29 By The End Of 29

A Constant Quitter

I left the Boy Scouts in second grade after an unfortunate Pinewood Derby incident. I spent the summer before high school desperately trying to learn how to play the drums, but quit when the guy giving me lessons said I had no rhythm. I deactivated my Twitter account because brevity is not a strength of mine and I found the 140-character limit too constricting.

This is all to say that I am pretty comfortable giving up on things, which is why it’s sort of remarkable that I recently accomplished a goal I set for myself: I visited 29 countries before I turned 30 years-old. Why was 29 countries my goal, you wonder? Why not just 30 countries for my 30th birthday? Twenty-nine was my golden birthday (I turned 29 on September 29, 2015), and for whatever reason it’s always seemed like a big deal to me. I decided the entire year was going to be a good one, and adding this travel mission felt like a cool thing to do.

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”

– Bill Bryson

On 9/29/2015, my country count was at 18. Could I really visit 11 countries in a year in order to get my number up to 29 before I turned 30 on 9/29/2016? It was a big (read: stupid) undertaking and many people were reasonably skeptical, but I’m tickled to say I hit the big 2-9 before I turned the big 3-0, with three months to spare! If you’re interested, you can check out some pictures from each stop along the way and I’ll be adding short written blurbs as well.

Wendell Berry said, “Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” I agree. Many thanks to those who joined me for some of the adventures, and I am forever indebted to the amazing souls I met along the way.

Here’s to 30. And 31. And 32 …

“The List”

1. Japan  2. Germany  3. Luxembourg  4. Belgium  5. Netherlands  6. Mexico  7. South Korea  8. China  9. Philippines  10. Australia  11. Taiwan  12. Brunei  13. Singapore  14. Indonesia  15. Malaysia  16. Canada  17. Cambodia  18. Thailand  19. Laos  20. Vietnam  21. Greece  22. Italy  23. San Marino  24. Malta  25. Iceland  26. Denmark  27. Finland  28. Sweden  29. Norway