As of November 2019, the map of the countries that I’ve been to looks like this:

Where I have been

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Belgium
4. Canada
5. Cambodia
6. China
7. The Czech Republic
8. England
9. Estonia
10. Finland
11. Germany
12. Greece
13. Hong Kong
14. Indonesia
15. Iran
16. Italy
17. Japan
18. Laos
19. Latvia
20. Lithuania
21. Macau
22. Malaysia
23. Mexico
24. Myanmar (Burma)
25. The Netherlands
26. New Zealand
27. Oman
28. The Philippines
29. Poland
30. Qatar
31. Scotland
32. Singapore
33. Slovakia
34. South Africa
35. South Korea
36. Taiwan
37. Thailand
38. Turkey
39. United Arab Emirates
40. The United States
41. Vatican City
42. Vietnam

These are the itineraries that I have done as an adult

2006/07: Helsinki – Turku – Rovaniemi – Helsinki

2009: Warsaw – Mikolajki … Krakow – Zakopane – Warsaw

2010: San Diego (base) – Leon – Guanajuato … Los Angeles – Vancouver (+Whistler) – Seattle – Los Angeles

2011: Christchurch (base) – Hanmer Springs – Tekapo – Mount Cook – Kaikoura … Akaroa

2011: London – York – Newcastle – Edinburgh – St Andrews – Glasgow – Oban – Arran – Manchester – Birmingham – Northampton – London – Salisbury – Bath – Bristol – Stratford – London

2012: Taipei – Hualien

2013: Helsinki – Tallinn – Kuressaare – Tartu – Riga (+Sigulda – Cesis) – Nida – Vilnius – Warsaw – Lublin – Krakow – Wroclaw – Dresden – Bamberg – Nuremberg – Cologne (+ Trier) – Utrecht – Amsterdam – Antwerp – Brussels (+Ghent) – Berlin – Poznan – Gniezno – Torun – Gdansk (2) – Turku – Jyväskylä – Tampere – Frankfurt

2013/14: Auckland (+Whangarei – Paihia – Kerikeri – Cape Reinga – Ahipara) – Rotorua – Taupo – Napier – Wellington – Kaikoura – Christchurch (+Akaroa) – Oamaru – Dunedin – Curio Bay – Stewart Island – Invercargill – Te Anau – Milford Sound – Queenstown – Wanaka – Fox Glacier – Franz Josef – Hokitika – Punakaiki

2014: Hobart – Launceston – Bay of Fires – Bicheno – Port Arthur … Melbourne

2014: Shanghai, Siem Reap

2015: Malacca, Bangkok

2015: Yogyakarta – Borobudur – Surakarta – Yogyakarta

2016: Tehran – Yazd – Esfahan – Shiraz (+Persepolis) (Iran itinerary)

2016: George Town, Hong Kong – Macau, Ha Noi (+Ninh Binh), Siem Reap, Beijing

2017: Vienna – Graz – Bratislava – Brno – Warsaw – Kaunas – Šiauliai – Salaspils – Pärnu – Tallinn – Helsinki (+Porvoo)

2017: Luang Prabang, Yangon, Mandalay – Bagan

2017: Rome (+Vatican City) – Florence – Pisa – Rome (via Helsinki)

2018: Tokyo, Bohol, Sydney, Saigon, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei

2018: Doha – Muscat – Khasab – Sharqiya Sands – Nizwa

2019: Seoul, Busan, Kuching, Dubai, Istanbul, Cape Town, L’Agulhas

2020: Penang

2022: Sydney, Saigon

2023: Athens – Meteora – Delphi – Nafplio, Abu Dhabi

My wishes

I would love to paint the entire map but that is going to take some time and a lot of money. I would also like to return to a few of the countries I’ve already been to, such as England, Latvia, the United States and Germany, to see different cities and re-visit friends in familiar ones.

Many people are guilty of putting off visits to neighbouring sights in favour of faraway destinations. As you can see, I’m one of them. After all, Europe is as exotic to me as Asia is to someone from the old world. I know I will go to Cambodia and Myanmar and revisit Indonesia, where all the ancient sites that I studied in art history class are. Hopefully, it’ll happen before my legs give way or I get sick of flying. 2 January 2018: I can now say that I’ve seen Angkor, Borobudur, Prambanan and Bagan.

See my full Bucket List