I have traveled to many countries: Antigua, Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Burma, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, China, Croatia, Czechia, Cuba, Denmark, England, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, Uruguay, the Vatican, Vietnam, the US Virgin Islands, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Countries on the radar for the future include Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Cyprus, Romania, South Korea, Lebanon, Ecuador and Kenya. And after that, that’s it for planet Earth!
During my travels, I have come across iconic marvels such as the Rosetta stone and the Kohinoor diamond in London, the Dead Sea scrolls in Jerusalem, Nefertiti’s bust in Berlin, the Wright brothers’ plane and the Hope diamond in Washington, the terracotta soldiers in Xi’an, and King Tut’s mask in Cairo. I have seen many masterpieces such as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in Paris, Da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus in Florence, Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit in Milan, and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in Amsterdam.
I have seen Chichen Itzá on the equinox, and I would like to repeat that experience with Stonehenge.
I ate a Hamburger in Hamburg, Germany, a Peking duck in Peking, China, Belgian waffles in Belgium, and a Danish in Denmark. I ate candy in Kandy, Sri Lanka. I drank Java coffee in Java, Indonesia. I drank bubble tea in the restaurant where it was invented in Taichung, Taiwan, and I drank a Singapore Sling in the Singapore bar where it was invented. One day very soon, I will drink an Irish coffee in Ireland, a Scotch in Scotland, and champagne in Champagne, France.
I have been to the carnival in Rio de Janeiro and to the lantern festival in Shifen, Taipei.
In Java, I stayed in a hotel with a fuming volcano in the backyard. Very quaint!
In Bali, a monkey ripped my glasses off my face and tried to eat them. My optometrist replaced what was left of them but I never told him what happened for fear that he would reply that his 5-year old could come up with a more plausible story.
I was caught in a deadly bank robbery in Peru and a riot in Egypt. I was flying across Canada during the 9/11 terrorist attack. I protested against the government in Sri Lanka. I attended a Fidel Castro speech in Havana, Cuba.