Entry Zero: A Brief Introduction to Your Host
I don’t travel to escape my life.
I travel because every now and then, it feels healthy to get dropped somewhere unfamiliar, eat something I can’t pronounce, misunderstand a bus schedule, and be reminded that my worldview is not, in fact, the source of truth for the entire planet.
So, welcome to The World Rolodex. It's my idea of a travel blog, my digital card catalog of places worth remembering, and hopefully, a place where you’ll find a few reasons to care about corners of the world you may not have thought much about yet.
To begin, I should probably establish some travel credentials before asking you to follow me into street markets, mountain hikes, backroads, and cigar shops.
I’m 26 years old, and I’ve traveled pretty extensively in my short time on this rock hurling through space. I’ve road-tripped through 42 of the lower 48 states in the U.S., and in the last two years, my spouse and I have started branching into international travel, including South America, the Caribbean, and Europe by way of Iceland.
And to prove I am, in fact, a real person and not three travel clichés stacked inside a Patagonia jacket, here is a picture of me surveying part of a hot air balloon festival we found in a small town on one of our trips like a dad who physically embodies the Home Depot theme music.
I travel because every now and then, it feels healthy to get dropped somewhere unfamiliar, eat something I can’t pronounce, misunderstand a bus schedule, and be reminded that my worldview is not, in fact, the source of truth for the entire planet.
So, welcome to The World Rolodex. It's my idea of a travel blog, my digital card catalog of places worth remembering, and hopefully, a place where you’ll find a few reasons to care about corners of the world you may not have thought much about yet.
To begin, I should probably establish some travel credentials before asking you to follow me into street markets, mountain hikes, backroads, and cigar shops.
I’m 26 years old, and I’ve traveled pretty extensively in my short time on this rock hurling through space. I’ve road-tripped through 42 of the lower 48 states in the U.S., and in the last two years, my spouse and I have started branching into international travel, including South America, the Caribbean, and Europe by way of Iceland.
And to prove I am, in fact, a real person and not three travel clichés stacked inside a Patagonia jacket, here is a picture of me surveying part of a hot air balloon festival we found in a small town on one of our trips like a dad who physically embodies the Home Depot theme music.
Now, let me say something that may come off as snobby, because it probably is:
I am not your typical American tourist. I’m not particularly interested in flying somewhere just to sit in a resort, eat the safest thing on the menu, and come home with a sunburn and a magnet.
No disrespect to poolside drinkers, everyone has their own way of floating their boats, but that kind of travel never has been for me.
I like showing up to lesser-visited places. I like eating the food people actually eat. I like open air street markets, small shops, old buildings, regional liquor, cigars, conversations with strangers, and the kind of things that really make you say "Wow, my life is small."
To me, travel feels the best when used as an exercise in trying on someone else’s shoes.
That attraction to discomfort, curiosity, and the occasional questionable transportation decision is what led me to park my proverbial bus here: attempting to become a travel journalist as a hobby, not a profession.
So you've probably got a few questions, the first I can see a lot of people asking is: What's a rolodex? Is this some high tech, cutting edge way of chronicling travel?
Well dear reader, the answer is no.
For anyone born after the era when our moms had little rotating card contraptions on the kitchen counter for recipes, or next to the phone for numbers, a rolodex was basically a physical contact list. A little wheel of names, places, and details worth keeping.
This is my digital version of that low tech, unoptimized little device.
Each Rolodex Entry will focus on a different region, country, continent, or route I’ve visited. Some entries will be broken into multiple parts, because certain places deserve more than one pass. A city, region, or country is rarely one thing. There are subcultures, neighborhoods, landscapes, histories, foods, markets, and local rhythms that all deserve their own space.
Here's what this blog is not going to serve as. Just to get it out of the way now.
- It is not going to be a luxury itinerary generator.
- It is not going to be a list of the “Top 10 Instagram Spots” in whatever country happens to be trending.
- It is not going to pretend that travel is only worth doing when there’s a private plunge pool involved.
Instead, I’ll be focusing on culture, food, small businesses, public markets, historical and natural points of interest, overlooked street corners and crevices, and the kinds of places that tend to tell you more about where you are than the attractions everyone already knows about.
The goal of this blog is not to influence. The goal is to explain. To observe.
I want to provide you a window into some of the coolest, strangest, most beautiful, most complicated places this planet has to offer, as I saw them with my own eyes.
The luxuries you choose to incorporate into your own travels are entirely up to you. I’m not here to judge anyone’s vacation budget, preferred thread count on their sheets, or relationship with room service.
But this self-righteous, mildly snobby blogger does believe this:
Some of the best travel experiences happen far away from anything typically associated with opulence. Sometimes they happen in a market stall. Sometimes they happen on a bus. Most times, they happen over a glass of something strong, handed to you by someone who does not speak your language but knows exactly how proud they are of where they come from.
That is the version of travel I care about. I hope this blog will inspire you to seek this version of travel out too.
Ta-ta for now, be on the lookout for more content from your sunny nihilist, Gen Z wannabe travel journalist.