Fanatical cataloguing of one’s own travel movements is a sign of insanity.

1. United Kingdom
   • Cardiff – many many times, mainly to see the rugby internationals
   • Birmingham – mainly to the NEC to see wrestling
   • Manchester – to see WWE in 2005
   • Blackpool – to see the illuminations, around Christmas in 1990. Happy times
   • Belfast – November 2008
   • Edinburgh – April 2011
2. USA
   1. Orlando – August 1993
   2. Orlando – July 2007
   3. Phoenix & Las Vegas – March 2010
   4. Atlanta – April 2011
3. France
   1. Eurodisney & Paris (via bus tour) – December 1997
   2. Paris – February 2010. Valentine’s Day surprise
4. Germany
   1. Aachen & Cologne – December 1998
5. Belgium
   1. Charleroi – December 1998
   2. Bruges – August 2010
6. Switzerland
   1. Geneva – October 2001
7. Austria
   1. Vienna – May 2008
8. Spain
   1. Palma, Majorca – May 2009
9. Italy
   1. Rome, Pisa – May 2009
   2. Venice – July 2011
10. Vatican City
    1. May 2009
11. Czech Republic
    1. Prague – October 2009
12. Mauritius
    1. Grand Gaube – November 2009. My honeymoon!
13. China
    1. Hong Kong – January 2010
14. Turkey
    1. Dalaman – June 2010
15. Gibraltar
    1. July 2010
16. Iceland
    1. Reykjavik – October 2010
17. Hungary
    1. Budapest – January 2011
18. Ireland
    1. Dublin – November 2011
19. Denmark
1. Copenhagen – January 2012
   

What I’ve got coming up

• Spring 2012 – Miami & Orlando

Why travel?

Good question. No real answer except for curiosity and hedonism. I’ve set myself a goal of visiting 30 countries by my 30th birthday (and keeping my countries-visited list at a par thereafter). I set this goal in my twenties, here’s how it has gone so far.

“Visiting” of course means actually setting foot in the country, rather than transiting on a plane or train. So, Schiphol, Munich and Frankfurt don’t count. Also, I count Hong Kong as part of China. Some intrepid tourists, in their zeal to bolster their “count”, count it as a separate country even though that’s not been true since 1997. Deal with it.

Where’s next on my to-do list?

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Beijing, China
• Las Vegas, USA (again)
• Hong Kong (again)
• Kiev, Ukraine
• Luxembourg
• Liechtenstein
• Maldives
• New York, USA
• Toronto, Canada
• Vancouver, Canada
• Zurich, Switzerland

Where have I lived?

• I moved about the country quite a lot as a child. Here’s where I’ve lived, in chronological order
  • Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, Wales – June 1984 – August 1984 (Yeah, I don’t remember this…)
  • St. Martins, near Oswestry, Shropshire, England – lived August 1984 – June 1991
  • Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England – lived June 1991 – September 1991
  • Hemsby, Norfolk, England – September 1991 – April 1992
  • St. Martins, near Oswestry, Shropshire,England – lived April 1992 – April 1993
  • Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales – lived April 1993 – September 1994
  • Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, Wales – lived September 1994 – September 2002
• Then I grew up and moved to university
  • London, England – lived September 2002 – June 2008 (Moving away from home to go to university)
    • Nutford House, near Marble Arch – September 2002 – June 2004. As ideally placed a hall of residence as you could possibly ask for.
    • Whitechapel – June 2004 – June 2005. Absolute dump of a flat. The building was infested with mice.
    • Royal Victoria Dock – June 2005 – June 2008. Nice flat, happy times.
• Then my wife and I graduated, got sick of London and moved to the country
  • Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, Wales – lived June 2008 – August 2008 (Living with my parents while looking for a house)
  • Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales – living now. Own my own house, thank you very much.