I have a goal in life; to visit 100 countries before I die. According to About.com, there are 195 recognized countries in the world. I am skeptical about that number because I think the number of unrecognized countries is at least half that number. And to clarify, I would love for the majority of that number to be made up of unrecognized countries.
There’s something enticing and impressive about a country or even a city that’s simply off the map. It’s not written about on the internet, no one visits for their honeymoon or golden anniversary, it’s not the hip spring breaker spot to go. Every inch of the land hasn’t been invaded by foreigners and lonely planet guides. In fact, I want to look up all the countries in the Lonely Planet guide books and cross them off my list.
My current country count comes to 18. My goal for 2008 was 20. Unfortunately, I am only going to make it to 19 this year! Vietnam is next, which I will get to in the nick of time on December 29th to visit my old roommate from New York City and some ex-coworkers. The trip plan is rather convoluted, so I wont get into it, but let’s just say it involves some sketchy bartender who has hammocks I can sleep on, a speed boat that is known to drown everysooften, and trying to make it back to Phnom Penh before my Dad arrives at the airport on January 2nd, two days after his birthday!