Travel Advisories
My family lived 120 nights a year on the road for more than a decade. These are brief notes from slowly driving across 45 countries between Nonavut and Antarctica.
⚠️ Spend a few weeks in the summer driving from Stavanger, Norway to Alesund with stops in Bergen and Geiranger. Eat seafood everyday. Hike Preikestolen, but don’t take any kids under 10.
⚠️ Spend a summer in Croatia and Greece. Don’t miss Plitvice Lakes, Split, Dubrovnik, and Hvar.
Spend a few days in Athens, then charter a catamaran in the Cyclades and see how many islands you can visit. Rent scooters and ride every square inch of them.
⚠️ The most underrated museum in the world is the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Portugal. Don’t miss Time Out Market and pasteis de nata.
⚠️ After living 150 consecutive days of perfect Autumn weather driving from Norway to Bulgaria and 150 consecutive days of perfect Spring weather driving from Portugal to Scotland—Autumn is 100 times better than Spring. 🍁
⚠️ Spend the end of summer driving from Whitefish, Montana to Jasper, Canada. Don’t miss Going-to-the-Sun road both ways, Banff, Lake Louise, and the Columbia Icefield. Fly fish streamers with a guide every chance you get.
⚠️ Catch a permit on a fly rod in the Florida Keys, shoot a hogfish with a Hawaiian sling on a free dive, and tarpon fish Boca Grande with a guide.
⚠️ Austin, Texas has the best food in America. Los Angeles is second. Chicago is third. Everywhere else is tied for last.
⚠️ Spend a summer in Michigan. Don’t miss Sleeping Bear Dunes, Independence Day in Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Harbor Springs. Drive the 119 to Mackinaw Island. Rent bikes and use the word “fudgies” to describe all the tourists. 😂
⚠️ The best skiing in America is in the cottonwood canyons Southeast of the Great Salt Lake because of the lake effect snow. The dry snow makes Park City the best ski town in America. Plus, it has a Whole Foods, Walmart, movie theater, and loads of great restaurants. Ski the powder days by yourself, the next few days with family, and leave the rest for tourists. 🎿
⚠️ After visiting every beach from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to Key West, Florida and Vancouver, British Columbia to San Diego, California—the best beach is Carmel-by-the-Sea. The weather is perfect, food is great, dogs can be off leash, and fires are legal. You can hike, bike, surf, fish, or golf almost every day of the year. The best kept secrets are Cannon Beach (OR), Morro Bay (CA), Falmouth (MA), Prince Edward Island, Seabrook (WA), and anywhere along 30A in Florida. The scariest home owners associations are Sea Ranch (CA) and Kiawah Island (SC).
⚠️ Spend a Southern summer in an RV on the South Island of New Zealand. Don’t miss Punakaiki Beach, Christchurch, Akaroa, Jackson’s Retreat, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Lake Tekapo, Hokitika Gorge, and go fishing off Kaikoura.
⚠️ I have hiked on Antarctica, driven the “Road to Nowhere” out of Iqaluit, and visited many ends of the Earth in between. No matter what continent you are on, most ends of the world will have two Australians camping on the beach with huge smiles on their faces. They will have good coffee, good beer, and know where to find the cheapest taco within 100 km.
⚠️ Spend a summer driving across Oregon. Float the Deschutes in Bend and play Crosswater in Sunriver. Get pizza and e-foil in Hood River. Hike anywhere along the drive from The Dalles to Astoria. Spend a week in Cannon Beach near the tidal pool north of town. Ride north on an electric skateboard at low tide to reach One Eyed Willie’s cave. Stop and chat at all the bonfires on the beach at night. Surf Oswald West. Rent a house in Newport across the street from Ossie’s. Surf everyday and eat seafood every night. Rent a house on the beach just north of Bandon Dunes and play all their golf courses. Rent ATVs in Oregon Dunes and drive Horsfall Beach. Feed the bears at West Coast Game Park Safari.
⚠️ If you want to read all the other notes I wrote to my former self, read:
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