World Travellers: Jim Cheney AKA The Tripologist

Time for another cool interview with a fellow World Traveller and today I feature Jim Cheney. Jim loves to get out and about and explore, even in the place he lives in and inspires us all to travel more through his excellent website The Tripologist. Over to Jim…

Who are you?

My name is Jim Cheney. I run Tripologist.com and UncoveringPA.com.

Where are you from?

Currently I live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the USA.

Where have you been?

Lots of places. I’ve backpacked around Europe, traveled the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and spent 2.5 years in Asia.

Where are you now?

I’ve been in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for about 18 months now. I’m trying to show that you don’t have to leave home to find adventure.

What are the top 3 places you’ve visited?

I loved Laos. It’s an amazingly underrated destination.

Turkey is another insanely awesome country. Every city and town I visited was better than the next. I can’t wait to go back.

I’m a bit biased because I lived there for two years, but there is so much to do in South Korea it’s unreal.

What is the best travel experience you’ve had?

I don’t think that there’s anyway to wrap up all of my travels into one best experience. Everything, good or bad, has been amazing. My best travel experience is just deciding to go in the first place.

What is the worst travel experience you’ve had?

I might be the worst interview ever, but I’ve been really lucky that I’ve never had an insanely bad experience while traveling. Sure, I’ve been places that I didn’t enjoy, and I’ve even been pick-pocketed. And while those experiences sucked for a few hours, they ended up being good stories.

What is the funniest travel experience you’ve had?

I think the funniest thing was when I had a bag stolen from the beach in Barcelona. When I noticed the bag, we went and got the cops. When we came back to the spot, some witnesses saw that the guy had come back to the beach. This led to a chase through the streets of Barcelona which was pretty epic.

What is the scariest travel experience you’ve had?

Other than a few scary bus drivers, I’ve never had a really scary experience while traveling. However, I was certainly nervous when I got lost in the countryside of southeast China while on an independent bike trip. I wasn’t sure if my wife and I would be able to find our way out of the rice paddies and back to town before dark.

What is the most random job you have had on your travels?

I’ve never had a random job while traveling, but being a blogger has led me to attend some pretty crazy events. For example, just this past February I had a press pass for the official Groundhog Day events  in Punxsutawney. Pennsylvania. That was a pretty crazy experience that I’d recommend to anyone.

How do you fund your travels?

I’ve funded my travels in many ways. I’ve worked in America and saved my money. I’ve worked as an English Teacher in Korea which sustained my travels for a while. And now I’m working as a freelance writer to bring money in.

What 3 tips would you give a new traveller before they set off on their adventure?

Don’t try to see too much. You’ll get burned out.

Turn left when the guidebook tells you to turn right. You’ll see some pretty interesting things that way.

Don’t forget that you can find adventure at home. If you can’t travel right now, just look around you for the travel adventures you crave.

What are your future travel plans?

As I said above, I’m working right now on proving that you can find adventure anywhere. I started a travel blog about the state of Pennsylvania called UncoveringPA.com, and I’m traveling extensively around the state to see what there is to do.

Biography

Jim Cheney is a travel writer and photographer based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Jim spent over two years in Asia traveling and working prior to settling back in America. His writing focuses mainly on travel planning advice and unique travel destinations throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.

To find more of his work, visit his sites, Tripologist.com and UncoveringPA.com.

Get connected with Jim!:

http://tripologist.com

http://uncoveringpa.com

http://facebook.com/tripologist

http://twitter.com/thetripologist

Thanks to Jim Cheney for being the latest in my series of World Travellers! If you travel the world and run a travel blog or are a travel writer, please get in touch, you can be featured (there’s a HUGE waiting list at present), either e-mail jonny (at) dontstopliving (dot) net or head to my contacts page and get connected! You can also subscribe to Don’t Stop Living by filling in the form below! Safe travels!