Top 3 Favourite Countries of Stu O'Brien from Travel on a Stu-String
October 24,2023 | Tagged: Top 3 Favourite Countries
Next up in my Top 3 Favourite Countries series, Stu O'Brien, Australian travel writer, humanitarian worker and now travel blogger over at Travel on a Stu-String.
This series has already featured top travellers such as Jonny Blair of Don't Stop Living, Ric Gazarian of GlobalGaz and Steve Rohan of Morbid Expeditions, so if you are a traveller and blogger and would like to be featured, contact me.
This series has already featured top travellers such as Jonny Blair of Don't Stop Living, Ric Gazarian of GlobalGaz and Steve Rohan of Morbid Expeditions, so if you are a traveller and blogger and would like to be featured, contact me.
Hi, I’m Stu, a travel writer and humanitarian worker from Melbourne, Australia. Over the past 20 years I have travelled to over 75 countries, and have spent time living and working in Tanzania, Kenya, Nepal and the Philippines.
I started my website Travel on a Stu-String in October 2022, and as the name suggests, I travel cheaply and simply.
Narrowing down my top 3 countries was a difficult task, as I’ve been lucky to visit many incredible places and have unforgettable experiences. In the end, I’ve chosen three countries from different parts of the world, that have all left a lasting impression on me for a variety of reasons.
I started my website Travel on a Stu-String in October 2022, and as the name suggests, I travel cheaply and simply.
Narrowing down my top 3 countries was a difficult task, as I’ve been lucky to visit many incredible places and have unforgettable experiences. In the end, I’ve chosen three countries from different parts of the world, that have all left a lasting impression on me for a variety of reasons.
1. Tanzania
I have travelled widely throughout Africa, and the continent has had an enormous impact on my travel style and general approach to life. After graduating from university, I moved to Tanzania and stayed there for 2 years. I have returned often, and it feels like my second home.
For a traveller, Tanzania has everything you could ever want. The Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks are world class; Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest point on the continent; Zanzibar and the Swahili coast boast amazing beaches and seafood; while the west and south of the country are largely unexplored by tourists and offer rich cultural experiences.
The food in Tanzania, and indeed all of East Africa, is the least appealing on the continent. However, there are some unique dishes to be found. The most prevalent dish in Tanzania is the famous chipsi mayai (chips and egg), essentially an omelette with chips in it. This simple and delicious dish is found in every small town, at every roadside shack, and in every dingy pub. Elsewhere, you can find sugar cane juice, chapati, nyama choma (roasted meat) and vitumbua (spongy rice cake).
As with most countries, it is the people who enrich the place. Through my work in Tanzania, I met some incredible people, and have friendships and connections that will last a lifetime. Tanzanians are amongst the most relaxed people in Africa, so much so that it sometimes borders on apathy. In contrast to many of their neighbours, who are renowned for political instability, Tanzanians shuffle along with a smile and shrug of the shoulders, seemingly unbothered by the world.
Karibu sana Tanzania – you are very welcome to Tanzania.
For a traveller, Tanzania has everything you could ever want. The Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks are world class; Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest point on the continent; Zanzibar and the Swahili coast boast amazing beaches and seafood; while the west and south of the country are largely unexplored by tourists and offer rich cultural experiences.
The food in Tanzania, and indeed all of East Africa, is the least appealing on the continent. However, there are some unique dishes to be found. The most prevalent dish in Tanzania is the famous chipsi mayai (chips and egg), essentially an omelette with chips in it. This simple and delicious dish is found in every small town, at every roadside shack, and in every dingy pub. Elsewhere, you can find sugar cane juice, chapati, nyama choma (roasted meat) and vitumbua (spongy rice cake).
As with most countries, it is the people who enrich the place. Through my work in Tanzania, I met some incredible people, and have friendships and connections that will last a lifetime. Tanzanians are amongst the most relaxed people in Africa, so much so that it sometimes borders on apathy. In contrast to many of their neighbours, who are renowned for political instability, Tanzanians shuffle along with a smile and shrug of the shoulders, seemingly unbothered by the world.
Karibu sana Tanzania – you are very welcome to Tanzania.
2. Cuba
It’s rare that the romantic idea of a country matches the reality, yet in Cuba it does.
Travel to Cuba is like visiting a living, breathing, open air museum. The crumbling architecture and classic cars are a marvellous glimpse into decades past, and walking along the Malecon at sunset is an unforgettable experience. In the parks of Havana second hand booksellers hawk their collections, while horse drawn carts offer city tours.
Cuba is a country of many heroes, from the literary work of Jose Marti, whose image is as predominant as Che and Fidel Castro, to the baseball stars, whose feats are emulated in local parks by young boys with wooden bats. In the streets of Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second city, smoke filled jazz bars are abundant and dance partners always available.
Visiting in the last decade of Fidel Castro’s reign, Cuba was exactly how I imagined it, and I hope to return some day.
Travel to Cuba is like visiting a living, breathing, open air museum. The crumbling architecture and classic cars are a marvellous glimpse into decades past, and walking along the Malecon at sunset is an unforgettable experience. In the parks of Havana second hand booksellers hawk their collections, while horse drawn carts offer city tours.
Cuba is a country of many heroes, from the literary work of Jose Marti, whose image is as predominant as Che and Fidel Castro, to the baseball stars, whose feats are emulated in local parks by young boys with wooden bats. In the streets of Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second city, smoke filled jazz bars are abundant and dance partners always available.
Visiting in the last decade of Fidel Castro’s reign, Cuba was exactly how I imagined it, and I hope to return some day.
3. Nepal
It took me too long to visit Nepal, with my first trip being after the 2015 earthquake. As part of an Australian relief team, I lived in a village 3 hours from Kathmandu. I returned again in 2016 to work on a second project.
Anyone who has visited Nepal will remember the chaos of Kathmandu. The snaking, crawling traffic, the endless noise of horns from extravagantly decorated trucks, and the stunning temples and stupas. It is great to see, but far from what makes Nepal endearing.
The village life is always preferable when visiting a country and will offer you the most realistic glimpse of how people really live – the good and the bad. In my two trips to Nepal, I attended a wedding, a funeral, befriended families, and celebrated Holi and Dashain festivals. I drank warm buffalo milk and homemade alcohol known as roxy, ate dried meat that hung from rafters and watched goats being sacrificed. I saw the seasons change and walked the village tracks, bathed in the river, and watched the stars by campfire light. I left rejuvenated, inspired, and with an unpayable debt of gratitude to the communities I lived with.
On my second trip I hiked a section of the Larapinta Trail, from Besi Sahar to Jomson. Despite being in the dead of winter, and ravaged by crippling altitude sickness, it gave birth a new love for hiking, and inspired me to greater heights and distances.
There are certain travels that alter the course of your life, and Nepal was one of them.
Anyone who has visited Nepal will remember the chaos of Kathmandu. The snaking, crawling traffic, the endless noise of horns from extravagantly decorated trucks, and the stunning temples and stupas. It is great to see, but far from what makes Nepal endearing.
The village life is always preferable when visiting a country and will offer you the most realistic glimpse of how people really live – the good and the bad. In my two trips to Nepal, I attended a wedding, a funeral, befriended families, and celebrated Holi and Dashain festivals. I drank warm buffalo milk and homemade alcohol known as roxy, ate dried meat that hung from rafters and watched goats being sacrificed. I saw the seasons change and walked the village tracks, bathed in the river, and watched the stars by campfire light. I left rejuvenated, inspired, and with an unpayable debt of gratitude to the communities I lived with.
On my second trip I hiked a section of the Larapinta Trail, from Besi Sahar to Jomson. Despite being in the dead of winter, and ravaged by crippling altitude sickness, it gave birth a new love for hiking, and inspired me to greater heights and distances.
There are certain travels that alter the course of your life, and Nepal was one of them.
