My incredible friend and travel partner, Meg Garlinghouse, and I had a contest to see if we could both hit 40 countries by age 40. Goal achieved and I am still trying to add one a year. My cousin in London, Erin, also hit hers in her 40th year. I have hit 44 and am now 45 but with my latest little travel buddy, Charlie, this is going to be tough to keep up. The basic rule is that you have to touch foot on ground and airline layovers don't count. Principalities and city-states do count.
Here is my running list of countries sorted (this will be re-ranked a million times) by favorites. Please forgive me if your homeland is bottom of the list. And some are far down cause I have not spent much time there. For instance, I am sure I would love Canada, but I have only been to Niagra Falls - so forgive me, Canadians. And my top 10 were tough to rank cause I love them ALL. Debates welcome!
I updated this in 2016-
- U.S. (Just for California alone)
- Italy
- South Africa
- Vietnam
- Spain
- Mexico
- Japan
- France
- Argentina
- Austria
- Croatia
- Chile
- Australia
- Jamaica
- United Kingdom
- Cambodia
- The Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Zanzibar
- Greece
- Brazil
- Guatamala
- Hong Kong
- Switzerland
- Belize
- Thailand
- Ireland
- Portugal
- Germany
- Turks and Caicos
- Switerland
- Costa Rica
- The Philippines
- Belguim
- Czech Republic
- Uruguay
- Tanzania
- The Vatican
- Indonesia
- Canada
- Singapore
- New Caladonia
- Adorra
- Korea
Only 203 to go: http://www.listofcountriesoftheworld.com/
