According to the most recent "Where have you been" or "Countries visited" maps I've been able to generate online (www.mytravelmap.xyz), I have explored 29,38% of the World, not bad! Of course not quite accurate since these things count having visited a city as having visited a whole country, and I don't, not really! I think to truly say you've visited a country you need to have moved around it a bit, met local people, breathed in the local culture (and if possible participated)... But at least the latest one I found splits up some big countries into smaller chunks (US, Canada, Russia, Australia) so those are more accurate. And I haven't counted any of the countries in which I've just seen the airport (Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates).
So as of April 2020 I've lived in 6 and visited 61 Countries... Not bad! ๐Although a couple of those in my book barely count as a "visit", since I've spent less than 48 in Kuala Lumpur (my only trip to Malaysia to date), have only spent half a day and one night in Moscow (so Russia) and of China have only seen Hong Kong (but at least have been there twice), and the latter two are HUGE countries. Also for several of them I've only been in a single city... but at least the stays were several days and included some sightseeing as well as work.
As for where I'd like to go... EVERYWHERE!!! Obviously the big hole in my map is South America, definitely need to do something about that (yay for work taking me to Columbia!!!). And have seen practically nothing of Central America (Costa Rica was as a baby, so of course zero memories). And I'd love to discover more of Australia! Tasmania was lovely, but it's just a tiny taste and quite different form the rest. Ditto South Africa! I missed out on a trip to Cape Town last year and need to make up for that. Egypt and the Red Sea are also at the top of my list. Pyramids and scuba diving please! And Turkey. I really want to explore Turkey! I've been in and out of Istanbul Airport a dozen times at least, but no chance to go visit the city. And if ever I get another chance to go to Antarctica, I'd go in a flash!!!
Unfortunately time and money for holiday travel are scarce... fortunately work gets me out and about, and in the next couple of years I should be able to visit more of Malaysia, maybe Palestine, and hopefully some other new countries will pop up. Looking forward to that! ๐
Unfortunately time and money for holiday travel are scarce... fortunately work gets me out and about, and in the next couple of years I should be able to visit more of Malaysia, maybe Palestine, and hopefully some other new countries will pop up. Looking forward to that! ๐
CrazyCris has been to (*lived in):
Wow, you've live in Saudi Arabia? I would absolutely love to here what that was like.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I don't remember all that much as I lived there from ages 4 to 8! :p
DeleteI have certain images glued in my mind of our house, compound, certain outings... As foreigners we lived in walled compounds of about 36 houses I believe. Behind the walls we could live as we pleased (shorts, tank tops, swimsuits in the pools), but outside everyone had to dress "respectably" (my mom had to wear long pants/skirts/dresses down to her heels, and sleeves that covered her wrists).
Apparently the souks were amazing (my mom talks a lot about them), and my parents made some very good Saudi friends among my dad's co-workers. I think in general they enjoyed the experience!