It's been three weeks since returning to Toronto and already I have this voice in my head asking: "Where to next?" While most would be worried about a mild case of schizophrenia, I find this voice to be reassuring. It means that I'm still curious and hungry to explore.
October will mark my 30th birthday and one of my goals was to have traveled to 30 countries by that time. This past year off made that goal a reality, so it was time to set newer, even more ambitious goals: 40 countries by the time I'm 35. 50 countries by the time I'm 40.
Both are completely achievable - I mean, I've only been to 15.3% of the world so far*, so it shouldn't be that difficult to brainstorm other places that I need to go. So I sat here for an hour, staring at a map of the world and plotted out my wishlist outlining my next 10 years of travel.
As I scribbled away on my notepad, I was like a child writing down his letter to Santa weeks before the big day. Giddiness swept through me as I furiously wrote, erased, re-wrote, scratched out and charted with arrows each change and addition made to the itinerary. This was the most amount of fun I've had in three weeks.
A lot consideration went into picking out the destinations including major world events, weather/seasons, people I know who live there, planned life changes. But we all know, even the best, most well-thought out plans never quite work out to what they should be. Who knows, maybe I'll take another year off somewhere in between and knock off more countries than I expected. Or something even more unexpected might occur: a relationship, god forbid, even kids could pop into the picture and ruin everything. (Can you tell I'm not kid friendly?)
So here it is, my big (scary) audacious travel plans until 2023, who's in with me?
2013 (+2 new countries):
- Iceland (September) - 30th birthday gift
- Bahamas (October) - Giving thanks to good sunny weather
- Taiwan (December) - Visit the fam that I love so much
2014 (+4 new countries):
- Russia, Finland (February) - 2014 Winter Olympics! 3rd Olympics!
- Peru (April) - Machu Picchu baby!
- France (September) - Bordeaux Marathon - wine served at water stations
- Denmark (December) - Christmas Markets, Legoland, Little Mermaids
2015 (+5 new countries):
- Ireland (March) - St. Patty's Day
- Norway, Sweden (June) - Scandinavia during the summer so it won't be so cold.
- Luxembourg (September) - So tiny, you have to visit.
- UAE (December) - Dubai
2016 (+9 new countries):
- Trinidad & Tobago (Jan/Feb) - Carnival
- Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile (August) - Summer Olympics! Olympics #4, and since I'm in the neighbourhood...
- Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan (October / November) - Take a few months off to travel the Aegean and the Middle East
- Taiwan (December) - Pit stop to recharge my soul.
2017 (+3 new countries):
- Burma (January) - Just 'cuz
- Mongolia (April) - Just 'cuz
- China (June) - Great Wall, Beijing, Xi'an then get out.
- India (December) - I'll be in some need of some craziness as I approach 35.
2018 (+3 new countries):
- South Korea (February) - Winter Olympics! Olympics #5 - if it's still there!
- Australia, New Zealand (December) - Take the month off and discover the land down unda and Gandalf land!
TOTAL BY END OF 2018: 30 + 26 = 56 (+16 countries from goal)
2019 (+3 new countries):
- Sri Lanka (February)
- Nepal (September)
- Maldives (December)
2020** (+5 new countries):
- South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya (April) - Climb Kilimanjaro
- Egypt, Morocco (September) - See the Pyramids along the Nile and to see the marketplace in old Algiers...(I know, wrong country, but I liked the song lyrics.)
2021 (+4 new countries):
- Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia (September)
- Fiji (December) Just 'cuz
2022+ (+2 new countries):
- Ecuador (April) - Head to the Galapagos
- Aruba (October)
2023 (+2 new countries):
- Cuba (February)
- Laos (May)
- Taiwan (December)
TOTAL BY END OF 2023: 56 + 16 = 72 (+22 from goal)
* 30 countries / 196 countries in the world.
** Summer Olympics to be added in as a destination.
+Winter Olympics to be added in as a destination.
BOLD indicates countries I have not been to
Can I just say, Denmark in December was awfully cold, and the sun set at 2:30pm. And their Christmas Markets are nothing like the American travel sites claim them to be. Are we seeing a trend with American travel site recommendations?! :P If you want to do Christmas markets, ALWAYS GO TO GERMANY. We've learned our lesson.
ReplyDeleteHmm...Maybe I'll bump Denmark to my Scandinavia trip and go to Germany instead.
ReplyDelete