John Sneider - Travel Highlights

I have been traveling as long as I can remember. My parents packed us kids in the car for summer driving trips throughout the US and Western Canada, and they took us on winter snorkel/diving trips to Mexico and the Caribbean. When my father brought us to the Bahamas to see were he had been working, I decided that his job was definitely for me (I was in 3^rd grade). To prepare, I chose a project in the jungle of Colombia for my Master’s thesis. For my Ph.D, I was lucky enough to be invited by my advisor to go with him to France on his sabbatical. First I spent 9 months in Stavanger, Norway, gathering data, and then I returned to Rice for 3 months (important because I met my future wife, also an avid traveler). I spent the next 18 months on exchange with Ecole des Mines de Paris.

I have been fortunate to have visited all 7 continents, over 50 countries, and every state except Oregon, North and South Dakota, and Maine. My travel has been a combination of work and pleasure; I’ve traveled solo, with my wife, and with family/friends.

Since 1994, I have spent at least 8 weeks and up to 33 weeks a year traveling out of the country. The best part of the business travel is that I see places no one would ever choose to go on vacation; these have been some of my most interesting experiences.

A few travel highlights:

Traveling up the East Coast by plane, train, and bus, and spending the night on a park bench in front of the White House.

Backpacking through Europe for the summer and never staying more than 2 nights in the same place. The most memorable part of the trip was being detained at Checkpoint Charlie for several hours by East German and then Soviet soldiers. They claimed we were trying to cross the border back into West Berlin with an extra person.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with my brother.

Viewing the Milky Way galaxy while sailing far offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

Visiting Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island.

Viewing the Nobel #1, the hand-dug well in Azerbaijan that made the Nobels one of the richest families in the world, and sparked the oil industry there (thus creating the prize that was Hitler’s main reason for invading the Soviet Union in 1941).

Eating a traditional Peking duck dinner in Beijing.

In Oman, taking the shortcut to Muscat on the new mountain “road” through the Al Hajar al Gharbi Mountains. It took 7 hours to cover 70 km.

Putting myself at the mercy of a sushi chef in Tokyo using only hand gestures.

Watching penguins “porpoise” through the water in a flooded volcanic crater along the Antarctic Peninsula.

Crossing the Drake Passage with 30-foot waves and 50-mph winds, and feeling the waves subside as we rounded Cape Horn.

In Jordan, taking a mud bath and then washing it off in the Dead Sea with 30 Iraqis as an icebreaker before a seminar.

In the near future, I have trips planned to India and to Southeast Asia (Angkor Wat, Chiang Mai, and a nice Thai beach still to be determined). A lifelong dream is to travel through Iran, but that is on hold for the moment.