Hi, I’m Mark, The New Mexico Travel Guy
Hi! I’m Mark, the New Mexico Travel Guy, and welcome to my “New Mexico and Beyond” blog.
This blog documents my travels as I chip away at visiting every town in New Mexico, my home state for the past 25 years, and sharing a story about each one. There are over 500 of them, so this may take a while. I’m currently on pace to finish sometime in my early to mid 100s.
Rather than checking off a list as quickly as possible, I’m taking my time. One new article every other week, along with regular updates to existing posts, focusing on events, travel advice, photos, and the people who call this amazing Land of Enchantment home.
As for the “and Beyond” part, I still travel abroad from time to time. Having visited over 100 countries, I’ve mostly moved past the big city tourist circuit. These days I tend to gravitate toward smaller, less obvious places. So you’ll see some of those “beyond New Mexico” stories show up here too, usually about once a month.
A quick note on how I approach this. I don’t typically show up with press passes or coordinated visits. Most of the time, I just go, pay my own way, and see what it’s like. Every now and then, I do get a chance to see things behind the scenes, and that usually gives me a better feel for how a place actually works. When that happens, I’ll let you know. Every place I write about, I’ve been to, and almost every photo is mine. The goal is to give you an honest sense of what to expect.
Thanks for reading, and happy travels!
— Mark (New Mexico Travel Guy)
Mark’s Bio
Mark Aspelin is the New Mexico Travel Guy, a travel writer, author, and creator of the “New Mexico and Beyond” blog.
He’s written over 50 blog posts and articles, and he’s the author of two highly rated books that were wildly popular among members of his immediate family: “Profitable Conservation: Business Strategies That Boost Your Bottom Line, Protect Wildlife, and Conserve Biodiversity” and “How to Fail at Life: Lessons for the Next Generation.”
His articles and interviews have been featured by GreenBiz, Inside EPA, Perceptive Travel, and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation’s Half-Earth Project, and he contributed a chapter to an upcoming Fodor’s travel guide to New Mexico.
He has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Biology from Creighton University, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He remembers very little of that education today.
Mark’s resume provides plenty of entertainment for recruiters. He’s worked for organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, The Coca-Cola Company, Intel Corporation, Molina Healthcare, Sandia National Laboratories, KPMG, Fidelity Investments, UnitedHealth Group, and The International Crane Foundation, with job titles ranging from “aviculturist,” “conservation biologist,” and “environmental programs manager” to “customer intelligence and marketing specialist,” “Health IT project manager,” and “senior clinical innovation program manager.”
He’s also a certified personal trainer specializing in senior fitness, a certified yoga instructor who can barely touch his toes, and a volunteer docent at the ABQ BioPark Zoo.
Mark also has a travel checklist addiction problem. He has visited over 100 countries, all 50 U.S. states, and he’s a member of the Travelers’ Century Club, where he connects with other travel checklist addiction sufferers.
He no longer goes out of his way to check off new countries, but his current project is to visit every town in New Mexico (there are 582 towns on his list) and write a story about each one. It seemed like a good idea at the time. During COVID. Clearly, the addiction hasn’t been fully resolved.
When not traveling, Mark lives in the East Mountains outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Early Days
In my early 20s, I finished visiting all 50 U.S. states, so I decided to set a new goal: visit 100 countries before I turned 50. I picked those numbers because 100 sounded like a cool number and 50 sounded old.
In January of 2016, at the age of 46, I stepped off the plane in Sofia, Bulgaria to visit my 100th country.
The Present Day
Today, I no longer think 50 sounds old.
These days, my travel looks a little different. I’m less interested in how many places I can visit and more interested in what it’s actually like once I get there.
That’s what this blog is about. Taking the time to explore a place, pay attention to the details, and share what stands out, whether it’s a small town in New Mexico or somewhere a little farther from home.
Thanks for reading and happy travels!
Mark (New Mexico Travel Guy)