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Showing posts from January 23, 2011

100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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I went to the pistol range Saturday with a bunch of pilots for something different. You can see where my first shots were with a rented gun.
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It has been a while since I blogged. It was one thing than another. My latest trip to Europe was a success. It is amazing how problems dissolve when you have people in the same room. I flew into Munich, took the train to Marktoberdorf. After 3 days in Marktoberdorf I hopped on a direct overnight train to Venice, Italy. Unfortunately, It was a night train so I didn't get the benefit of the scenery. It felt good to maneuver the trains and stations. I hardly screwed up at all. Since I was by myself, don't know any other language besides English, and it was the first time, I did ok. Venice was better than expected. I don't recommend going to Venice by yourself. Also, I was there in winter. I can imagine how busy it must get in season in the evenings. I would definitely avoid that. Exploring first thing in the morning in Venice was cool. There are no crowds and the images were very impressive. I think it is pretty hard to take a bad photo in Venice. I have so many pictures. ...