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countries
glimpses of elsewhere
(words & photos)
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countries
Strap into your chair, destination elsewhere. This journey will take you places and leave you with stories, for a place is only ever as beautiful as your experience there. Well, my experience in this case. The little coincidences and grand people I met along the way ultimately wrote these plots and memories while I coauthored. That’s why I can’t claim to paint any accurate, exhaustive or conclusive portraits of countries and cultures. Just my subjective, impressionist bits and pieces, exploring places and people, traversing narratives and notions and traveling trains of thought inside one strolling mind. Come on, come along.
The country pages are a mix of finished pieces and teasers as MilesAstray unfolds in unchronological retrospect; I started this project four years into the journey, so my writing has to catch up with my living these stories.
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latest places / stories
countries | North America | USA
New York / Dream Arrival: Jamming Untamed Imagination into Tight Realities
a story of a dream coming truer and a city that was smaller the second time around
...there was certainly something endearing in that city coming down to earth from its pedestal... explore
countries | South(east) Asia | Nepal
Himalayas / Hiking Alone, Astray & Everestless
when you set out to see Everest, but Everest doesn’t care
And after a while, seeing or not seeing Everest became a mere matter of perspective. explore
countries | Europe | Greece
Athens / The Rise and Fall of Empires
Who’s next?
Former empires might have traded their swords for pencils, yet the battlefields remain and the war for growth and power goes on. explore
countries | Central & West Asia | Kazakhstan
Nur-Sultan (Astana) / The Surreal Deal
arbitrary travel moments you never could have imagined
In a way, I’m sleeping the dreamy sleep of extraordinary travel routine. But every now and then, I wake to the almost absurd reality of a situation I never could have imagined and the vastly arbitrary nature of these instances bestows a surreal feel upon me. explore
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countries | Europe | Albania
Tirana / How Little Can You Learn About a Country in One Day?
passing through Albania in 24h
...this is pretty much where the flying visit reaches its maximum altitude of inflight insights, falling short of the point where travel gets truly interesting in my opinion: when it fosters a better understanding of a foreign culture and the people who live it through their habits, everyday rituals and mannerisms. explore
countries | Central America | Cuba
Havana / On the Cusp between Eras
sung patriotism & whispered criticism: torn in a changing nation
Transformation is a blurry wave, unlike the crisp ripple of a sudden revolutionary fist. explore
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countries | Africa | Rwanda
Kibuye / Living with Explosive Likelihoods
the gamble with odds that aren’t all that disastrous – living near dangerous potentials
They are accustomed to the normality of any given day that isn’t the one when calamity strikes. explore
countries | North America | Canada
Port Rexton / Only Passing Through: Unsung Towns of Unknown Dreams
the delusive beauty of scratching a place's surface instead of digging deep
...the unknown leaves space for imagination and in the foreigner's head any town can tell any story... explore
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countries | South(east) Asia | Indonesia
Jakarta / Beautifully Ugly
inner beauty & authentic travel - less pretty cities well worth the visit
Why pretend that you are easy on the eyes of strangers who are just checking you out, soon off to generic liaisons on Bali? You aren’t Kuta, you don’t wear makeup. You look run down. Your old town has seen much better days. And you don’t smell so nice either. But you have character. And soul. And true Javanese street scenes. explore
countries | South America | Colombia
Cartagena / Police Negotiations
haggling over fines for non-existent crimes & how to break the corruption cycle
But one needed to keep in mind that these were still cops, no matter how corrupt. It felt like our bargaining power matched theirs, but at the end of the day they were in charge and would decide over our fate that night: jail or no jail. explore
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countries | Europe | Spain
Barcelona / Revolution in the Air, But Where?
people carry on ordinarily while the political stage is in flames
...yet, between these societal lines, where the quintessence of our life as human beings dwells, our situation remains largely the same, despite political turmoil... explore
countries | Africa | South Africa
Kamhlushwa / Humans Living Passions – Community Enrichment from Within
meet the extraordinary Imagine Scholars
As founder Corey Johnson puts it: “I’m incredibly proud of all the huge successes, but the real goal is to create good people. I’d be more proud if they become good mothers, fathers or coworkers, just good people; because that’s what the world needs.” explore
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countries | Northeast Asia | Japan
Tokyo / Lingering Alone
the difference between seeing a place and being in a place
...everybody is keen on seeing these picture-perfect places, but nobody seems interested in actually being there, in staying in these moments. Peek, cross off the list, move on to the next aisle... explore
countries | South America | Brazil
Ilha Grande / Distracting Convenience
outrunning comfort to create memorable moments
Alas, convenience wanted me back in its enclosing walls for the same reasons it always does – for all the wrong reasons, distracting us from the bigger picture... explore
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countries | Middle East | UAE
Dubai / Dark Reality of a Playground for the Affluent – Drawing a Line
diverging gustoes or objective concern?
...the former fishing village wears but future on its amber desert-skin. But ever taller comes at a price beyond dollar bills... explore
countries | Central America | Belize
Caye Caulker / Inflate-Burst-Flux of a Clichéd Island Bubble
the bond of a moment’s fun
...not much of you or anybody else can stay there, too little the ripple, too constant the stream. A moment’s fun is the bond and doesn’t ask for any more or less... explore
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countries | South America | Chile
Valparaíso / TV, Tsunami, Neruda & the Quintessence of Hills & Timing
a matter of perspective and timing
...still, there was no denying that this little TV set now beamed some baffling information at us: an 8.2 earthquake off the Chilean Pacific coast was sending a Tsunami right our way and suddenly we appreciated every meter our journey had led us up the raven hill... explore
countries | South America | Chile
Santiago de Chile / Outside the Fence with a Whisky Flask
the morals of sneaking in and getting what you pay for
...naturally, Kant's principals are noble, intact, and upright, while mine dangled lazily between mischievous and preposterous. But, from a pragmatic point of view no harm was done and this factual utilitarian reality was more convenient for me that day... explore
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countries | South America | Brazil
Rio de Janeiro / No Hard Feelings
distinguishing between place and experience
...my harshest criticism towards many travelers and especially the ones armed with blogs – that they don’t distinguish between a place and their experience there... explore
countries | South America | Chile
Patagonia / Hitchhiking Chronicles & Idle Waiting
why waiting doesn’t feel like leisure
Just why do moments of waiting feel so dull and wasted? Why do we have to “kill” that time? Usually we can’t wait to get a break from our duties, but once leisure time imposes disguised as idleness it becomes an annoyance. explore
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