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Welcome to a website that’s aimed at you, the adventure traveler.
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Are you ready to take up a challenge and go discover the Earth?

This website was set up by Tom Muller to encourage you to gain a thorough, first-hand knowledge of the only planet you will ever visit. To the adventure traveler that's in you, I would say: Planet Earth belongs to you; she is your prize. So, get to know her---completely.

The vast majority of humanity does not know the Home Planet. Just about every corner of Earth has already been discovered and explored, yet humans in one corner do not know other corners. Admittedly, there are many constraining factors in getting to know this planet intimately---economic limitations, poor health, ignorance, fear of the unknown, a lack of travel know-how, or low interest in travel. But for those who can surmount these travel barriers, Earth is waiting for you. Her Grandness wants to show you all that's on her surface and urges you to explore a world beneath the waves as well.

In 2004, the idea occurred to me that, to truly experience the amazing range
of Earth's physical, natural and cultural dimensions, one needs to have a
systematic travel plan---visit every 10-degree-wide slice of longitude and every
10-degree-wide band of latitude. This would include visiting Earth’s remotest
and most difficult-to-reach destinations in order to complete such a challenge.
I named it The Planetary Travel Challenge. And when you have accomplished
it, this deeper appreciation of Earth will be your planetary prize.

English poet Robert Browning's words are inscribed on the granite block
marking Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave in Grytviken, South
Georgia, where the marker faces toward Shackleton's beloved Antarctica:
"I hold--that a man should strive to the uttermost for his life's set prize."

This website presents The Planetary Travel Challenge as a formula for
experiencing the astounding diversity of what Planet Earth can offer the
adventure traveler. The website will grow as I capture my impressions of the
places visited in striving to the utmost to push my planetary horizons to the
very limit.

I hope that other adventure travelers will find this system of covering the world useful and be guided by The Planetary Travel Challenge. My hope is that some will be inspired to adopt this way of fully appreciating our Planet as one of their personal travel ambitions.

I invite website visitors to write me about their own efforts to achieve a travel goal, based on geographic and cultural coverage, and to offer their ideas and suggestions. Let's build a fuller, richer way of experiencing Planet Earth!

Sir Francis Chichester said, "To a man with imagination, a map is a window to adventure." To which I would add, a map is also the door to adventure.

And Mark Twain put it this way:

"Twenty years from now, you will be more
disappointed by the things you didn't do,
than by the ones you did do. So, throw off
the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."

I offer some thoughts for website visitors:

Everywhere you venture in your travels, offer something of yourself and allow yourself to be enriched by those you have touched in far off lands.

People often read, just to pass the time away. Don’t pass the time away. Read to be inspired, then let that inspiration send you on life's journey of fulfillment.

One of my sensory delights is standing outdoors, arms outstretched, with a lively wind blowing in my face, its fluctuating roar thundering past my ears. It reminds me of distant horizons visited and new ones beckoning to be investigated. And it is the harbinger of interesting things on their way.

Now that I am in the twilight of life, there is still so much to envision, attempt and accomplish; life's far too short for the mind's myriad imagined possibilities; and for every possibility, there is a treasure chest of challenges.

To a younger audience, I would say this. Take the time and trouble
to get to know yourself in the fullest sense---psychologically and
physiologically. Discover your strengths; uncover your hidden
talents---you will be inspired by what you find---and mold your aims
and life goals around these. Then, you can rise above detractors
who ask you, “Who do you think you are?” by answering, “I don’t
think who I am; I know who I am.”

As for myself, I was given good genes and they’ve been put to work
for me. In return, I pay them handsome dividends: they get well
trained in the lessons of life and they will reach the future, long
after I am gone.

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