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!