Most people that know me, know that I have an ambition or goal, call it what you will, but I want to visit 100 countries.  I’ve held this ambition for as long as I can remember, inched my way towards it.  I looked up the word “completist” because that is what this “goal” is like for me, and the definition for completist is an ‘obsessive collector of something’.  I think that sums it up well about my desire to travel to go see a century of destinations. The thing is, it is not really about the 100 countries, it is about what lies underneath and in between those visits.  Broadening ones horizons, enhancing a tolerance and resilience for the unplanned or uncertainty, real life experience and just plain having fun exploring new pastures, and meeting interesting people.

What was never initially evident to me is that if you look at a map
and choose the countries you ‘really’ want to go to, then the number doesn’t get very high, so if you have an aspiration to go to 100, almost half of the countries in the world, then you have to be willing to take a chance on somewhere new, somewhere you might not think of as an absolute must see.

Given that vacation time, or trips away are so valuable and infrequent for many people, then that is a hard conquest to fulfill.  So, my next trip that starts in three days time is completely with that in mind.  When people ask me where I am headed this year, and I offer my reply, I am often met with a strange look and all kinds of questioning.

If I said I was going to France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain and Portugal, then I am sure that many people would say that it sounds wonderful.  I’ve been to all those countries, and have no desire to go back there right now, so I am headed to new countries and my excitement for the prospect is no less than it would be for those top hitting European countries.

I’m sure of a few things, I will not much understand the language(s), I will get lost, I will learn some new things, experience some new things, find my way into a football stadium, taste some different foods, cultures and beer:), and be better for having had the experience.  It will still leave me with plenty of work to do as I scour the globe for new countries for my next trip…. I have always wanted to go to all the Stan countries, but the completist in me wouldn’t let me go to just one or two of them, so it would have to be all seven, but that is for another time.

Updated 2025:

The Completist journey continues, I’ve been to those Stan countries now,  completed on visiting all the former Soviet Republics, and finished visiting all the Balkan countries, but many more adventures on the horizon.