Destinations

This index has one rule: a destination only appears here after its page has been rebuilt to the 2026 standard — first-hand, dated, photographed, verified.

It grows every week. The rest of the archive — hundreds of older pages — stays online and reachable through search and the Ledger; this is the curated shelf. Start anywhere: every card is a place I have actually stood.

Asia

IndiaHitchhiking the Srinagar–Leh highway over Zojila Pass, May 2016

AfghanistanThe full guide — Kabul, Herat, Bamiyan, Band-e Amir, all visited in person

2012 self-drive story

IraqThe full country guide — 2009 by thumb, 2016 south, 2018 van month

Kurdistan · Mosul story · van life · UNESCO sites

SyriaAll six UNESCO sites, visited 2020-2025

the M5 in wartime

NepalA retreat in the birthplace of the Buddha KazakhstanSummer with the nomads of the Ile-Alatau, 2004 Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan24 hours trapped in the Pamir no-man’s-land

Africa

MauritaniaBroke in Nouadhibou and the fish cargo flight home, 2003

MoroccoA triple wedding deep in the Sahara

Sahara by Motobécane

Mali22 hours on an overloaded pickup to Timbuktu, 2008 EthiopiaFeeding the wild hyenas of Harar Egypt & SudanThe Wadi Halfa ferry, sleeping on deck

Europe

Russia4,383 km alone through the winter of 2005

The Americas

United StatesESTA in 2026 — and my New York chapters since 2000

Coming next as pages are rebuilt: Iran, Turkey, the Caucasus, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Suriname — and the van life pillar. The full 146-country ledger is here.