The Art of Country Collecting June 24, 2008 What makes a great traveler? Wanderlust, a sense of adventure, unquenchable curiosity, unlimited energy, determination – and good connections. What makes a great traveler? Wanderlust, a sense of adventure, unquenchable curiosity, unlimited energy, determination – and good connections. After all, Marco Polo just “happened” to be born into a savvy and risk-taking trading family ready to pull up stakes and go where the opportunities were. Lord Curzon, who traveled the world in the late 1800s, just “happened” to be a peer of the realm and a public servant as well as a gifted linguist and compulsive traveler. And the wildly adventurous Alexandra David-Neel, the first western woman to enter Tibet, just “happened” have close ties with the King of Sikkim, where she began her journeys.