Thursday, November 5, 2009

Looking Forward To Mexico

At midnight I start my 38th flight of the year (36th since April). How crazy is that?

But I'm looking forward to it as I know that as soon as I get board the Mexicana jet bound for Mexico City I can happily fall asleep safe in the knowledge that I don't have to worry about jet lag when I get to the destination. As far as places go I can't think of many better ones for this time of year. Sure, there's always the risk of picking up a tropical illness or being robbed at gun point (joking?), but the climate and beach resort of Huatulco on the southernmost part of the country will do just fine!


 Huatulco

When I got the call, well a pleading email, asking if I fancied covering the final race of the year I had to think about it for all of two seconds. I knew it was always a possibility and half expected the opportunity to visit country number 14 of 2009. Having pretty much lived as a nomad for the summer the anti-climax of getting back to Vancouver with the prospect of staying earth-bound gave me the blues. Sure I was tired from all the travelling, but when you're so used to living out of a suitcase and seeing lots of different places it can become a strange addiction.

The best thing is that I've never been to Mexico, or anywhere in Latin America for that matter, so it's another country to tick off the list. I can't speak a word of Spanish so things should be interesting, but I can't speak Japanese or Korean either and seem to survive those countries without too much trouble.



Fellow travel buddies Andrew and Arnna in Hamburg

Luckily I will be flying down with Andrew, an old travel buddy and seasoned veteran of the jet set lifestyle. The guy probably has more airmiles than he knows what to do with. We're going to rock up at Vancouver Airport at 10am, check in and kick back with a beer or two, reminisce about the long season and look forward to the last race of the year. Come Sunday night when all is wrapped up and finished with work we can finally make an after-party and enjoy a few drinks on the beach listening to the waves lap against the shore.

I just hope my vision of Mexico turns out to be true!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Around the World in Countries

One of my life ambitions is to visit every country in the world. It's highly unrealistic unless someday I come into millions of dollars and can afford the chance to do it. Even then the prospect of going to East Timor doesn't really appeal too much, and acquiring a visa to visit the likes of the People's Republic of North Korea or Myanmar would be highly unlikely unless political reform sweeps in.

The next best thing is to be able to go to a country from every letter of the alphabet. So far I can claim 17 of 26, so that leaves me nine to go... only it doesn't as there are no countries beginning with the letter W or X, which means that I have seven to go.

A is for Australia
B is for ...
C is for Canada
D is for Denmark
E is for ...
F is for France
G is for Germany
H is for Hungary
I is for Ireland
J is for Japan
K is for Korea, Republic of
L is for Luxembourg
M is for Monaco
N is for Netherlands
O is for Oman
P is for Portugal
Q is for ...
R is for ...
S is for Slovak Republic
T is for Turkey
U is for United Arab Emirates
V is for ...
W is for ...
X is for ...
Y is for ...
Z is for ...

Targets to complete my goal:
B will most likely to Belgium, the only country in Western Europe I'm yet to enter.
E could be any number of countries, although Egypt is the biggest tourist destination.
Q has to be Qatar so a trip to the Middle East is required.
R could either be Russian, Rwanda or Romania. My money's on Russia being the first.
V should be Vatican City, although Vanuatu is a dream destination.
Y must be Yemen, so I'll try and go there when I visit Qatar.
Z can either be Zambia or Zimbabwe. Geographically close but Zambia would be much safer.