Getting There

In a flurry of pre-birthday activity there was a warm weekend in Tunis and the lovely Sidi Bou Said and an extremely wet and cold one in Zagreb and Ljubljana.

So, with less than a year to go there, it's T-10 countries

Photos

Cyprus and windswept San Marino

Bringing me back up to 87 countries

Around the world in 40 years

Some people put on coloured tops and go to sports grounds, some people like to code, some people have babies, but I reckon travelling is what I do best.

So I'm nailing my intent to the wall. 100 countries before the big Four O. Which gives me about 381 more days.




I'm going by the list from the Travellers Century Club which includes some non-countries, but hey even in my travel geekiness I'm allowed cheat a little.

 The story so far:

#	Entity	Criteria	ISO #
1	Andorra	1 (UN Member)	AD
2	Argentina	1 (UN Member)	AR
3	Australia	1 (UN Member)	AU
4	Austria	1 (UN Member)	AT
5	Bahrain	1 (UN Member)	BH
6	Balearic Islands	4(a2) (Island)	ES-IB
7	Belgium	1 (UN Member)	BE
8	Belize	1 (UN Member)	BZ
9	Bolivia	1 (UN Member)	BO
10	Brazil	1 (UN Member)	BR
11	Burma	1 (UN Member)	MM
12	Cambodia	1 (UN Member)	KH
13	Canada	1 (UN Member)	CA
14	Chile	1 (UN Member)	CL
15	Colombia	1 (UN Member)	CO
16	Costa Rica	1 (UN Member)	CR
17	Cyprus, Republic of	1 (UN Member)	CY
18	Czech Republic	1 (UN Member)	CZ
19	Denmark	1 (UN Member)	DK
20	Dodecanese Islands	4(a2) (Island)	GR-81
21	Ecuador	1 (UN Member)	EC
22	Egypt	1 (UN Member)	EG
23	El Salvador	1 (UN Member)	SV
24	England	1 (UN Member)	GB-ENG
25	Estonia	1 (UN Member)	EE
26	Finland	1 (UN Member)	FI
27	France	1 (UN Member)	FR
28	French Guiana	1,2 (Exclave)	GF
29	Galapagos Islands	4(a1) (Island)	EC-W
30	Germany	1 (UN Member)	DE
31	Gibraltar	1	GI
32	Greece	1 (UN Member)	GR
33	Guatemala	1 (UN Member)	GT
34	Guyana	1 (UN Member)	GY
35	Honduras	1 (UN Member)	HN
36	Hong Kong	1 (SAR)	HK
37	Hungary	1 (UN Member)	HU
38	Iceland	1 (UN Member)	IS
39	India	1 (UN Member)	IN
40	Ireland	1 (UN Member)	IE
41	Israel	1 (UN Member)	IL
42	Italy	1 (UN Member)	IT
43	Jersey	4(a2) (Island)	JE
44	Jordan	1 (UN Member)	JO
45	Kenya	1 (UN Member)	KE
46	Laos	1 (UN Member)	LA
47	Latvia	1 (UN Member)	LV
48	Liechtenstein	1 (UN Member)	LI
49	Lithuania	1 (UN Member)	LT
50	Luxembourg	1 (UN Member)	LU
51	Macau	1 (SAR)	MO
52	Macedonia	1 (UN Member)	MK
53	Malta	1 (UN Member)	MT
54	Mexico	1 (UN Member)	MX
55	Monaco	1 (UN Member)	MC
56	Morocco	1 (UN Member)	MA
57	Nepal	1 (UN Member)	NP
58	Netherlands	1 (UN Member)	NL
59	New Zealand	1 (UN Member)	NZ
60	Nicaragua	1 (UN Member)	NI
61	Northern Ireland	3 (Federation)	GB-NIR
62	Norway	1 (UN Member)	NO
63	Panama	1 (UN Member)	PA
64	Paraguay	1 (UN Member)	PY
65	Peninsular Malaysia	1 (UN Member)	MY
66	Peru	1 (UN Member)	PE
67	Poland	1 (UN Member)	PL
68	Portugal	1 (UN Member)	PT
69	Russia	1 (UN Member)	RU
70	Scotland	3 (Constituent country)	GB-SCT
71	Singapore	1 (UN Member)	SG
72	Slovakia	1 (UN Member)	SK
73	South Africa	1 (UN Member)	ZA
74	Spain	1 (UN Member)	ES
75	Suriname	1 (UN Member)	SR
76	Sweden	1 (UN Member)	SE
77	Switzerland	1 (UN Member)	CH
78	Thailand	1 (UN Member)	TH
79	Turkey, Europe	2 (Cont'l Separation)	TR
80	Turkish Rep. of Cyprus	5 (Autonomy)	CYKY/FA
81	Ukraine	1 (UN Member)	UA
82	United States (continental)	1 (UN Member)	US
83	Uruguay	1 (UN Member)	UY
84	Vatican City	1 (UN Non-Member State)	VA
85	Venezuela	1 (UN Member)	VE
86	Viet Nam	1 (UN Member)	VN
87	Wales	3 (Constituent country)	GB-WLS

Watch this space....

Edit: I haven't actually been to mainland Greece...

Beautiful & Terrifying

The Teahupoo break in Fiji being surfed in slow motion

My year in cities 2011

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. Running a startup, writing books and other trivia seemed to get in the way.

Aquaba - Petra - Cairo - Istanbul - Paris - London - Berlin - Rio de Janeiro - Ouro Preto - Reykjavik - Dublin - New York - Kiev - Brussels - Derry - Arranmore

Hot Rocks

Entered a photo in an online competition on the fantastic Wired.com
And whatta ye know... My photo was chosen.
Click here

Here comes the hot stepper

The view to the right was what I was greeted with arriving at Tower 42.

I settled down in the waiting room, trying to judge the fitness levels of my peers. I spotted some fat girls and a man well over 60, so I was heartened that "dead last" was not going to be an option.

15 minutes before the start and a lot of people started doing some weird stretching stuff. Sitting on the floor and doing the downward facing dog and all that. I didn't want to feel all left out, so I touched my toes a couple of times. Well when I say "touched" I mean I got down in the general area. I believe the scientific term is "ankles".

We were lead to the basement of Tower 42 given a brief pep-talk and introduction "No one has ever not finished, and please don't die, but if you feel like it there are first aid medics every 10 floors". Before I knew it the gun had sounded and we were filing our way into the stairwell.

The first floor went swimmingly. Full of energy I bounded up 2 stairs at a time. Floor 2 was just as delightful, I even gave some office bunnies a wave and a smile as I ran by. Floor 3 brought an inkling of doubt into my mind as I realised I was already out of breath. But hey, only 39 floors to go. Floor 4 turned the inkling into a giant ink stain of doubt as I ascertained that my pace was unrealistic. Down to 1 step at a time I made it to floor 5 before my lungs threw in the towel and I was brought to a sprightly walk.

By the 30th floor my walk had slowed and I was now using the bannisters for some gravitational assistance. I managed to pass one of the fat girls on the 35th floor (her bottom was obscuring any view of the way ahead). Shelter had kindly put some motivational posters on the wall and Winston Churchill's "Never, never, never, never give up." got me going again. The 42nd came in to view and I made sure to get a Rocky style finish in, bounding up the final steps. Tripping slightly on the way.

At the top we were greeted with a bottle of water and some fantastic views. The room was filled with pasty people and not one of us was able to stifle a cough. Stairs and lungs are not fond bed-fellows. Thankfully we were allowed to take the lift down, back to the reception room where we were handed a bucks fizz. I still had a thirst so I knocked it back and asked for another. The buzz was fantastic.

Up at the top of the room there was a screen with the finishing times. The winner had done the ascent in 4:24, a time which I think the lift would have trouble beating. One by one our times were listed and after an eternity my name flashed on the screen...

9:25... Fairly average to be honest, but with a fine head rush, some sore legs and a massive cough, I was content and made my [very] merry way home.

Thanks to all of you who sponsored me, so far I'm up to 310 pounds which is pretty good I think.

If you didn't get a chance to contribute, please feel free to do so now, sponsorship is accepted up until 1 month after the race!

Click here: http://www.justgiving.com/AP-White

Something for chaaaarity

New year's resolutions are a dangerous thing and if not cemented in some way they are prone to fall by the wayside. Two of my resolutions were to get fit & to help out charities where I could (And you still haven't joined Kiva yet, have you?).

Ever the one to knock as many birds out with as few stones as possible, I jumped at the change of helping out Shelter - a very worthy charity helping the homeless.

So what am I doing? Well I'm joining the Vertical Rush and running up the stairs of the UK's 6th largest skyscraper. Lifts are for losers.

Would really appreciate any amount large or small, so click here to sponsor me 

50 Places to see before you die (revisited #2)

While looking through my archives I noticed the BBC "50 places to see before you die" list and noticed that I had posted about it before. I do feel like I've spent much of the last 8 years travelling and I've been to many unforgettable places, but obviously I haven't travelled nearly enough...

Visited 6 places in November 2002

Visited 19 places in September 2009

and as of today it's 23

Quite disheartening to be honest... Although 8 (Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Florida, Niagara Falls, Canadian Rockies & Alaska) are in the US & Canada (invites anyone?)

How you guys doing?

All Kiva'd out

31 loans available on Kiva. 31 loans are fully funded...

Wadi Rum & Aqaba

The fun and games in Petra had to end as I had to be back in Cairo in a couple of days.

I'd heard lots of good things about Wadi Rum, but wasn't quite sure if it was going to spin my cogs. But it was on the way back to Aqaba so I decided to have a look.

And very glad I am that I did, as it proved to be the hands down highlight of the trip. It's hard to explain its draw, but the combination of mountains, valleys, canyons and the vibrant colours just come together to make it an unforgettable place.

We took in the sunset perched on a small mountain, surveying our domain. I threw in some Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy to heighten it all and hey presto, instant special moment (tm). Go there.

All photos of Jordan here