countries | Jason Around the World

Strategy for the remaining 42 countries

Feb 172014

Now that I’m back from Africa, I’ve been doing some thinking of how I’ll get to my final 42 countries. Plan is to have a party somewhere that family/friends will want to join over Labour Day 2016…which will also coincidentally be my 45th birthday weekend.

After doing some planning, I have my remaining 42 countries grouped into a rough set of trips. 2014 plans are:

March: long weekend in Jamaica (155)

late-April: week in Ecuador and Bolivia (156-157)

July 4th weekend: long dive weekend in St Kitts and Nevis (158)

October: 9 south pacific countries (167)

New Years: 6 countries of East Africa + Saudi, Eritrea, Yemen. Hope is to arrange a Saudi transit visa between Eritrea and Yemen (175)

That will bring me into 2015 with 21 to go. They’re grouped as:

Belize: Dive trip planned with a buddy who returns from Afghanistan in Spring 2015. That leaves 20.

Middle East: Probably two trips, since I have Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Who’s to say how I’ll get Syria….that’ll leave 16.

Mongolia and Turkmenistan: Probably two trips, especially if I manage the work trip to Turkmenistan I’m trying to get arranged, which could actually happen in mid 2014. That makes 14.

Cuba. Trying to figure out an interesting way to do it. That will leave 13.

New Years 2015-2016 will likely feature a 3 week romp through West and Central Africa. I’ll enter from Andorra to Algeria and then down, for 11 countries…leaving 2 to go.

Then, in 2016, I’ll do anything leftover from above (Syria? Cuba?), plus:

Bahamas and Iceland: leaving these for the last two, since I want a destination for my last one that family and friends will want to join. Iceland is the plan, but just in case I have an in-flight diversion before then, I’m leaving Bahamas as a backup. Labour Day 2016….start planning on it…thinking a long weekend trip of Thursday to Tuesday….

The Final 60 – Tough Ones Remaining

Countries 4 Responses »

Jul 032013

Several years back when I decided I was going to go to every country, I had a rough idea which ones would be tough. That list has since, however, been totally turned upside down. Generally, I find that the “tough” countries are so for one of four reasons: safety, location/access, visas, legality.

Legality: There’s one big one here for US citizens: Cuba. I still haven’t done it, but I know that exemptions exist. I’ll likely buy into one of the cultural tours that are offered so I don’t have to do it another way, unless of course laws change which is always possible. Lots of folks seem to think it’s illegal to visit places the US doesn’t get along with, but that’s not true. Other than Cuba, I don’t know of any other countries the US government has a problem with me visiting.

Visas: Some countries just don’t like issuing visas to tourists. Belarus comes to mind, but that was pretty easy for me. I paid an agency to find someone to write a letter of invitation, paid them to get a visa, and piece of cake. I know it’s become a bit harder since then. Nauru can also fall into this category,because there just aren’t too many places to get the visa. I know Sudan also takes a long time to issue visas, and I plan to try later this year. Technically I’ve already crossed Sudan off when my Lufthansa flight made a stop there, but I want to see it as well. Guinea-Bissau has a pretty tough visa to get since there aren’t many embassies, but I had no trouble getting one same-day in Senegal last year. Unfortunately, however, I couldn’t make the trip. Libya is also really hard because they don’t issue tourist visas. I had no trouble, however, getting a business visa issued last year.

Location/Access: Then there are the places that are hard to get to. Tuvalu and Niue come to mind. Small pacific islands with just a couple of flights each week. There just aren’t too many options. Bhutan is also a bit difficult, but there are flights from Nepal, India, Bangkok, and as long as you buy into the government’s tourist requirements it’s not so hard. North Korea also isn’t easy, but again, go on a sponsored trip and you’re fine. This used to be much harder, but in the time since I went it’s become much easier. South Sudan also isn’t that easy, but once you’re there it’s an easy visa on arrival.

…and, the biggest group

Safety: I admit, when I started, this is the group I thought would be hardest. Iraq, Afghanistan, and especially Somalia came to mind. However, I’ve done all three of these now and never felt unsafe in any of them. I guess my definition of safety has changed a bit since realizing that even “unsafe” countries usually have a safer region you can visit. The one I still think I am going to have a really hard time with is Syria. No idea how I’m going to make that happen. I’ve also heard Guinea is pretty bad, so I doubt I’ll stay too long. Likewise on both of the Congos, but you never know. I’ve become a bit of a sucker for adventure.

That said, of the 60 remaining, I think the tough ones will be:

Algeria: notorious for long waits on visas, hopefully this shouldn’t be too bad.
Angola: hard to get a visa, and insanely expensive once you’re there
Cuba: with the US embargo, getting there legally will take some work
Eritrea: not real keen on issuing tourist visas, but supposedly it’s easy if you book with a local agent
Kiribati: few flights and remote, but doable
Nauru: see Kiribati
Nigeria: some security concerns, but with a friend working there I should be in good local hands. Visa shouldn’t be TOO hard.
Papua New Guinea: not exactly safe, but supposedly not too bad. Also, not super easy to get to.
Saudi Arabia: they don’t like tourists, but I’ve heard a transit visa is pretty easy now. Will try later this year.
Syria: this is going to be tricky. Active war zone, and difficult visas.
Turkmenistan: not real easy to get a visa as a tourist, but with a package tour it’s doable. Also, might have an opportunity with work.
Tuvalu: two flights a week – just hard to get to, and once there you’re there a few days!
Yemen: tourist visas seem to come and go, and it’s not always predictable. Mix in a bit of a security situation, and it won’t be easy.

Any thoughts?

The final 60 countries

Countries 3 Responses »

Jun 262013

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m down to 60 countries left to visit, with 136 visited so far. This struck home last week as I was trying to find somewhere suitable to go for the 4th of July weekend, and wasn’t able to find anything that really worked for four days. That got me to wondering if I’ve finally hit “that point” where things are going to get difficult. So, I did a breakdown of the 60 remaining:

2 I am saving for last. I’m planning Iceland as my last country, since I figure it’s somewhere friends and family will be interested in coming along to. However, having said that, I can just see fate intervening and having a transatlantic diversion and ending up there earlier by “accident.” For that reason, I’m saving the Bahamas for second to last since it’s easy to get to, and I figure I can talk people into it.

That leaves 58.

Later this year hopefully, I’m planning a trip to Bolivia, Ecuador, and hopefully the Galapagos. This trip needs way more than a 4 day weekend, so can’t do it until later in the year.

That leaves 56.

I’m starting to plan my annual crazy New Years trip to crazy places. I’m thinking this year of trying to hit Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Eritrea, and maybe (let’s just assume I manage it) Algeria as well.

That leaves 52.

Hopefully later this fall will be a extra-long weekend to Belize for Scuba and a long weekend with a friend in Jamaica. Also hoping to find time to do Serbia and Montenegro together.

That leaves 48.

Although it’s not planned yet, I have a friend who frequently visits West Africa for work, and one of the next times he goes I plan to go Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria overland.

That would bring me to 43.

At this point, my plans are much, much more uncertain because the countries get harder. Some rough plans:

Comoros and Madagascar grouped together at some point, probably grouped with Uganda and Tanzania.

That brings me to 39.

Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine as a group will bring me to 36.

I’ll probably take a good long trip at some point and do Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mali, and Mauritania from Senegal. Bringing me to 31.

Cuba and St Kitts still remain, probably trips of their own at some point….St Kitts for diving maybe. Those two trips make 29.

I’ll likely do the two Congos together in one trip, and hopefully throw Angola into that mix. That makes 26.

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan go nicely together and I may swing work trips there…that makes 24.

There’s the South Pacific – not sure these will all fit in one trip, but I’ll definitely hit Fiji, and from there I have Kiribati, Nauru, Western Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu. That makes 17.

The ones I’m unsure of fall into a few groups:

Africa: Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Sao Tome e Principe

Asia: East Timor, PNG, Solomon Islands and Mongolia

Europe: Andorra – probably a long weekend trip from Barcelona

Any suggestions how to group these? Obviously a few longer trips is preferred, but I’m open to ideas! The end is in sight!

2012 Travel Year in Review

Airports, Countries, Flights No Responses »

Jan 072013

I’m still way behind on logging my trips from November and December, but plan to do lots of catching up now that I’m home for what looks to be a solid month! That said, 2012 had lots of great travel. Here it is by all the gory numeric details:

New Countries (28): Antigua, Barbados, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Kosovo, Libya, Macedonia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Nepal, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, St Lucia, St Vincent, Sudan, Suriname

New Airlines (11): Air Cairibes, Air India, Air Malta, Air Mauritius, Air Seychelles, Daallo, Druk Air, East African Safari Express, Egypt Air, Ethiopian

New Airports (70 visited, of which 40 were new): Addis Ababa (ADD), Antigua (ANU), Barbados (BGI), Cairo (CAI), Cayenne (CAY), Dakar (DKR), Djibouti (JIB), Dominica (DOM), Fort-de-France (FDF), Grand Cayman (GCM), Georgetown (GEO and OGL), Geneva (GVA), Hargeisa (HGA), Juba (JUB), Kaiteur Falls (KAI), Kathmandu (KTM), Khartoum (KRT), Mahe, Seychelles (SEZ), Male, Maldives (MLE), Malta (MLA), Mauritius (MRU), Miami (MIA), Mumbai (BOM), Nairobi (NBO), Orinduik Falls (ODK), Ottawa (YOW), Paramaribo (ORG), Paro (PBH), Pittsburgh (PIT), Port-au-Prince (PAP), Pristina (PRN), Punta Cana (PUJ), San Juan (SJU), Skopje (SKP), Sofia (SOF), St Lucia (SLU and UVF), St Vincent (SVD), Tripoli (TIP)

Shortest Flight: Kaiteur Falls (KAI) to Orinduik Falls (ODK), Guyana, 49 miles

Longest Flight: Newark, NJ (EWR) to Delhi, India (DEL), 7323 miles

Total Number of Segments: 137, by far my highest in a year

Total Number of Butt-in-Seat miles: 139,197 – I’ve been between 128 and 161,000 a year since 2004, averaging 80-90 segments.

The homestretch….

bhutan, bulgaria, Countries, Maldives, Mauritius, nepal, seychelles, Sudan 2 Responses »

Apr 092012

So with my country count now at 109, it’s getting a bit more difficult to “collect” multiple countries in the same trip. When I found out that I’d have a chance to visit a friend in the Seychelles this spring, I started, of course, looking at creative ways to get there.

One thing I’ve learned the last couple years is that roundtrip fares are rarely the best way to go somewhere if you’re looking to maximize the number of countries you visit. Fares from the US tend to be expensive, and often you can string together several one-way fares at a much better deal – especially if you want to travel in the pointy end of the plane.

To that end, I found an amazing fare that would allow me to hit south asia on the way, and visit Nepal and Bhutan. Of course, that got me wondering if I could stop by the other country in the region I still need to visit – Maldives – and I found a way to make it happen. Of course, on the way from Maldives to Seychelles, I wanted to see if I could transit elsewhere in the Indian Ocean – and sure enough it looks like Mauritius is a possibility!

Now, leaving Seychelles was easier…and even better when I found a “hidden” fare to north america that was milage-based, and allowed stops in Sudan and Bulgaria on the way back for just a few airport surcharges…great deal! Now, I don’t get to leave the plane in Sudan…but by the rules of the game I can count it for now, with the hopes of returning for a real visit soon. That will make 7 new countries in just under two weeks, and bring me to 116 on the count. How is everyone else doing?

Mar 092012

Count stands at 109, and in May, I have a trip to get five more countries already booked. Nepal, Bhutan, Seychelles, Sudan, and Bulgaria (strange combo, for sure) are already done. That marks 114.

Difficult to Visit Countries

Angola, Countries, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tuvalu 4 Responses »

Mar 072012

So far, I’ve been to 109 of the 194 UN members, which leaves me 85 countries yet to go. I have plans for at least 7 more of them, leaving me a list of 78 to go. So, I was thinking today – what are going to be some of the most difficult ones left for me?

A few thoughts on the matter: Continue reading »

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