When I retired 10+ years ago Yvonne told me I needed a hobby. My golf game was not good enough so I decided to try to see more of the world. Surprisingly we had visited 60 plus countries during my working years so I set a goal of visiting 75 countries before I turned 75 or 80 before turning 80 years old. At the time I thought that would be a tough goal. The goal was surprisingly easy to reach and a few years ago I restated my goal to be 101 countries (with no age limitations). I chose 101 as 100 was too obvious a goal.

My quest has been completed. Myanmar was country #101 on my “Countries Visited List”. There is a bit of fudging here as some places I count as a country (like Azores, or Aruba) are truly not official countries on the UN list of countries. They are territories of other countries. In this example the Azores are part of Portugal and Aruba is owned by the Netherlands.

I inferred I would quit after reaching 101, but….. I am still able to travel and the world continues to intrigue me, so I will probably continue to add countries to my list, but not as my prime objective. There are many places in the US, Mexico and Canada that we have not visited or wish to revisit. I once said I wanted to see all the national parks in the US. Maybe that can be my new goal. There are also wonderful places in Europe that I would love to revisit(France, Ireland, Prague, Poland). I will simply let serendipity guide my future destinations.

On this trip I heard a compelling quote: “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer!”    I totally agree.

Until the next trip, I bid you “adeiu”.