As his Vagabond Adventure reaches its third anniversary, National Geographic Explorer, ex-CNN Bureau Chief and author Chip Walter is reflective: "Cyndy and I have made it almost half-way around this remarkable planet, and every mile we've traveled we crossed by land or sea, one day, person and one culture at a time. We've traveled by bus, ferry, ship, train and shoe leather; on horseback, mule and camel. It's been a humbling experience that has taught us that the many thousands of people we have crossed paths with are not angry or selfish or filled with hate. They are good, kind and open-minded. Not that we haven't had some harrowing moments!

As we continue our travels around the world, I’m excited to announce the release of my upcoming novel Doppelgänger. I hope you’ll visit my new website at chipwalter.com to learn more about its March launch and about my other books and non-travel writing.

This doesn’t mean the end of Vagabond. We’ll continue to send regular travel dispatches, and the Vagabond-Adventure website will keep delivering hundreds of recommendations from around the world as we keep working our way around the planet.

A lot of you have been asking about our upcoming plans and future itineraries. For the past two years, we’ve been keeping you in touch with where we have been and where we are, but not so good at filling you in on where we go next. It’s a fair question and we agree an update is in order as we head into year three.

While a Vagabond must adapt and remain flexible, a lot of work goes into assuring our safe (if sometimes harrowing) arrival at the planet’s entry ports. Even then, the world remains unpredictable. (Covid, Ukraine and Israel being some notable examples). Now entering our third year we’ve learned a lot about Vagabonding and want to share our latest plans with you. If any of them change, you’ll be the first to know.

As we plan … we welcome your help!

As Cyndy and I continue to travel, we’ve learned a lot, sometimes the hard way. So, we thought, why not share information we’ve stumbled upon to help provide you a useful resource for creating your own adventures? To do that we have begun to collate all of our favorite places, sites, restaurants, accommodations, books, transportation and much more into a sortable library that you can use to complement your own travel planning. At the site you’ll find basic information about these places, along with links, contact information, and additional notes from our own experiences. (Often you can also find additional details and context about these places in our Vagabond Daily Journal.)

We are always looking for better and easier ways to share what we’re experiencing and learning and that’s why we’ve created something new: The Vagabond Journal, an organized, searchable section of our website that will make it easier to follow this pilgrimage. There will be more stories, photos, and videos. And within most journal entries, we are adding recommendations that can help you plan your own adventures. We will continually add to these recommendations based on our own experience, but will also be adding recommendations from the many other well-traveled vagabonds we have met along the way.

“I have never seen any part of the world that looks like this. The water, the land, the sky all around, as majestic as anything earthly could be. I struggled to hold it in my mind. I did not want to let the feeling go, though I knew I would and I knew my words could never do it all the remotest justice; no photograph or memory could possibly keep a grip on it. I realized in one stroke how happy I was to witness this, and how sad to know it would pass.”

The Vagabond Adventure reached its 500th day and 80,000th mile in February. A brief recap covers our exploits across parts of four continents: North America, South America, Europe and Africa. We talk about parts of the journey, what 500 days really means and compare that number to history’s greatest adventures. We also reflect upon discovery, some of our favorite locations, the lessons learned and discuss the next 500 days to come.

The big news coming in March is how excited we are to continue our Vagabond Adventure to Earth’s still mysterious seventh continent, Antarctica. We've been looking forward to this leg of the journey a long time. You can’t make all seven continents if you don’t get to Antarctica! Finally now, after traveling back from Pittsburgh to the tip of South America, we’re here. It took almost five months.

It’s December and it turns out that December is a time around the world where people celebrate all sorts of holidays. Since our group of vagabonds has been growing, we want to wish everyone of them well. Name the place - Morocco, Spain, the United States, England, Chile, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Belize, Peru, Panama, Mexico, Canada or the several other countries we have so far visited. We wish you happy St. Nicholas Day, Merry Christmas, a terrific Hanukkah, a lovely Nochebuena, the best St. Lucias Day ever, joyful Las Posadas, an enlightened Rohatsu, happy Krampusnacht, and a celebratory Kwanzaa. May each of you have a warm, restful and loving holiday wherever you are.

We’re introducing changes to how the Vagabond Adventure is presented, with updates to the website and an expanded REACH library. Also inside are 3 great reads for the month as well as a limited time holiday offer at the Vagabond Adventure Store.

Get the latest news at ChipWalter.com, including what’s new in REACH, our embarkation on the next leg of the Vagabond Adventure, and a new discount in the Vagabond Adventure Store.

Our Vagabond Adventure store is open! And we are excited! We’re just getting started and working on new ways to expand what we offer all the time (so come back often to see what’s new).

We have some beautiful hand made items I recently discovered in the village of Santillana, Spain. (We have a very limited supply.) You can explore our travel journals and high quality, eco-friendly shirts designed exclusively for us by MollyRoseCreative too, and find a small collection of award-winning books written and personally signed by Chip Walter. It’s all completely unique. You’ll never find these products anywhere else. I hope you’ll swing by for a visit because we would love to get your feedback!

About a month ago, we upgraded our website to create REACH, an online community that provides a fresh perspective on the world and all of us who inhabit it.

if you’re the sort of person who wonders, and likes to wander; someone who appreciates learning what is out there. If you are curious about why we kiss or cry, or want to know what makes us tick, and how we got to that ticking; or if you simply want to Reach back and take a break from the stress, the dark news, and the fear mongering, you’ll enjoy Reach.

Even if you are already getting my Vagabond Dispatches and other newsletters, or are a Facebook or LinkedIn fan, please join REACH at www.chipwalter.com/library to receive all of the full library and dispatches. It’s easy and won’t cost you a dime, dirham, tangka, peso or zar. And bonus! When you join, you’ll automatically receive “Slow Travel - Part I” my series on how we managed to stuff all of our belongings for our world-circling adventure into two bags and a day pack. If you’ve already signed up for Reach, my sincerest thanks.