About
I’m Logan Bowling, and I’m the guy behind Atypical Experiences.
I’m a travel enthusiast who is always looking for unique, memorable experiences outside of my usual 9-to-5. For me, travel isn’t necessarily about checking destinations off a list. It’s about finding something that makes a trip memorable. Also, most importantly, it gives me a better answer than “oh, you know, same old, same old” when someone asks if I’ve done anything fun lately.
What Are Atypical Experiences?
To me, an atypical travel experience can mean many different things.
Sometimes, it’s visiting a destination and being a typical tourist. There’s a reason certain places are popular, after all. Other times, it’s seeking out something more obscure, unusual, or just a little crazy—an activity, event, or adventure that lets you see or experience something truly special. I’m constantly looking for new things to do, whether that’s exploring a city, trying an adrenaline-fueled activity, finding an incredible local restaurant, attending a festival, or picking up a new hobby. The goal isn’t necessarily to travel differently every single time. It’s to find experiences worth remembering wherever I happen to be, and in the upcoming travel year, and beyond, I plan on leaning even more heavily into this experience driven way of travel.
Who Is Logan Bowling?
I’m an American currently based in the Washington, D.C., area. As such, you will mostly likely see a lot of local events, festivals, and updated “best of” lists for cities up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. I still work a full time job that, fortunately for me, gives me a healthy amount of paid time off that I can dedicate toward travel. So far, I have visited 10 countries and 38 of the 50 U.S. States. You can find maps below showing where I’ve been.
Exploring a new place is amazing, but this blog isn’t named Atypical Destinations. I wanted my blog to be focused more on experiences than just specific locations because I’m constantly finding new activities that I would like to try. I honestly have a hard time focusing on specific hobbies and interests because there are so many activities out there that I’d like to try out one day. At this point in my life, I’ve already got quite a few hobbies I like to juggle that offer unique experiences in the places I travel. Over the last five or so years, some of the activities I’ve gotten into include:
- Getting my A-License in skydiving (and working toward my B-License in 2027)
- Becoming an Open Water Scuba Diver and earning my Computer Nitrox certification (with hopes of getting my Advanced Open Water certification in 2027)
- Rock climbing and bouldering, both indoors and outdoors
- Learning to snowboard, including trips to some world-class resorts in Colorado (Copper, Loveland, Breckenridge, and Keystone so far!)
- Training for a marathon and focusing on fitness ahead of a travel-packed 2027
I’m looking forward to utilizing these skillsets to have more chances for connection when travelling. Fitness classes, skydiving drop zones, scuba charters, rock climbing gyms, run clubs, and mountain top lodges all seem to be great places to strike up a conversation and meet fellow travelers and locals alike.
Where I’ve Been
Countries
- United States
- Canada
- Costa Rica
- Bahamas
- Japan
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Italy
United States (States)
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
My Current Travel Style
My current traveling style is one that I think most people will resonate with. I typically look for inexpensive or low-cost accommodation and flights and save my money for food and experiences. I have experience doing this both as a solo traveler and as the person responsible for planning trips for my friends and family.
The majority of my international travel has been solo, while most of my travel within the United States has been with friends or family. This has given me a lot of lessons learned on how to pace a trip differently based on who you’re traveling with. For me, I look for extreme adventure, hiking, local food recommendations, and more recently hostels. Traveling with family is a different story. For those trips, I’m more likely to prioritize easily accessible attractions, restaurants with familiar American favorites (think your typical burgers and fries), budget hotels, and spacious Airbnb or Vrbo accommodations. This leads to a good mix of different types of travel and is a fun way to get suggestions for experiences at a location of interest.
Finally, and I hinted at it above, what’s next? Well, you know who I am, where I’ve been, but now where am I going? That is the whole reason I decided to start this blog and all the related social media when I did.
What’s Next?
I have two upcoming trips planned in 2026. First, I’m heading back to New England for a second road trip through that area. Then, I’m returning to Japan for the third time—this time with my girlfriend, Kaitlyn, who will be taking her first international trip! These were going to happen blog or not but my 2027 plans are what have me really excited. You can see the list of those below. I plan on diving deep with each of these trips with itinerary breakdowns, costs reports, lessons learned, after trip summary’s, and hopefully some cinematic YouTube videos to accompany each adventure.
2026 Trips:
- Massachusetts/Maine Trip
- Japan Trip #3
Potential 2027 Trips:
- Guatemala
- Mexcio
- Peru
- Portugal/Spain
- Iceland
- Croatia
- More USA National Parks/States sprinkled throughout
If you’re looking for travel inspiration, unique things to do, budget-friendly adventures, or you simply want to follow along and see what I get myself into next, I’d love to have you along for the ride.