Wednesday, December 05, 2007

ABC Wednesday - T is for Travel

I could have gone T for Tallinn but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here and here.

I could have gone T for Trondheim but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here.

I could have gone T for Tenerife but you can see my photos and account of that island here.

People seem to have the impression that I am well-travelled but I have only visited 13% of the world.



This map and the others you can compile on the net are bit misleading but interesting nonetheless. For the first 50-odd years of my life apart from a week in Amsterdam in 1980 [which included a day-trip to Brussels] and one holiday in Denmark, I never left the UK. However we saw an awful lot of the UK from St Agnes in the Scillies to Unst in Shetland. Very few areas of the British Isles are unvisited.

We didn't start world-travelling until 1999 when we ventured across the sea to Ireland. Later that year we flew via Amsterdam to Los Angeles. On the visited countries map that is enough to colour in the whole of the USA from New York westwards including Alaska.

In 2001 we had our tremendous holiday of a lifetime spending a month travelling around New Zealand which puts some colour in the bottom right-hand corner. The dot representing Singapore, our only stopover in Asia barely shows up.

The following year, having had to give up driving, we took a coach holiday through Europe visiting 9 countries in 9 days. There were some highlights but, in some respects it was possibly one of our grimmest holidays. It certainly colours the map though.

It was three years before we ventured abroad again on a fabulous cruise to Ireland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. In 2006 we went quite mad (and why not?). Firstly we had a holiday in February to Tenerife, which adds Spain to the map even though we've never seen its mainland. June saw us on our second cruise, this time to the Baltics. Although we only visit St. Petersburg, the map covers in the whole of Russia all the way to Siberia! Finally at the end of September we went to Crete, which adds Greece to the map even though we've never seen its mainland.

Our only holiday this year was a week in Southport. We have enjoyed a few day-trips to various places. The likelihood is that we won't be doing very much physical travelling in the future except for short journeys. Any regrets? Absolutely none. I travel Around the World everyday without leaving home.

23 comments:

  1. Fascinating facts! 13% is a mighty figure. I think 5%would be our total......at a push!

    I always feel well travelled after ABC Wednesday!

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  2. You've certainly seen a lot more than I have since I've only traveled in the eastern U.S. and just over the Canadian border.

    Travel over to Georgia and get a drink of well water!

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  3. Fantastic post, you have been to many places. Like Dot, i say come travel to Oregon and see what it has to offer....
    Amazing how we can all travel, and never leave our homes. Isn't the internet a marvelous tool?

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  4. Great post. I love your last view of Tallien (sp?).
    http://themoderngoddess.wordpress.com/

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  5. What a great post. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling for a bit with you. And I agree 100 percent about never leaving home but still seeing the world.

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  6. Travelling is good, and nowadays blogging is also a way of travelling . Thank you.

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  7. Great post. 13% is quite a fair chunk of the planet.

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  8. 13% of the world is far more than I'll ever get to. Australia is so far away from virtually everything I want to see.

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  9. Wow, you have been around. I have only visited the south eastern states.

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  10. Please don't base your view of the US on Los Angeles :lol: ;)

    Frank Lloyd Wright said if you turned the world on its side everything loose would end up in Los Angeles.

    I do love the Canary Islands and will have to come back to click the link, off to work now. Not too many Americans get to the Canaries which maybe why the Europeans like it so much.

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  11. Since you en joyed travelling in Norway (including Trondheim), it is only fair to say that I enjoy travelling in Great Britain (including Scotland, England and Wales)

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  12. Whic is why I love blogging....traveling around the world daily! What an awesome account congratulations on your travels....

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  13. cool post, i'm looking forward to coming back when i have more time and following all those links, so I can also get to armchair travel to all those places!

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  14. Traveling on WEd is the best part of abc wed! I was lucky my dad was an airline pres while I was in college so I did get to travel but I do wish I had been older

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  15. hey, my name is jim baker and I'm brand new to the ABC Wednesday game... I'm playing for the first time today.

    You can check it out here.

    I see that you've been to estonia... have you been to Latvia? I've been over to Latvia 4 times and love it over there. I have yet to get to estonia or lithuania yet though... i'm hoping next time i go to latvia that my trip will be a bit more relaxed and I can spend some time travelling.

    cheers
    jim baker

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  16. Hi, I'm new to ABC Wednesday as well, and I loved your post. I've been to some of the same places. It's interesting how few people go to to South America or into the rainforest. I definitely suggest a tour there...(guided).

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  17. My, you have seen a lot of the world or so it seemsto me. I hope to do some more traveling before those days come to an end. Life is short so one never knows.
    Great T post.

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  18. Thank you for commenting on my blog and giving me the link for the blogger download problems we were having. It's great to know that someone is actually reading what I write!

    The link was greatly appreciated and I'm happy that blogger fixed the download issue.

    Regards,
    Alida

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  19. Terrific T, T remendous, I will try my own world map and see how it looks, what a great idea

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  20. I've never been to Europe until 2004 so 13% of the world is pretty good. I truly believe to have a full life, one should travel & experience life of other cultures.

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  21. Travelling is a great thing but I am one of those who have never been abroad. Such is life. Even if I might not be able to afford it to myself one day, I will not be sad for that because (although it is not the same of course), I have such a feeling that I have already visited so many places through TV programs or internet and this blog of course. :-))

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  22. I really love ABC Wednesday. I saw people think differently : ) Thanks for your "T" on this Wednesday.

    Cheers
    dsm

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