Bet on an Underdog Country

🌍 Advantage of the Lesser-Known Escape: Your Secret Guide to Authentic Travel & Hidden Gems

The CC13 Global Kin doesn't look for the "must-see"—we look for the places where the real breakthroughs happen.

We all know the list: Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Rio. Places the algorithm, the influencers, and the masses insist are absolutely must sees! I am not saying that these places should not be seen, I am saying why follow the herd when there are other more interesting places without the hoards.

Chasing the "bucket list" is your first mistake. Before you go making your second, burn that “bucket list” so you can get planning right; make Life Adventure Goals instead. But that is another blog….

Our Global Kin always bets on the country or region that is viewed as the underdog. We look for a destination that has all the history, linguistic and navigational challenges, but few to no tourists.

Our secret for choosing the underdog… (Shhhhh, let’s see how long we can keep the places “underdogs”) 

🔥 CHAOS: Less Structure More Breakthroughs

An Underdog Nation, by a general loose definition,would be a country that is seen as struggling economically, has/had geopolitical challenges, and still viewed as an outsider having to “prove themselves” in the eyes of more influential nations..... BUT through all the negativity; with pure belief in their nation, strategic pivoting to gain unexpected performances they defy all expectations. 

Some would call this lack of polish. We find this to be the best feature of a country. It is this grit that guarantees a true H.E.L. (Hard Educated Lessons) that you will carry with you for life. 

Currency for Adventure is Blind Trust:

In highly-touristed cities, most local interactions are transactional. For the underdog region, the adventure is in the language barrier, navigation difficulty (google maps is not a help but a hindrance), and cultural differences (shaking head up and down means NO, instead of YES and sided to side is YES, not NO) which forces the reliance on local kindness. When you successfully overcome these hurdles, the connection you make with a local—the person who genuinely helps you—is based on mutual trust, a breakthrough. Learning and being able to say properly “thank you”, and then being hugged, kissed and patted on the chest in appreciation by a local woman that makes you feel like she was your grandmother, an unexpected breakthrough experience. 

Traditional Homemade Albanian Breakfast courtesy of Hotel Kalemi 2 Hotel in Gjirokaster, Albania.

Shredding the Safety Net

In a less-traveled place, your insurance, your English-speaking guides, and your pre-booked systems are thinner. If you follow this comfort you limit yourself in the experiences and unexpecteds that may lay before you. Endless possibilities became limited possibilities, reverting the entire point of travel and life. By shifting just a smidge, this forces you to lean entirely on your core skills and instinct. Insteading filtering by english only, use no filter…. So what if you are in Italy listening to a Japanese Tour guide with the assistance of Google Translate, how or why you chose that tour is your own reason, which makes it right. Or maybe it was just user error, either way who cares, it is something you will remember and few will ever experience. This is the Chaos Demand: total reliance on self. Only in that type of environment can you prove that you are Never Fragile. 

Real-Time Discovery

When every restaurant and activity is already rated by 1,000 tourists, is there really a discovery? Yes, for you but there is something deeper and more meaningful when you are one of the first few people to put it out there for others to enjoy. In an underdog country, every turn is a beautiful gamble. The food you point to on a handwritten menu, the random alley you take, the non-verbal negotiation you complete—these are all moments of discovery that you earned, not consumed. Recently CC13 had the pleasure of being hosted in the “underdog” nation of Albania, where real discoveries are around every corner, even in the more currently “up-coming cities” such as Berat and Gjirokaster.  Where you may stumble on an unexpected collector that is really a tunnel archeologist & an amateur anthropologist. 

Heather, Body of CompassChaos13 with a local woman from Gjirokaster, Albania outside her incredible collection of artifacts in a cold war tunnel under the castle.

🧭 COMPASS: Strategically Finding Your Underdog

Betting on the underdog isn't random; it's a calculated, Compass-driven risk. Here is how to apply a structure to find your perfectly calculated, high-reward destination.

Look for the Historical Handoff

The most famous destinations often overshadow their historically significant neighbors. Don't look at the main headlines; look at the cultural, financial and entertainment areas in the history books. It will tell you where the beating heart of any culture is, no matter what makes your heart skip a beat. 

If you want ancient Rome, research its former Roman provinces in North Africa or the Balkans. If you want the crowded temples of Southeast Asia, research the less-developed neighboring countries that share the same cultural and architectural heritage. Cultures moved and expanded.

Archeology Park of Dion at the Base of Mount Olympus

The Geo-Political Time-Gap

Tourism is slow to adapt to geopolitical change. Look for countries that are stable now but suffered from conflict or isolation 10–20 years ago.

These regions have incredible history, deeply welcoming populations, and newly-developing infrastructure, but they haven't made it onto the mainstream radar yet. (Next Week’s Blog highlights a single country that hits every point we have made here). You get the benefit of a modern road system with the reward of an empty historical site. The true experience of the local population, not the water down tourist version. 

Different uniforms from the Communist Era of Albania courtesy of Nostalgia Tunnel located on Rruga Shezai Çomo, Gjirokastër 6001, Albania

The Passport Power Multiplier

Use your passport as a directional tool. If a neighboring country requires a visa-on-arrival or has more complex entry requirements, its tourist volume is likely much lower.

Plot two adjacent countries on a map. If one requires an e-visa and the other is a 90-day visa-free entry, the e-visa country is usually the one with less tourist leakage and therefore a higher chance of authentic isolation. Use your visa friction as your crowd-avoidance filter. (You can determine your passport's global utility using tools like the Henley Passport Index https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking#:~:text=Global%20Passport%20Ranking-,Global%20Passport%20Ranking,on%20the%20global%20mobility%20spectrum )

🤔 HEATHER’S FINAL WORD: Never Be a Tourist

The reward of a lesser-known destination is personal ownership. You don't just visit the place; you help write its narrative. You become an early member of its Global Kin; a driver for its success but a protector of its undiscovered charm.

Compass gives you the structure to research wisely and plan ethically. Chaos guarantees the breakthrough when the expected safety net collapses. That's the charming, exciting advantage of the underdog.

“Live Life Thinking You Will Cease Tomorrow, Plan Your life thinking you're immortal. The choices you have in front of you today are the ones that matter now”

The plan is to find the underdog. To go live the escape.

🌏💋❤️ Stay Feral, Never Fragile!

CompassChaos13