Are We There Yet?

I thought this article in the SF Chronicle magazine was amusing and interesting. It centers around a guy who claims to be the "World's Most Traveled Man." What it's really about is being obsessed by traveling, and the obscure competition that goes on between an elite club of people:

If you can name it -- and, especially, if you can't -- [Charles] Veley has probably been there. He has, by his own count, set foot in 518 different countries, territories and islands, which he believes puts him far ahead of any other country collector. And while most of his rivals have filled their passports over a lifetime of travel -- many are in their 70s and 80s -- Veley has done it all in just five years.

His claim of being the world's most traveled person seems pretty unassailable -- except that there's another guy in the Bay Area [Jeff Shea] who asserts that he, not Veley, is the world's most traveled person.

"Charles is a nice guy, but his claim is bogus," Shea says. "I've seen a lot more of the world than he has, hands down. I am the world's most traveled person."

And then there is the guy who had the Guinness Book of World Records citation:

John Clouse, an 80-year-old practicing attorney from Evansville, Indiana, was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's ultimate traveler for a decade. It cost him, among other things, six marriages, and he doesn't like the idea of giving up his title.

"It's a competitive sport now," he says. "Charles gets off the plane, bops around and gets back on. I don't mean to sound mean-spirited -- he's been very kind to me -- but he wants me to surrender my sword."

Who knew? A fun read with a bit of weirdness and quirkiness mixed in with backstabbing.