Where I’ve Traveled
Many have asked, so…
Though I actually think “counting countries” is a bit silly, and I’d surely never dream of checking off an entire country unless I’d spent at least a good bit of time exploring it. Nonetheless for those curious, I totaled them up (as of January 2020) and they spread out across the globe like this:
Australia, Austria, Belize, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia (Bali & Sumatra), Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lesotho, Malaysia (Borneo), Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Panama, Portugal (The Azore Islands), Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland (now Eswatini), Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Vatican City, Vietnam
Pretty sad actually. Based on the total number of countries recognized by the U.N. (195) – clearly I’m still missing more than *75%* of this Big Blue Dot.
Since landing here as a permanent resident of Ecuador more than 6 (!!!) years ago, I thought sure I’d head forthwith to that iconic bump (Machu Picchu) in neighboring Peru. But instead, my first foray was to those luscious Galapagos Islands of course, and soon after I added that legendary gem of Easter Island (out in the middle of freekin’ NOWHERE!) off the coast of Chile. Next, I opted to hie my (naughty U.S. citizen) self to “The Forbidden Land”: Cuba. And in 2016 I completed a doozy of a marathon (44 days) solo backpack through the Balkans and Turkey – adding *7* new countries to the map above (Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro, Slovenia and… ballooning amid the fairy chimney caves of Cappadocia in Turkey – woo-HOO!
Come February 2017, I headed back to an old favorite (Mexico) – this time to gawk in utter wonder at the annual Monarch butterfly migration (seriously, imagine… THOUSANDS of butterflies verily *dripping* from the trees!), and in October I finally made it to Inca-Land (Peru) and gazed spell-bound at that magnificent citadel of Machu Picchu!
April, 2018 marked a personal milestone – my 50th country: a solo skip around Japan to gawk at sakura blossoms and EAT my way through Tokyo, Nagano (ah, those amazing Snow Monkeys!), Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Osaka. That sweet trip set my travel funds back a smidge (though Japan isn’t nearly as pricey as you might think), so I (uncharacteristically) sat tight here on this 8,400+ foot mountain-top (in Cuenca, Ecuador) for more than a year – saving my pennies for my most recent adventure: an epic, month-long exploration of East Africa (to see those legendary “Gorillas in the Mist” in Uganda, as well as visit Rwanda and Ethiopia).
this here surely “ain’t no dress rehearsal”!
