That is way cool. You even visited my country. I was going to ask about that big gap in continental Asia, but I see you're headed to India. Enjoy!



Great piece of info that. Do the women by chance make that same face ( ) as you're walking by? Cause, I think that's like a sign or something.

Canada
South Korea
Japan
New Zealand
Saudi Arabia
Germany
Mexico
Turkey
Kryzygstan
Afghanistan
Iceland
Greenland

Was scheudled to go to Antartica from Christchurch, NZ, but the weather was bad.

Which is your country Ed?

Speaking of continental Asia, when we did the snow leopard project in the Altai mountains in Siberia, we were very close to Mongolia, China and Khazakstan. Close enough that from some vantage points, we could see all three countries. That was a great experience. We drove about 1000 kilometers southeast of Novosibirsk, which is a very modern, European city. You forget that you are in the middle of central Asia, as the people are mostly Russians and very European looking. It's kind of surreal when you look at the map. Anyway, as you drive further and further south, the people become distinctly more Asian-looking and the country becomes less and less populated. The final 70 miles were without roads and we took our Land Rovers directly through the steppes up into the mountains. The landscape was absolutely stunning. Part of the project was visiting the nomadic herdsmen to interview them and ask if they had ever seen a snow leopard, if they had ever had livestock taken, etc. Sitting in a yurt, drinking fermented yak milk while the woman cooks bread on the central, open stove is one fantastic memory. These are true nomads and they take their livelihood with them. It was all very Ghengis Khan, except the riders had rifles, not swords. The people could have ridden right onto the set of that film and not been noticed.

Well don't worry about Antarctica because it's not a country anyway. Guarantee you're the only person on the forum who's been to Kyrgyzstan.

Some people have PM'd me to post an actual list...

"multiple" means more than 10--

Africa
Egypt x6
Kenya
Morocco
Namibia -- Ecovolunteer Cheetahs
Tanzania
Tunisia x3

Asia
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Macao
Malaysia
Maldives
Singapore
Sri Lanka x3
Thailand x2

Central America/Caribbean
Honduras -- Honeymoon!
Puerto Rico
Trinidad and Tobago
U. S. Virgin Islands

Europe
Albania
Austria -- multiple
Belgium -- multiple
Croatia x2
Czech Republic x4
France -- multiple
FYR of Macedonia
Germany -- Live here
Greece x2
Hungary
Ireland x4
Italy -- multiple
Liechtenstein x4
Monaco x2
Netherlands -- multiple
Norway
Portugal
Russia -- Ecovolunteer Snow leopards
San Marino
Slovakia
Slovenia x2
Spain x5
Sweden
Switzerland -- multiple
United Kingdom -- multiple
Vatican City


MiddleEast
Iraq
Israel x5
Jordan
Palestine
Turkey x3
United Arab Emirates x2

N/S America
Canada x5
Argentina
Brazil -- Ecovolunteer Otters
Paraguay

Holland
Germany
Belgium
England
France
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Spain
Austria
Egypt
Nepal
India
Canada
USA
Mexico
Dominican Republic
Costa Rica
Puerto Rico
South Africa
Japan
South Korea
Thailand

Probably a few other places i'm forgetting...Some of that traveling was when I was in High School in Holland in an international school and we would travel to other countries to compete against other international schools. Some was just for fun, and some were family vacations and whatnot.

Now that it's clear I'm not the winner and thus setting this entire thread up to brag, I'll throw down as well.

North America
USA
Canada x2
Bahamas
Europe
UK x6
France x3
Germany x2
Netherlands x2
Spain
Portugal
Switzerland
Africa
Tanzania x2
Ethiopia
Botswana
South Africa
Asia
Israel
South America
Argentina
Uruguay

I got nothing on HerrMunich, but not bad for before my 24th birthday

Jeez, you should change your forum name to "GypsyMan".

I am surprised that among Asian nations, you haven't yet visited South Korea or Japan.

MunichMan, that's an impressive list. What's the proportion of countries visited because of ecovolunteer projects, compared to countries visited due to business or pleasure?

Canada, France, UK, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, lol Vatican City.

I've been to France five different times in my life, I have family there.

Liechtenstein. Wow...what's that like?

I've only done the three ecovolunteer projects in Russia, Brazil and Namibia. My wife has also done an elephant project in Kenya and a rhino project in Swaziland. We like to do the projects and then take time to travel around the countries. We spent three extra weeks in Brazil, two extra weeks in Russia, and four weeks in Namibia.

If anyone is interested in doing that sort of thing, here are a few links--

http://www.ecovolunteer.org
http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org
http://www.greenvolunteers.org

It is a wonderful way to travel and everybody wins. The scientists running the projects are able to collect much more data than they would on their own, and you get the opportunity to do things you would never do as a "regular" tourist. How often do you get to tranquilize a cheetah, radio collar it, take it's weight, blood, etc.? Or sit in a yurt on the Siberian steppes talking with Russian/Mongol herdsmen? If anyone wants more information, I'm more than willing to help out.

Most of the "multiple" country visits were business-related, especially UK, Holland, Belgium and France. Austria, Italy and Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) are just so close, Salzburg is less than an hour's drive away and I can be skiing in the Dolomites in just over two hours if I get the urge. That's one of the benefits of living in Munich, it's so centrally located. Within a 5-hour drive, I can be in Prague, Berlin, Strasbourg, Venice, Vienna, etc.

I was in the Navy for 7 years (which is how I ended up here in Germany) which helps the country count quite a bit. I was an East Coast sailor, though, otherwise I would have many more Asian countries. Except for Turkey, Morocco, Trinidad & Tobago, Puerto Rico and Iraq, I've since been back to all the countries I visited during my Navy days.

We like to take advantage of the travel opportunities we have. For example, two years ago we were invited to a wedding in Greece, so we decided to drive to Trieste, take a ferry to Durres, Albania and drive through Albania, Macedonia and down through northern Greece, then drive back up the coast to Durres and ferry back. It's easy to do driving trips from Munich. We drove From Munich all the way to Dubrovnik, then ferry-hopped the islands back up the coast. Hell, you can do five countries in one day trip from here. Austria, Lichtenstein, Italy, France, Switzerland. Six if you count Germany.

Of course, it helps that you get six weeks vacation here in Germany, and you get in trouble if you don't take your vacation days.

Small! But not as small as Monaco or San Marino.

The capitol, Vaduz, is nice, with the ducal castle dominating the view. They charge you for a passport stamp, since you don't really need one and it's a nice novelty souvenir.

Dude! Some of your stories sound like the Planet Earth series. This is all very, very cool.

That's great for 24! Keep it up. I already posedt one of them, but two of my favorite quotes are--

"The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only one page." St. Augustine

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Mark Twain

I'm "only" 41, so I still have some travelling to do. My goal is to never let my number of countries visited fall below my age. I have a nice cushion. As soon as I start earning some money again, it will be easier.

Ahhh money, the scourge of would-be travellers everywhere, but in particular the United States. While in Europe you can hop on a train and hit up a new land (well not if you're in Central Russia, but mainly) here it's not so easy. However, I'll be getting Mexico this month. Any nations in your sights for when you do get that money, Munich?

PS: Like the quotes a lot

Trinidad & Tobago was really nice. Unfortunately, I was there with 6000 of my friends. My aircraft carrier pulled in there. Took in a horse race (and won a bet) saw some really cool cemeteries, had many, many nice drinks in numerous bars, saw some extraordinary beaches (especially on Tobago), met lots of great people... in short, just had a great time.

Glad you liked it. Surprised that you saw a "cool" cemetery though (maybe in Tobago?). My friend once went to clean his grandfather's grave and found a vagrant taking a dump...on the grave! On the whole our cemeteries aren't well kept. I've already decided on cremation for that very reason.

Pretty sic, actually. I stayed at an off season ski hotel on the mountainous part of the country. It actually had the best tap water I have ever tasted in my life.

Cool! I just found out that the snow leopard expedition we went on was named in National Geographic's "Tours of a Lifetime" issue--

http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/bi ... avele.html

I can really recommend doing this, or expeditions like it. Fantastic experiences.