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Showing posts from October, 2015

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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Some pictures from Malaysia.
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Some pictures from the Shanghai China area.
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Back. I did a round-the-world trip in 13 days. I spent 48 hours in the air. 22 thousand miles. Landings in US, China, Malaysia, India, England. Not a big deal for someone in the airline business, but I am not in the airline business. Interesting to note that we flew more North on these flights than the great-circle paths on the depicted map to take advantage of favorable winds and presumably cooler-denser air. As a pilot, cool-dense air on climb-out makes me go "Ohhkkkk..." I gained a day since I crossed the intl. date line going west. I gained a day that I don't have to give back. I will take it, because I need it. Now, I have to decide how that particular day will be spent.
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Things have been busy. Travel is ramping up. We bought a spa/hot-tub and now I am building a deck for the new part of the outdoor house. It has been fun for sure. Between working on and using the boat, working on the house things have been busy.