In Plain English – Adventure

Journals and photographs
I have thousands of pages of journals and photographs from my travels that I intend to share on this website.  At this time, I begin by telling the story (Part 1) of my1983 walk and raft trip out of the Highlands to the Sepik River lowlands of New Guinea. The end of Part 1 leaves me having returned to the village of Wabia after being abandoned and lost in the rain forest. In Part 2 (to be published here later), I will end the 39-day adventure story with a trip down the Frieda and Sepik Rivers on a raft made of logs and tied together with jungle vines.

Travel records and the ISO list
I completed going to every nation in the world in 2003. Shortly thereafter, I was excited to come across the ISO (International Standards Organization) list of nations (3166-1) and sub-national territories (3166-2). This list provided new food for thought on how to view the enormous complexities of the world and its divisions. I began to trace the history of my travels in light of the ISO 3166-2 list of provinces (i.e., sub-national territories).

I have modified the 3166-2 province list so that it includes any ISO 3166-1 nation not represented in the actual 3166-2 list. (An example is Bermuda. It does not have any sub-national territories, and therefore was not included in the ISO 3166-2 list. However, it needs to be included on a master list of places.)  In all, my modified ISO 3166-2 list has 3978 provinces. So far as my research has gotten, I have verified that I have been to 1526 provinces. I am still in the process of researching.  This research requires obtaining maps that list the 3166-2 provinces and then looking at my records to see exactly where I went, including studying which roads I used. The outcome of this research is not 100% certain at all times, since it is not always clear which roads I traveled on.  I have indicated those uncertainties by using a color legend described below.

For the first time, I am publishing a record of my travels in accordance with my modified ISO  3166-2 list. The color legend explains which ones I have confirmed I have been to (tan) and those that I have not been to (amber). Green indicates either that I am pretty sure I have been to the place (in which case I added it) or it indicates I might have been to it but my evidence is not strong (in which case I did not add it).  For those places I have not researched, I assigned the color gray. For both gray and green entries, further research is required.

Maps
Maps of my ISO travels will be forthcoming on this site.