, but saw different regions
Trinidad & Tobago
Guyana. Kaieteur Waterfall was a highlight.
Suriname
French Guiana (territory of France). Didn’t check into immigration on either side.
Brazil*. Using one flight, an Amazon River cruise and mainly buses, I saw 26/27 states in Brazil. The buses in Brazil are the best in the world with wide, almost fully reclining seats.
I was robbed by an Uber driver in Salvador and not being able to function without a computer or Kindle, I returned home. My Covid PCR was positive, so I spent my 10-day quarantine in Mexico City, where I had last been in 1980 when I climbed Popocatepetl.
Mexico*. Mexico City. My favourite country.
Canada*
St Martin/Sint Maarten (territories of France/Netherlands). This was the start of a 14-day cruise through the Lesser Antilles (my first cruise) starting on March 7. I was joined by my great friend, Leon Arishenkoff.
Dominica
Barbados
Grenada
St Lucia. The Pitons
British Virgin Islands (territory of UK). The Baths, huge granite boulders on the beach on Virgin Gorda, wading and sand. Beautiful.
Antigua & Barbuda
St Kitts & Nevis
Anguilla (territory of UK)
Guadeloupe (territory of France)
Dominican Republic. Rented a car.
Haiti. It is now impossible to go because of all the gang violence. I was lucky to spend two days in Port au Prince. The Citadel, a WHS near Cap Hatien in the north is one of my all-time favourites.
El Salvador. My last country in Central America. Rented a car.
Paraguay. My last country in South America. Rented a car. I have only one country left in the Western Hemisphere (St Vincent & the Grenadines)
Brazil*. Back to where I left off in my quest to see all the 27 states of Brazil.
Jamaica. Rented a car. Blue Mountains beautiful.
Bahamas
Canada*. It was May and I flew home for a few months’ vacation and to organize my life.
Libya. Sept 14-19. Tour. Three great WHS – Ghadamis, Sabratha, Leptis Magna, the best Roman ruin in the world.
Iraq*. I’ve been to Kurdistan but returned to see the south. I may be the first person to rent a car and drive independently without a driver or guide. It was a police check nightmare, but I saw everywhere from Basra, near Kuwait, to Mosul in the northwest.
Chad
Niger. Tour, the start of 6 countries with a Vancouver organized group (some too dangerous to travel without a guide and to split costs). Had a very dishonest tour guide.
Burkina Faso. Tour. We arrived a week after a coup and a Thai traveler missing when crossing the Mali border, held for three weeks and eventually paid a ransom of $150,000. We crossed the border 2 weeks later safely.
Mali*. Tour. The world’s largest mud mosque in Djenne. Would love to go to Timbuktu, Mopti and Gao but they are off-limits because of jihadist activity.
Mauritania*. Great 7-day 4WD trip through the desert in the north.
Algeria. Tour. Maybe the highlight of the year was the far south near the Libyan border – 5-days camping in a spectacular landscape of eroded sandstone and 10,000-year-old rock art (giraffes, elephants, and cattle) that had not been in this environment since then.
Sao Tome & Principe
Central African Republic. Tour. Depressing poverty.
Paris* – 12 days of normalcy. My third time in this beautiful city.
Guinea Bissau
Senegal*
Gambia. Two WHS including Kunta Kinte, where Roots originated. Finished West and North Africa except Equatorial Guinea, a very difficult visa.
Egypt*. Cairo to get my Sudan visa. Went to the Red Sea, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Nile River cruise on a felucca, Aswan and Abu Simbel on my way to Sudan.
Sudan
Ethiopia. Addis, Afar (at 125m below sea level, one of the lowest places on Earth), Lalibela stone churches, Gondar, Simien Mountains 3-day trek. New Years Day was spent here.
2023
Somalia. Two days in Mogadishu (cost US$1250 because of all the armed security)
Eritrea. A lovely country to visit.
Djibouti
Somaliland
Canada*. I will return home only long enough to get a new passport – this one was almost 3 years-old and most during Covid. It had no pages left and I had used both the Observation and Don’t Stamp This Page pages. I try to control immigration officers to stamp where you want them to. I use paper clips to remove pages from access. Smile, greet, and be very pleasant.
Plans for 2023: Return to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to see some regions missed and NM series sites. Bangladesh, Afghanistan. Pakistan to see Gilgit and go over the Korakoram Pass to China to see Anna and more regions and WHS missed on my previous 5 trips to China.
Yemen – Socrata Island
South Sudan. Tour April 25-28. The youngest country in the world.
Return to East Africa to finish all East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Comoros and Madagascar. Equatorial Guinea. Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, 11 South Pacific countries. That should leave only St Vincent & the Grenadines for country #193.
