Benny Lewis

Benny Lewis Official page of Benny Lewis, language hacker of Fluent in 3 Months

I'm back in Ireland and back in the Gaeltacht and in Irish language mode! ☘️💚🇮🇪After 7 years without a visit to the part...
26/07/2026

I'm back in Ireland and back in the Gaeltacht and in Irish language mode! ☘️💚🇮🇪

After 7 years without a visit to the part of the country that speaks the language, my Irish is definitely rusty!

I decided to start my time in Ireland with this intensive experience at Oideas Gael's language and culture week, so I'll have momentum to use more Irish for the next month and a half so I can practise it in other parts of the country.

So far, it's coming back to me quickly!

4️⃣4️⃣ years old today 🎂🏋️ 30 kg (66 lb) lost in the last 4 years✈️ 23 years travelling the world — more than half my li...
10/07/2026

4️⃣4️⃣ years old today 🎂
🏋️ 30 kg (66 lb) lost in the last 4 years
✈️ 23 years travelling the world — more than half my life
🌍 51 countries visited
🗺️ over 300 states, provinces & regions
🗣️ 8 languages spoken well
💬 20 more dabbled in
🎙️ 12 regional dialects worked on
📚 6 books published

Mexico scored two goals against Ecuador a few days ago, and as soon as the game ended I walked up Quinta Avenida here in...
05/07/2026

Mexico scored two goals against Ecuador a few days ago, and as soon as the game ended I walked up Quinta Avenida here in Playa del Carmen to soak up the celebrations. It was absolute pandemonium! People were spraying everyone in reach with beer, throwing each other high into the air, pushing cars, dancing and singing like they were having the time of their lives.

I only stuck around for a little while walking through the crowds, and honestly that was plenty; celebrating at that intensity looked exhausting! Understanding the Spanish being roared all around me made it feel less like watching someone else's party and more like being pulled right into it.

Today Mexico play England, and if they win I expect tonight to look exactly like this again, with even more enthusiasm! And if they don't, it's still been absolutely amazing partying with Mexico as they host the World Cup 🇲🇽

My own personal Mexico! A photo of me in each of the 20 Mexican states I've now spent proper time in, placed right where...
24/06/2026

My own personal Mexico! A photo of me in each of the 20 Mexican states I've now spent proper time in, placed right where it belongs on the map.

Over the past couple of months I set out to go deeper into Mexico, and this collage is one thing to come of it. Every photo marks a state I spent anywhere between a couple of days and a few months in, from the deserts and mountains up north, through the Bajío, and across to all the states south and east of Mexico City that I'd reached on earlier visits.

Mexico has 31 states (plus the federal district), so I've left the final third for future visits, which gives me every excuse to keep coming back. And what a time to be here for it, with the country co-hosting the World Cup while I travelled around.

Spanish is already one of my strongest languages, but these couple of months taught me more about Mexican slang, accents, and the expressions that shift from one state to the next.

Twenty states in, and already plenty of reasons to come back for the rest. ¡Gracias, México! 🇲🇽

¡Hola desde Playa del Carmen!After months of very deep travels, off the beaten track, through Mexico, I had reached my 2...
23/06/2026

¡Hola desde Playa del Carmen!

After months of very deep travels, off the beaten track, through Mexico, I had reached my 20th state, so I'm pausing the project there, to come back to later in a future visit to Mexico. As such, in my final weeks, I've got a stark contrast with those deep travels, of hanging out in one of the most touristy parts of all of Mexico: Playa del Carmen.

The beaches are packed, the prices are hugely inflated, I'm hearing way too much English... so why am I here? Well, I mainly needed somewhere comfortable to chill where I could catch up on work and go consistently to a gym. But I also wanted to specifically be somewhere international during most of the World Cup, where I could find people of any nationality to watch various games with, during my downtime. In the week I've been here so far, I've got to see and hear supporters of pretty much every team! And I've gone to a language event (see Fluent in 3 months ) where I've got to speak my top languages already.

So, I get to flex my polyglot muscles and practise many languages, and meet people from all over the world. Tourist hubs definitely have so many downsides, but for the few weeks I'll be here, I'll enjoy the upsides while I can!

Twenty states down, and now a beach to recover on. I'll take it!

Welcome to Aguascalientes, my 20th state visited in Mexico, and the one that rounds off this whole stretch of the every-...
17/06/2026

Welcome to Aguascalientes, my 20th state visited in Mexico, and the one that rounds off this whole stretch of the every-state project! The final third will wait for me for another visit!

It's a lovely little city, the capital of what's reckoned to be the safest state in the whole country, and after a couple of days wandering it I can see why people stay.

The thing that really got me though was the prices. After twenty states spread over many years, this is the first time in ages that everything felt close to what I remember Mexico costing a few years back. Meals, shopping, getting around, all of it gentle on the wallet, and it made me wish I was here longer!

Twenty states down! I'll be in Mexico a few more weeks, but I'm parking myself in one spot now further east to catch up on work and see some friends. Highly recommend this little city to anyone passing through though. Go!

Mexico vs South Africa, the opening game of the whole World Cup tournament, and I got to watch it in Mexico, with Mexica...
12/06/2026

Mexico vs South Africa, the opening game of the whole World Cup tournament, and I got to watch it in Mexico, with Mexicans, in one of the host cities!

Then Mexico went and won it 2-0, and the whole place erupted! And, of course, the city was celebrating the whole rest of the day.

The bit that surprised my Mexican friends most? When the opening ceremony started and I sang along in Spanish to local rock legends Maná (I already knew the lyrics). And to round the night off, a mariachi band rolled in to celebrate the win.

What an amazing kick-off to the world cup season! ⚽🇲🇽

Guadalajara is the capital of Jalisco, my 19th state visited in Mexico and another one in my project to see all of them....
11/06/2026

Guadalajara is the capital of Jalisco, my 19th state visited in Mexico and another one in my project to see all of them. It's the state that gave the world both mariachi and tequila!

And as luck would have it, I've arrived right as Guadalajara is one of the host cities for the World Cup, which kicks off today. I didn't plan the every-state project around football, it just happened to line up, and you can feel the buzz building on every corner!

In a couple of hours I'm off to watch the very first game with a group of Mexicans I've got to know here. No stadium tickets for me, just a TV in a restaurant/bar, a big crowd and the kind of afternoon that only happens when you can chat your way into the local crew. Later today, the second game will happen in the stadium just a few km west of me!

It's going to be a great buzz, enjoying most of the cup in this host country. Best of luck to Mexico!

San Luis Potosí is the city that gives my 18th Mexican state its name, and it's been home for the last week and a half.T...
02/06/2026

San Luis Potosí is the city that gives my 18th Mexican state its name, and it's been home for the last week and a half.

The best part was the people, and one of them, my tío Nacho, got a post all of his own over on my account.

Beyond the people, my favourite thing here was lacing up for a morning run through Parque Tangamanga, a giant green lung of a park that comes second in size only to Chapultepec over in Mexico City. You can lose a whole morning in it and still not see the lot, and it made keeping my training going on the road something I actually looked forward to. I'd round it off by wandering into the historic centre, all pastel stone buildings and shaded plazas, for a coffee before the heat set in.

And today I pack up and leave state number 18 behind, swapping it for Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco, my 19th. The further south I go, the more there is. Mexico is huge!

Hello from Mexico🇲🇽!My next big travel project is to have spent time in 2/3 of all Mexican states over the next couple o...
01/05/2026

Hello from Mexico🇲🇽!
My next big travel project is to have spent time in 2/3 of all Mexican states over the next couple of months!
In previous visits, I've made it to all states south and east of Mexico city, as well as a few near the capital. Those are the red highlighted states in this map. This time, I'll attempt to visit the blue highlighted states, bringing my total to about 20! I'll leave the rest for future visits. Most of the visits will be at least for an entire week, and some are for even longer.
I've been having lots of fun in recent years focusing my travels on deeper dives into big countries, so I'm excited to continue doing this in Mexico. I'll also get to be here during the World cup (co-hosted in Mexico).
As far as a language project goes, fortunately Spanish is already among my best languages but I definitely have plenty to learn about Mexican dialects and Mexico's wealth of slang and curse words and generally distinct expressions, vocabulary and accents. I'll be updating on my Spanish Instagram again during this visit as part of my immersion and practice, over at !

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