Ten Countries I Want to Visit

 

Mount Fuji, Japan

My travel is mostly guided by opportunities.  For instance, in the fall, I plan to meet two friends in Europe and travel to several Nazi Death Camps in Poland.  A soldier friend of mine is deployed to Poland for a year and can get a weekend pass. So we can travel together. 

Many of the places I have traveled have been last-minute changes in plan or just following a whim.  But another friend recently reminded me I am older than dirt and if I have places I want to go, I better make plans.  So I made a list:

1. Japan: I have been fascinated with Japanese history and culture for most of my life, but never traveled to this beautiful country.  Top of my list. 
2. Chile: I was there for two weeks in March this year, but only in the north.  I want to go back and see Tierra del Fuego, the Andes and Patagonia.
3. Finland: In 2014, I wanted to ride from Odessa to Finland along the 2000-kilometer route my grandfather walked in 1914 to escape the Russian army. I would like to see the border areas and Helsinki maybe also the arctic circle in Finland. 
4. Ukraine: I want to go to Kiev and Odessa. More than anything, I want victory for Ukraine.
5. Israel: I visited Israel in 2017, 2019 and 2020.  I was planning to goback with my friend Cliff and clear rubble in the north. The trip did not work out this year.  Maybe next year. 
6. Thailand: I was almost assigned there in 1973 in the US Air Force, but the war in Vietnam ended and fewer troops went to Southeast Asia.
7.  Rwanda: I had tickets to go there and ride the first week in March 2020. I  was in Europe and decided not to go to Africa with Covid spreading fast. 
8.  Poland: I rode across southern Poland in 2017. I would like to see Warsaw, Gdansk, and the Baltic coast.
9. South Africa: So much naval history around this huge country when all trade to east Asia had to pass around the southern end of this huge continent.
10. Nepal: I have never been to south Asia, anywhere between the Persian Gulf and Malaysia. I want to visit Katmandu and the lower Himalayas. 

I could add a lot more. Likely I will go other places as I have opportunities. I love travel.