My name is Davis, and I have been traveling since the day I was born. This is, in fact, true since I was born as an American citizen in Germany (“visiting” my first country upon my entrance).
My family traveled throughout some of Europe, almost exclusively by car and most often by staying in Holiday Inns. These trips gave me a head start on my ultimate ambition by checking off about 10 countries during my formative years. At that point, it didn’t mean much to me and I equated travel with boring trips to museums. One bonus, however, was my collection of Holiday Inn brochures. With each trip came the challenge to find new ones which I would bring home and paste into my scrapbook. Collecting was in my DNA.
Oh, to be able to relive past experiences with the insights we have gained with the years, eh?
After two years of university under my belt in Munich, I took the major step to follow my family across the pond (phrase credit to my friend Raymond) and settled into the DC area, where I finished university at George Mason. During the next 10 years, my only travel consisted of infrequent trips back to Germany.
My current country count: 108
Around the age of thirty, with a gentle nudge by Paul, I ventured out again, collecting El Salvador, Guatemala, and the American and British Virgin islands. A few years later, through another friend, the travel bug really bit and I started looking further afield. Knocking off more and more countries only fueled my appetite. This friend was happy to go anywhere, leaving me free to spread out the atlas and plan our mad adventures. I became skilled at combining all of the various components required to get us there, accommodate our stay and fill our days with exciting and new exploits. As the notches on my country belt accumulated, I started looking ahead. I don’t know when I decided that I was going to visit all countries, but it happened long ago and has been a driving challenge ever since.
With any challenge, you have to establish the rules. Mine were established for my benefit, and I don’t expect others to abide by them. If you’re led to see the world, that’s great. Seek your own path (and rules to abide by). My counting rule is simple. You get to check off a country if you put two feet down anywhere within its borders, with the exception of airports, train stations, and other mass transit facilities which make them just layover locations. This explains why I haven’t checked off Iceland, even though I transited through it when I moved to the States.
I currently live in Washington, D.C.
