56 countries, 7 continents: He’s traveled the world ... and is just getting started

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Name a place that travelers really want to visit and chances are Michael Marsh has been there. In fact, he has been all over the world, and he has the pictures to prove it.

“I’ve been to 56 countries, all seven continents, and I’ve been to all 50 of the United States,” he said.

The Mililani man’s trip to Antarctica in March checked off the last continent he needed to reach to complete his goal of setting foot on every continent on earth.

“It was the trip of a lifetime,” he said.

He worked hard and saved his money for his Antarctic adventure. He treated himself to the 11-day trip aboard an expedition cruise ship to celebrate his 50th birthday.

“It’s very remote. It’s cold. It’s quite an undertaking, the travel time, the distance, the expense,” he said. “It was exhilarating. I felt really accomplished with my Antarctica seventh continent flag.”

During one of the excursions he took to explore the barren snow-covered islands that dot the Antarctic Circle, he posed for a picture holding the flag.

He has seen in person what many of us only see in photographs. His travels began with his parents when he was a kid, and he’s never stopped. It’s part of his ongoing education.

“It teaches you lessons that can’t be learned in the classroom. It opens up your mind. You realize that the world is bigger than your own backyard and your own neighborhood,” he said.

Marsh is an avid photographer.

He estimates he’s taken tens of thousands of pictures on his travels, and he is fascinated with nature.

“I’ve decided in all my travels I like to go places where I can see animals in their natural habitat. That’s really unpredictable,” he said.

He documents his trips in words and pictures for a blog he writes on Word Press called World Traveler Pro, and he’s toying with the idea of putting it all into a book.

“I do have so much documentation of my travels that if there’s a way to weave the stories of travel with self-help, that would be an ideal book for me to work on,” he said.

In his professional life, Marsh oversees a non-profit that provides services for adults with developmental disabilities. He is goal-oriented, so right now, he is in uncharted territory.

“This is the first time in my life that I can remember that I don’t have any upcoming trips booked ― yet,” he said.

That means he’s working on what’s next, and where that will take him.

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