Where I’ve Traveled

Many have asked, so…

Though I actually think “counting countries” is a bit silly, and I’d surely never dream of checking off an entire country unless I’d spent at least a good bit of time exploring it. Nonetheless for those curious, I totaled them up (as of January 2025) and they spread out across the globe like this:

​Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brunei​​​, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador​, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia (Bali & Sumatra), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lesotho, Malaysia (Borneo), Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Panama, Portugal (The Azore Islands), Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland (now Eswatini), Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Vietnam

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Pretty sad actually. Based on the total number of countries recognized by the U.N. (193) – clearly I’m still missing more than *70%* of this Big Blue Dot!

Since landing here as a permanent resident of Ecuador more than 10 (!!!) years ago, I thought sure I’d head forthwith to that iconic bump (Machu Picchu) in neighboring Peru.  But instead, my first foray was to those luscious Galapagos Islands of course, and soon after I added that legendary gem of Easter Island (out in the middle of freekin’ NOWHERE!) off the coast of Chile.  Next, I opted to hie my (naughty U.S. citizen) self to “The Forbidden Land”: Cuba.  And in 2016 I completed a doozy of a marathon (44 days) solo backpack through the Balkans and Turkey – adding *7* new countries to the map above (Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro, Slovenia and… ballooning amid the fairy chimney caves of Cappadocia in Turkey – woo-HOO!

Come February 2017, I headed back to an old favorite (Mexico) – this time to gawk in utter wonder at the annual Monarch butterfly migration (seriously, imagine… THOUSANDS of butterflies verily *dripping* from the trees!), and in October I finally made it to Inca-Land (Peru) and gazed spell-bound at that magnificent citadel of Machu Picchu!

April, 2018 marked a personal milestone – my 50th country:  a solo skip around Japan to gawk at sakura blossoms and EAT my way through Tokyo, Nagano (ah, those amazing Snow Monkeys!), Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Osaka. That sweet trip set my travel funds back a smidge (though Japan isn’t nearly as pricey as you might think), so I (uncharacteristically) sat tight here on this 8,400+ foot mountain-top in Cuenca for more than a year – saving my pennies for a most epic “bucket-list” adventure if-ever-there-was-one: a month-long exploration of East Africa (to see those legendary “Gorillas in the Mist” in Uganda, as well as visit Rwanda and Ethiopia).

And then there was… “The Great Unpleasantness” (covid). I barely made it back home here to Cuenca from Africa before Ecuador slammed the doors shut, and (like most of us) I wisely stayed-put for all of ’20 & ’21. So… come ’22 (when the health regs in Europe finally settled down) I hopped on a plane to a country I’d once lived in (Italy) whilst going to the University of Foreigners in Perugia (as a single Mom, with my two dd’s in tow). This time I was solo of course, and I happily explored a boatload of Italy’s amazing corners that I’d missed on the first go (a return to Venice, plus Bologna, Cinque Terra (my new favorite place on the Planet!), Puglia (Italy’s spectacular “boot”), and Sicily (including a romp in the Aeolian Islands).

My next adventure (happily) didn’t involve a marathon overnight plane across an ocean, but nonetheless proved to be among my most memorable: 3 weeks in Mexico, primarily to witness (and fully participate in) an authentic “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”) in Oaxaca. And my next whiz was even closer to home – a swift single hour’s flight to Ecuador’s capital: Quito (primarily to eat a most exquisite 12 course tasting menu at Nuema (owned/cooked by the lass who was crowned “The BEST Pastry Chef” in the entire World in 2023).

And so the lifelong wandering continues. Most recently a most eclectic “Europe ’24 Trifecta” to London, Belgium and Ireland just 4 months ago. And already… I’m gleefully cobbling together my next adventure: a week in Malta, plus 3 weeks exploring Albania – can’t wait!