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explorer_keith - Keith Martin

Where I Have Been

Map Legend: 11%, 31 of 263 Territories

Lived In

Traveled Through

These are all places I hae traveled through or lived in over the last few years. My goal is to get rid of all of the gray on the map.

I am from Georgia, but I have lived in California for the past few years. I have been working as an engineer since I got out of school six years ago. I have grown tired of working the never changing rat race of ‘normal life’, so I am embarking on a multi-year round the world journey, a retirement of sorts, beginning with a winter contract job in Antarctica. From there, who knows where I will go, but I plan on seeing the whole world and all of the unique cultures, remote wildernesses and amazing history that this planet has to offer. I am planning on traveling as inexpensively as possible, without sacrificing the quality of the adventure, but I am also going to work along the way to help cover my expenses.

Update: 03/03/2008 - I am taking a break from life on the road for a while. I am going to get my blogs up to date over the next several months.

Update: 17th June, 2009 - I am just back from a two month adventure in the Peruvian Amazon. I am working on getting my blogs up to date, but first I am going to write about the Amazon - Stay tuned for the long overdue blogs on Greece and the Middle East. I will be heading to Scandinavia and the Arctic for another sailing adventure at the end of July.

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Joined on: January 16th 2005
Last Login: July 3rd 2009

Blog Entries: 81
Photos: 2514
Recommended by 26

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by explorer_keith, order by Date newest first.

By explorer_keith
May 19th 2009

The Life of a Guacamayero (Macaw Researcher) South America » Peru » Madre de Dios » Puerto Maldonado » Amazon Rainforest

Why Don't You Get a Little Closer?!
This is the famous bullet ant. It is reputed to have the most painful bite in the insect world. It is also the largest ant in the forest.

By my fifth week living at Posada Amazonas I was ready for a break. The eight to ten hours I was spending on the trail every day, while immensely enjoyable, were taking their toll on my body. To make things worse, the lumpy, sagging mattress I had been sleeping on had resurrected an old pelvis injury, which I had earned in a fit of stupidity during a mountaineering trip in Yosemite many years before. I spent a few days resting in my bed, hoping to prevent a total flare up that would eventually spread to my lower back, rendering me useless [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
May 8th 2009

Into The Amazon South America » Peru » Madre de Dios » Puerto Maldonado » Amazon Rainforest

Looking Up
This is the view from among the buttresses of the giant kapok tree - It was an amazing view!

For those of you who have been following my blog you will notice a large gap. I have decided to start writing about my current travels, but I will fill in the gaps as quickly as I can, so stay tuned and enjoy. A quick glance through the window revealed a seemingly endless blanket of green where, a few minutes before, there had been huge, snow-capped peaks. Just below us a wide ribbon of muddy orange water sliced through the green in a winding, haphazard manner. I knew the river well, though I had only seen it on maps - It [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 10th 2007

A Quick Stop in a Tourist Town Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Bodrum

At the English Tower
Note the ancient stone lion and the antique air conditioner - And you thought the knights didn't have AC.

I stared at the departure schedule in disbelief. There was no way it could be correct, despite being posted on a big sign in huge permanent letters. An uneasy feeling, almost nausea, crept into my stomach when I remembered where I had gotten the schedule information in the first place. It seemed that my guidebook had another big strike against it, nothing new there. I walked into the tiny waterfront shop and asked the man what the schedule for the hydrofoil to Rhodes was. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face and pointed to the large sign [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 8th 2007

The First of Seven Wonders Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Selçuk

Selcuk in the Morning
The streets were empty but the decorations were still up. I really liked these banners back-lit by the sun - Note the sun's position on the first banner.

“Mister, do you need a nice room for the night?” was the first thing I heard as I stepped off of the nightmarish bus in Selçuk. My cramped, uncomfortable seat had left me in a grumpy mood and my muscles were in the first stages of atrophy, so I was not in the mood for a long search for a place to stay. I turned to the woman that had asked the question and mustered the best smile I could. She then said, “I have a nice pension just around the corner.” We quickly discussed all of the important points, such [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 5th 2007

Aphrodite's City Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias
This is one of the loveliest views I have seen at an ancient site.

A rolling landscape of golden hillsides, rocky ridges and tall, green cypresses was flying past my window in streaks of sheer beauty. It was another lovely day, but I couldn’t really remember the last time it hadn’t been. My bus was filled with several interesting people, all of us bound for the ruined city of Aphrodisias, about an hour from Pamukkale. When we boarded the bus that morning our driver had informed us that there was not going to be a guide and that our ‘tour’ only included transportation to and from Aphrodisias - Not being overly fond of tours, I [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 4th 2007

To the Cotton Castle Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Pamukkale

Crypts With a View
What a lovely place to be buried. I had been looking up to these tombs all day and it was worth the trek to get to them.

Slowly the bus rattled its way to the north. The rough dirt road from Fethiye, on the Mediterranean coast, penetrated the rugged countryside of Turkey’s ‘Inner Aegean’ region. The ribbon-like road hung precariously on the edge of sparsely forested mountainsides, which afforded sweeping views of the surrounding terrain. From time to time we descended into lush, green valleys where we found tiny hamlets, seemingly forgotten in the sands of time. We stopped in one of those tiny towns and took a long break in the shade beneath an ancient tree at the makeshift otogar. I sat a [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 3rd 2007

Over a Sunken City Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Kas

Space Invaders
Don't worry! I know it looks like a laser blast from space, but it is only a time-lapse photo of the red flare that marked the end of the fireworks show in Kas.

Westward we went into the famous lands of Lycia. The road wound its way through the thick forests of the coastal range. From time to time we got stunning glimpses of the rugged Mediterranean coastline from high up on a mountainside or down in the coastal plain. At other times we got sweeping views of wide valleys filled with agricultural complexes. We stopped in several of the towns along the way to exchange passengers or stretch our legs. One of those towns, Kale (modern day Myra), had a very interesting claim to fame - It was known as the birthplace of [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
September 1st 2007

Onward to Lycia Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Olympos

The Roman Baths
This was one of the more picturesque of Olympos's ruins. It overlooked the slow flowing, tidal creek.

We were sitting in the sun room of the pension eating a leisurely breakfast. While we ate, we discussed where in Turkey we wanted to go that day. I was unsuccessful in my attempts to talk Errol into heading further east with me - He seemed intrigued by the sights to the east, but he was on a limited schedule and he still had several must-see sites in the west. Since I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about going east by myself, I decided to head west with him. We were torn between going to Konya or to the coast at Olympos, so [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
August 27th 2007

Across the Desert to the Mausoleum of a Commagene King Middle East » Turkey » Southeastern Anatolia » Mount Nemrut

Looking to the West
On the west terrace.

So there it was in the distance. I was the first to spot it, so my friend Errol called it, “Keith’s Discovery”, though it had not really been lost for over a century. The two of us were standing on a deserted two lane road that, for all intents and purposes, was in the middle of nowhere. The tiny symmetrical talus summit I had spotted still seemed like it was miles away across some lovely, but somewhat foreboding desert landscape. The brown, boulder-strewn hills that separated us from our destination rose steadily towards the summit, but there were a few deep [View Full Entry]

By explorer_keith
August 26th 2007

A Short Journey into Mesopotamia Middle East » Turkey » Southeastern Anatolia » Urfa

A Flag in the Night
The huge Turkish flag above Urfa castle was a lovely sight in the twilight.

One of the things I love about traveling without an itinerary is that plans can change on a moment’s notice. My plans were to leave Cappadocia on an early bus to Kahta, near the base of Mt. Nimrut, with my Canadian friend Errol and then continue on to the mountain. We packed our stuff up in the morning and checked out of the hostel. Then we headed down to the bus station to buy some tickets. The man at the counter informed us that every bus (they were not that regular) to Kahta was full for that day and the next. [View Full Entry]

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explorer_keith - Keith Martin

Where I Have Been

Blogs & Travel Journals