The road to Torres del Paine, February 2023. Inset: Chip and Cyndy at Lago Gray

After 120,000 miles, 41 countries (and counting) National Geographic Explorer and Journalist Continues to Reveal the Variety of the World's Cultures and People

PITTSBURGH, PA, UNITED STATES, September 26, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As his Vagabond Adventure reaches its third anniversary, National Geographic Explorer, ex-CNN Bureau Chief and author Chip Walter is reflective: "Cyndy and I have made it almost half-way around this remarkable planet, and every mile we've traveled we crossed by land or sea, one day, person and one culture at a time. We've traveled by bus, ferry, ship, train and shoe leather; on horseback, mule and camel. It's been a humbling experience that has taught us that the many thousands of people we have crossed paths with are not angry or selfish or filled with hate. They are good, kind and open-minded. Not that we haven't had some harrowing moments! Our goal is to complete this adventure, and as a journalist share what we learn because we know there are others curious to understand what the world is really like."

To date, Chip and his wife Cyndy have covered 120,000 miles, 41 countries and five continents on their quest to explore all seven - never by jet.

September 26, the third anniversary of their journey, they will arrive in Trieste, Italy, pass through Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Corfu before exploring antiquities in Greece and Homeric Odysseys in Cyprus and Crete. From there, onto Alexandria, Egypt, and then a ship 525 miles up the Nile from Cairo to Aswan to witness some of the world's most ancient cities and temples.

Walter, a journalist all of his career, likes to say that this is not a bucket list adventure. "I have already been fortunate enough to travel extensively in my work. This journey is not a vacation, it's a marathon, or maybe a pilgrimage, for me and Cyndy; and a chance for both of us to explore, reveal and share the wildly different cultures and history, mysteries and characters that shape us all."

Their Adventure has been followed by tens of thousands of fans through his Vagabond Adventure website that logs daily updates of his stories — the good, bad, and offbeat. They've explored big cities like Lima, Prague, Budapest, London, Marrakesh and Copenhagen and watched sunrises and sunsets in places well off the beaten path — Antarctica, Longyearbyen (the world's northernmost habitation), outlaw Butch Cassidy's ranch in Argentina, a Viking settlement in Newfoundland, an ancient Incan palace, Chile's Atacama Desert, and Patagonia's rugged Torres del Paine.

That's the short list.

"Contrary to what Disney says, it's not a small, small world. It's big and it takes a lot to get around it!" Says Walter.

The duo have ridden on horseback through Monument Valley with a Navajo shaman, been rescued in Patagonia, crossed the Straits of Magellan, bused through 2000 miles of Argentina, met yachtsmen, hikers, authors, guides and characters from Morocco to the Arctic Circle.

Walter, author of six previous books, plans to write a series about the experience, but in the meantime focuses on his website. Last year's highlight was an epic pole-to-pole transit as they kayaked along icebergs the size of mountains and dodged humpback whales inside the Antarctic Peninsula before crossing five time zones and 140 degrees of latitude, from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, to its northernmost in Svalbard. "There is nothing like watching yourself moving from one pole in summer, rising north into autumn and crossing the equator to suddenly find yourself in spring and then continuing deeper north into winter."

After Egypt, the adventurers will continue into continent number six, through Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Mecca and eventually onto to Madagascar, before turning back away from the Levant and east into India.

The Adventure, loaded with stories, photos, video, and travel recommendations can be tracked on their website: vagabond-adventure.com or by following in real time on PolarSteps.

About Chip Walter

Walter is the author of 6 books including award-winning books Immortality Inc.: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever; Last Ape Standing: The Seven Million Year Story of How and Why We Survived; Thumbs, Toes and Tears (And Other Traits That Make Us Human); and I'm Working on That with William Shatner. His most recent book and first novel, Doppelganger: An Orphan, a Prodigy, a Murder is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other fine bookstores.

Chip Walter
Human Light & Power Company
chip@vagabond-adventure.com
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