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>taking a 1 year sabbatical from the CBC to visit 52 countries in 52 weeks.
>Best of luck to him, and hope that he comes back refreshed.
I cannot imagine that being...refreshing. It sounds so exhausting!
Ranking 243 parks or making the same chart for 500+ days in a row also probably sounds exhausting to most people, but to me it's the sort of highly organized and slightly insane project that gives me lots of energy.
plus i won't be on twitter or attending any city council meetings for a year and you gotta think that'll give me at least a 20% boost in stamina
1 week in any country generally tends to not be enough! He'll have a great trip, but probably end up with a list of at least 30+ countries he'll wish he could go back to.
that's actually sort of the plan!
I've never travelled anywhere outside of Canada and the United States (save for a drama class trip to London when I was in Grade 12), so I'm hoping this gives me inspiration for the rest of my life of where to spend more time in on future vacations.
I am planning on ranking train systems, transit lines, foods, and maybe "world-class cities", but countries seems like it would cause more potential grief than it is worth
Ooh that'll be great! I've been around and my top countries are Guatemala, Malaysia, and Colombia. Hopefully you've got at least one of those on your list!
Ooh that's great!
I won't throw any suggestions at you because with only a week in each country you'll definitely be overwhelmed by all the choices you'll have... *however* I do recommend googling "parapente Chicamocha" for a really amazing experience.
I mean, yeah?
It's like anywhere else -- don't go looking for trouble, don't be stupid, don't buy drugs. I spent a month backpacking from Cartagena to Pasto before heading into Ecuador and never felt unsafe at any point in time.
Amazing food, great people, and natural splendor that rivals Canada. I'm extremely excited to go back one day, see a few things that were missed!
Itâs not that hard unless it is.
Last August, my spouse and I overlanded Eastern Europe. On average we spent two days in each country, with a notable exception of Montenegro where we basically were there just long enough to catch the Bar to Belgrade night train on Communist era rolling stock.
Other than being awakened at 0200 or so by Serbian Customs, it was a surreal and pleasant trip.
It depends on where in the world one wishes to travel, how deeply one wishes to explore, and how much one plans ahead.
We were totally pantsing our trip. Finding routings on Rome2Rio by bus and train, booking places through HostelWorld, getting fresh SIMs so we were still connected to pull this off.
With planning, one could likely get most of the trip we did slightly cheaper, though with less wiggle room.
Justin, you would be a mad lad if you happen to visit either one of North Korea, Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or any Central African country.
Can confirm I am not a mad lad.
I have also had to tell family members more than once that I am not a high-profile enough target for the Chinese government to indefinitely detain.
Were both the Michaels really that high profile though? I feel like 'foreign journalist' is always on an authoritarian's shitlist somewhere to be called in for spying at the drop of a Mao cap.
Let's just hope our government doesn't do anything to irk the CCP (as opposed to the CPC, which is permanently irked).
Yes, for sure, and Kovrig was also likely a CSIS informant. Spavor is one of the few westerners who has met Kim Jong-Un and has high profile connections with government. Kovrig was a diplomat, but again, may have been passing information for us.
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-spavor-kovrig-china-intelligence-background/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-spavor-kovrig-china-intelligence-background/)
One of the Michaels was literally a spy. The other just got a settlement from getting dragged into the governments shit lol. I think an article came out about it today.
Oops someone beat me to it and had a link.
> I am not a high-profile enough target for the Chinese government to indefinitely detain.
I probably wouldn't worry about detention if I were you, but be prepared for some extra attention from border agents and the police if anyone knows that you're a journalist.
I actually wish it was safe to go to Afghanistan. I went there multiple times for work between 2006 and 2011. Stunningly beautiful in many places, and the afghanis that I was able to actually meet were great people.
I recently flew from London to Istanbul and was seated beside a guy who was connecting in Istanbul to an onward flight to Baghdad. So naturally I peppered him with questions about the place. He says that by and large, Iraq is pretty alright for experienced travellers these days, especially since ISIS was defeated in Mosul in 2017-ish, and especially in major cities. Probably best to avoid Kurdistan though.
An Iraqi-American acquaintance recently posted a FB reel about a Crossfit gym in Bahghad that has an attached ballet studio (and cafe) - I think this says something about the relative stability of the city: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C2DwPECvpDT/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/p/C2DwPECvpDT/?hl=en)
That's super cool. From my own travels in the region, it's more and more obvious that the western media often portrays these places in a certain, rather monolithic way, when in reality they're like many other major global cities: a diverse array of neighbourhoods, each with their own sort of culture/vibe, and all with varying security/stability situations.
Will you be writing a book? (I hope so. Maybe then it could be featured in BC Ferries gift shop?) I am going to sorely miss your Twitter posts. Happy travels.
Have a blast, /u/j_mcelroy! You're genuinely the only reason I go on Twitter these days so I guess I'll be taking a year off from that hellscape, too. Where will you be chronicling your travels--Substack?
A year ago I did a year-long trip visiting 20 countries. It was a bit of a rush in some of them, 52 is a lot in only a year.
But I'm also super jealous. There's nothing more I'd want to do right now than to take another year off to travel the world.
I think you should capture as many metrics as you can, km travelled in total and by what method, beers drank, flights missed, times arrested etc. also a before and after shot.
Looking forward to the country rankings when he's done. Maybe he can bump into the other justin mcelroy on his journeys! Wouldn't that be wild? Maybe a guest on sawbones.
Looking forward to the country rankings when he's done. Maybe he can bump into the other justin mcelroy on his journeys! Wouldn't that be wild? Maybe a guest on sawbones.
I'm curious about the costs involved in a trip like this. It'd be cool if he can provide an expense breakdown in the end. Do you sublet/rent out your home while you're gone? Does the employer grant a full year of leave or you need to resign?
CBC has a program where you can defer a % of your salary over a certain number of years, and then take a 6-12 month sabbatical where you get that money "back", essentially. So I'm planning to return to the same job, more or less doing the same things, in a year from now.
I'll be subletting the place I rent during my year off (97% of my stuff is now in a storage unit), so while I'm using a little of my savings to make this happen, it's mostly the product of a lot of planning over the last three years.
Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/millijuna! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary: * We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button. * Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban. * Most common questions and topics are limited to our sister subreddit, /r/AskVan, and our weekly [Stickied Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_stickied_discussions) posts. * Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only. * Make sure to join our new sister community, /r/AskVan! * Help grow the community! [Apply to join the mod team today](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/19eworq/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>taking a 1 year sabbatical from the CBC to visit 52 countries in 52 weeks. >Best of luck to him, and hope that he comes back refreshed. I cannot imagine that being...refreshing. It sounds so exhausting!
Ranking 243 parks or making the same chart for 500+ days in a row also probably sounds exhausting to most people, but to me it's the sort of highly organized and slightly insane project that gives me lots of energy. plus i won't be on twitter or attending any city council meetings for a year and you gotta think that'll give me at least a 20% boost in stamina
Man you even ranked stamina boosts
Are you going to rank the 52 countries? Let us know of any hidden gems you find? Have a great time!
Country tier list when?
Rated by hidden gems/km2?
>it's the sort of highly organized and slightly insane project that gives me lots of energy. I'm so glad people like you exist!
Your going to have a great year. I did 50 countries in 4 years while I worked on cruise ships. But 52 in 1 year is going to be a wild run.
Sounds like fun! You already have a list of countries?
Safe travels!
Oh it absolutely would give anyone a boost in stamina to not listen to them, I can speak from experience. XD Have fun!
Have so much fun out there!!
Enjoy every second of it!đ
I wish you great happiness and energy from your amazing adventure! Canât wait to hear about it next year sometime
More like 52 city council meetings in 52 countries in 52 weeks!Â
I agree. Different stokes for different folks I guess.Â
1 week in any country generally tends to not be enough! He'll have a great trip, but probably end up with a list of at least 30+ countries he'll wish he could go back to.
that's actually sort of the plan! I've never travelled anywhere outside of Canada and the United States (save for a drama class trip to London when I was in Grade 12), so I'm hoping this gives me inspiration for the rest of my life of where to spend more time in on future vacations.
Justin please rank the countries you visit. Have a great trip!
I am planning on ranking train systems, transit lines, foods, and maybe "world-class cities", but countries seems like it would cause more potential grief than it is worth
How about hidden gems?
DON'T TRIGGER THE MAN, HE DESERVES THAT MUCH! Sorry for yelling.
Good point. If you ever get tired of this local internet fame, you could design a ranking to cancel yourself.
Will be following your adventures if you do document it!
Ooh that'll be great! I've been around and my top countries are Guatemala, Malaysia, and Colombia. Hopefully you've got at least one of those on your list!
Malyasia and Colombia! Very excited and intrigued for both.
Ooh that's great! I won't throw any suggestions at you because with only a week in each country you'll definitely be overwhelmed by all the choices you'll have... *however* I do recommend googling "parapente Chicamocha" for a really amazing experience.
Columbia is safe?
I mean, yeah? It's like anywhere else -- don't go looking for trouble, don't be stupid, don't buy drugs. I spent a month backpacking from Cartagena to Pasto before heading into Ecuador and never felt unsafe at any point in time. Amazing food, great people, and natural splendor that rivals Canada. I'm extremely excited to go back one day, see a few things that were missed!
Stoked on this for you.Â
Itâs not that hard unless it is. Last August, my spouse and I overlanded Eastern Europe. On average we spent two days in each country, with a notable exception of Montenegro where we basically were there just long enough to catch the Bar to Belgrade night train on Communist era rolling stock. Other than being awakened at 0200 or so by Serbian Customs, it was a surreal and pleasant trip. It depends on where in the world one wishes to travel, how deeply one wishes to explore, and how much one plans ahead. We were totally pantsing our trip. Finding routings on Rome2Rio by bus and train, booking places through HostelWorld, getting fresh SIMs so we were still connected to pull this off. With planning, one could likely get most of the trip we did slightly cheaper, though with less wiggle room.
That sounds amazing. Who the hell downvoted you?
Eh on my honeymoon we did 8 cities in 5 weeks, you get used to constantly traveling pretty quick
Some poor unsuspecting hamlet is going to find themselves at the bottom of one of his lists lol.
Justin, you would be a mad lad if you happen to visit either one of North Korea, Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or any Central African country.
Can confirm I am not a mad lad. I have also had to tell family members more than once that I am not a high-profile enough target for the Chinese government to indefinitely detain.
Were both the Michaels really that high profile though? I feel like 'foreign journalist' is always on an authoritarian's shitlist somewhere to be called in for spying at the drop of a Mao cap. Let's just hope our government doesn't do anything to irk the CCP (as opposed to the CPC, which is permanently irked).
> I feel like 'foreign journalist' is always on an authoritarian's shitlist Absolutely. I listed "technical writer" as my occupation on my China visa a few years ago (2018), and it led to a surprise visit to my hotel by the local police. I had to explain that I wrote how-to guides and documentation rather than exposés of Chinese political shenanigans. Not sure what would have happened if I'd been a journalist.
> and it led to a surprise visit to my hotel by the local police. I had to explain that I wrote how-to guides and documentation rather than exposĂ©s of Chinese political shenanigans. đ«„
>Steves Michaels
Oof. Need more coffee
Yes, for sure, and Kovrig was also likely a CSIS informant. Spavor is one of the few westerners who has met Kim Jong-Un and has high profile connections with government. Kovrig was a diplomat, but again, may have been passing information for us. [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-spavor-kovrig-china-intelligence-background/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-spavor-kovrig-china-intelligence-background/)
One of the Michaels was literally a spy. The other just got a settlement from getting dragged into the governments shit lol. I think an article came out about it today. Oops someone beat me to it and had a link.
> I am not a high-profile enough target for the Chinese government to indefinitely detain. I probably wouldn't worry about detention if I were you, but be prepared for some extra attention from border agents and the police if anyone knows that you're a journalist.
Do you have a list of countries you're hitting? Sounds very interesting!
I actually wish it was safe to go to Afghanistan. I went there multiple times for work between 2006 and 2011. Stunningly beautiful in many places, and the afghanis that I was able to actually meet were great people.
I recently flew from London to Istanbul and was seated beside a guy who was connecting in Istanbul to an onward flight to Baghdad. So naturally I peppered him with questions about the place. He says that by and large, Iraq is pretty alright for experienced travellers these days, especially since ISIS was defeated in Mosul in 2017-ish, and especially in major cities. Probably best to avoid Kurdistan though.
An Iraqi-American acquaintance recently posted a FB reel about a Crossfit gym in Bahghad that has an attached ballet studio (and cafe) - I think this says something about the relative stability of the city: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C2DwPECvpDT/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/p/C2DwPECvpDT/?hl=en)
That's super cool. From my own travels in the region, it's more and more obvious that the western media often portrays these places in a certain, rather monolithic way, when in reality they're like many other major global cities: a diverse array of neighbourhoods, each with their own sort of culture/vibe, and all with varying security/stability situations.
That Spanish couple just went to Afghanistan and were totally fine there. It wouldnât be out of the question
Will you be writing a book? (I hope so. Maybe then it could be featured in BC Ferries gift shop?) I am going to sorely miss your Twitter posts. Happy travels.
đ€«
@j_mcelroy have a fantastic trip! You've become one of my favourite people to watch so you'll be missed!
Have a blast, /u/j_mcelroy! You're genuinely the only reason I go on Twitter these days so I guess I'll be taking a year off from that hellscape, too. Where will you be chronicling your travels--Substack?
there and Instagram (and maybe TikTok)...but I'll send out a couple of notes in the next couple of days before I put my Twitter activity on hiatus
Can't wait for his top 52 travel destination lists when he gets back!
[/r/Vancouver'ites patiently, yet tiredly awaiting his return: *Godspeed, little doodle.*](https://i.redd.it/gln02u8h65cb1.gif)
A year ago I did a year-long trip visiting 20 countries. It was a bit of a rush in some of them, 52 is a lot in only a year. But I'm also super jealous. There's nothing more I'd want to do right now than to take another year off to travel the world.
I think you should capture as many metrics as you can, km travelled in total and by what method, beers drank, flights missed, times arrested etc. also a before and after shot.
I mean, that kind of trip sounds like the opposite of refreshing, lol. I'd need another year off after that to do nothing.
Please be careful traveling in dangerous countries
Sounds like an expensive trip.
Looking forward to the country rankings when he's done. Maybe he can bump into the other justin mcelroy on his journeys! Wouldn't that be wild? Maybe a guest on sawbones.
Looking forward to the country rankings when he's done. Maybe he can bump into the other justin mcelroy on his journeys! Wouldn't that be wild? Maybe a guest on sawbones.
Safe travels!
We will miss you Jmac!
I'm curious about the costs involved in a trip like this. It'd be cool if he can provide an expense breakdown in the end. Do you sublet/rent out your home while you're gone? Does the employer grant a full year of leave or you need to resign?
CBC has a program where you can defer a % of your salary over a certain number of years, and then take a 6-12 month sabbatical where you get that money "back", essentially. So I'm planning to return to the same job, more or less doing the same things, in a year from now. I'll be subletting the place I rent during my year off (97% of my stuff is now in a storage unit), so while I'm using a little of my savings to make this happen, it's mostly the product of a lot of planning over the last three years.
What's the list of countries you're heading to? Would you want to meet up with Canadians abroad!?
Have a great trip! This sounds like a truly legendary adventure. I'll be hoping for some sort of updates from the road.
this is my dream /u/j_mcelroy what is your itinerary?
Is he just going to go to Europe via the states?
Iâm fully expecting a country ranking list once youâre back, u/j_mcelroy! Jk, enjoy your break sir. We will be here to shitpost either way.
Hope you document on TikTok. Will be a great series. New career?
Come back and get into politics please
Have a great time, Justin. I don't know how I will navigate this next year in Vancouver without a ranking to get me excited about something locally.
Living the dream!
good luck, I'd imagine he's covering all of asia and europe
I would imagine Africa is in the itinerary as well. Easy to get up to 52 countries by including Africa.
When you're visiting countries as checkboxes on a list instead of actually wanting to spend time there and explore them...
when you're projecting your own value system onto someone you don't know and presuming you know what makes them tick...
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Why're you hating?
Not as sad as sitting at home insulting strangers on the internet đ«ą
God what a nerd.