I'm Now Posting My Writing on Medium.com

I've stopped writing on here for now, as I'm now posting my travel writing as well as essays and other random stuff over on my Medium.com page. To view my page click here.

My Video of Karlovac, Croatia Was Featured on a Croatian News Website

I recently visited the small city of Karlovac, Croatia and explored the war damaged old town, called Zvijezda. Today a local Croatian news website wrote an article about the video. You can read the article here. It's in Croatian, but you should be able to translate the page with Google. And below is the full video.

Best Travel Channels on Youtube to Binge Watch

I was recently included on a list of some of the best travel channels on Youtube, as voted by Thrill List. You can check it out by clicking here and get some more ideas for other travelers to follow. 

Writing Articles on Medium.com

I've created a new account on Medium.com, which is kind of like the Youtube for writers. I'll be posting most of my future writing over there. I'm tackling a wide variety of subjects, from the coronavirus to the moon landings, the flat Earth, Bill Gates, 5G cell phone towers, vaccines and of course travel stories and tips. You can visit my page by clicking here.

Is It Safe To Travel With The Coronavirus Spreading?

For anyone who doesn't known who I am, I'm a world traveler, travel blogger and digital nomad with a Youtube channel, Gabriel Traveler. I've been traveling around the world for the past thirty years, visiting seventy-two countries so far.

I recently completed a seven-month trip around the world. After traveling for so long I was ready for a break and went back home to California in January. This coincidentally happened to be right as news of the coronavirus (COVID-19) began to make headlines around the world. I was visiting family in northern California at the time and following developments daily as the virus continued to spread and captured the world's attention.

But after a month of staying with family, I was ready for a change of scene. About ten days ago, on March 7th, I flew from San Francisco, California to Guadalajara, Mexico. The SFO airport was eerily quiet. Once I arrived in Mexico things were perfectly normal. There were only five reported cases of the coronavirus at the time. (The number has now risen to 93 confirmed cases in Mexico as of today, March 18th. To see a live count of coronavirus cases around the world click here.)

This Is Not The End Of The World

A few things to keep in mind as we go into a very confusing and unknown phase of human civilization:

1. This is not the end of the world or of humanity. Humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and we'll get through this one, whatever happens.

2. Our modern society is way out of balance with the natural world. Perhaps this is exactly what is needed to kick us in the pants and give us the motivation to make necessary changes in how we interact with our home planet.

3. Even if you get the virus, it's not a death sentence. It's similar to the flu (but can be severe for some). Viruses have been around for thousands of years and are always circulating around the planet. This is by no means the deadliest disease we've ever faced.

Update on Paul in Cambodia (One Month Later)

Another update (after the article below was written): Great news! Paul was flown out of Cambodia by the British embassy and arrived back in the United Kingdom just in time for Christmas, so he's finally free. It's another long story which I will save for another time. Perhaps I'll get the chance to do an interview with Paul at some point, so that he can tell his story in his own words. If so I will try to record the discussion and post it on Youtube.

It's been more than a month since I wrote a piece explaining the situation with Paul from the UK, a friend I know through Facebook, who got stuck in Cambodia in a tough situation due to a series of unfortunate circumstances. If you don't know the story already you can read my previous article here.

But here's the short version: Paul was traveling from Vietnam to Thailand to work at a hostel and crossed through Cambodia on his way to Thailand. When he arrived at the Cambodia border and tried to enter Thailand, they discovered that someone else had previously visited Thailand using his name and birth date, who also looked like him. This person had overstayed his visa and then been deported, to Germany apparently. The Thai authorities accused Paul of being this other person, fined him $1,000 for the previous overstay, wouldn't allow him to enter Thailand and kicked him back to Cambodia. The amount they fined him was almost all the money he had at the time. He couldn't afford to buy a new Cambodia visa, so instead walked into the country and has now been stuck there for more than two months illegally.

Update on Paul Who is Stuck in Cambodia

A few days ago I posted a video telling the story of Paul, a British citizen and someone I've known on facebook for a couple years, who was traveling in southeast Asia when he got stuck in a bad situation in Cambodia. He was traveling from Vietnam to Thailand to work at a hostel there and passed through Cambodia. When he arrived at the border between Cambodia and Thailand and tried to enter Thailand, the immigration officials told him they thought he had been in Thailand the previous year and overstayed his visa by four months. It turned out someone had stolen his identity, entered Thailand in 2018 under his name and birth date somehow, overstayed his visa by four months and then been discovered and deported. Paul hadn't been in Thailand during that time and showed that to be the case in his passport. But they accused him of trying to re-enter with a different passport, fined him $1,000, which was all the money he had on him at the time and they kicked him back to Cambodia. He had only $15 left to his name and the visa to go back into Cambodia was $30. Somehow he managed to get past immigration and go back into Cambodia without a visa.

Why I Left Panama

A few days ago I left Panama City, the capital of Panama and flew to Montreal, Canada, the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec. I only spent five days in Panama, after spending a couple weeks on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

I'm sure some people will be curious why I didn't explore around Panama and Central America more, considering there's so much to see in that area. I've followed some other travel bloggers who went to Panama and posted photos and videos of amazing beaches, jungles and waterfalls. When I flew there I was considering doing some exploring around the country, but ultimately decided it wasn't the right time.

My First Two Days in Willemstad, Curacao

An interesting past couple days. I flew the day before yesterday from the Caribbean island of Aruba to the neighboring island of Curacao. What a huge change, even though they're both part of the Dutch Caribbean/Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba is very Americanized and kind of sterile, though it has beautiful beaches, some interesting local neighborhoods and rugged desert landscapes in the interior.

Arriving on Curacao was like, BOOM, I'm now really in the Caribbean, culturally speaking. It's a crazy mix of indigenous Caribbean, African, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch. It has a pretty rough feeling to it, but the main town of Willemstad is also a lot more interesting and vibrant than Oranjestad, the main town on Aruba.