Other Countries A US President Has Never Visited

by Chris Owen on

President Barack Obama will land in Myanmar (aka Burma) this week, a first-time visit for any President of the United States. Never mind that Myanmar is best known as a brutal dictatorship, not exactly in line with U.S. foreign policy. Disregard any political or geographically strategic reasons for befriending Myanmar. Today, this is all about the President being the first to visit Myanmar and the trip begs the question: “So are there other countries that no sitting U.S. President has ever visited?”

Out of the 190+ countries in the world, just 113 of them have been visited by a President of the United States, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian.

Countries not visited include close-by neighbor the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, St Kitts, St Lucia and assorted tiny island-nations. Understandable, we would probably view a visit to the harmless Seychelles as a taxpayer-paid vacation anyway.

On the continent of Africa, more nations have not been visited than have been by a U.S. President. Again, probably not a lot of strategic reasons to stop by.But some big-name countries we might think that some President, somewhere along the way, might have visited; not one has.

  • Monaco, the second smallest country/monarchy in the world and the most densely populated country in the world boasts the world-famous Monte Carlo Casino.
  • Algeria, in northern Africa, famous for its vast Sahara in the south..
  • Nepal- famous for eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains. No visit.

Armenia is a country one might think worthy of a trip by any standards. Bordered by Turkey to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, Georgia to the north and Iran to the south, Armenia does seem to have a strategic location. Still, no visit.

Presidential travel takes any given sitting head of the free world to countries all over the planet on visits of good will. Meeting face to face with world leaders, attending meetings and spreading good old American spirit around when they can, Presidents are a big ticket when they come to town, along with Air Force One and more as we see in this video


Oh, and that trip to Myanmar? While President Obama is the first U.S. President to visit, he’s not the first Obama. The president’s grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was a cook in World War II for a British army captain stationed in what was then called Burma.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user 0ystercatcher]

Photo Of The Day: Pigeons Of Jaipur

by Meg Nesterov on


Pigeons are odd birds. Common all over the world, especially in cities, they can be considered tourist attractions like in Venice‘s St. Marks Square, or considered a nuisance to city dwellers (myself included) who see them as flying rats. Still, any large flight of birds can make for a spectacular photo, such as today’s Photo of the Day from Jaipur, Rajasthan in India. The added pops of color from the building tiles, piles of spices, and ladies’ saris make a nice contrast to the grey birds, and the movement of the many wings puts you right in the action, though you might be happy to be viewing them from a distance.

Share your best travel photos in the Gadling Flickr pool for another Photo of the Day.

[Photo credit: Flickr user arunchs]

Marijuana Tourism Not A Big Surprise In Colorado, Washington

by Chris Owen on

Marijuana Tourism got two thumbs up in the elections earlier this month as the states of Washington and Colorado made selling, buying and using cannabis legal. Never mind the federal law prohibits any of that; the voters have spoken and opened the door for what could be promoted as Weed Weekends, Bong Backpacking and a variety of marijuana-related tourism options.

State government leaders were quick to put the brakes on a massive migration to either state, saying a lot of details still have to be worked out. Colorado’s governor opposed the legalization vote but indicated after its passage that he didn’t see marijuana tourism taking over the state and its iconic tourist attractions.

”I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a Boston.com report. ”They’re going to flock here to buy marijuana as if they’re going to take it back? On an airplane? That seems unlikely to me.”

Still, while public use of marijuana is not part of the deal, possession and personal use very much is. That applies not to just state residents, but to visitors also.

Anyone 21 or older can legally posses up to an ounce of recreational marijuana in Colorado and grow up to six plants. That’s the law. On a legal focus, they can’t use it in public, the rules for medical marijuana (already a $1.7 billion industry), are unchanged and the “possession no problem” element clock starts ticking now. Previous marijuana crimes stick.Disregarding the federal law for a moment, these states could indeed legislate the implementation of a state-licensed marijuana industry. Much like states control and tax alcoholic beverages, mostly free from federal intervention, millions in revenue could be generated to support otherwise underfunded programs like education.

It’s not like Colorado and Washington are new to the world of marijuana either and the recent vote to legalize it could be viewed as a natural progression.

Colorado and Washington are part of 18 states and Washington, D.C., that have legalized medical marijuana for people with medical conditions like cancer, nausea, multiple sclerosis, migraine headaches and chronic pain.

In Colorado, many ski slopes already have old mining cabins that have been turned into ”smoke shacks,” places to smoke marijuana out of the wind and cold. Breckenridge, Colorado, dropped criminal penalties for marijuana use two years ago.

In Washington state, for over 20 years, travelers have come from all over the world for Seattle’s HempFest (pictured), an annual gathering that advocates the decriminalization of marijuana. This year, 250,000 attended as police looked on.

Will the entire states of Colorado and Washington become much like one huge Amsterdam, where without trying all that hard visitors can freely enjoy marijuana? Probably not.

We’re not apt to see a “World’s Largest Pot Plant” attraction on highway road signs in Colorado any time soon and Seattle probably won’t have Space Needle-shaped bongs in the near future.

In Colorado, it will be a year or more until the state has a system in place to allow retail sales, but that probably won’t stop celebrities who support the idea as we see in this video.


[Photo Credit- Flickr user MaplessInSeattle]

Over The River And Around The Detour With Road Travel Info Sources

by Chris Owen on

“Over The River and Through the Wood” is a Thanksgiving song that many travelers will be humming if not singing in a couple weeks as they hit the road for holiday events. To keep the holiday mood light, many will turn to a variety of online and smartphone tools designed to make life on the road easier.

Sigalert takes the California Highway Patrol definition of “any unplanned event that causes the closing of one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more,” and turns it into data drivers can use to plan their trip. Complete with personalized routing and traffic alerts via email or text, a subscription version ($2.95/month) gives rich data, but just stopping by the Sigalert website reveals a quick, detailed snapshot of traffic right now.

Frixo.com specializes in giving traffic reports for UK motorways, updated every three to five minutes using sensors placed on motorways and common roads. Speed limits, traffic incidents, information motorists will see on electronic road displays, road work information and weather conditions that might affect a trip are also listed.At Traffic.com, U.S. drivers can check their drive time in a side-by-side comparison with delay time and average speed for a road trip from home to grandmother’s house. Traffic.com also invites visitors to visit NavteqMaps24.com where the future of mapping is happening right now.

At the top of the list of road trip guidance helpers is Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive, now part of mapping solutions company Navteq. Making revolutionary new maps that are as detailed and current as possible, this is the one we want along for the holiday ride or anytime, as we see in this video:




[Photo credit- Flickr user epSos.de]

China Airshow To Feature Acrobatic Team

by Chris Owen on

Airshow China 2012 is scheduled to run from November 13 to 18 and will feature over 600 exhibitors from 39 countries. Promising to be bigger and better this year, the show hopes to become more recognized by the international aviation and aerospace community. To help make that happen, the show will feature a variety of airborne daredevil fliers.

Officially titled the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, Airshow China is the only international aerospace trade show in China that is endorsed by the Chinese government. That’s significant because China is looking for 5,400 new passenger aircraft between now to 2031. To get that many aircraft, China wants to make its own plane, the C919, which has attracted international aviation manufacturers to the show.

“We had to close for entries last month as we did not have any space for more,” said Yang Xiangang, vice general manager of Zhuhai Airshow in a South China Morning Post report.Airshow China, held in Zhuhai, features a display of aviation products, hosted trade talks, a technological exchange and a flying display of acrobatic teams from Europe.

This year, the Breitling Jet Team, Breitling Wingwalkers and Yves “Jetman” Rossy are scheduled to participate.

To get to China, they will fly through Eastern Europe, into Russia passing through Siberia, then on to Mongolia and down through China to reach their destination as we see in this video.




[Photo Credit: Flickr user doniphon]