Georgia, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Armenia, Artsakh, & Ukraine

This one added a bunch of cool countries to my list.

My dad and I went to Georgia together. The whole country is amazing, but the most breathtaking place is Svaneti, the province of the Svans, with its mountains and glaciers. We also saw a neat relic that no longer exists today (2025): the antique cable cars of Chiatura, which were built to ferry people to and from the mines on cliffs around the city center. They were extremely scary, and it’s for the best that they’ve been replaced with modern aerial tramways (locals actually use them to commute!), but still.

Then I hopped off in Jordan for a summer language study program (my second one in the country). While there, I took trips to Israel and the West Bank. Educational, to say the least; sad and educational, to say the most.

Afterwards, I did a solo trip through Armenia at the recommendation of an Armenian friend I’d met in Bosnia. Armenia was fantastic. I think I saw most of the main tourist sites, but I’d still go again. Surprisingly easy to practice Arabic there, at least at the time — most older Armenians were taught Russian, not English, as their second language in school, and lots of Syrian Armenian refugees spoke great English and needed work, ergo restaurant waitstaff tended to be Syrians. That was surprising to me.

Then I ended the trip with a quick stop in Odessa. First of two times a budget flight would give me a stopover in Ukraine…