Although I do not consume any form of “travel entertainment” (blogs, books, videos, etc), there is a single blog which I vaguely follow (I am not subscribed to the rss feed): Matt Lakeman’s name-sake blog where he details the history and cultural knowledge that he has learnt travelling around the world. One of my all-time favorites is not of his travels at all, but a review of a book, Shadow of the Sun, by an Iron Curtain-era Polish Government worker who details Africa in the 1950 and beyond. Another favorite is “Everything You Need to Know About Chinese People (According to the US Government in 1943)”, and he regularly makes use (and details in his posts) of “U.S. government-commissioned country surveys” to gain insights into his destination. This post is inspired ever-so-slightly by Matt’s blog.

In March 2024, I travelled to Taiwan for four weeks with zero knowledge of the country, zero plan, and practically no belongings. Just before that time, I had been visiting family in Australia for much longer than expected, and needed somewhere to go before flying onward to Poland. It’s probably important to note that at the time, I had believed that it would be my last opportunity to go travel for a few years, so my experience is probably slightly skewed by an overwhelming sense of forthcoming doom.