paul reed

After my recent trip out to Wyoming, here’s an update to the states I’ve visited:


create your own visited states map

23 in total (or 45% for the statisticians). Looks like I need to spend some ‘quality time’ out in the prairies if I’m to improve on this …

In trying to fix a link on an old post, I found that Condé Nast have published
more journeys of a lifetime. I liked the previous list, but I’m not so sure about some of the additions to this new list; they seem more like check-box things to do, rather than real journeys. It is interesting to see what was dropped and what remained on the list:

1. Break the bank in Monte Carlo, Côte D’Azur, France
2. Buy a diamond in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Camel trek through the Sahara, Morocco
4. Climb Kilimanjaro, Tanzania *
5. Cross the Namib Desert by hot-air baloon, Namibia *
6. Cruise the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula
7. Dine à deux at the Upper Cupola, Shanghai, China
8. Fly down to Rio, Brazil
9. Go from Moscow to Beijing on the TransSiberian Express *
10. Have a house party on the Great Wall of China
11. Live la vie de chateau, Ile de Ré, France
12. Machu Picchu by rail, Peru *
13. Sail into New York, USA
14. See Angkor Wat at sunrise, Cambodia
15. Snorkel with sea lions in the Sea of Cortes, Baja California, Mexico
16. Stay up all night watching the aurora borealis, Finland
17. Stay within sight of the Taj Mahal, India
18. Watch dawn appear from the top of Pyramid Four at Tikal, Guatemala
19. Watch Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid, Spain
20. We’ll always have Paris, France

This time I’m 1 for 20, as I have sailed into New York. Not on the Queen Mary II as suggested, but on a real sailboat!

* denotes those trips that stood the test of time from their previous list.

For now here are the countries I’ve visited (not including layovers):

I’d like to expand on this list this year, and hopefully add parts of South America or Asia.

Some excellent short films all about Austin and what it means to the people who live here.

(videos may require IE or some Media Player plug-in for Firefox that I don’t have)

Condé Nast Traveller have published a list of their top 20 journeys of a lifetime:

1. Amazon Expedition, South America
2. Blue Train, South Africa
3. Camino de Santiago, Spain
4. Glacier Express, Switzerland
5. Helicopter Trip around the Grand Canyon
6. Himalayan Trek, Nepal
7. Hot Air Balloon, Namibia
8. Inca Trail, Peru
9. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
10. Milford Track, New Zealand
11. Orient Express, from France to Turkey
12. Pan American Highway, from North to South America
13. Sailing in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
14. The Great Ocean Road, Australia
15. The Silk Road, China
16. Trans Canada, Canada
17. Trans Sahara, Africa
18. Trans Siberian Express, Russia
19. Voyage to Antartica, Antarctica
20. Concorde to NY, Cruise to London (sadly, no longer do-able)

Note to self: 0 down, 20 to go.

Well, I haven’t been too good at keeping up with my blog. There’s a lot gone on, but I haven’t yet got the discipline to keep things posted. Maybe that’s for the better, since I’m sure much of what I would have posted would be quite boring!

Today I’m off Home. I haven’t been Home (as distinct from home) since May last year when i went to get my Green Card. Since I moved to the US I’ve not had such a long absence; I normally go at least twice a year for one reason or another. I think it started to get to me that I hadn’t been to Blighty in so long. Mum and Dad came over in November, but I haven’t seen Mark, Nicky and Katie since the last trip, and haven’t seen Anna since she was born. In retrospect that’s quite sad. So I’m actully really excited to be spending 6 days (or so) back with the family. As an added bonus, Marcelle is coming over from Ireland, whom I haven’t seen since she shipped out to Dublin for Visa Processing at the hands of the INS. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but it feels like longer. Life will be complete again for a few days!

So, pop-pickers, don’t expect much of an update until I return…

… I hope my presents arrive in one piece.

Hey! If you’re an American Airlines baggage handler and you’re reading this; be careful with the blue bag, it’s precious cargo!