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. Hong Kong
13. Indonesia
14. Iran
15. Italy
16. Japan
17. Laos
18. Latvia
19. Lithuania
20. Macau
21. Malaysia
22. Mexico
23. Myanmar (Burma)
24. The Netherlands
25. New Zealand
26. Oman
27. The Philippines
28. Poland
29. Qatar
30. Scotland
31. Singapore
32. Slovakia
33. South Africa
34. South Korea
35. Taiwan
36. Thailand
37. Turkey
38. United Arab Emirates
39. The United States
40. Vatican City
41. 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

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