Scott Stoll. Let's Go Exploring. Inspirational image of Alcatraz at sunset.

Let's go exploring!

Welcome. I explore how to live a more meaningful and joyful life,
and I invite you to join the journey.

Welcome. I explore how to live a more meaningful and joyful life, and I invite you to join the journey.

Celebrating 25 years online. Anniversary logo.This website works the same as my formula for turning dreams into reality:

  1. Get inspired. Dream big or little.
  2. Plan your adventure. To me, everything is an adventure.
  3. Go explore! Live your dream, share your adventure, get support and inspire others.
  4. Grow! Reflect on your successes and “failures”.

Recent adventures, experiments and articles

Before and after picture of Tim and Sharyn with their loaded touring bicycles in the snow of Canada and in the sun of the United States.

From backpacks to panniers to housesits

Tim and Sharyn have spent nearly two decades redefining adventure, going from backpackers to bicycle tourists to housesitters in the world’s most beautiful and expensive cities. Read on to discover their inspiring midlife journey, lessons learned on the road, and how they’re teaching others how to housesit and save thousands while traveling the world.
To bike or not to bike that is NOT a question

To bike, or not to bike: that is NOT a question.

This is a mashed-up bicycle quote that I created based on my favorite Shakespearean play, Hamlet. It was originally part of a quiz. Since then, it has gone viral and spread across the internet, spawning thousands of variations.
Tripe and intestine soup Tanzania

What is the grossest thing you ever ate?

Warning: this story is grosser than gross. C’est la vie (such is life), say the French. The faint-hearted may wish to skip to the next story. However, I do think it is one of my funnier stories, and it showcases just how odd we humans are. During my world travels, I've eaten a lot of gross things, as you will see. I thought I was prepared for the challenge of eating a tarantula. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
A brown park wayfinder sign.

The spirit of adventure

A wayfinder sign presents the classic choices and tests the spirit of adventure — keep going or go home?

An inspirational story to celebrate our 25th-anniversary issue. Thanks to guest adventurer Mark Loftin.
Before and after Scott's Do-Nothing Diet.

The Do-Nothing Diet grand finale

Calling this my weight loss journey is a cliché — and it is not the type of adventure I long for — but it is chock-full of life lessons. How I lost 45 pounds of fat, gained 5 pounds of muscle, and surprisingly, took a big dent out of my depression.
Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow brightly in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula, taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

Where does oxygen come from and where does it go?

Like me, you may surprised to learn that there will never be more oxygen on the Earth (or in our solar system) than there is right now. And when it comes to the breathable kind, there will be less and less oxygen until it is gone, though, luckily, that could take billions of years.
All recent articles and stories

News

Bahamas directional mileage sign and wayfinder.

How can Scott improve this site?

You can help me make this site even better by answering five questions to help me deliver entertaining, inspiring and educational material. 

Take the survey
Breathless book on a table with gold medal. A first-place award for both hard science fiction and dystopian climate fiction from BookFest.

Breathless won first place

I am surprised and honored that Breathless has now won multiple awards. Breathless is my debut sci-fi book about a world that runs out of oxygen. This may be my magnum opus. I put everything I have into this book, including years of research.

More info

Popular today

Popular articles that have withstood the test of time

The sphinx asking a riddle: "If you could do anything, what would you do?"

How to be the hero of your own life

Are we born with a special purpose?

What does it mean to be a hero? Does the world need to be saved? If so, who will get the job? I feel that I was born with a special purpose, and most people I talk to feel the same way. This series explores whether life is a game of king of the mountain, or if we are all gifted in our own way.

Vintage photo of Albert Einstein riding a bicycle with quotation overlayed. "Life is like riding a bicycle." Scott's favorite all-time bicycle quotes.

Bicycle Quotes

The oldest and best collection of bicycle quotes on the web

Riding a bicycle is the greatest metaphors for life! Well… at least, we think so. That’s why I started collecting these timeless quotable quotes way back in the early 1990s.

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Falling Uphill

Scott's quest for happiness around the world on a bicycle

Scott asked himself, “If I could do anything, what would I do?” His answer turned into a 4-year and 25,752-mile odyssey around the world by bicycle, searching for happiness and the meaning of life. Scott’s journey was one of the first circumnavigations around the planet on a bicycle using only paper maps. Read about the trek around the world on a bicycle.

The original famous bicycle quote. "A bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke." By Scott Stoll. Featuring Scott's before and after picture from his trip around the world on a bicycle.
The map of Scott's World Bicycle Tour
World bicycle tour map, an example of how to ride a bicycle around the world, the red line above is where I rode my bicycle further than the circumference of the planet, not including the United States, which was my warm-up ride.
Falling Uphill 3D book cover.
Re-imagine the journey in the best-selling, award-winning, independent book Falling Uphill: One man's quest for happiness around the world on a bicycle.cycle.

Dreamaplay

Our new website for kids and their parents, teachers, and caregivers

I believe everything is an adventure, and all good adventures start with a dream. So I teamed up with like-minded people that wanted to teach kids these valuable life lessons.

In 2018, we published our workbook Dream It! and matching website Dreamaplay.com to teach kids (and adults) how to dream and how to turn those dreams into reality using our easy 3-step formula: 1) Dream it! 2) Map it! 3) Play it! We use traditional pencil-and-paper games and evidence-based activities that teach important concepts, and put them into action right away — because we all know that kids learn by doing — playing!

How to turn dreams into reality: Dream It! Map It! Play It!

Dreamaplay.com is full of free resources for kids and their parents, teachers, and healthcare providers. It was over 4 years in the making, and everything was tested in real-world classrooms.

Feel Your Feelings book cover. Silver finalist in the California Reading Association awards. EUREKA! 2022 Excellence in Nonfiction. By Scott Stoll and Sara E. Williams. Published by Magination Press.

A new children's book!!!

I’m proud to announce one dream turned into reality — my new book, Feel Your Feelings. During testing, this one has been an instant hit.

Feel Your Feelings introduces children to basic emotions with fun poems that they can act out from head to toe. They will learn that emotions are our friends. Some emotions show us what we love, others protect us from harm, and all of them put together, like colors on an artist’s palette, paint a beautiful picture of life.

Learn more. Buy now.