Proud
of the places you been? Fancy yourself quite the explorer?
Well, take a moment to see how you compare with
the “The 10 Greatest Travelers of all
Time” as compiled by The Independent (UK) and Wanderlust Magazine.
I was
quite surprised by the list myself. I expected, but did not find Marco Polo. Instead, the list includes a
handful of virtual unknowns who did quite amazing things long before planes, trains and automobiles made this a much
smaller planet—such as Ibn Battuta, a 14th-century geographer who covered more than 120,000 kilometers from
Europe to Asia while fending off pirates and bandits along the way.
While you may have never heard of
Battuta and some of his other honored colleagues, you will recognize at least half of the remaining names on the list,
including the only traveler mentioned that is still alive today: Michael
Palin.