.
Haiti - I will need about a month off work to climb Denali in Alaska in 09. This means that if I will need to save all the vacation
days for about a year and no more long trips until after the climb. So my plan to continue visiting new countries will mean that I
will have to focus on small nearby countries like Central America and the Caribbean. Basically places I can visit where I won't
need two or three weeks to see the whole country. Since I'm trying to knock out the most dangerous countries first, Haiti seems
like a good place to go this coming winter. I've also been making a lot of progress in this trip so it's looking very good.
1/10/07 - Some photos of Washington DC and Virginia have just been added. I didn't take the greatest photos but since DC is
so close I'll constantly upgrade it over time. After living here for 25 years I finally visited the area as a tourist!
News & Updates
Three Most Recent Trips
Next Three Possible Trips
Sudan - 1/08
Burundi/Congo - Like I just mentioned above, in my quest to knock out the most dangerous countries I would like to do my
next big trip in a sub-saharan Africa to maybe try Burundi or Congo. I feel like I've been doing a lot of traveling to Islamic
nations recently (Afghanistan, and Sudan) so I'd like to give those a break and explore central Africa.
The States - In March 2007 I decided to visit all of the 50 states and treat them each as different countries. A few weeks
before I would never haven taken a trip inside the US because I'd rather visit a new country, but after a short trip to Boston I
finally realized how much I've been missing out. I decided to start from scratch and revisit all the states, even those I used to live
in. Since March 2007 I have added 17 new states to my website. My next big adventure will be climbing Denali in Alaska, so
that will be a new state and another 7 summits added. Before the climb I might train in Colorado or Washington state.
2/1/07 - I have made my trip to Egypt and Jordan, and did everything I had planned on. The new pages are also up and running.
3/9/07 - My trip to New England was 100% successful. I was able to climb Mt. Washington and also visit parts of New
Hampshire, and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The only bad part of this trip was the weather, which was mostly
overcast and extremely cold, so some photos didn't come out as well as I had hoped.
3/28/07 - Back in business! I received my new passport today so now I'm able to start planning again for trips. My old passport
was damaged during my trip to
Russia and had to be returned for a brand new one. I immediately started the visa process for
Iran and I hope there will still be time for me to go.
4/5/07 - I'm back from my trip to Puerto Rico. Unfortunately I didn't get to do everything I had planned on but I did do the
majority of it. The Arecibo Observatory was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I didn't make it out to Culebra Island.
4/30/07 - I did a short trip to Maryland and Delaware and have added the pictures already for those places. I bought airfare to
Turkey on May 19th, so I'll be going there for sure now. If I get the visa to Iran then I'll combine a trip there with Turkey, if that
doesn't work out then I'll probably go to Turkey and other places like Lebanon, Syria or countries in eastern Europe. I probably
won't know about the visa to Iran until the second week of May so it gives me very little time to make this work.
6/10/07 - The trip to Iran didn't work out so instead I went to Southern Africa. With only a few days until my trip to Iran and no
visa, I was able to cancel my flight for credit and instead went to Africa. I was actually very happy with what I got to do with
such short notice. There are always so many more things to see but overall I feel that I experienced a lot. I traveled to
Botswana,
Namibia and South Africa. I definitely have a lot more to see in all places, but in Namibia I accomplished the most. When I got
home I found that Iran did give me the visa while I was traveling in Africa. The visa is good for 3 more months, but now that I've
used up all of my vacation days I really doubt I'll be able to go.
6/26/07 - My friend and I spontaneously decided to do a weekend trip to West Virginia. I didn't expect much but I was pretty
surprised with how much fun I had. We mostly went hiking up in the mountains, but we also visited the capital Charleston and the
nuclear bunker created by the US government to be a back up location if DC was ever under attack.
7/9/07 - Finally after growing up and seeing Yellowstone in both cartoons and all over National Geographic, I got to see it in  
person.
Yellowstone was definitely the focus of my trip, but I visited other parts of Wyoming, drove through the eastern part of
Idaho, and spent two days in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took me a while, but I created new pages for all three states, as well a
separate one dedicated to
Yellowstone National Park.
8/13/07 - The Mt. Garibaldi climb I had set out for was met with defeat because of poor weather near the summit. We got
within a few hours of the summit but terrible visibility forced us to turn back around. The next day I had pretty good weather and
I returned to Vancouver and also explored some of the wilderness of British Columbia,
Canada.
8/22/07 - Some old friends from the Marines got together in Wisconsin for a small VMFA-115 reunion. I hadn't seen either of
them in a few years so it was good catching up. I also was able to see most of the state so I added
Wisconsin to my site.
9/10/07 - The state of Missouri has been conquered! I went to Missouri and hiked in the Ozarks, visited St. Louis and Kansas
city as well as other places of interest. I also visited parts of
Illinois even though that wasn't the focus of my trip. I'll have to return
there later to see Chicago and the capital.
9/24/07 - I think I've been visiting too many states in the US. My next place will definitely be out of the country other than a local
weekend road trips like the one I did to
Pennsylvania last weekend. As of now I plan to visit Japan, Malasyia and Brunei again
in late October early November. Unfortunately it will be the rainy season in southeast Asia but it seems like the best trip to do
logistically. I've been to
Japan many times so I'll do better this time at exploring Tokyo while in Malaysia and Brunei I'll have a lot
of new places to explore.
9/1/07 - It seems I have over trained for my next mountain climb and I have somehow hurt my hip. It really worries me since I'm
afraid it will get worse or delay my training so I won't be in shape come this winter. I plan to rest for a few weeks and hope it
gets better. If I can't climb Aconcagua this winter I have no idea what I'll do instead.
11/6/07 - Another two countries have been knocked out, I visited Malaysia and Brunei plus some new parts of Japan. The
photos have all been uploaded already. I actually have only 4 weeks until I'm supposed to go to Sudan. The visa process started
in mid October before I did this trip to Asia so I'll check on the embassy when I return.
Afghanistan & UAE - 9/08
11/26/07 - This past weekend I visited New York City and added the photos to my site, staying mostly in Manhattan. New
York City was an impressive place, its hard to believe its only 4 hours away and I've never been there before!
1/5/08 - Georgia, Florida and a few more pictures of South Carolina have been added to my website. I did a trip for New
Years and went to Savannah,
Georgia camping on Cumberland Island, St. Augustine and Disney World in Florida, then to Hilton
Head
South Carolina. I still have much more to do and see in all 3 states, such as Miami, Florida Keys, and the city Atlanta.
1/23/08 - I went to Sudan for vacation and survived! Of all the countries I've been to, Sudan had the most strict laws regarding
photography, and ironically I put more photos of Sudan than any other country on my website. I didn't meet any travelers in
Sudan except for those by the Red Sea. Other westerners I saw in the capital where all there for humanitarian work or business.
One man I met congratulated me for going out, as he said everyeone else he knew only stayed at their hotel after work. I saw
many parts of Sudan, from the center, the north and a road trip I did to the east as well. Click
here for photos.
Aconcagua,  Bolivia  & Chile - 3/08
2/15/08 - I just left Santiago Chile a few days ago and I'm currently in Mendoza, Argentina ready to climb Mt. Aconcagua. I
have already put new photos of Santiago and Mendoza on my website, but will not make any other updates until March.
3/5/08 - The top of the western hemisphere was reached! I climbed Aconcagua and have checked off another one of the 7
summits off my list. At 22,841 feet this is the second highest of the 7 summits, which means the only higher mountain I have is
Mt. Everest. I still have some days off until I have to return to home, so I will visit
Bolivia or some new local country before
heading back. From now on, I will continue to make updates daily to my website until its time to work again.
3/30/08 - Coming back to reality wasn't as hard as I had expected. I've been home for almost two weeks already and working
again after my one month hiatus. Since I was gone for so long I imagine it will be a few months until my next overseas trip. I must
use my canceled Iran flight's credit before the end of April, which means I have to decide where I'm going pretty soon, even
though I can purchase the flight for later this year. Right now my eyes are set on Algeria, but it seems difficult to go there as there
aren't many tourist facilities or guides so it will be difficult to organize. My next state will likely be North Carolina once the trees
get nice and green and the weather is constantly warm. I've been to North Carolina many times but never to places like Charlotte
or Nags Head. Virginia beach is also on my list, I should definitely go there sometime with my friends this summer.
4/13/08 - What did I do this weekend? I went to Baltimore Maryland, worked around the house and I met the Vice President of
Afghanistan. The 2nd VP of Afghanistan was in Virginia to have a meeting with Dick Cheney and I got a rare opportunity to
meet him. I added the photo in my
Virginia page.  Also added are some new photos of  from a weekend trip I did to Baltimore.
Baltimore is only about an hour away but I hadn't been in almost 15 years!
5/28/08 - Tennessee, has been added to my site. I wish the weather had been better; I had many overcast days and some of the
hardest thunderstorms I've seen in years. When I did get some clear days I enjoyed Nashville and met up with an old friend in
Memphis. On future trips to Tennessee I'll make a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains my next priority. Now about new trips, I
know I've been doing a lot of talk about evil countries but I think I'll likely go to a normal destination like Germany or
somewhere else in western Europe. My main motivation is to make my Europe page worth visiting, since I have only a few
pictures and have never taken a trip there other than when I was in the military or to climb Mt. Elbrus. I think this will happen in
the summer or early fall. I hope to do a lot of traveling to other countries once I get my vacation time by up around the summer.
Welcome to my web page! My name is George and I'm someone with a huge passion for adventure and world travel. My website currently has 1,920
pictures taken in over 50 destinations from all seven continents, including three of the 'seven summits'. I have a dream of visiting every country in the
world and will try my best to share my travels on this site through photos and my personal experiences. Click on a continent below to get started.
Sudan
Bolivia
Malaysia
Japan
Washington DC
Mt. Aconcagua
7/8/08 - My trip to North Carolina and Virginia beach for July 4th is at an end. I stayed in Virginia for the fireworks and then
spent the rest of the time in the outer banks at the beach. For my next trip it looks like my opportunity to go to Afghanistan has
come back and this time it looks more promising than before. As of now I do expect to go, time off work has been approved
and I am in the visa process. The only thing to stop me right now is the taliban, if they continue to be evil I am worried my
contact in the country will call off the trip. A few days ago they put a big bomb at the Indian embassy that was the worst attack
in the past 5 years. Hopefully things won't get worse and I won't have to cancel. I will also visit the UAE on this trip in Sept.
8/6/08 - The past couple weeks I have added a few photos to Maryland and Washington DC. Nothing special just mostly
normal weekend stuff, but I did get a photo of a fight in
DC! I'm mostly writing to confirm that my trip to Afghanistan is a go and
I will be leaving on Sept 3rd, actually 4 weeks from today. Recently violence in Afghanistan has been higher than Iraq, so I
consider Afghanistan to be the second most dangerous country in the world after Somalia. If I can knock out this country it will
be a huge step forward in my mission, checking off one of the most deadly and least traveled countries in the world.
9/1/08 - I added another state, New Jersey, to my site. The main reason for this trip was so I could get some travel practice with
my new camera before my trip to the middle east and Afghanistan. Those will be separate adventures, but New Jersey itself was
definitely a unique state to me, and not necessarily in a good way! I came across many of the nasty cities that I have always
heard of, but was also impressed with some of the state's nicer areas, mostly in the south such as Atlantic City. In any case I
have to go to all 50 states and New Jersey is no exception. I have only 3 states remaining in the northeast to add to my site.
9/20/08 - My mission to Afghanistan was completed, I visited the capital Kabul, the city of Herat in the west and the city of
Mazar e Sharif in the north. Some things I'd still like to see in Afghanistan are Bamiyan, the Band I Amir lakes, the Hindu-Kush
Mountains, and Minaret of Jam. I was very impressed with how much the country has to offer, I'd probably need at least a full
month to see everything. I added 126 photos of
Afghanistan to my site, plus the countries UAE and the Netherlands. No idea
when my next trip out of the country will be since I will now need to focus on climbing Denali in May 09. I have my eyes on a
short trip to Mexico to see Mexico City, the Mayan pyramids, and to climb Pico de Orizaba for more Denali experience.
Another option is to do a trip to Haiti, the western hemisphere's most dangerous destination.
10/8/08 - I've tried very hard to find a way to get into Iraq but no luck so far. I did however get some help for Haiti that I think
seems reliable enough so I expect to go this country next. Haiti is considered one of the top 10 most dangerous countries and is
easily the most dangerous in the western hemisphere. Speaking of top 10
most dangerous countries I created a list of what I
think they are and why since every website has different views.
See the most dangerous countries list. My current travel plan is to
go to Haiti sometime around January, do a 1 week climbing course out in Washington State in March, the climb Denali in May.
If I am able to do this that will be 3 of the top 10 most dangerous countries off the list and 4 of the 7 summits climbed, making
some serious gains in my mission! After Denali I almost definitely want to go to Africa to a place like Congo or Burundi.