Quickie It broke my heart to spend so little time in such an amazing city as Edinburgh…it was not my intention, but sometimes you just have to deal with inflexible flight schedules. I’d found an amazing deal on a British Airways business class ticket, mid-pandemic, back in March of 2021. The airlines were almost giving…
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BEEN I’ll start by noting that Northern Ireland is not its own country. Well, I guess it depends on who you ask; but it is definitely not one of the 193 fully recognized nations that I’m on a mission to visit. It belongs to the UK, just like Scotland, Wales and a handful of others….
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There’s a New Stan in Town Back in August I visited my very first micro nation: The Republic of Molossia. Not only did I have a blast–my favorite part was meeting the President–but I left inspired. Dammit, I want a country of my own now! So The Republic of Slowjamastan was born. “Dude, I saw…
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Third and Final Stan (This Run) As soon as I reached the immigration booths, I realized the people here were not the same as in the previous two “Stans.” The lady actually looked Persian – nothing like the folks I saw in Uzbekistan and definitely not like Kyrgyzstan. I’d been told that Tajikistan has a…
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Stan Number Two (See Number One HERE) I was pretty jazzed about flying into Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airways. Who gets to do that? The flight attendants were pleasant (and pretty), the safety video was not only well produced but fantastically cultural. The food was decent (and different). This concludes my review of Uzbekistan Airways. I’m…
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Stan Number One Sigh. The “Stans…” a magical and mystical group of five Central Asian nations that most Americans have never even heard of. There’s Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. I’d come to memorize those five names over the past few years (and even their capitals) as my mission to visit every country began…
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Well It’s About Time The most common response I’d been handed after telling my friends I was going to Russia: “You haven’t been to Russia yet???” Well there was no particular reason, really. There are 193 countries on the planet and I’m not necessarily seeing them in any specific order – besides trying to get…
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Nail Biter I held my breath and tried to look natural while I was waiting for the immigration officer to stamp me in. I never know where to look while they have my passport. Do I look at them? Or look away? I was just about to let out a sigh of relief when I…
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