Travel is rich with learning opportunities, and the ultimate sourvenir is a broader perspective.

We're still a racist country, but we've come a long way since the civil rights eras and we are still a homophobic country, but we've come a long way in that regard. And we still got a war on marijuana and have come along in that regard.

I think that people don't realize that the sky will not fall when we legalize marijuana. My contention all along has been use will not go up when it's legalized. We'll just take the crime out of it. It's already a huge black market economy.

Self-consciousness kills communication.

I would like travelers, especially American travelers, to travel in a way that broadens their perspective, because I think Americans tend to be some of the most ethnocentric people on the planet. It's not just Americans, it's the big countries. It's the biggest countries that tend to be ethnocentric or ugly. There are ugly Russians, ugly Germans, ugly Japanese and ugly Americans. You don't find ugly Belgians or ugly Bulgarians, they're just too small to think the world is their norm.

Ideally, travel broadens our perspectives personally, culturally, and politically. Suddenly, the palette with which we paint the story of our lives has more colors.

I have a New Year's tradition. I lay all my travel dreams on the table, sort them out, prioritize, and begin the process of turning those dreams into reality.