Note: This page was archived on 11/30/22. This was the original page I set up in High School. I feel nostalgic so I kept it.
Hello all,
Whether by poor chance, a wish to suffer or some actual interest in hearing my thoughts, welcome to my blog! My name is Sam Orta and here is everything you need to know! Or at the very least helpful context.
(I updated this page recently. I archived the old page here bec
Biological Background: A 19-year-old student from Piedmont California, near San Francisco,
Education: Currently studying environmental engineering(?) as well as anthropology (dual major woot-woot) at the University of Michigan. Hoping to go into humanitarian aid in the future. Luckily, I enjoy travel.
Interests (in no particular order): dogs, dungeons and dragons, history novels, explosions, space travel, coffee thanks for experience as a barista and of course travel. Moreover I will relate all of these soon enough.
Purpose of this Blog: In complete honesty because of a stupid lie I told a good friend of mine (Anna Smegal, this will not be the last you hear of her) that became the truth, I want to visit every country on Earth! Now I have been incredibly lucky over the last 18 years to be with parents who possessed the financial means to travel and the unbreakable will to make me enjoy travel or quite literally die in the DMZ.
So I plan on writing up every country I travel to over the next few years (this goal will take a while) in a review of countries that had the bad fortune of hosting my presence in the past over time. I love running a dungeon and dragon games mostly because I get to tell stories for about three hours and star my friends as the main characters of my stories! So here I get to tell more stories. Furthermore, expect many a history lesson on the countries I visit, of which I hope to learn endless amounts as well. While I will admit to not being a foodie, albeit a vegetarian, I am a coffee snob with experience making drinks so brace yourself for many cafe reviews. And of course, I get to pet dogs while travelling.
I also have a rating system that can be described as idiotic at best:
West Oakland BART similarities? – the people, atmosphere and smell of West Oaklands are distinctive in many ways
Folks of Culture? – Rating of the museums and activities
“I could make this better!” – Snobby rating of warm drinks
Golden Hour Opportunities? – I dislike photos, but I do enjoy pretty views
Did the vegetarian starve? – Review of vegetarian food (sorry carnivores)
“Hey boss, can I work more hours?” – How expensive the country was overall
Cooler than Middle Earth? – Novelty of the trip compared to middle-earth
I term it “Sam’s Sermon Scale” and if you were confused by that last ranking system, please go watch all three movies.
Yes in a row, this ain’t not casual hour.
Anyhow few other reasons for starting this blog. First to prove people across the world have no genuine interest in scamming/mugging/murdering me. If I end up dead in an alley, I suppose the naysayers are right but at that point I doubt I would care (but maybe my spite is that strong). Second to highlight some of the better organizations I hope to work for, namely Doctors Without Borders and Engineers Without Borders, who do humanitarian work in countries across the globe. Finally to prove that travel is amazing. I know far too many people who are terrified of travel for whatever reason. While I sympathize that being in an aluminum tube powered by liquid dinosaur bones at mach 1 can be scary, it’s equally amazing and that goes for the cultures of the world as well. I love my hometown of the Bay Area do not get me wrong. But there are so many amazing sites, people and stories waiting to be discovered.
Of course I like to write up what I judge to be the other interesting parts of my life. So stay tuned if you want to my backpacking trips or me just go into far too much details on topics that are near and dear to me.
Without further ado, please sit back, enjoy some a dirty chai latte, a fantastic drink, and enjoy a stream of consciousness that can worry the internet.
Cheers,
Sam
Dead Man Travelling 