Continuing my quest to set foot in every nation on Earth, I turned my sights toward Palau. Perched on the western fringe of Micronesia, roughly 850 kilometers east of the Philippines, this remote archipelago spans just 459 square kilometers (180 sq miles) across hundreds of emerald coral and volcanic islands, home to a modest population of around 20,000 population. While tens of thousands of visitors journey here each year to dive its legendary reefs, the engine keeping the i

Some people use wallets. I, however, prefer the high-stakes thrill of using my front-right jeans pocket as a chaotic, unorganized filing cabinet. This is the story of how that filing cabinet repeatedly fired its most important employees. Act I: The Cancun Cash-and-Dash I was sprinting through the Cancun airport ecosystem, running on pure adrenaline and the impending doom of missing my flight to Ireland. I had one final boss to defeat: the rental car return agent. Now, I didn'

The air inside the subterranean tunnels of Caves St. Martin clings to you with a damp, ancient chill, smelling faintly of limestone and sleeping wine. Deep within the picturesque town of Remich, Luxembourg, this labyrinth has guarded a secret since 1919: the art of Crémant de Luxembourg. It is a sparkling wine crafted with the exact same traditional obsession as French Champagne, born in a spectacular, one-kilometer-long cave carved directly into the rock. Running a hand alon

In 2001, I flew into Cairns, Australia, drawn by the pull of the Great Barrier Reef. Boarding a high-speed catamaran, I made my way to the dive site. Despite my candid admission to the divemaster that I couldn't swim, he gave me the green light. We geared up—wetsuit, tank, regulator—and down I went. We descended into the blue, settling at seventy feet. The marine life was astonishing, and I marveled at the surreal sensation of breathing underwater. Then, an intrusive thought

I had just completed a flawless day of sightseeing, capped off with a fantastic dinner at the SixSeven rooftop restaurant. The food was excellent, the ambiance was perfect, and they were even screening Pretty Woman on a giant outdoor screen. Feeling disciplined and satisfied, I decided to skip dessert. This turned out to be my tactical error. As we walked back to the hotel, my friend handed me a chocolate candy to compensate for my missing dessert. It was nice, rich, and cata

There I was, driving the 120km stretch from Cancun to Tulum, aggressively flirting with an empty fuel gauge. Seeing an Oxxo, I pulled over for water and thanked the road-trip gods for the gas station next door. I filled up: 985 pesos. With the confidence of a modern traveler, I whipped out my iPhone to tap-to-pay. Beep. Declined. As it turns out, their terminal hated digital international cards. No physical plastic? No gas. Suddenly, I went from valued customer to prime suspe