If you look around my home you see many travel photos. A few were taken by me but most are from travel photojournalists who provide a range of styles and subjects.
Boris Kester has a passion for exploring the world and sharing his adventures with us in his captivating travel photos and his book "The long road to Cullaville: Stories from my travels to every country in the World”. Boris kindly agreed to be in the author's spotlight
Please, tells us a little about your book "The long road to Cullaville: Stories from my travels to every country in the World” and why you wrote it.
My childhood dream was to become an author. I started writing several books before I was 10, but never knew how to finish them, so the dream remained an abstract one. I have always been writing, mostly blogs for my travel website www.traveladventures.org. At the same time, I was a traveler from a very young age. Shortly after visiting the very last country, I had never been to (Ireland), I realized how many adventures I had lived. I felt a deep desire to share some of them with a wider public, and also to write those stories in a more lasting way than a blog. This is how my book The Long Road to Cullaville was born. Cullaville is the small village where I crossed my last border.
One of the most common questions I am asked is: isn’t it dangerous to visit every country in the world? In my book, I try to answer to that question. Through sixteen stories, I show how I traveled in countries that are considered dangerous, and how I deal with risky situations. My book is a travel adventure book, and the purpose is to entertain my readers. To show my readers the reality of places in the world they might have never visited or even heard of. In a broader sense, I also hope to show my readers that fear often is not a good counsellor, and that leaving fear behind and pursuing your passion brings you so much beauty and unforgettable moments in life.
What inspired or motivated you to travel to many countries?
My parents already took me on a journey to Greece when I was five months old, and we traveled ever since. Even before reaching my 10th birthday, I was counting the countries I had visited in my travel diaries. I have always had a deep curiosity and drive to explore the world, to see places with my own eyes, to meet people from around the world. I always made sure to visit countries where I hadn’t been to before.
When I had already been to 117 countries, I went through a painful breakup. This ultimately made me decide to visit every country in the world. Even now that I have finished, my curiosity is as deep as ever, and I continue traveling to the many places that I want to see with my own eyes. I have reached a point where I hope to inspire others to explore our beautiful world.
What language did you pick up the quickest?
This was probably Spanish. At the time (I was in my early twenties), I had studied Latin at school, and my French was fluent as I had worked in Francophone countries in Africa. I went to Spain to do a language course, and within a month, I was able to have long conversations in Spanish. The background of Latin and French greatly helped me with that.
What have been your top three destinations and why?
Ahh, the most difficult question. I would go for Colombia, Madagascar, and Yemen. The common denominator is that they are all, to a large degree, still very authentic.
Colombia because it is a wonderful and diverse country which offers high altitude mountains, Amazon jungle, an impressive pre-colonial site (The Lost City), colonial cities, splendid museums, regions which are very different, a Pacific and a Caribbean side, and welcoming people.
Madagascar because it has a unique ecosystem with flora and fauna that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Spectacular landscapes, wonderful animals. Moreover, its people are also a unique mix, as part of them are from South-East Asian descent. That said, Africa is a much more varied continent than many people realize, and there are several other countries I could have nominated as well.
Yemen because I have very dear memories of the country. I went there in 2004, when it was still possible to travel independently. I discovered a rugged country, with stunning mountain villages and the historic old city of Sana’a, with a huge desert, with the oldest skyscrapers of the world in Shibam, with dramatic canyons and a unique island (Socotra), and with humble people who are very hospitable and made me feel like a welcome guest of their country. It is unfortunate and tragic that a war has been raging since 2015.
Who is your favorite author?
This is another hard question. Of all the authors i admire, I will pick Homer. I devoured his books when I was a child, and the Odysseus made me dream about travel and was a huge inspiration for my wanderlust. Come to think of it, it is time to re-read his books once more.
What are you reading now?
Right now, I am reading two books: Bloodlines by Timothy Snyder, for a better historic perspective of the war in Ukraine, and Ted Talks, by Chris Anderson, as I am being invited as a speaker to several events and am looking for guidance to become a better speaker.
Is there anything else you would like blog viewers to know?
I loved to write my book, and when it was published, my childhood dream came true. I discovered something I already knew deep down: I am an author. I started working on a second book less than two weeks after the first was published, which will also be about travel but from a different perspective. Blog viewers can follow me by joining the mailing list on my website boriskester.com or following me on instagram at @boris_traveladventures. Anyone is free to contact me with questions about travel, and writing and publishing travel books. In case I don’t respond within a day, it probably means I’ll be traveling.