With over 100 countries under his belt and journeys spanning six continents, Vassilis Stamatelopoulos, our envoy to Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, is the kind of traveler who seeks depth over checklists and authenticity over luxury. His adventures began with a hitchhiking trip across Europe in his early twenties, sparking a lifelong passion for exploration.
From sleeping under the stars in Namibia and driving solo across the deserts of Algeria to spending months navigating the Silk Road and immersing himself in the diverse cultures of Central Asia, Vassilis has always prioritized raw, meaningful experiences.
A lover of history and off-the-beaten-path destinations, he often returns to places that left a mark on him—choosing connection, reflection, and cultural curiosity as his compass. His travel story is not just about where he’s been, but how deeply he engages with the world around him.
Tell us a little about yourself and how your initial interest in travel developed.
All started when my French aunt gave me a pocket Atlas Mondial – World map with maps of regions and continents. I started to read and explore the World and design trips. It was from the time Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia, Burkina Faso was Haute Volta, Togo was Dahomey. My parents spoke English and French and so they urged us to learn languages, I believe a great asset to travel individually.
I started travelling very low budget with a backpack and a tent around Greece and my first trip abroad was to the United Kingdom where I was supposed to study, but guess I didn’t like the weather and after I had travelled around UK by British Rail, I took the Hovercraft from Dover to Calais and then I fell in love with Paris. Since then, back in 1983, I have been to Paris more than 25 times.
What type of traveler would you consider yourself and what do you feel are the advantages of your style of travel?
All depends on the trip/destination. I love to travel solo but for certain destinations I prefer to join group trips with members of the travel community. Most of the trips are budget, but as I work at a chain of hotels and have good connections, if I get a good rate, I might stay at a luxury hotel for max 2 nights for the experience.
I prefer overlanding but due to my current job restrictions, I don’t have the luxury of time, so I get flights. Soon I will be retired, so will have plenty of time for overland trips such as those that I had designed on my Atlas Mondial. Forgot to mention that I adore road trips and to drive, up to now I have self-driven in more that 25 countries.
Vassilis’s profile on NomadMania
Are you aiming for 193/197 or not really? Why or why not?
Some years ago, I was more into counting experiences than counting countries. As I am now at 100+ countries, I wish to do the 193/197 challenge, but for sure I will continue to visit countries already visited to explore new regions.
Of the countries you have visited so far, which one was the greatest positive surprise and why?
Guatemala and Yemen are my most beloved countries, being there twice and of course I want to go more times there. Authenticity, nice people, culture, history, landscape and food that tastes as it should. I plan to return back to both countries soon.
And which one was a negative surprise, if any?
As I am a positive person, I don’t have any cases of negative surprise.
As a Greek man, do you feel there are specific advantages or disadvantages to your travels in certain countries? How do people react when they hear you’re Greek?
Travelling with a passport that is quite strong has given me the ability to visit a lot of countries without the hassle of visas. In the most remote countries where they don’t see many Greek travellers, I face the problem that on the passport the name of the country is HELLAS and not Greece and they try to investigate which country it is.
For your information only in Norwegian is Greece called Hellas. As a Greek, I always get a hearty welcome in the Middle East. When you tell them ‘Ana Yunan’, I am Greek, they give you a big hug and a lot of hospitality, I am always surprised.
Please give us two travel stories that stand out and have stayed with you until today.
My visit to the Indonesian part of Papua, where I met the Dani tribe, stands out. They live partially the ‘modern’ style of living but at the same time they have retained their traditions. They have lighters but at the same time they can create fire by rubbing 2 branches on a stone. Just staying with those tribes you learn simple things that we have taken away from our modern life. For example, men of the tribe cover their penis in a dry gourd, and they simply replied that this organ is so vital for their reproduction, so they must protect it.
The other case was on a recent trip at Morocco, I had my friend George with me, who for the last 10 years hadn’t travelled abroad except to UK. When we were at Jardin Majorelle and looked at how all the would-be influencers were waitin in queue to get the ‘perfect photo’, he asked me, is this the way people travel now? At that point, I realised how social media have influenced travelling, especially to mainstream destinations.
If you were told you could never travel abroad again and had to choose one country to settle in for the rest of your life, which country would you choose and why?
I would stay home, Greece is a beautiful country with so many places to visit, you need a lifetime to see everything. But for sure I would not be happy unable to travel.
Let’s turn to NomadMania, whose Envoy you are. What are some things you especially like about NomadMania?
Apart from the knowledge that is offered with all the information available in the Series, I love the connections with the community either with the trips, or conferences or the meetings. It is nice to connect with other avid travellers.
Tell us about your role as Envoy. What you have done so far and do you envisage doing more in the future?
As of last February when I started the role of Envoy, I have organised five meetings meetings in Greece and one in Cyprus and on the 17th of May 2025 we will have a new meeting in Athens.
Our founder’s presentation at last year’s ETF focused on dark travel and travellers’ moral responsibilities and ended asking people whether they believe their freedom of movement is their number one motivator when travelling or whether there should be some other (moral or other) motivators, What is your take in this?
Dark tourism is not my cup of tea, although I travelled with Harry to Palau, where we visited the war-fields from WWII, or I was in Syria on 2019, just at the end of the conflict and went there again just last month. At that time, I said that I will not make any photos of the casualties, as I am not a war reporter, but then when I was there, I had to make the photos. To answer the question, yes the freedom of movement is my number one motivator.
And finally, our signature question. If you could invite any 4 people – from any period in human history, alive or dead, even fictional characters – to an imaginary dinner, who would want to invite and why?
Although I would like to invite ancient Greek philosophers, I will choose more recent persons, so as to have more in common for the world we live in:
- Meryl Streep, for me, the best actress of our era;
- Steve Jobs, I would like to hear him share his thoughts;
- Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople for this spirituality;
- The Dalai Lama for the same reason.
