What’s the Password? I kept going back to my teenage years, when an older co-worker at the radio station I worked for used to tell me that the secret word was “Afghanistan Banana Stand.” I always thought that was funny, and never in a million years could I have ever imagined that I would actually…
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One young man even made it a point to request that when I return to the US, I tell all my friends that, “We are not terrorists…we want peace. We welcome Americans to come visit and see.” It was very moving. One Wrong Move… Mom had been warning me for years that “getting old sucks.”…
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No-Go Yemen doesn’t get visitors. Not because it’s uninteresting—far from it—but because it’s a war zone, a place where five years of conflict have ripped apart lives and created one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet. Getting a visa is nearly impossible, flights are mostly grounded, and for years it was a country…
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Oman and Chill If I could sum up Oman in one word: chill. Also: safe, calm, clean and nice people; these are the things that I loved about Oman during my two-night stay in December of 2019. My original itinerary had me in Muscat for only a few hours: arriving from Kathmandu with just enough…
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Nepal? No, Pal. I’ve never wanted to leave a place quicker than this. Even before returning to the hotel from my initial, introductory “walk around the neighborhood,” I’d conceded defeat. I wanted outta here on the next flight. There’s no way I could remain here for three whole nights and not have a sour attitude….
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Bhutan I’d nearly forgot about all of the articles and YouTube videos I’d seen touting Bhutan’s Paro International Airport as one of the most dangerous places in the world to land, but I quickly remembered this once the plane hit an air pocket, passengers let out a howl, and the flight attendants grabbed on to…
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This week I was honored to be guest on fellow traveler’s Francis Tapon‘s travel podcast, WanderLearn. I had a great time talking travel with Francis…you can listen below! Here’s Francis’s description of the episode: In early 2020, Randy Williams has been to 142 countries. Although this is remarkable, it’s especially impressive when you consider that…
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I definitely felt like a guest in someone else’s house–someone’s sacred home–so I kept the camera in my pocket for most of the day, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells with nothing but my senses. It was such a special place to be. Mission to Myanmar Myanmar is the kind of country that blows your…
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