Traveller of the Month: Alex from Adventure to Every Country

Welcome back to my Traveller of the Month series on Teaspoon of Adventure! Each month I feature a fellow travel blogger and world adventurer so they can share their best photos, stories and travel wisdom with you.

Without further ado, let’s meet November’s Traveller of the Month: Alex from Adventure to Every Country!

And if you missed October’s traveller, get to know Jonny here!

Please introduce yourself! What’s your travel story?

I’m Alex, a British travel enthusiast in my 30s with a dream to visit every country in the world.

The prelude to my travel story started in early 2017. I was in my final few months of university, living with a travel-loving friend. We would spend many boring nights challenging each other to Sporcle quizzes, naming every country, every capital or every country’s flag.

Aside from the fun we had doing this, I saw an article on someone who had visited every country in the world. Before then, I never knew this was possible.

Every country??? Even North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq??? But you’ll be killed the moment you step foot inside those countries…right????

Wrong. Reading this article led me deep down a rabbit hole and for the next few months I was obsessed with travel blogs, guides, videos and stories.

From hanging out with remote tribes in Papua New Guinea, to seeing some of the world’s most beautiful wonders, to being escorted around Mogadishu by armed guards. Suddenly I wanted to see and do it all.

After finishing university, my same friend invited me to join him for a few months doing hospitality work in Italy. This was my first time living abroad and another small stepping stone towards living the dream.

Following a pretty indifferent 2018, my travel story began for real in January 2019. My first trip outside of the western world (Europe + USA) was to Sri Lanka, followed immediately by my first ever solo trip, to Egypt. Three months later was my first long-term backpacking trip, a three-month journey through Asia.

After this adventure to many great countries including India and Cambodia, my appetite for visiting every country had only widened. The next couple of years would see little travel progress thanks to Covid, but a lot of saving towards adventures.

Those began in February 2022 when I embarked on a ten-month trip, mostly through Latin America. This started with a 3-month Central America trip, before heading through South America, the Middle East, and finally the Baltics.

Fast forward to 2024 and I have added 49 new countries to my list since landing in the first stop of that adventure, Mexico. I slowed down for a while to work as an English teacher in South Korea for 9 months, saving as much as possible ready for another big adventure around Latin America with my girlfriend after leaving at the end of May.

There are many safe countries in Latin America despite what people think from the outside, and it has some of the world’s most incredible experiences to offer. Don’t miss out on visiting Latam!

How did you decide to start your travel blog and what sort of stories do you share there?

I’ve wanted to start a travel blog for years. The plan was to start one during my 2022 travels. I would be travelling, and creating fresh content based on these travels throughout the year.

That never happened.

I realised almost instantly that I wouldn’t have time to do this given the 8 months I had in Latin America and all the places I wanted to visit.

Fast forward 1.5 years and I moved to South Korea. With saving money being a key objective, I started a blog and dedicated pretty much all my spare time to it in lieu of going out to party.

Initially my goal was to share authentic experiences from visiting each country. Sure, you can watch a YouTube video on Myanmar from a guy with 1 million subscribers, but he’s inevitably going to put a positive spin on everything to protect his brand. Therefore you only hear half the story.

I wanted to share real experiences – both good and bad, so people know that travel in some countries isn’t as flashy as Instagram or YouTube might tell you. Although some of the more rugged countries can also be more fun!

I quickly realised however, that these sorts of “what I did in X country” posts aren’t going to lead to my blog funding my travels one day. Whilst I still aim to share authentic stories, I need to try and balance it with helpful content that people want to read.

My blog is split into five sections. “Destinations” is the main one I’ve focused on, delivering tips and stories from everywhere I’ve been so far. “Working Abroad” covers a little bit on how to teach English in Korea, and what you can expect whilst there.

“Logistics Reports” will provide detailed information that you should know before visiting any tricky country with safety concerns or complex logistics. For example, my first post in this section covers everything you should know before visiting Myanmar. “Travel Tips” gives general advice for travel which isn’t limited to one country.

Lastly, “Everything Else” is any miscellaneous articles that don’t fit into the above sections.

My blog is for anyone who has an interest in every country, not just the popular ones. Sure, I have covered or will cover Greece and France on there. But I’ll also be sharing tips and tales from Myanmar and Paraguay among other places.

I often find the lesser-known gems are better than the more popular places.

What do you do when you’re not travelling or writing about travel?

As mentioned, I settled down to teach English in South Korea for a while. In all honesty, pretty much all spare time was spent on writing my blog, learning about SEO and trying to understand everything necessary to one day turn this into a full-time job.

Now I’m travelling full time again and won’t be doing anything else for a while!

What is the best piece of travel advice you’ve ever heard?

Don’t rely too heavily on government travel advisories. Treat them as rough guidelines and do some further research before you decide on whether or not a country is safe.

When I was in Colombia in June 2022, the next stop was due to be Ecuador. However, unrest spread across the country with roadblocks making access impossible in many parts. Some protests were violent, but most just made it very difficult to get around the country.

The UK government website didn’t update their travel advisory until around 2.5 weeks after these issues began. By this time, the protests were just about over. The government website took down their warnings against travelling in Ecuador… a week after the disruption had ended.

Then there’s safety. Government websites, perhaps understandably, are overly cautious when giving safety advice. But even in countries with issues, it is rare for them to affect the whole country.

Take Myanmar, as an example. This is a country that has been at civil war since 2021. However, the conflict only affects parts of the country. The “big 4” tourist spots of Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake aren’t impacted by the war at all. Therefore it’s very safe to travel to Myanmar, if you stick to these safe places.

Instead of relying on government advice, your primary resource for safety information should be locals, and recent travellers to a place.

One Facebook group I love is “Every Passport Stamp”. It often has trip reports from travellers who have recently been to more offbeat destinations. Other travellers in the group often help with local guide tips.

Do you have any travel goals?

My overall goal is to visit every country in the world, but I also have a few sidequests along the way.

The biggest is to watch a top-level football match in every single country. So far I’ve discovered incredible atmospheres in Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay, hidden gems in Thailand and Vietnam, and feisty affairs in Honduras most notably.

On the flipside, games I’ve seen in Myanmar, Bahrain and Sri Lanka were underwhelming. Previously I snuck into a game in Egypt with help from a local, despite fans being banned for many years, and I narrowly avoided arrest outside a ground in Jordan.

Another goal of mine is to visit every World Wonder. Just the Colosseum of Rome remains.

Do you have any travel regrets?

My biggest regret is not getting into travel sooner, especially when I lived in London for three years. Cheap flights cover much of Europe from London’s many airports.

Unfortunately a £20 trip to Romania didn’t interest early 20-something me in the way it does early 30-something me.

If you could go on a worldwide trip, visiting just one city on each continent, which cities would you pick?

This is an interesting question! I generally prioritise places I haven’t been to before, but would probably say:

Asia: Pyongyang, North Korea

I’m absolutely fascinated by this country and its history. From what I’ve seen, Pyongyang is completely unique and comparable to no other city in the world. It would be a great privilege to experience such an interesting place firsthand.

Europe: Rome, Italy

The Colosseum is my only remaining World Wonder, and I absolutely love Italy! Lovely people, lovely architecture, wonderful mountains and lakes, and so much more. Rome gets my vote not just for the Colosseum, but also access to Vatican City.

North America: Havana, Cuba

Similarly to Pyongyang really, I love cities which are completely unique and different to anywhere else in the world. Met a lot of travellers who spent time in Cuba and they all love the vintage feel of the place.

“Time capsule” locations such as Tiraspol and Chernobyl are some of my favourites to visit.

South America: Caracas, Venezuela

Admittedly I’ve been to almost every major city in South America including Rio, Buenos Aires and Medellin. But Caracas gets the nod over Ushuaia.

I like cities with a bit of an edge to them, and the recent history of the Venezuelan capital has piqued my curiosity. Is it really as bad as the news makes out? Would love to know first-hand.

Oceania: Sydney, Australia

Some places I dreamed of growing up included LA, Vegas and Sydney. Whilst I’ve completely lost interest in the first two, Sydney still appeals.

It would be cool to see the iconic opera house first hand, and Aussies are some of the friendliest travellers I’ve met. Would be extra special to be here just in time for New Year’s Eve.

Africa: Mogadishu, Somalia

Another city where the recent history has grabbed my attention. It’s a city associated with war and terror.

However, from what I’ve seen, it has stunning coastlines and perhaps could become a popular tourist spot in the distant future if it sorts its many problems.

Which other travellers, bloggers or writers inspire you?

Many, but two stand out above all others. The first is Johnny Ward, otherwise known as One Step 4Ward. He was the travel blogger I alluded to previously who visited every country in the world and sparked my initial interest in achieving the same feat.

He’s since been to the summit of the highest mountain on each continent, visited the North and South Pole, and rowed across the Atlantic, whilst also making millions from blogging and building his own house in Thailand.

Johnny’s tale is a true “rags to riches” story and shows that anyone can become successful if you want it enough.

My other inspiration would be Drew Binsky who is best-known as a Youtuber these days, but started his journey as a blogger. He makes videos documenting every country, including the lesser-known and supposedly “dodgy” places.

Drew tells fascinating stories from each place and his videos are very informative. He does have a blog again these days, having scrapped his original one which was called “The Hungry Partier”. And his team does a good job with some of the content.

But he’s a great example of where you can get to with a dream, hard work and supportive people alongside you.

What’s one thing people don’t understand about travel blogging?

The workload. From an outsider’s perspective, travel blogging looks like writing words about cool places, and that’s it. Easy!

Right? Wrong.

Travel blogging is not just writing, but also hours of research, deep-diving into keywords, learning SEO, learning design, marketing, posting often on social media, and attempting to master all of the above.

My advice would be only to get into travel blogging (if looking to monetise your blog) if you truly want to work on it and you’re happy to dedicate a huge chunk of your time to making this happen.

Of course, this doesn’t apply if your blog is made just for fun with no intention of chasing dollars later down the road.

What is the best accommodation you’ve ever stayed in? What about the worst?

I’ve stayed in some cracking accommodations, but it’s hard to look beyond Crystal Kuta in Bali. I was there with my girlfriend in June 2023 and it had everything you’d expect from a 4-star hotel.

But the area that really pushed it to the next level was the food. The best breakfast buffet we ever had included pretty much any food you could possibly want.

Meanwhile, their mango cheesecake was one of the best things we’ve ever eaten. Oh, and the staff were absolutely lovely.

As for the worst, I’ve primarily been a budget backpacker over the years which means booking a few absolute stinkers! I’ve found rats in my room in India (twice), Colombia, Bahrain, Indonesia and possibly some others which escape my memory.

In Myanmar I moved from a dodgy room, only to be put in an 8-bed dorm with rat droppings on every single bed. Mexico (Cancun) gave me my only encounter with bedbugs, but perhaps the worst overall was in El Salvador.

Budget beach towns in Central America tend to offer the filthiest hostels around. Heading to El Salvador’s beaches during Semana Santa (Easter week) meant accommodation was sparse, let alone for a reasonable price. So I opted for a small hostel in El Sunzal, wedged between surfers’ paradise El Tunco and “Bitcoin Beach” El Zonte.

This place was filthy and incredibly humid. Bugs were aplenty and the bathrooms wouldn’t look out of place at Chernobyl. The staff were rude, but perhaps the clincher for me was the dogs.

After enduring two nights here I went to check out and the aggressive dogs surrounded me. With several heavy bags I couldn’t make a fast getaway. They were jumping and barking at me seemingly poised to attack at any moment. The staff watched on without a care in the world as I slowly edged towards the exit gate.

Thankfully, I made it out unscathed, but a quick look at the reviews for this place revealed the dogs had bitten two separate guests. With rabies prevalent in this part of the world, I had a very lucky escape here. Never again.

Not sure if I should name the place, but let’s just say there aren’t many cheap hostels in El Sunzal so it isn’t hard to find…

What destination totally surprised you? What destination totally let you down?

One destination that came as a pleasant surprise was Moldova. Often described as one of the most boring countries in Europe, it wasn’t a country that came with the highest expectations.

However, Moldova has a tiny breakaway territory called Transnistria. This is like a time capsule back into the Soviet Union days. Communist symbolism was everywhere, and much of the self-proclaimed “country” felt virtually untouched ever since the 1980s.

On the flipside, I went to Filipino paradise destination El Nido with my girlfriend expecting a lot. The town was surprisingly run-down for such a notable touristy spot, and the weather was rough.

But the real problems started when we did a boat tour of the surrounding islands. We ended up stranded at sea with freezing-cold hailstones lashing against our bare backs after the boat broke down, and it took a long time to be rescued after that.

We ate food which had been cooked in a less-than-hygienic manner, and the tour skipped several parts of our itinerary. Not a place we love.

Share your top 5 favourite travel moments

I’ve had so many, that it’s hard to choose just 5. In fact I’ll probably give a different answer if you ask the same question next week. But for now:

Easter Island: One of the most mysterious destinations I’ve ever visited. A really special place, and one of the world’s most remote destinations.

Uyuni Salt Flats: The most beautiful place on earth. That opinion may change if I get the chance to visit Antarctica, but this vast salt plain in Bolivia is truly incredible.

Machu Picchu (Salkantay Trek): Machu Picchu itself was okay-ish. The trek however made it special. Five days trekking over 83km through snowy mountains, humid jungles and everything in between.

One of life’s most rewarding experiences when you finally make it to the Inca citadel

Chernobyl: Untouched since 1986 after a nuclear disaster wiped out all forms of life at the time. It now remains as a time capsule with communist symbols and normal people’s belongings left frozen in time for decades.

Unfortunately, it is probably off-limits for many years to come due to the war in Ukraine

Volcan Acatenango trek: In Guatemala, you can hike up this volcano and sleep on the side overnight. A few miles away is Volcan de Fuego which erupts every 15 minutes.

You can see the lava spewing out at times which makes this a truly magical experience.

What advice do you have for newbie travellers?

New travellers should start by saving up for several months to a year so they can afford to travel without working for a similar amount of time.

Then they should book a one-way flight to a beginner destination and go from there. Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are both perfect beginner spots with well-trodden tourist trails, high safety levels and low costs.

Don’t throw yourself in at the deep end. Myanmar and India are incredible countries, but they can be a little tricky for beginners. Familiarise yourself with easier countries in new regions before tackling the harder spots.

And be sure to pack efficiently. Every newbie traveller (myself included) makes the mistake of squeezing half your bedroom into the biggest rucksack you can physically carry. You will soon realise, this is not necessary.

For starters, laundry facilities are commonplace and very cheap in almost every country. Therefore you don’t need ten sets of clothes.

I would recommend a sturdy rucksack (your belongings will take a good battering on the road, so be sure to try and protect them). It’s worth noting that I was hammered for £100s in checked baggage fees before I downsized to hand luggage only.

Bring an adapter that covers European, American and British plug sockets, as well as having USB slots. I use one from Jyomix which I found on Amazon 5 years ago and it’s still working perfectly almost 50 countries later.

Also use a 2m+ charging cable. Many hotels and hostels have sockets far from the walls, therefore these are useful.

My other recommendation would be a portable charger. Staying connected is vital in today’s world, your phone is not only key for taking great photos, but also for safety, logistics and navigation. Be sure to always have power.

What about advice for aspiring travel bloggers?

For aspiring travel bloggers, my advice would be to just start, and work out the problems as you go.

You can understand everything in the world about driving theory, but you’ll probably still be a pretty poor driver when you get behind the wheel for the very first time.

It’s the same with blogging. The theory is important, but you won’t really master it until you’ve had a good go at the practical side, and slipped up on several occasions to begin with.

Also be careful with who you follow. There are many people out there giving SEO advice, but several will teach you the dark arts such as buying links and joining link-swapping networks.

Do your research and find real experts whose advice will (hopefully) ensure you don’t get wiped out during a core update for doing something Google doesn’t like.

What is your unpopular travelling opinion?

You don’t have to be rich to travel. Sure, it helps, but it’s absolutely possible to travel with little to no money.

Couchsurfing allows people to stay for free with locals for under $3 per month. Hitchhiking costs nothing. Volunteering in hostels provides free accommodation, often with meals thrown in too.

Of course, not everyone will be happy with this level of discomfort, which is absolutely fair enough. But it does just go to show that you don’t need lots of money to travel. Only to stay in luxury places.

Also, some countries are several times more affordable than others. If you’re struggling with the cost of living in the US, UK or France, consider moving to Paraguay, Colombia or Vietnam instead.

You can find okay places to stay and great food for literally a quarter of what you may pay in some Western countries.

What do you want to inspire other travellers to do?

I’d love to inspire other travellers to consider travelling to countries which don’t have the popularity of a Greece, Spain or Italy.

I’ve already touched on Myanmar briefly; this is an incredible country with some of the world’s most spectacular Buddhist temples, and you can even take a hot air balloon over the plains of Bagan if you go in the right season.

Then there are countries struggling to shake off the reputation of a patchy recent history. El Salvador is an example of this. This country was plagued by regular gang violence as recently as early 2022.

However, the government cracked down hard on gangs and it is now one of the safest countries in the Americas. The quaint colonial city of Santa Ana and spectacular nearby volcano shouldn’t be missed because of an outdated perception of this wonderful country.

Lastly, you have smaller countries with no safety concerns, but no real reputation for tourism either. The likes of North Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Moldova have a lot to offer in terms of history and cool sights on a budget, yet will often be ignored in favour of the mainstream destinations.

Paraguay is also a personal favourite, with no major bucket list tourist destinations, but quite possibly the best food in the world. Although neighbouring Argentina runs it close!

What destination is calling your name in 2025?

I’m now on a big Latin America/Caribbean trip with my girlfriend covering many of my favourite countries, and exciting new spots like Cuba and Venezuela. Those two countries excite me more than any others.

Then a year from now we’re looking forward to another big trip. Africa and Europe have been mentioned, but Central Asia is our preference right now.

Lastly, where can we find you online?

Blog: Adventure to Every Country Homepage – Adventure to Every Country

Twitter/X: @everycountry197 Adventure to Every Country (@everycountry197) / X (twitter.com)

Instagram: @alexjbrownn24 Instagram

Pinterest: @everycountry197 Alex | Adventure to Every Country

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Thank you for joining my Traveller of the Month series, Alex! Head on over to Alex’s blog to keep up to date with their adventures to every country in the world and stay tuned for the final Traveller of the Month for 2024!