Map of Countries You Have Visited
- Thread starter ClassifiedCat
- Start date
- Watchers 16
Single-handedly ending the gulf stream
HayashiM
Veteran
Hopefully coming next :
(next year's Olympics would be great if I can manage), , .Mostly I loved
for its diversity, for the climate, for the food and because it is, you know, 
Omg u've been to India and China...
Hopefully coming next :
Mostly I loved
Jealous.
HayashiM
Veteran
I must recommend both, when / once you have the opportunity, definitely go for it! India and China are interesting and very eye-opening, each in its own way. The common feeling I had returning from both is how wrong we are in the West, thinking we are big and important.
I only had a week in China, more specifically Beijing, where I went to run a marathon. I won the bib in a lottery organized by the RunCzech society and got to start from the front lines with the Kenyans ...only to keep up with them for about 5 seconds before they were gone.
China's internal market is so big they - almost - don't need anyone else, and it shows in tourist's life. The apps we are used to use don't work because of the Big Chinese Firewall - Chinese have their own versions of Google maps, Facebook, Instagram, you name it. The common people don't come in contact with English very often, so once I ran into someone whom I could finally talk to, I almost got cheated by a con-artist (I then got a great experience with other Chinese, I am by no means saying all
people are scammers, that is not true!). The signs are mostly in Chinese as well, and so is naturally most of the product packages. Luckily a dictionary app helped me to get by.I did not really feel all that much like being in a somewhat-freedom-restricted country (I guess it would've changed had I stayed longer), except for the omnipresent boy soldiers with machine guns on their shoulders and military parades shown on public transport TV's. In comparison to India, the experience was somehow very western, with acceptable temperatures, very clean streets, young ladies wearing heels and skirts, people respecting personal space a little more, and a general feeling of less chaos. I loved something about the Chinese spirit, seeing people of all ages freely practising kung-fu in the streets, or grandfathers playing chinese chess in front of their houses.
On the other hand, I spent alltogether 3-4 months in northern India aged 9 - 23, visiting on various occasions because of, let's call it family's-religious reasons. India will attack all of your senses the minute your airplane touches the ground. It can stink a lot because of all the dirt and grass-enriched petrol (at least that's the impression I get from it), but it can also smell heavenly because of all the incense freely used everywhere. Never ever have I seen so many colours, not even on a pride march. It is almost as if we forgot what colours are in Europe, with our all black costumes and red dresses and a general grey feeling. The traffic can cause you some trauma, but you will suddenly feel very, very safe once you come back home. The crazy amount of people everywhere might traumatize you further. I shall not even speak of poverty. You will never be prepared enough for the experience if you come from a western background. However, after some time, your brain might stop its protests and in that case you will find a lot of wonders to enjoy. As a result, your overall view of life can also get altered a little.
In India, more than anywhere else I have visited so far, a few words in the local language make an enormous difference. With a few hindi words / local gestures, your image changes, possibly from a walking stuffed wallet who only arrived to mock the locals, to a curious individual who is genuinely interested in understanding India's soul and culture. And I think that all the food, architecture and some of the very human smiles are something you will have a very hard time searching for anywhere else on the planet.
I might probably sound a bit harsh at first, but I genuinely love something about India and I'd hate to discourage anyone. If you ever have the opportunity to go there, don't hesitate. In the worst case, you'll love your comfortable life a lot more once you come back. But there's also a significant risk of you falling in love with the country.
Gosh, this daydreaming got a lot longer than I intended it to be, sorry about that.
P. S. If anyone wants to get a glimpse of what I love about India and doesn't mind slow-ish movies where gestures can convey a lot more than words, I must recommend you this film called The Lunchbox from 2013. It has a lot of the incense and very little of the grass-enriched petrol. Also, no bollywood dancing is included! :-)
Last edited:
What a tale, I wish I had your experience when it comes to traveling, unfortunately it goes down to 2x2 weeks in Catalunya when I was 12/13 and 5 days in Prague.
However, during vacations with my parents I saw quite a few places in the southern part of France and the Alps, which shouldn't be a given as I've met many people who know the world better than our own country.
However, during vacations with my parents I saw quite a few places in the southern part of France and the Alps, which shouldn't be a given as I've met many people who know the world better than our own country.
BorisBubbles
Veteran
Wish I'd been a bit more well-travelled. Oh well, cannot complain.
tomos2019
Member
I would love to visit more of Asia especially although I have places I really want to go in Europe too! I am not going abroad in general much at the moment because I went to Japan in October 2010 (wow nearly 10 years ago now!), it was then 8 years before I went to Majorca in summer 2018 and now it looks like it's going to be a long time again!
BorisBubbles
Veteran
Yeah China was a blast and I have fond memories of it, even though it's been an eternity ago since I'd been there. Plz enjoy these snaps of 12 year old Mr Bubbles snapped en locación, no less.
It's been so long i wanna go baaaack
It's been so long i wanna go baaaack
HayashiM
Veteran
Thank you. You've been to Prague already, that's nice!
Yeah, France is the most visited country in the world, it is kinda sad if some of its citizens don't know it that well. I haven't seen much of southern France, but I loved Antibes, it's such a great thing when you can enjoy yourself at the sea all the while being able to hop on a train and start a hiking trip in the Alpes within one or two hours... Hopefully we all can safely travel again soon enough! :-)
Gentleman
Well-known member
Update
- Europe:25 52.08%
- Middle East:1 4.76%
- North America:2 50%
- Total Visited:28 12.96%
|
JamieBrown
Well-known member
Tiny little update. Still have a lot to do when travelling is possible again
ShoeFlo
Well-known member
Update:
ATTENTION: The map looks emptier than my last one but that's because I took out
I wasnt sure if I should count
Oslo (2017)
London (2013)
Gibraltar (2017)
Groningen (a couple of times, ask my parents why we never went to visit the interesting cities)
Bremen (home town)
I spend much time in Hamburg. Then, I've visited Cologne quite often...ofc I've been also to Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hannover...Northern Sea, Baltic Sea, Alps.. Now, I won't start naming villages nobody knows such as Delmenhorst
Still missing: Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Dresden too, sadly. I still need to visit Neuschwanstein. I desperately wanna see it
Interlaken (a city close to Bern I think. It was in 2003 & 2004)
Some skiing area on the tri-border-area of Austria, Italy, Slovenia (2013)
Vienna (next week)
Tuscany (7-8 times)
Rome (2014)
Vatican City (2014, when I was in Rome)
Andalucia (2017)
------
Plans for 2018:
Just realized my 2018 plans didn't work out at all. Instead of Iceland and France, I visited Stockholm.
However, we can now add
to the list since I am there right now 
EurovisionOnlineContest
Member
This is me:
Had 2020 been different, more of Asia would be colored in...
Had 2020 been different, more of Asia would be colored in...