Since my very first remote foreign trip (Lebanon) at the age of 18 I have been grabbed by the amazing thing this globe has to offer us. Based on my travel experiences, I believe that in spite of all the global problems of pollution, conflict, poverty, inequality, corruption, etc., the beauty of our planet still dominates. Whether it's the natural environments with its flora and fauna, world wonders, fascinating capitals where every conceivable activity takes place just a few square kilometres, local populations with different uses or beautiful historical sights. It is incredibly impressive to be able to see all this and to behold.

In addition, I realize that humanity is hard on his way to destroying a large part of this beauty. This includes not only pollution or urbanization but also deforestation (Amazon, Tasmania), hunting tourism for endangered animal species (South Africa, Namibia) or the destruction of existing heritage (Syria, Mali). This human supremacy to systematic destroying of mother earth is tremendous stupid; but this argument seems totally unnecessary. 

We can be happy to live in a time frame in which we are able to explore our planet intensively and extensively. Our ancestors often did not go beyond the border but we can click twice on the Internet and then thousands of miles away stand in front of a native animal, pre-historic building or beautiful natural violence. 

And I make use of these possibilities. I enjoy each time of every country with its own landscape, historical, cultural, but also economic, infrastructural and political characteristics. Of course, there are comparisons on the continents. Albania looks very like Romania, Iran on Armenia, America is similar to Canada, Ecuador seems to be as Peru and Finland does not make much sense to Sweden. By the way, since my visits to these countries I know that you can also ski well there. Yes indeed, also in Iran, Ecuador and Peru...

Time after time I leave these countries with a wealth of experiences, contacts and/or impressive sights that leave the country etched in my memory - as unique and beautiful - despite the sometimes visible human destruction. Another remarkable point is that those states where the Western world and I incorrectly criticize the regime (e.g. Libya, Iran, Cuba) have left me with the most intensive impressions. I distanced myself from the political situation but was curious about the other features. In Libya, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Leptis Magna, Iran showed her my beautiful (jewel) art treasures and in Cuba it was the locals I closed in my heart. 

My simple moral of all this: travel enriched. It's definitely worth looking further than just the countries around us only. It enriches your knowledge, it creates more understanding, makes you more flexible and learns to improvise, you meet great people and experience remarkable uses. And you also kept beautiful pictures. Meanwhile I have allowed and experienced over 75 countries. And then, knowing that I'm not half of the beauty that this planet has to offers us ... 

Frans