#2509 travel Tuesday

On Fridays at my work we have a little tradition called 15 Minute Friday. In The Before, we would meet in the breakroom for cookies and questions. There is a big pile of cards with ice-breaker type questions on them and we'd go around the room and each person would read the question on the card they chose and respond. It's a fun group activity to end the week.

In the time of The Virus, 15 Minute Friday looks a little different. A person posts a question on our Teams site, then we all respond to that question. Last week the question was "What is on your bucket list?" One co-worker responded by saying they wanted to travel to five countries and see all 50 states. I think this is a worthwhile bucket list item!

It got me thinking about how many states and countries I have visited and because I love to make lists, this was a perfect opportunity! I only counted states and countries where I have slept with the exception of overnight layovers when I was traveling. For example, I spent the night at a hotel in Philadelphia, but I didn't see any part of that city. We got there late at night and went straight from airport to hotel, then we were up very early in the morning and went straight back to the airport, so I don't count Pennsylvania.

I have stayed overnight in 19 states and one U.S. territory:

Arizona    California    Colorado    Florida    Georgia    Hawaii    Idaho    Louisiana    Missouri    Montana    Nevada    New York    North Carolina    Oklahoma    South Dakota    Utah    Virginia    Washington    Wyoming    Puerto Rico

I have slept in ten countries:

Spain    Holland    Canada    Mexico    Belize    Dominican Republic    Barbados    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines    Cambodia    Thailand

I have visited 14 Caribbean islands while on cruises:

Antigua    Barbados    Guadeloupe    Martinique    St. Maarten    Jamaica    Aruba    Curacao    Mexico    Saint Kitts    Saint Lucia    Cayman Islands    Venezuela    The Bahamas     

I realize that I have Barbados and Mexico on two lists. Why? We visited Barbados a couple of times on cruises, then we stayed there for a couple of nights on our way to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Mexico is also on two lists, too. We've stayed three different  places in Mexico for a week at a time (Mazatlan, a couple of different resorts near Cancun, and Isla Mujeres). On cruises, we have been down the western coast of Mexico, then on one cruise, we stopped for a day on Cozumel. That's why I count it on both lists.

And yes, I know Venezuela is not an island, but we hung out on an island off the coast of Venezuela for a day on our first cruise.

I don't know if I have a bucket list goal to visit all 50 states. It could be cool to do that; there are definitely places I'd like to visit in the U.S. How many countries would I like to visit? I think I can name probably at least eight countries off the top of my head. I like to go places! I like to see things and learn about the history and the people. I like to sample the food, too. 

Someday I'll get to travel again. I'm just waiting for The After.