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    <title>The Bearded Vagabond</title>
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    <description>Ancient worlds, dark histories, and forgotten places — explored through history, archaeology, and travel.</description>
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    <managingEditor>rexthebeardedvagabond@gmail.com (Rex McArtor)</managingEditor>
    <copyright>© 2026 The Bearded Vagabond</copyright>
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      <title><![CDATA[Plague Islands, Ancient Temples & the Worst Vatican Experience: Italy and Malta 2015]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[A 2015 family trip through Venice, Florence, Rome, and Malta — including an unauthorized visit to Venice's plague island, a cliff-jumping spot with no water, and the Vatican fight that ended our Vatican visit.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Ek' Balam: The Maya Pyramid Nobody Visits]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[Chichen Itza gets 2.5 million visitors a year. Ek' Balam is 25 kilometers away and you can still climb the pyramid. That gap isn't accidental.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Vlad the Impaler: The Real Dracula's Castle Tourists Miss]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[Bran Castle isn't where Dracula lived — Poenari is. I climbed all 1,480 steps to the real Vlad the Impaler sites tourists never find, and the history is darker than the legend.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Not a Vacation]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[India and Nepal, September 2014 — fourteen days overland from Delhi to Kathmandu, a motorcycle vs. my sister, the Taj Mahal, and the boat on the Ganges at sunset.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Halloween in Transylvania]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[The most impulsive trip we ever took — a G Adventures Halloween tour through Romania in 2012 that set a bar most carefully planned trips have failed to clear.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Where Wanderlust Blooms: The Yucatan Awakening]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[A life-changing 2008 family trip to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula awakening my lifelong passion for exploration and adventure.]]></description>
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      <title><![CDATA[Planting the Seeds: Early Travels & Childhood Wanderlust]]></title>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description><![CDATA[The early childhood journeys with my mom and sister that sparked a lifelong passion for exploration and adventure.]]></description>
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