2014 Plans – Updated!

 Trips  5 Responses »
Apr 162014
 

Thanks to the United devaluation of miles, I had to start planning my year in advance. Especially since I would be using so many miles up this year, and United added “premier qualifying dollars” this year – I would be forced to plan.  Got all my mileage burning trips in place, and then deals fell into place.  First, the amazing $1500 Europe fare.  Now, I’ve found a < $3000 business class fare to Israel over Thanksgiving – another new country for me!

So far, the year has already been busy:

map-1

But now, with nearly everything planned, it’s looking downright insane:

map-3

Plans are:

January:  return from trip to West Africa, Congos, Angola – up to 154 countries!
February: week in Hawaii
March: weekend in Ottawa
March: long weekend in Jamaica – 155 countries!
May: Boliva and Ecuador, with a day stop in Medellin – 157 countries!
May: long weekend in Chicago
July: long weekend in St. Kitts – 158 countries!
August: DC – Hawaii – Paris – Andorra – Hawaii – Las Vegas – DC – all in 10 days. Whew! – 159 countries!
October: over a month in the South Pacific – 168 countries!
November: Israel – 170 countries! (yes, I count Palestine)
December: Christmas in Minnesota
December: New Years in East Africa – Malawi, Tanzania, Comoros, etc! – probably 172/173 countries by end year!

That should bring me into 2015 with only 23 more countries to go, and maybe only 15-17 to go after I return from New Years! So close, but they get hard! I still have Turkmenistan, Syria, Guinea (Ebola anyone?), Mali, Central African Republic, Cuba…yeah, some real thinking is going to be needed!

I’m sure more long weekends will get filled in soon…I’m tired just typing this! What do you have planned for 2014 so far?

60 to go!

 Countries, Uzbekistan  1 Response »
May 192013
 

Big milestone this week – in Uzbekistan right now, and that makes 136 countries visited, and by by list 60 to go!  Lots of work ahead of me as you can see by the country map (especially Africa) but still confident I’ll get there in the next several years!

Anyone with strategies for my remaining countries…I’d love your advice!

 

Last Country Visited?

 Bahamas, Countries, Iceland  5 Responses »
Aug 142012
 

So, 122 countries visited now, 3 more booked, and that makes 125 of the 194 countries planned.  Less than 70 to go now, and I’m starting to think of strategies and timelines to the end.

They get much harder from here, especially since lots of them are in Africa and not easy to visit multiples on one trip.  I’ll be strategic about it, but I figure another 5-7 years to get the last countries checked off.  With that said, I’m starting to think about how I want to end this quest.  I know I don’t want to end in some random hard-to-get-to African country like Guinea-Bissau, where it would be me, some surly immigration official, and that’s all.  I want the end of the quest to be a bit more memorable.  That said, my thinking is…

Iceland.  It’s the easiest country I have left to visit from the east coast of the U.S. and Canada, and has enough to see to make a three to four day weekend for people.  Would be a great place to encourage friends and family to join me to celebrate finally getting to every country.  Who knows, if it was planned right we might even get enough folks to charter a plane and make it a round-trip weekend long party!  Yes, this is me giving everyone notice!

Of course, now that I’ve said this, the worst will likely happen:  I’ll be on a transatlantic flight with some sort of emergency, and we’ll make a diversion to Iceland and I’ll unintentionally check it off.  While I like to make a rule of “1 night, 1 attraction, 1 meal,” the official rule is being in country counts, so I’d have to check it off.  I will have to keep a backup plan in the books, and I’m thinking the Bahamas might be a suitable alternative from what I have left.

Who’s in?  Start planning a grand party between 2017 and 2020!