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DISCLAIMER
Traveler's Exploits Club

Inaugurated by Jorge Sánchez, adjusted and maintained by Sascha Grabow

Jorge observed that several web-based Traveler Clubs created lists of countries trying to assess, in a sort of competition, the most traveled persons. Nevertheless, those lists only reflect the quantity of countries and territories, but not the time spent in them. It isn't enough to buy a book, you have to read it. Some buy all the 193 books (representing the 193 countries of the United Nations) but they do not read all their pages, just the cover. Thus, some members of those clubs fly to Addis Ababa, for instance, spend two days downtown visiting a museum and perhaps a cathedral then fly back home, missing Lalibela, the Omo Valley tribes, Axum, the walled city of Harar, etc. Traveling that way is like going to the cinema, buying a ticket and, immediately, going back home without watching the movie! Some others have hired a car in Europe and "visited” ten countries or more in one day, or taken an airplane in Puerto Rico and flew, like a ping pong ball, to twenty different airports in twenty Caribbean islands, because just for touching an airport for ten seconds, even in transit, that place counts as visited, and have thus accumulated countries "visited” faster than they cook churros in Spain.

But, how to recognize a qualitative traveler from a quantitative one?

In order to answer to this question he has created a list of 222 Travelers exploits that is shown below. Jorge tried to select the most exciting exploits and at the same time to embrace many different countries. The number is fixed at 222 exploits.

Don't be afraid to join this club. It doesn't promote competition and has as its sole aim to inspire passion pointing out goals for the travelers. It's rather a Travel Lover's "Cenacle” since the exploits can’t be compared. Who can say what is more valuable, climbing the Kilimanjaro or navigating during three weeks from Kinshasa to Kisangani along the Congo River, boarding the Transsiberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok or walking El Camino from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, participating in the Chinese New Year in Singapore or admiring the Iguazu Falls?

The exploits aren't of a superhuman nature, such as crossing Antarctica on a donkey, or swimming from Buenos Aires to the Canary Islands, while pursuing them will continuously enrich your world travels.


TRAINS
1 ‐ Have you traveled in the Transiberian, Transmanchurian, or in the Transmongolian train?
2 ‐ Have you boarded the Shinkansen?
3 ‐ Have you taken the train from Nouadhibou to Choum, or viceversa?
4 ‐ Have you traveled in the train from Chihuahua to Los Mochis via La Barranca del Cobre?
5 ‐ Have you reached Lhasa by train?
6 ‐ Have you taken the Indian Pacific train in Australia?
7 ‐ Have you taken in Argentina the Tren a las Nubes?
8 ‐ Have you boarded the toy trains in India?
9 ‐ Have you taken the train from Dar es Salam to Kigoma?
10 ‐ Have you traveled in the train from Vancouver to Quebec?



RIVERS
11 ‐ Have you taken the local boat along the Amazonas from Belem to Tabatinga, or at least to Manaus?
12 ‐ Have you taken a local boat in the Yangtze to Shanghai from, at least, Woohan?
13 ‐ Have you taken a felucca through the Nile, at least from Luxor to Aswan?
14 ‐ Have you traveled in ex Zaire, from Kinshasa to Kisangani, along the Congo River?
15 ‐ Have you taken a local boat along the River Madre de Dios?
16 ‐ Have you traveled by boat between cities on the Danube?
17 ‐ Have you boarded a canoe along the Sepik River?
18 ‐ Have you travelled through the Yenisey river from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka?
19 ‐ Have you navigated along the Ganges River?
20 ‐ Have you navigated along the Mekong River?



TRANSPORTS
21 ‐ Have you traveled by local bus more than 1000 kilometres to reach one destination?
22 ‐ Have you traveled in trucks for over 1000 kilometres?
23 ‐ Have you traveled on bicycle, during your journeys, over 1000 kilometres?
24 ‐ Have you traveled on motorcycle, during your journeys, for over 1000 kilometres?
25 ‐ Have you traveled in cargo boats?
26 ‐ Have you hitchhicked over 1000 kilometres?
27 ‐ Have you hitchhicked (successfully) on boats?
28 ‐ Have you hitchhiked (successfully) on planes?
29 ‐ Have you traveled on an elephant for over 50 kilometres?
30 ‐ Have you traveled on camel for over 50 kilometres?



TREKKINGS
31 ‐ Have you made on foot the Camino de Santiago?
32 ‐ Have you finished the Kokoda Track Trail?
33 ‐ Have you made the Milford Trail?
34 ‐ Have you crossed the Darien gap?
35 ‐ Have you made the Sendero del Inca from the kilometre 88?
36 ‐ Have you made the Annapurnas from Pokhara?
37 ‐ Have you crossed on foot Zanskar?
38 ‐ Have you trekked in the Pindos Mountains?
39 ‐ Have you trekked around Kailas Mountain?
40 ‐ Have you made the Kaibab Trail?



MOUNTAINS
41 ‐ Have you seen the Everest?
42 ‐ Have you seen the Kilimanjaro?
43 ‐ Have you seen the Aconcagua?
44 ‐ Have you seen the Elbrus?
45 ‐ Have you seen the Ararat?
46 ‐ Have you seen the Mc Kinley?
47 ‐ Have you seen Emei Shan?
48 ‐ Have you seen the Fuji Yama?
49 ‐ Have you seen Le Piton des Neiges?
50 ‐ Have you seen the Mount Sinai?



ISLANDS
51 ‐ Have you been in Ithaca Island?
52 ‐ Have you been in Agalega Island?
53 ‐ Have you been in the Diomede Islands?
54 ‐ Have you been in Mozambique Island?
55 ‐ Have you been in Taquile Island (inside Titicaca Lake)?
56 ‐ Have you been in Samosir Island (inside Lake Toba)?
57 ‐ Have you been in Valaam Island (inside Ladoga Lake)?
58 ‐ Have you been in Isla del Maiz?
59 ‐ Have you been in Huapi Island (inside Lago Ranco)?
60 ‐ Have you been in Majuli island, in the middle of the Brahmaputra River?

LAKES
61 ‐ Have you been in the Baikal?
62 ‐ Have you been in the Lake Balaton?
63 ‐ Have you been in Tana Lake?
64 ‐ Have you been in Inle Lake?
65 ‐ Have you been in the Tanganika Lake?
66 ‐ Have you been in the Victoria Lake?
67 ‐ Have you been in the Lake Issyk Kul?
68 ‐ Have you seen Lake Louise, Alberta?
69 ‐ Have you been in Lake Chad?
70 ‐ Have you been in the Lagunas de Montebello, Chiapas?



WATERFALLS
71 ‐ Have you admired the Iguazu Falls?
72 ‐ Have you admired the Niagara Falls?
73 ‐ Have you seen Victoria Falls?
74 ‐ Have you been in Salto Angel?
75 ‐ Have you been in Tissisat Falls?
76 ‐ Have you seen Langfoss Falls?
77 ‐ Have you been in Nohkalikai Fall (Cherrapunjee, Meghalaya)?
78 ‐ Have you seen Yosemite Falls?
79 ‐ Have you seen Les Chutes de Gavarnie?
80 ‐ Have you seen Kaieteur Falls?



PEOPLE
81 ‐ Have you visited the Kafir Kalash?
82 ‐ Have you met the Pygmies?
83 ‐ Have you lived with the Tukanos in the Amazonas?
84 ‐ Have you met the Falashas?
85 ‐ Have you visited the Ifugaos?
86 ‐ Have you been in the Himba villages?
87 ‐ Have you been with the Dayak tribes?
88 ‐ Have you met the Aborigines of Australia?
89 ‐ Have you been with the Dani tribes in New Guinea Island?
90 ‐ Have you met the Jarawas?



NATURE
91 ‐ Have you visited Yellowstone Park?
92 ‐ Have you navigated on the Okavango Delta?
93 ‐ Have you crossed the Salar de Uyuni?
94 ‐ Have you visited Lake Nakuru National Park?
95 ‐ Have you visited Manu Park?
96 ‐ Have you climbed Ayer’s Rock?
97 ‐ Have you seen the paintings in the Tassili Najer?
98 ‐ Have you admired Perito Moreno glacier?
99 ‐ Have you been in the Forest of Cedars at Becharre, Lebanon?
100 ‐ Have you seen the Great Reef Barrier in Australia?



ANIMALS
101 ‐ Have you seen gorillas in their natural milieu?
102 ‐ Have you seen lemurs in Madagascar or Comoros islands?
103 ‐ Have you had a koala in your arms?
104 ‐ Have you seen the dragons of Komodo?
105 ‐ Have you seen condors in their natural milieu?
106 ‐ Have you ever seen polar bears in their natural milieu?
107 ‐ Have you seen whales?
108 ‐ Have you seen cheetahs in freedom?
109 ‐ Have you seen bears panda in their natural milieu?
110 ‐ Have you seen hippopotamus in their natural milieu?



MYTHICAL CITIES
111 ‐ Have you been in the City of the Dead, outskirts of Cairo?
112 ‐ Have you reached Lo Mustang?
113 ‐ Have you reached Timbuktu?
114 ‐ Have you been in Jericho?
115 ‐ Have you been in Chitral?
116 ‐ Have you visited Mrauk-U?
117 ‐ Have you been in Babylonia?
118 ‐ Have you been in Kandahar?
119 ‐ Have you been in Isfahan?
120 ‐ Have you been in Khiva?

MUSEUMS
121 ‐ Have you visited Le Louvre?
122 ‐ Have you been in El Prado?
123 ‐ Have you been in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg?
124 ‐ Have you visited the Galleria degli Uffizi?
125 ‐ Have you visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York?
126 ‐ Have you visited the British Museum?
127 ‐ Have you visited the Egyptian Museum, Cairo?
128 ‐ Have you visited the Museo de Antropologia, Mexico DF?
129 ‐ Have you visited El Museo del Oro, in Bogota?
130 ‐ Have you visited the National Museum, Baghdad?



ARCHAEOLOGY
131 ‐ Have you seen Persepolis?
132 ‐ Have you been in Copan Maya ruins?
133 ‐ Have you seen the Atlantes of Tula?
134 ‐ Have you seen the ruins of Great Zimbabwe?
135 ‐ Have you admired Angkor Watt?
136 ‐ Have you seen the Nazca Lines?
137 ‐ Have you visited Nan Madol?
138 ‐ Have you been in Knossos?
139 ‐ Have you seen the ruins of Merv/Mary?
140 ‐ Have you seen San Agustin Archaeological Park?



MARKETS
141 ‐ Have you visited the Fetish Market, in Lome?
142 ‐ Have you been in the Mercado Indio of Otavalo?
143 ‐ Have you been in Djemma El Fna market, Marrakesh?
144 ‐ Have you been in the Sunday Market of Kashgar?
145 ‐ Have you been in the Floating Market, Bangkok?
146 ‐ Have you been in the market of Antananarivo?
147 ‐ Have you been in the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul?
148 ‐ Have you visited Chicken Street market in Kabul?
149 ‐ Have you been in Le marche des Puces, Paris?
150 ‐ Have you been in the market of Chichicastenango?

RELIGIONS
151 ‐ Have you visited the Sikh Golden Temple of Amritsar?
152 ‐ Have you been in Lumbini Buddha birth place?
153 ‐ Have you visited at least one of the seven Bahai temples?
154 ‐ Have you touched the Wall of the Solomon Temple, Jerusalem?
155 ‐ Have you been in at least one of the twenty Mount Athos monasteries?
156 ‐ Have you been in Etchmiadzin?
157 ‐ Have you been inside the Potala Palace, Lhasa?
158 ‐ Have you been in Lalish, the holy place of the Yazidis?
159 ‐ Have you visited the Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican?
160 ‐ Have you been in the site of the Kurukshetra battle?

CONTINENTS
161 ‐ Have you crossed Africa overland from the Mediterranean to Cape Town?
162 ‐ Have you crossed Africa overland from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean?
163 ‐ Have you crossed Australia overland from coast to coast (Sydney to Perth)?
164 ‐ Have you crossed South America overland from Colombia to Tierra de Fuego?
165 ‐ Have you crossed Central America overland from Mexico to Panama?
166 ‐ Have you crossed North America overland from the Atlantic to the Pacific?
167 ‐ Have you crossed South America overland from Brazil to the Pacific ocean?
168 ‐ Have you crossed Europe overland from Finland to Spain?
169 ‐ Have you crossed the Arabian Peninsula overland from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf?
170 ‐ Have you made overland the Hippy route to India?

CELEBRATIONS
171 ‐ Have you participated in the Brazilian Carnival in Rio, Salvador or Olinda?
172 ‐ Have you been in any of the Kumbha Mela’s (Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain or Nasik)?
173 ‐ Have you seen the San Fermin Fiestas of bulls in Pamplona during July?
174 ‐ Have you seen the Chinese New Year in Singapore, Taipei, Shangai or Beijing?
175 ‐ Have you been in the Torajas celebrations with sacrifices of cebues?
176 ‐ Have you been in the Munich Beer Festival?
177 ‐ Have you seen the Eight Manifestations of Padmashambhava dances in Ladakh or in Sikkim?
178 ‐ Have you seen the Arirang in North Korea?
179 ‐ Have you been in PNG during the Sing Sing celebrations?
180 ‐ Have you seen the whirling dervishes’ dances in Konya during the Mevlana Festival?



GASTRONOMY
181 ‐ Have you ever tried Fugu in Japan?
182 ‐ Have you eaten Bucaramanga ants in Colombia?
183 ‐ Have you eaten silkworms in China?
184 ‐ Have you eaten Balut in the Philippines?
185 ‐ Have you tried dog meat in the Far East countries?
186 ‐ Have you ever tasted whale or walrus meat during your journeys?
187 ‐ Have you eaten Cuy in Ecuador, Bolivia or Peru?
188 ‐ Have you eaten Roussette (flying fox) in New Caledonia?
189 ‐ Have you tasted Kava in the Pacific islands?
190 ‐ Have you tried Mate in Argentina or in Uruguay?

SLEEPING
191 ‐ Have you slept, at least, one night in a hammock?
192 ‐ Have you ever slept in a cave?
193 ‐ Have you slept in a Yurt (or Yaranga)?
194 ‐ Have you ever slept inside a telephone booth?
195 ‐ Have you been invited to sleep in a native house, and have you accepted?
196 ‐ Have you spent, at least, one night in the benches of an airport?
197 ‐ Have you slept, at least, one night in the benches of an open park?
198 ‐ During your journeys, have you ever spent one night in a jail?
199 ‐ Have you spent one night sleeping over the sands of a beach?
200 ‐ During your journeys, have you ever slept under a bridge?



EXPERIENCES
201 ‐ Have you had to work “on the road” to finance your journey?
202 ‐ Have you traveled continuously during one year (without going back home)?
203 ‐ Have you fallen in love (and been corresponded) with a native in a country during your journeys?
204 ‐ Have you lived for at least one week, as a monk, in a monastery during your journeys?
205 ‐ Have you crossed the Sahara overland from Algeria or Libya to Mali, Niger, or Chad?
206 ‐ Have you crossed the Indian, Atlantic or Pacific Ocean in a sailing boat?
207 ‐ Have you reached the Geographical North Pole?
208 ‐ Have you reached the Geographical South Pole?
209 ‐ Have you made an around the world journey?
210 ‐ Do you speak, at least, four United Nations official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish)?



PAYING HOMAGE TO THE GREAT TRAVELERS
211 ‐ Have you seen the statue of Hiuen Tsang (Xuan Zang) in Nalanda (Bihar, India)?
212 ‐ Have you been in the house of Marco Polo, Venice?
213 ‐ Have you visited the burial monument of Ibn Batuta in Tangier?
214 ‐ Have you been in the place where Columbus first set foot in San Salvador Island (Bahamas)?
215 ‐ Have you seen the plaque to Magellan in Mactan Island (Philippines), where he died?
216 ‐ Have you seen in the Monastery of Saint Jeronimus (Lisbon) the mausoleum devoted to Vasco da Gama?
217 ‐ Have you seen in Getaria (Euskadi) the monument to Elcano, first circumnavigator of the world?
218 ‐ Have you been in Kealakekua Bay (Hawaii) where Captain Cook was killed?
219 ‐ Have you been in Ujiji (Tanzania), the place where Livingstone and Stanley met?
220 ‐ Have you seen Shackleton grave in Grytviken (South Georgia island)?
221 ‐ Have you seen the plaque to Cabeza de Vaca in Iguazu Falls (Argentinean side)?
222 ‐ Have you seen the monument devoted to Comte de La Pérouse in Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy?

HOW MANY AFFIRMATIVE ANSWERS DO YOU HAVE?

- From 200 to 222 exploits: Grand Connoisseur

- From 150 to 199 exploits: Master

- From 100 to 149 exploits: Traveler

- From  50 to  99 exploits: Tourist

- From   0 to  49 exploits: Couch Potato
GRAND CONNOISSEUR
(none yet)

MASTER
 1Sascha GrabowGermany(1968)171
 2Bill AltafferUSA(1943)159

REMARKABLE
 3Heinz StückeGermany(1940)147
 4Frank Grosse-OetringhausGermany(1942)146
 5André BrugirouxFrance(1937)137
 6Herbert GoebelsGermany(1938)135
 7Paulo Mansur RaymundoBrazil(1956)123
 8Dario GilSpain(1962)117
 9Sabino AntunaSpain(1937)116
10Elliot KochUSA(1947)115
11Stewart SheppardCanada(1939)113
12Artur AnuszewskiPoland(1951)112
13Markus LundgrenSweden(1978)112
14Thomas BuechlerSwitzerland(1958)106
15Stephen NewcomerUSA(1957)105
16José MegrePortugal(1942)103
17Carolyn BroadwellUSA(1931)102
18Juan Tino TafaoSpain(1941)102

DETERMINED
19Pamela BarrusUSA(19??)92
20Amador GarciaSpain(1925)87
21Roser QuerolSpain(1927)87
22Alan HogenauerUSA(1941)86
23Charles VeleyUSA(1965)85
24Jeff SheaUSA(1955)85
25Shiran de SilvaUK(1968)82
26Larry LeventhalUSA(1935)80
27Miguel MarchiUruguay(1957)78
28Bjarne Lund-JensenDenmark(1948)77
29Frans LettertronsSweden(1955)76
30Sergi VegaSpain(1975)67
31Harri TuomolaFinland(1966)64
32Jean Philippe PlatrozFrance(1957)62
33Andrea FunkhouserUSA(1939)62
34Johnny WardIreland(1983)61
35Randy GettyUSA(1951)60
36Merja LunkkaFinland(1961)59
37Lee AbbamonteUSA(1978)59
38Brian JohnsonUSA(1972)58
39Jordi TorrasSpain(1969)54
40Bill WohlrabUSA(1941)54
41Mauro MartinoItalia(1962)54
42David AlonsoSpain(1980)54
43Oscar MestreSpain(1971)54
44Francisco ZamoraSpain(1941)53
45Lina JimenezSpain(1945)53
46Kolja SpöriGermany(1969)52
47Francky D’HoopBelgium(1963)52
48Richard FoltzCanada(1961)51

BEGINNER
49Ryan TrappUSA(1979)49
50Miguel OrdoñezSpain(1970)48
51Antonio AguilarSpain(1986)48
52Aino IlkkalaFinland(1946)47
53Frank BrittonIreland(1952)46
54Veikko HuhtalaFinland(1946)45
55Miguel Angel SantosSpain(1959)44
56Juan Antonio LópezSpain(1965)42
57Xavier TarragoSpain(1976)41
58Petri JurescuRomania(1983)40
59Ray HeizerUSA(1944)40
60Gary ArndtUSA(1969)39
61Gloria JamesSingapore(1970)38
62Diego ÁlvarezSpain(1988)37
63Jose Antonio RuizSpain(1974)35
64Roberto LastraAustralia(1972)35
65Jason MitchellUSA(1981)34
66Jeff OhlfsUSA(1962)33
67Richard LovikSweden(1969)33
68Victor AlonsoSpain(1976)32
69Claudia SpectorArgentina(1962)30
70Flor VallejoArgentina(1980)28
71Salome Van Der HeydenFrance(1991)27
72Edu GarcíaSpain(1966)26
73Xavier FerrandizSpain(1975)24
74Chad KoeplingerUSA(1976)21

COUCH POTATO
75Lars Gunnar GardoSweden(1951)19
76Igor OliveiraBrazil(1988)18
77Daniel CookeUSA(1992)15
78Ryan SmithUSA(1990)15
79Daniel AragonesSpain(1970)15
80Jesus FerroArgentina(1953)15
81Joann SchwartzUSA(1970)14
82Luis Alberto AstudilloPeru(1981)13
83Javier PastorSpain(1990)13
84Fernando SanchezSpain(1989)13
85Samuel SantosPortugal(1984)11
86Alfonso BiescasSpain(1945)10
87Agustin RuizArgentina(1975)10
88David CrossUK(1937)10