Ethiopia—Peter Heinlein: fearless correspondent for the Voice of America.
Ghana, Benin, Togo, Mali, and Burkina Faso—Godfried Agbezudor: head of Continent Explorer.
Haiti—Johnathan Haggard: director of Beyond Borders, a charity focused on Haiti.
Mongolia—Balthazar Emke: tour operator and guide.
South Pacific—Tony Wheeler: founder of Lonely Planet and indefatigable traveler.
Russia—Nadezda Dukhina: journalist and writer, recently relocated to the U.S.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen—Ihab Zaki of Spiekerman Travel, Middle East specialist.
Somalia—The owner of the place I stayed in Mogadishu, who has requested anonymity.
Southeast Asia—Harold Stephens, who has lived there for the last 40 years.
Uganda and East Africa—Miha Lohar, who runs the Edirisa hotel in the Gorilla Highlands.
And, most affectionately, Aline, Amy, Anna, Beverly, Carla, Cindy, Claire, Corrine, DeAnsin, Donna, Dori, Eileen, Ellen, Inna, Irene, Jamie, Jodie, Joyce, Lauren, Lora, Lynne, Mary, Nadya, Pamela, Ralitsa, Roberta, Sandy, Sara, Sue, Susan, Svitlana, Veronika, Vickie, and Viktorija, plus Alan, Andrew, Claus, and Dennis, for having the faith and trust to travel with me and for keeping me company on various portions of these otherwise long and lonely journeys.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALBERT PODELL has been an editor at Playboy and three national outdoor magazines and written more than 250 freelance articles. He was coleader of the Trans World Record Expedition and coauthor of Who Needs a Road?, an adventure classic still in print after nearly five decades. He holds a B.A. in government from Cornell, was the graduate fellow of the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago, and received a law degree from New York University. He lives in New York and is an all-around outdoorsman—skier, boarder, mountaineer, climber, camper, hiker, biker, archer, angler, surfer, kayaker, scuba diver, windsurfer, long-distance swimmer, and vegetable gardener.
Learn more at www.albertpodell.com
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ALSO BY ALBERT PODELL
Who Needs a Road? The Story of the Longest and Last Motor Journey Around the World
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
Frontispiece
Photograph
Foreword by Harold Stephens
ONE Between a Croc and a Hard Place
Photograph
TWO A Late Start
Photograph
THREE The Land of a Thousand Horrors
Photograph
FOUR Weighed Down in Egypt’s Land
Photograph
FIVE Into the Teeth of the Tiger
Photograph
SIX Changing Goals
Photograph
SEVEN Making a Splash
Photograph
EIGHT “Just Call Me God”
Photograph
NINE So, When Is a Country Not a Country?
Photograph
TEN Doing God’s Work
Photograph
ELEVEN Travels in SPAM Land
TWELVE Hanging Chad
Photograph
THIRTEEN “Do Not Kidnap Anyone Today!”
Photograph
FOURTEEN Your Man in Havana
Photograph
FIFTEEN You Are What You Eat
Photograph
SIXTEEN Snow Beneath the Southern Cross
Photograph
SEVENTEEN A Poke in a Pig
Photograph
EIGHTEEN No Countries for Old Men
Photograph
NINETEEN Into the Indian Ocean
Photograph
TWENTY On the Whims of the Dragoons
Photograph
TWENTY-ONE Murphy Moves to TomorrowLand
Photograph
Photograph
TWENTY-TWO To the Land of the Great Leader
Photograph
TWENTY-THREE In the Steppes of Genghis Khan
Photograph
TWENTY-FOUR On the Wings of the Dragon
Photograph
TWENTY-FIVE A Tropical Depression
Photograph
TWENTY-SIX Second Thoughts
Photograph
TWENTY-SEVEN My Meddle in the Muddle East
Photograph
TWENTY-EIGHT Guerrillas and Gorillas
Photograph
TWENTY-NINE Plan X and the Gray-Blue Eyes
Photograph
THIRTY … And One More for the Road
Photograph
Countries Visited: In Chronological Order
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Albert Podell
Copyright
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 50 YEARS. Copyright © 2015 by Albert Podell. Foreword © 2015 by Harold Stephens. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design Steve Snider
Cover art: stamps © Seyyahil and f9photos/Shutterstock.com; pattern © Golden Shrimp/Shutterstock.com
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Podell, Albert.
Around the world in 50 years: my adventure to every country on earth / Albert Podell.—First edition.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-05198-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5293-8 (e-book)
1. Podell, Albert—Travel. 2. Voyages around the world. I. Title.
G440.P73P64 2015
910.4092—dc23
2014033858
e-ISBN 9781466852938
First Edition: March 2015
Around the World in 50 Years Page 38