If there was one underlying and unofficial “theme” of this July trip of twelve African nations, it would simply be the reminder and reenforcement that country-to-country, this continent is just so different. Different languages, customs, appearances, economics, and even different stress-levels. Just days ago, I was in Nigeria, and although I loved visiting Lagos, the…
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Straight Outta Compton “I want to visit Compton,” exclaimed Motz, as we barreled down the highway listening to Bruno Mars. Never in my travels had I met anyone who told me they wanted to see Compton, but it made sense: Motz was infatuated with American hip-hop and R&B, especially the gangsta rap by artists from…
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Womp-womp-womp. That’s the “sad trombone” sound effect. I’ve failed you on South Africa. I got nothin.’ I had one night in Johannesburg. The locals call it Joburg. I checked into my hotel, had dinner with some radio peeps and went to bed. The next morning I had breakfast in the hotel and then headed over…
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The one thing I quickly learned about Africa, on my first trip, was just how astonishingly different the various countries in this continent can be from each other. So very vastly distinct, and nothing would remind me of this more than traveling from Nigeria to Namibia: nations living on the same continent, but that might…
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Nigeria wasn’t supposed to happen. My eight-country Africa jaunt was going to start in South Africa and end in Kenya, with the six countries along the way nowhere near Nigeria. I’d had this trip planned for ten months, and everything was set. It was only about three weeks before the big journey that I realized…
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First Impression: The Women of Jordan, Stunning. The Uber Drivers, D!cks. A Jordanian co-worker back home warned me that the beauty of the women here would captivate me. She wasn’t lying. Before we even took off from Al Najaf, Iraq, the flight attendant-stunners aboard my Royal Jordanian flight confirmed the caution I’d received. Same with…
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Honestly, before stumbling upon the greatest shop that I’ve ever seen in an airport last week, I would’ve never even thought this would be a category. I mean, airport shops? I’ve never been even slightly intrigued by them. Sure, I’ve seen some cool gift shops, and the electronics stores in Panama’s Tocumen airport are pretty…
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Reject Well damn. I’ve never been able to take rejection well, so when I received news that Iran had turned down my visa application, I was crushed. “Dear Randall, Unfortunately your visa was rejected.” That was the email from the tour company in Tehran that had submitted my documents to the government on my behalf….
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