Website: Instagram: On today’s episode, I welcome Rus Margolin to Counting Countries.  I learned about Rus and his prolific travel from seeing his photos on Facebook in Every Passport Stamp, and fellow EPS Moderator Petro suggested that I interview him for the podcast.   Russ grew up in the Soviet Union in Minsk, Belarus. Rus’s parents believed in travel and took him on frequent trips within the Soviet Union, including frequent trips to the Baltics.  In fact, growing up Rus was the president of the Young Communist League. The Soviet Union collapsed in his youth, Rus won a country-wide English contect, and won a scholarship to Florida to attend university.  After overcoming some culture shock, he excelled at school, and made his way to Wall Street. As a kid, Rus dreamed of exploring the world, cutting our pictures out from nature magazines, staring at photos of wildlife and nature.  After his arrival to the US, he was able to pursue his dreams of exploration, and make his dreams a reality. He quit his job in 2013 so he could focus more on travel.  Rus shares with us amazing experiences of the crab migration on Christmas Island, witnessing a billion butterflies in Mexico, and viewing the penguins in Antarctica. Russ also overeviews his recent trip to Syria, commenting on the normalcy of his visit while debating the sane-ness of his visit, while he rates the pistachio ice cream in the Damascus Souk.      I encourage you to subscribe wherever you listen, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify.  Remember go to Amazon to pick up your Counting Countries T-shirt. But for now, here’s my conversation with Rus, who was in the Big Apple between trips while I was in the Windy City Counting Countries Studio. Please listen in and enjoy. More about Rus Margolin: Born in: Minsk Favorite travel book: Lonely Planet: Year of Watching Wildlife Favorite travel film: National Geographic Migrations Must carry: Camera Favorite food:  Anything authentic and local Favorite drink: Anything authentic and local Favorite Airline: The cheapest