13% of the World

I was taking inventory of my photos this week (and when I say taking inventory, holy crap do I mean it. There were something like 30 CDs of photos. And that’s just after I got a digital camera), when I felt a sudden surge of satisfaction. Sometimes I forget…I’ve been a lot of places, seen a lot of things. Especially for someone in their late twenties.

Seriously, if I take inventory I end up with:

1999: Australia, layover in New Zealand that probably doesn’t count, but I did put my fingers in the stream that runs through the airport, so I award myself half a point.

2000: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Though, again, maybe South Africa doesn’t count, since we spent most of our time holed up in a compound surrounded by barbed wire to keep out the Very Scary Criminals that prowl Johannesburg.

2001: Thailand (which was supposed to be a trip to Nepal, but the Nepali Prince had the audacity to kill every member of his family only a week or so before my arrival. Rude, if you ask me).

2002: Costa Rica, but alas, only for two weeks. This also happened to be the year of my graduation, which puts a little bit of pressure on people to earn money and hang out with family and stuff.

2003: Peru. Lovely Peru.

2004: Jamaica, The Cayman Islands and Mexico (on a cruise with one Very Cranky younger sister, one Crazy Intrusive, Followed-Me-To-The-Singles-Mixer grandmother, and two parents who think Hawaiian shirts are appropriate attire for everything, including dinner).

2005: A sad lapse year of Going Nowhere.

2006: The Bahamas, on a short and sweet cruise with my well-traveled and delightful aunt.

2007: Ireland, Austria, Slovakia, Italy and France (back on the multiple-places-must-be-seen-immediately horse).

2008: Spain, Morocco.

2009: Nowheresville, USA. How sad.

2010: Switzerland and back to Italy.

2011: Another year of Nowheresville…but I’ll make up for it in 2012.

Only three years skipped in the last 12. 13% of the world according to this map. I feel pretty good about that.