My top 10 adventure destinations after 13 years of travel, 90 countries and 7 continents

Not true, Bora Bora was by far my least favorite island in French Polynesia :))

For as long as I can remember I've dreamt about the most impossible adventures in some of earth's remotest locations. Unbelievably (by today's standards) the reason for this was not getting that perfect shot in front of God knows what "instagramable" attraction (there was no Instagram back then or, if there was, I was probably the last person to find out), nor doing the silliest, most unnatural looking poses in my shiny new curtain-like dress, not even taking a selfie in front of that attraction after spending an hour or so in a never-ending queue of equally "travel-loving" adventurers, for whom "picture or it didn't happen" is probably the only thinkable life motto (until recently I did not even have a proper camera, so most of my travel pictures from earlier years are blurry or unworthy of attention). I have to mention it would have been difficult to be a part of all this anyway, as most destinations on my "bucket list" were largely unheard of and by no means as popular as social media and travelers' cliches have made some of them today. It's hard to believe, but sadly oh so true how much harm 10 or more years gone by can bestow upon previously pristine and rarely (if ever) visited destinations and I would not have believed it myself had I not seen it happening with my own eyes.

How not to gain weight while traveling

Early morning (Easter day) jogging in Nice, France

As someone who travels really often - and I mean really, really often - one of  the things I definitely need to consider when overseas is maintaining a balance between enjoying life to the fullest and keeping healthy. 13 years ago when I started traveling intensely I would have never even wasted a thought on that, but time as well as experience have taught me that a healthy traveler is a happy traveler and, most of all, a smart traveler. And if I mention how much the mere thought of maybe having to stop traveling one day frightens me, perhaps you'll understand why nowadays I have an interest in postponing that day as much as possible, even if this means skipping that much-awaited cocktail once in a while, learning to make the right choices when on the airplane or at the restaurant or, most importantly, regularly hitting the gym, the running track, the pool, the slopes and so on.

One of the aspects of a healthy lifestyle is - and I guess you'll agree with me on that one - maintaining a healthy weight. I have not always been good at that myself as I was already implying a few lines further up but have, in time, learnt how to not gain (too much) weight while traveling. Looking back now I realise how funny it must have sounded to my parents when sometimes my excuse for overindulging on trips was "but I only do this or that when on vacation". Until one day my mother replied with a sentence which, upon pondering, I actually found to be quite true: "but you are on vacation all the time". Oops, got me on that one...