Features

Chris Guillebeau

31 Dec 2012 by ReggieHo

Entrepreneur, blogger and author Chris Guillebeau has been to all but three of the 193 countries in the world, and by April 7 this year, he plans to achieve his goal of having visited every single one of them. He is the host of the World Domination Summit, an annual international gathering of creative people, and his latest book The $100 Startup (see Great Reads) has become a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Maida Pineda connected with this global citizen during his book tour in India.

DO YOU HAVE AN EXTRA-THICK PASSPORT?
I’ve gone back many times for additional pages, a practice that’s allowed with US passports. I’ve also worked through three to four additional passports over the past five years with all the stamps.

ANY TIPS TO MAKE TRAVEL MORE COMFORTABLE?
Maintaining elite status with airlines and hotels definitely helps. I also earn and use about one million frequent flyer miles every year. Most of them are earned through promotions and special offers instead of flying, and then I redeem them for international itineraries in first or business class.

YOU ARE ALSO A "TRAVEL HACKER", CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IT MEANS?
Travel hacking is essentially a series of strategies to see the world on a budget. As mentioned, frequent flyer miles definitely make a huge difference in my ability to travel as much as I do. I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years and have taken countless free trips. Readers who wish to travel hack on their own can learn from free blogs or our paid membership service at http://Travelhacking.org.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH JET LAG?
I’m not so good at dealing with it. Sometimes I take melatonin at night if I’m speaking at a morning event, but other times I just stay up all night and work, then take naps during the day whenever I can. The last time I was in Dubai I arrived at 8pm after sleeping for much of the flight from New York. I ordered “breakfast” from room service around midnight and then sat out on the balcony until 3am.

WHERE ARE YOU OFF TO NEXT?
After the India tour I’ll be travelling to Guinea-Bissau, one of the three remaining countries I’ve yet to visit. To get there I first fly back to Hong Kong, then over to Singapore, then London, then Lisbon, then Dakar (Senegal), and finally to the capital city of Bissau. I’m sure it will be exhausting but I expect it will be worth it.

HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE AFTER YOU HAVE DONE YOUR 193RD COUNTRY?
We’ll be having a big party in Norway next year to celebrate the finale.

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