ABOUT
Who am I?
My name is Raphael. I was born in 2005 in the magnificent city of Hong Kong and did my schooling there until I was 18, when I went to the University of Cambridge to study Natural Sciences. After that, I decided to change gears, and am now pursuing medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
I’ve been obsessed with geography and travel ever since I was a kid. From an early age, I would spend hours poring over maps. This obsession reached a new height during COVID: I became addicted to the game GeoGuessr, where I reached the global top 10 at my peak. From there, I set myself an ambitious goal: to visit all 197 countries in the world. This blog, Route197, is both a record of that journey and an invitation to follow along.
Why This Blog?
In our current day and age, it is far too easy to consume than to create. By writing this blog, I am forced to exercise my creative muscle and resist against brainrot.
Furthermore, my friends and family are often curious as to what I’m up to. Telling a story once is fun, but telling a story 20 times is exhausting. Thus, I aim to keep a complete record of my trips here for everyone to peruse.
At the same time, I hope to dispel common myths about travel regarding safety and affordability. Travel to off-the-beaten-path countries may sound daunting (and certainly carries some risk), but is certainly less risky than people who haven’t been to those places would suggest.
I still remember how my first solo trip to the Balkans was met with more concern than curiosity. Some friends questioned why I would choose a place they dismissed as “underdeveloped,” while others were convinced that the Yugoslav wars were still going on. In fact, a quick Google search would tell you that the poorest region of the Balkans has a HDI approximately equal to China, and that there’s been no war since 2008.
And it’s precisely in these lesser-explored regions where the most exciting stories happen. I took a selfie with a triumphant World Cup player in Cape Verde, and watched the 2026 finals in Argentina (one of the competing countries). I drank cherry wine during an air raid in Ukraine, and explored a vertical slum in South Africa.
Often, obstacles to travel are more mental than physical. I am not saying that if you want a thrill you should go to active warzones without research. My goal here is to inform, to remove prejudices, and perhaps to inspire you to make time for life, to craft your own route forward.
My Travel Philosophy
What counts as a visit to a country?
Some believe touching physical soil is good enough grounds for a visit; some require clearing immigration and getting that passport stamp as proof; others are more experiential in their thinking and believe you have to stay a night to make a visit count.
However, every definition has its flaws. After all, what does a visit really mean if it’s so rushed that you leave with nothing new to show for it? And for the purists who swear by staying a night – try doing that in Vatican City!
Thus, I’m not a purist, but I’m not exactly a perfunctory box-ticker either. I think, as long as I’ve experienced enough in a jurisdiction to write a decently unique blog post on it, then it counts as a visit.
Life is full of trade-offs, and travel is no different; as much as I would like to, it’s not possible to dedicate a month to explore every country, as I still have to further my career and make a living. Therefore, I just try to get as much as I can out of each place. My goal is not to satisfy an arbitrary rule, but to leave each place with a story worth telling.
What else should you know about me?
I may be a laid-back traveler at heart, but I am also capable of meticulous planning when it comes to important trips. In my last year of university, I planned itineraries for, and led groups of Cambridge students on tours to unconventional destinations like Georgia, Armenia and Morocco.
I am more than happy to assist in planning the trip of your dreams with all the knowledge that I have. Every consultation includes my must-dos and must-skips, relevant travel hacks, and a tailored risk assessment.
Outside of travel, I offer university consulting and IB tutoring services. Additionally, you can find my Cambridge notes and academic projects here.