Day 19: Tuesday, 2 May 2023 – Zagreb, Croatia (45.8150° N, 15.9819° E)
Tonight, finally, we have a meeting in Zagreb with our Teams. Hopefully, they all arrive safe & sound at our 9:00PM check in deadline in the lobby of our hotel, Esplanade Zagreb Hotel–a former stop on the Orient Express.
Which Team will pocket the special $250 Albania Country Bounty? Did any Team do a scavenge in all seven countries? Was the Southern route really better than the Northern route? We’ll know soon.
And a Happy Birthday Anne (Trip Tellers) today…hopefully we’ll all enjoy a quick nightcap tonight in the hotel bar!
One Minute Interview with Hem & Haw
My daughter Petra, who has been on a few of these global adventures, joined me recently and is here with me in Zagreb to meet the Teams. We’ve been traveling together the last four days; met in Zurich, stayed a few days in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and then took a train here to Croatia yesterday afternoon. So, I did four countries.





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Pre-Event Global Literacy Test (final edition): The final installment of the sixteen-question pre-event Global Literacy Test, let’s see how you do:
13. According to The Lancet medical journal, which is a bigger global problem in 2023?
A) Malnutrition
B)
C) Obesity
14. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) says the U.S Government spent what percentage of its budget on “foreign aid” in 2022?
A) more that 10 Percent
B) about 5 Percent
C) less than 1 Percent.
15. The UN says there are how many global megacities—with populations > 10 million:
A) 20
B) 35
C) 50
16. Deutsche Welle reports that 4.5 billion passengers flew in 2019. What percent of the global population flew in 2019?
A) less than 10 percent
B) 10-25 percent
C) more than 25 percent
See answers below…
Following a Team? Somehow a few Teams are still writing about the exploits, although I don’t know where they find the time. The 2023 Team Links:
Hem & Haw:
Instagram handle is @team_hemandhaw
Travel “newsletter” is hemorhaw.substack.com
Order & Chaos:
Blog is Teamorderandchaos.home.blog
TikTok is @zooeyvi.
Trip Tellers:
Instagram is @trip_tellers
Lawyers w/o Borders:
Blog is Lawyers without Borders
Bar Setters:
Blog is Barsetters23.com
Burkes in Wanderland:
Instagram is Burkes_in_Wanderland
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Final batch of Global Literacy Answers:
13. C) Global obesity rates have now overtaken hunger rates (13% of us are obese & just over 9% underweight), it flip-flopped in 2006! (The one question most got right, a 50/50 question. 12 of our 23 travelers got it right.)
14. C) Less than 1% of the annual US Federal Budget of $6.27 trillion-dollar FY2022…just $39 billion dollar, was allocated for foreign aid in 2022. (Nine correctly answered this question; did you?)
15. B) There are 35 global megacities, more or less…https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities (Five answered this question correctly.)
16. A) Fact is, just 3% of us flew in pre-pandemic year 2019…and only 18% of people have ever flown! (Eight, one-third got this one correct.)
All in all, just one of our travelers got 50% or better. Five guessed better than a one-out-of-three guessing chimps, while the rest scored below 33%. That’s from bright, well-traveled people. Why do we get the facts of the world so wrong?
Time to move on to our penultimate leg…more tomorrow.
Finally, remember that The Global Scavenger Hunt has always been about more than traveling around the world competing for The World’s Greatest Travelers crown in the world travel championship… it is about helping others help themselves through the GreatEscape Foundation. This year, to celebrate our event’s 16th edition, we aim to fund two schools in places that really need them. Co-ed elementary schools at that. So, if you have it in your heart to not eat lunch out this week and make a small one-time $25 online donation during the 2023 event, we know a lot of kids needing an education that would thank you. Thank you all because we know that every little bit helps a lot. (FYI: All individual donation names will be put in a hat, and on 5 May, we will select a winner for a fun special prize—it will be worth much more than your $25+ donation!). Thank you!
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