Updated Travel Maps

Well, I guess I'm all about the updating on my blog from previous posts. I haven't updated my maps of the U.S. or the world yet, so here is an update. I'm doing pretty well. I can't imagine that I will ever feel like there's no place that I would like to go. I mean, I love home and very frequently don't feel like going anywhere, but I guess I always have places that I would find interesting to visit someday. There are so many cool places to see. The world is amazing. People are amazing. There is so much to learn.

Okay, so here is the U.S.:



create your own personalized map of the USA

Not too shabby. I've been to 46/50 states, plus Washington D.C. I've lived in 7 states of the 50. Naturally, that has been part of the reason I've been to so many states. I've lived by both coasts, by the southern border, and in the middle. I guess it's easy, logistically when that's been your life. I'm not sure when I'll make it to the rest of the states, but hopefully someday the opportunities will turn up in my life to visit these places.

Here's my world map:



create your own visited country map

It says I've been to 25 countries*, but I'm not positive I would count some of the places as separate countries. I need to brush up on my current government structures. I think some are territories of other countries, etc. Ah well, for the sake of this map, it has the red in the right places. I also went to Macau before its handover to China in 1999, but I suppose that's in red, already. Also, I didn't count any places I had layovers on this map, whereas I did on my previous map.

When I travel or look at this map, it really amazes me how little of the world I've seen. It makes me feel small and insignificant, yet strangely significant in this vast world. It's huge, and I'm small, but the things I do actually matter.

I think that I would like to sometime do a map of the countries where someone in my immediate family has visited. I think that would be interesting to see how much we've covered as a family. My parents, of course, would add a ton of countries to the map. I'm not even sure I know all of the countries they've visited. I feel lucky to have had so many opportunities to travel. Even on my trip to New Mexico last weekend, it really hit me how lucky I am to be able to travel like I do. To even have left my own state is going farther than probably the majority of the world population has gone. If you're reading this, just realize how rich and how blessed you are and please, count your blessings.


*"Countries" I added on this map: Canada, United States, Mexico, Barbados, Honduras, Saint Lucia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Belize, Dominica, Peru, Egypt, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, China, and Israel. (They had Palestinian Authority... I'm not sure what that's supposed to be. I've been to Bethlehem, which is under Palestinian rule. Does that count?)