My Country Visits in 2009

Overview of 2009 International Travel

In 2009, I became an Award member of the Travelers Century Club (TCC) and a Hall of Fame member of MostTraveledPeople.com (MTP).

My analysis shows that out of six billion people on planet earth, I am among the 100 most traveled people in the world applying either the TCC or MTP standard. In fact on MTP, I was ranked # 15 in the world on 12/15/09. To put that achievement in perspective, the person who is # 33 on MTP has visited all 192 UN countries and all 319 TCC countries. A couple of my suggestions for the excellent MTP website were implemented. Sign-up on MTP is free.

Here is a qualitative example: in 2009 I visited French Indian Ocean territory (Europa Island, Juan de Nova Island, Glorioso Islands, Tromelin Island) that President Sarkozy has not, Russian cities above the Arctic Circle (Norilsk, Dudinka), that Prime Minister Putin has not and American Pacific territory (Wake Island) that President Obama has not.

I continue to be an active Life Member of the Circumnavigators Club and an officer in the Chicago chapter. The Circumnavigator Log published a one-page article by me with 5 of my photos in 2009.

Highlights of 2009 International Travel

I made 6 major international trips in 2009:

• 1. West Africa, the Atlantic & Europe in January and February
• 2. The Arabian Gulf & Indian Ocean in March
• 3. The Scattered French Islands in the Indian Ocean & Southern Africa in April and May
• 4. Moldova, Ukraine, Russia & Siberia in August and September
• 5. India & the Indian Ocean in November
• 6. South East Asia, the Pacific & Japan in November and December

Many photos from these 6 trips are in my Year in Review for 2009.

1. West Africa, the Atlantic & Europe trip highlights:

• Fabled Timbuktu, it lived up to my expectations
• Dogon cliff dwellings
• Djenne mud mosque and other mud buildings in regular use.
• Camel riding with the Touaregs - experiencing the quiet of the desert
• Espace Gondwana restaurant in Ouagadougou - "a magical atmosphere"
• Dosso Giraffe Nature preserve in Niger
• Napoleon's birthplace in Corsica - near a 500 year old active fortress
• Bus ride across Corsica and the ferry trip to Sardinia
• Architecture in Barcelona
• Discovering the linguistic complexity of Spain - learning words in Catalan, Galician and Basque
• Portugese Colonial architecture in Porto, Portugal and Punta Delgada, Azores
• Discovering my hotel in Andorra had 90% Russian tourists - regular Russians are traveling now
• House Museum J. Torrens Lladó in Palma de Mallorca

2. Arabian Gulf & Indian Ocean trip highlights:

• Hawks for sale in Qatar market
• Seeing the tallest building in the world from a distance as it towers over Dubai
• National Museum in Kuwait - info on Saddam's 1991 invasion
• The wind-powered skyscraper in Bahrain
• The utterly unique and enchanting dragon blood trees in Socotra - a true wonder of the world
• Seeing that 10% of the Men in Yemen wore daggers in their belt
• The architecture of Yemen
• The cleanliness of Oman - many tourist sites too
• Charter trip to the out islands of the Seychelles
• The sight of Aldabra Island from the air -- no photo can capture this staggering sight
• The view from the Citadel overlooking Port Louis, Mauritius
• The lemurs of Madagascar - especially Caramel from Vakona Lodge

3. Scattered Islands (Îles Éparses) and Southern Africa trip highlights:

• The adventure of 4 weeks on the Marion Dufresne, a French research ship (I was the only American)
• Gaining a new appreciation for the French people and culture - making new friends
• Meeting Catherine who knows the lemur Caramel - on first day of voyage
• The adventure of exploring 4 of the most difficult islands in the world to visit
• Taking 20 helicopter flights from ship to islands and back
• Swimming with a large turtle over 200 meters - he would sometimes turn and look at me
• Seeing a turtle lay her eggs - a unique priviledge enhanced by moonlight
• Seeing frigatebirds dive bomb and eat turtle hatchlings - one every 10 seconds
• Saving a turtle hatchling from the frigatebirds
• The shock of learning the motto of the French Foreign Legion ("Legio Patria Nostra")
• Talking to an intensely patriotic soldier (Tony, a French soldier in the regular reserves)
• Walking on board ship to get my steps (8 kilometer per day) - and explaining it to the French
• Stone Town in Zanzibar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Learning how Zimbabwean currency died and was unofficially replaced by foreign currencies
• Chance reunion (Read Story) with Bell Labs colleague John Lurtz & wife at Victoria Falls
• My first ultralight flight - and it was over Victoria Falls
• Beautiful grounds and architecture of Sun City, South Africa

4. Moldova, Ukraine, Russia & Siberia trip highlights:

• Relearning some Russian using the Pimsleur Method
• Visiting Trans-Dniester was a trip "back to the USSR"
• The Livadia Palace in Yalta where the famous WWII conference was held
• The battleground where the disasterous Charge of the Light Brigade happened in the Crimean War
• The holy cities of the Russian Orthodox Church: Kiev, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod
• Tour of Perm 36, the only gulag that was turned into a museum
• The old believers market in Vorogovo, Siberia
• Tour of Monino Aviation Museum, the largest collection of Russian aircraft
• 4 days cuising on the Yensei river on the Valery Chkalov, an old German ship
• Dostoevsky Museum in Omsk, Siberia
• The world's only Permafrost Museum - in Igarka, Siberia
• Norilsk, the world's most poluted city
• The Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod
• Seeing dozens of WWII memorials - 20 million killed
• Seeing Russia's progress to a automotive society - 4 wheels = freedom
• Receiving unexpected gifts from Russian people
• Tour of Akademgorodok, the science city
• Seeing the golden domes of restored churches in scores of cities and villages
• Tour of the Cold War Museum in Moscow
• Driving thousands of kilometers thru the picturesque countryside of European Russia
• Crossing the Arctic Circle -- going south while dressed as a devil
• Taking portions of the Trans-Siberian Railway
• Being the first American a 70 year-old Russian man had ever met -- a very big deal for him

5. India & the Indian Ocean trip highlights:

• The elephant ride to the Amber Fort in Jaipur
• Walking like one of the local people in the park to get my steps in Jaipur
• A bare-foot visit and blessing at the Sri Puram temple (covered in 1.5 tones of gold)
• The Cellular Jail on the Andaman Islands
• Getting the standard pat down security check in India for (it seemed like) the 100th time
• Watching a young woman from JetLite manage the crisis desk - a most impressive performance!
• The sight of Leh all covered in snow in the Himalayas
• Having our public helicopter trip cancelled because of the Dalai Lama visit
• Trying to understand the complexity of India
• The wonderful color of the water in the Maldives

6. South East Asia, the Pacific & Japan trip highlights:

• The MAF charter flight to Oecussi, an exclave of East Timor, where the country was founded
• The Shwedagon Pagoda in Burma
• Visiting my uncle's grave in Manila. Charles H. Parrish was killed in New Guinea in 1943.
• Hearing how the defenders of Wake Island repulsed the first Japanese invasion on Dec 11, 1941
• Seeing where Magellan landed in the Philippines and where he was killed 6 days later
• The ceiling of the airport in Makassar, Indonesia
• Seeing Santa and his helpers in black face talk to children in the Molucca Islands, Indonesia
• Seeing shoppers at the mall in Kota Kinabalu, Malysia with much American influence
• Seeing all the Buddhist sites in Luang Prabang, Laos
• Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, etc in Cambodia
• Brunei - a unique country funded by vast oil revenues
• Seeing the famous A-bomb domed ruin in Hiroshima, at night

Travelers Century Club Initial Visits in 2009

The table summarizes the 56 TCC countries I visited for the first time in 2009. The 29 UN member countries are bolded. From the CIA website and Wikipedia, I gathered key data on these countries providing guesses where necessary. The data was color-coded to aid pattern recognition. I hope you find this insight-dense table an educational experience.

Click to see my master list of visits with reference links for all 319 TCC countries.

MostTraveledPeople.com Initial Visits in 2009

MostTraveledPeople.com builds on the TCC base of 319 countries by adding the states or provinces of large countries and remote islands with the goal of having the most comprehensive list of places (773) for the serious traveler to visit.

Both extreme travelers and coach potatoes can join for free. I am an active member of MTP supplying a few posts and photos for the site and providing some design feedback.

I was astonished when I added up all of the places that I had visited in 2009 and got a total of 141.