I was destined to travel.
As a child my dad and I sat at our dining table putting pins on the world map on the wall as we would share stories of all the places I would see one day. From a working class family there were few holidays but many dreams.
I met my husband Gary in a car park in South Africa in 1984 and spent the next 7 years on the road with small backpacks, a $10 US a day budget and second hand Lonely Planet Guide books. These were truly the days of poste restante, aerogrammes, film, long-distance calls and walking door to door looking for hotel rooms. When we landed back in Australia in the early 1990's with our 1-year old son Brett in tow, the family thought our travelling days were over. But 12 months around the world with 8-year-old Brett, 6-year-old Tom and 4-year-old Demi a few years later, sealed the fact that we were travellers for life. Check out the places we've seen so far (hover over for the place name).
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Where have we been so far?
You'd would think it would be easy to say how many countries there are in the world, but not so. Using the UN guidelines I believe there are 253 countries that fall into 4 categories.
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194- Independent Nation states including the Vatican (the only non UN member)
55- Dependancies- mostly old colonies but still dependant on the colonial power. A hard group to count
1- Antarctica- a special territory - owned by no one but everyone.
3- Others- No-one knows how to classify these few (Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan)
The disputed ones go to the dominant country, Tibet (China), Western Sahara (Morocco), Kuril Islands (Russia) and Kashmir (a line down the middle splits it between India and Pakistan)
And there are some that none owns that are not counted at all - Spratly Islands
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Places on my list.....
ASIA and MIDDLE EAST
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, East Timor, Maldives, North Korea,
EUROPE
Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus,
Faroe Islands (Denmark), Greenland (Denmark), Bouvet Island (Norway),Svalbard (Norway), Jan Mayen Island (Norway), Isle of Man (UK), Channel Islands ( UK)
AFRICA
Uganda, Togo, Somalia,Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Principe, Rawanda, Nigeria, Niger, Namibia, Mauritania, Mali, Madagascar, Libia, Liberia, Gineau Bissau, Ghana, The Gambia, Gabon, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Dijbouti,Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Comoros, Chad, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Burundi, Bukina Faso, Benin, Angola, Algeria
THE AMERICAS
Guyana, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, El Salvador,Guatemale, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia, Equador, Suriname, Venezuela
French Guiana(France), Saint Barthelemy (France), Saint Martin (France), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France), Wallis and Futuna, Mayonette (France), Saba (Netherlands), Saint Estatius (Netherlands), Aguila (UK), Monserrat(UK), British Indian Ocean territory (UK), Falkland Islands (UK), South Georgia (UK), St Helena (UK)
AUSTRALIA & PACIFIC
Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu
Navassa Island (USA), North Marianas (USA), US Minor Pacific Islands (US), Christmas islands (Aus), Cocos Islands (Aus), Coral Sea Islands (Aus), Heard and McDonald Islands (Aus), Norfolk Island (Aus), Cook Islands (NZ), Niue(NZ), Tokelau(NZ), Pitcairn Island (UK)
Wisdoms from one traveller to another
