European countries I have visited

Here are the European countries I have visited.

I have made a few exceptions to my "don't count it if I was only there in an airport" rule. I included Poland even though I never left the plane when it made a stopover in Warsaw. The reason I count Poland is that the stopover was memorable.

The Warsaw visit was during my 1983 visit to the Soviet Union. This was my first airplane flight and my first visit to a Communist country. The plane, a Soviet Union Aeroflot plane, was parked away from the terminal while a few passengers got off and a few then boarded. The gray ugly terminal as seen from the plane, the few people visible, the military guards and vehicles, and the excitement and uncertainty at being in a Communist country all made this stopover memorable.

I also included Belgium even though I only saw the country from the train. This was before the Chunnel was built, and the way to get to Germany from England was to take a ferry to Belgium then a train across Belgium and France to Germany. I think I saw enough of Belgium and its people for it to count as a visit.

I listed Luxembourg over Liechtenstein though I am not 100% possitive it is correct. My friends Olaf and Kathi took me to this country for an afternoon when I visited them in Germany in the 1990s. I more remember more our meal at the outdoor cafe than I do the country itself. I probably was in Luxembourg as long as I was in Belgium.

(I don't know why Ireland shows up as black on the map. My image has it the light color of an unvisited country. However after I upload the image to Blogger Ireland is changed to black. *shrug*)

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Countries I have visited

I think these are all the countries I have visited. I have visited parts of the Soviet Union before it broke up so I am not sure I listed all the countries I have visited that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.

Again I did not list countries where I merely used an airport to make a connecting flight or stop (other than Poland <more about that in my future post about the European countries I have visited>) . For example I was at an airport in Japan for a connecting flight but do not remember the airport or my time there. 20+ hours of flight time can do that to a person.

I have visited 22 countries, or 9% of the world's total.

North America: U.S., Canada, and Mexico

Europe: Britain, Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Poland

Europe/Asia: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia

Asia: Thailand and Myanmar

Pacific Ocean: Australia and New Zealand


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Canadian Provinces I have visited

I debated about including Ontario in my list. I have visited Ontario only in the airport during a layout to make a connecting flight. I decided to include this Province because this visit was during my very first airplane flight during an university trip. Our group spent several hours there and we wandered all about. I have a vague memory of seeing some of the Toronto skyline from the airport. I think this visit was an unique enough memory to validate inclusion. *shrug*

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U.S. states I have visited

People often have asked me where I have traveled. The following map shows the U.S. states I have visited. I have not counted states where I had only an airport connection.

I have visited 26 states out of the 50 states and Washington D.C., or approximately half the states (though looking at the map it doesn't look that way!)

As you can see I am a "Western U.S." kind of guy. The eastern U.S. is supposedly nice, but I have this impression that it is too crowded. My impression of the southern U.S. is that it is too hot and humid. Maybe someday I'll get the travel bug again and visit the rest of the U.S. and see what they are really like.



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