100 COUNTRIES BEFORE I DIE....

I've set myself a ridiculous mission. If you live in corporate land, you might say it's a "stretch goal."

There are 196 countries in the world. I'm trying to get to 100 countries before I kick the bucket.  If I make 50 or 60, that's fine too.

I love travelling. I work to save money to travel. If I don't travel, I feel like I die a little bit. And turn to carbs. There's one rule - I had to have been outside of the airport and experienced the place.

One of the big draw cards for living in London (besides my British boyfriend and awesome job), was because of it's proximity to other places in Europe and the rest of the world. London is a handy little springboard to other destinations.

Hopefully my travel stories can inspire you to put on a backpack and shoot the breeze around other areas of the world.

My posts in each place are below (Those without links/stories means I travelled there before I started writing a blog).


 
   
             

1) South Africa (I come from South Africa, so these posts are strictly with travelling shoes on)
  • My first trip back to SA after 18 months of living in the UK - Capey holiday
  • Stepping back into Johannesburg - wide eyed and warm
  • The ultimate Lydenberg survival kit - here.
  • Mampoer festival as an undercover Brit - here.
  • Deceptively named places not to travel to in South Africa. Ever.
2) Swaziland
3) Lesotho
4) Mozambique
  • December 2005/6 - a two week camping pilgrimage - here!
  • Choppered to Benguerra Island - here!
5) Tanzania
6) Kenya
  • Headbutted by a giraffe called Daisy in Nairobi - here!
  • When I got stuck in a lift in a ten story building  - here!
7) Seychelles
  • Family reunion in paradise - here!
  • Creole and honeymooning neighbours - here!
8) Tunisia
  • Navigating Tunisia after the Arab Spring - here.
  • The world's fourth holiest place - here!
9) Austria
10) Spain
  • Madrid - Spain's authentic and graceful capital in a long weekend - here!
  • Skiing in the Pyrenees and Catalonia
  • Mallorca - island paradise here!
11) Portugal 
  •  Peri peri prawns on the Algarve, here!
  • Cityscaping with a baby in Lisbon, here!
12) Andorra
  • Buyer's regret in Andorra. Wear sunglasses before you open this page.
13) France
  •  My gap yah. I lived in a tiny village, looked after a clutch of children. Here!
  • Meant-to-be-Romantic Paris (but not). My first...no my 'first'. In Paris.
  • Banterous Paris and TGVing across the country, here!
  • Romantic Paris, here!
  • Fuck ups in the French Riviera, here!
  • Skiing with strangers in the Alps - here!
14) Ireland
  •  Northern Ireland, The Troubles and Belfast
  • Roadtrip across Ireland (Dublin, Galway, County Kerry) - here!
  • Dublin...with Irish people (relevant) - here!
  • Cockles and mussels..with more Irish people - here!
  • Get Stuffed. Here.
15) United Kingdom (I live here, but still discovering...)
16) Belgium
  • Paedophiles, lace & chocolate, here!
  • Belgian pilgrimage  - here!
  • In Bruges - not the movie - here!
17) Netherlands 
  •  When I was 10, then when I was 24, 28 and 31.  Each with same outcome.
18) Luxembourg
19) Switzerland 
  • On time, every time: Geneva and Zurich.
20) Italy
21) Monaco
22) Vatican City
23) Germany
24) Poland
  • Krakow, Nowa Huta & Auschwitz...With a bit of Hungary, Slovakia thrown in - here.
25) Denmark
  • Copenhagen wonderfulness - here!
26) Norway
  • Moose heads, ski jumps & the most expensive city in Europe: Oslo.
27) Sweden
28) Czech Republic
  • When I drove around the eastern Bloc states with my mother in a Skoda - here!
29) Slovakia
  • the first time I went to Slovakia (Bratislava) - here!
  • And here too.
  • Roadtrip through rural Slovakia - here!
30) Hungary
  • Budapest and some random town called Vacs..with Poland thrown in.
31) Estonia 
  •  Cathedrals and Communism, here!
  • Karaoke in fake Helsinki & Soviet bars - here!
32) Latvia 
  • Wild nights out and I heart Latvia t-shirts, here! And here!
33) Lithuania 
  • Human didgeridoos and folklore, here!
  • Separatist state of Uzipis - here!
  • Raving in Lithuania - here!
  • Mystical city of Vilnius - here!
34) Greece
35) Turkey 
  • Terraces and mosques in Istanbul - here!
  • Too much Raki on the Bosphorus - here!
36) Israel
37) Thailand
  • Banging one's Kok, here!
  • Paradise & beaches on Phi Phi, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tai.
38) Malaysia
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Borneo - our honeymoon - the rainforest - here! 
  • Borneo - our honeymoon - Gaya Island - here!
39) Vietnam
  • Eating a dogburger in Hanoi  - here!
  • Sweating in Saigon- here!
  • Joining a hippie colony in the jungle - here!
  • Crazy boat parties in Halong Bay (we didn't sink, but it was close)
40) New Zealand
41) Canada
42) United States
  • When I worked in a supermarket in Colorado - for realz
  • My first taste of San Francisco, here!
  • Cookie cutter California - San Diego, here!
  • Silicon Valley on the day Steve iJobs died.
  • Alcatraz - Al Capone's home for a while
  • Big Gay Weekend in Castro, San Francisco - here!
  • LA and Santa Monica - here!
43) Mexico
44) Argentina
  •  Travelling to Argentina...with my eccentric father, here!
  • More Buenos Aires. Here! 
  • Sharing dorms, here!
45) Brazil (Rio is one of my favourite cities evah)
  • A dude got lost in a slum, and lived to tell the tale. 
  • Arriving and surviving in one of the world's most dangerous cities - here!
  • Tijuca Forest & The Corcovado - here
 46) Japan (Where I was made an honest woman of!)
47) Malta
  • "The most Mediterranean place on Earth" - true story - here!
48) Singapore

49) Finland
50) Romania
  • A long weekend navigating the achingly cool and the Ceasescu - here!

Additional travel posts:

  • My top cities - as of 2010 - here.
  • There's an Irish pub in every city. Trust me.
  • Worst airports in the world - here!
  • How to deal with areoplanes and airports - here!
Keen traveller, or travelling and trying to be keen?

Drop me a line, I would love to hear from you. Also happy to hand out [free!] advice on any of the destinations above.

2 comments:

Val said...

Ah - get thee to Vancouver and the Rockies!! Awesome place, awesome people and a fabulous place to visit, winter or summer.
Love the new addition to your page. Well done. Sis lives near Cannes and been there. Agree with the temp of the sea. Positively decadent. :)

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