Donald "Don" Maltby Parrish Jr. (born October 27, 1944), is an American adventurer and former technical manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

[3] He continued his education at the University of Texas, graduating in June 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics.

Parrish volunteered to work in the International Switching development organization in a newly created role as its planning manager.

[15] In 1965, when Parrish was 20, he visited West Germany for the summer and worked as an unskilled laborer in a metal factory in Hanau near Frankfurt.

These include cheating death on a Nepali road, being detained by Jamaican authorities, and falling while rock climbing in Wisconsin.

"[19] During his trip to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Parrish, who knows Hangul,[23] and his fellow travelers experienced the guided sights of North Korea, including the war museum and monuments to Kim Il Sung, the founder of the North Korean republic.

[26] After visiting Conway Reef, located 280 miles from the main islands of Fiji, on November 2, 2013, Parrish was ranked number one by World's Most Traveled People.

[27] In 2017 his friends from a small group of travelers called ETIC awarded him the title of "the world's most-traveled man".

"[26] Writing for the BBC, Dave Seminara said of Parrish, "For him, travel is an adventure akin to a sacred experience.

It is about learning, but it's also about connecting with people in order to form lasting friendships and to better understand the places he visits.

"[26] In his 2014 piece for the Circumnavigators Log, writer Kevin Short said of Parrish, "He's a veritable information sponge that finds something to learn everywhere and from everyone."