Eileen and I like to travel. We are good at traveling. Now we have different definitions of what successful travel looks like. For me, this involves the most strenuous, remote and exotic locations. Bathing, air conditioning, internet and beds are definitely optional. Hot food is optional. Hotels are optional. Thus, I have my backpack on in the picture above and am prepared for a hike.
For Eileen, all of those things I mentioned are definitely not optional. She is ready for a relaxing diner, alcohol, a fine play, alcohol, chatting with friends or strangers who will instantly become friends, and alcohol. All of these events are connected by elevators. Thus, she is styling in the picture above.
Hiking for Eileen is one six mile hike allocated every week followed by a rigorous recovery process of massages, spas, and alcohol. Hiking for me is a week of 16 mile days and camping. So like so many couples, we compromise and we have traveled a lot of ground. So here are the Carver travel lists.
50 States
We have been to 48 of the 50 states. We are lacking Nebraska, and North Dakota. It looks like we have a road trip (in the summer one year) to visit Nebraska and North Dakota. We can see them as part of our massive trip to see all the national parks (see below).
I have lived in Georgia for 31 years and in six states other than Georgia for 33 years. That symmetry is weird but I think it means I have a more representative view of the United States than many who have lived in just one state or one region of the United States. I guess to truly understand the United States I need to live on the west coast for 11 years but that is not going to happen.
Here is a graphical representation of what that looks like for those of you who have a general understanding of a map of the United States. I made this map on the smart draw website and found it to be quite easy. For those of you who want a more structural representation, here is a table with the states we lived in marked in yellow with the number of years we lived there.
World Travel
There are 195 countries in the world. Of these, Eileen and I have visited 48 and I have lived in 2: Italy (5 years) and South Korea (1 year). I have not lived but spent extensive time in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Turkey so I probably know the culture a bit more than the first time visitor.
This world travel is really not too bad given only one-third of Americans have a passport. In surprisingly contrast, 99.8% of Americans have a strong opinion on other countries despite having never visited there or even traveled more than 300 miles in their entire life from where they were born. Yes, that 99.8% statistic is made up. The real statistic is about 40% of Americans have never traveled abroad and about 2% of Americans live abroad. Sadly, people opining about things they know absolutely nothing about has become common. With that depressing thought, here is a world map courtesy of Google of our world travels. Those locations in black are planned but not completed. Everywhere else we have been.
The Plan
So what is our plan? We plan to cruise about twice a year until we retire. Once we retire, we plan to take longer cruises including a 180 day around the world cruise for which we have already booked. All of the black on the map above (except for Japan) is the world cruise. Looking at the map and thinking of our traveling friends post retirement, I predict:
| Africa | A cruise from Cape Town to Madagascar to Cape Town to Lisbon An African Safari Maybe Mount Kilimanjaro (Curt only) |
| Alaska | Eight national parks, northern lights. We are likely to spend a month in the Steward/Fairbanks area to make this happen. |
| Amazon | Another cruise from Miami through the Amazon. Would be lovely if we could follow it up with a cruise through the Panama Canal. |
| Antarctica | An expensive cruise on a smaller ship so we can go ashore |
| Australia | A couple of back to back cruises around Australia and New Zealand. If we are lucky, we will go up the Chinese coast and end up in Alaska. |
| Croatia | A country we could not visit while we lived in Italy. There are some lovely ports and hikes there. |
| Iceland Greenland | We will circle Iceland on a cruise ship at some point and dip our toes into Greenland. Greenland can be a bit more dangerous. |
| Ireland | We will circle Ireland on a cruise ship at some point. |
| Northern Fjords | The Northerns Fjords off Norway look very enticing in the summer. If the Russian situation improves, perhaps a visit to Saint Petersburg as part of a Baltic sea cruise. |
| River Cruise | We will do an extended 27 day river cruise for all the previously communist countries that we could not visit when we lived in Italy. |
| United States | We have two states and 35 national parks to visit. This is at least two months of travel and alot of Marriott rooms. |
We have several cities/areas that we plan to spend some extended time in such as Lisbon, Barcelona, Sydney, and Budapest. Will we get to 195 countries? Nope. I am very confident we will get to more than 100 countries.
What about the continents?
We have been to five of the seven continents. We are missing Australia and Antarctica. We will hit Australia as part of the world cruise.
National Parks
You know I love my US National Parks. We have been to 26 of 63 national parks. We will visit Congaree River National Park prior to retirement and see American Samoa during our World Cruise. That leaves 35 national parks. Even at breakneck speed, this is about 14,000 miles driving and more than two months. I foresee a massive road trip one summer with awesome visits and some hikes during the day and a nice stay at a Marriott each night. So much to do and so little time.
The image above is from morethanjustparks.com. If you like national parks, you should visit the site and buy a map (or two).
