Where to go?

My sophomore winter in college, I met for a one-afternoon class to chart participant’s personalities. What does each of us want from life and how did we envision it playing out? I remembered my consternation with such restrictions. I want everything! Why limit my choices?

2013 proved for me to be a year of international travel with adventures on four continents: United States, Portugal, Turkey, and Brazil. Thinking of the future, I recently sat down to assess which countries I would like visit.

This was a simple exercise. Print out a list of the 200-or-so countries. Ask myself, “how excited would I be to fly to this country?” Rate each country from 99: let me go now! to 0: I much rather spend time with a dentist. A score of 50 means a half-hearted “uh, why not?” Countries scoring greater than 85 I would like to see before I die. Countries lower than 30 I don’t need ever to visit.

Surprisingly, this exercise took me only about twenty minutes to finish. A younger me might have anguished over Burkina Faso or fretted that Bulgaria might be nicer than the reports. A more sober me realizes that I don’t need to go everywhere; furthermore, I don’t want to.

Familiar countries scored lower. I still like novelty. So Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark – you were wonderful for my stays – but I’m moving on. Wars, isolation, and plain old boringness also lowered ratings. A remote Pacific atoll is likely to be just a remote rock with a few seagulls, a lonely penguin, and little to see but the sea.

I also marked the countries I have visited. I knew the aggregate number was greater than 20, but I was a little surprised that it was 34, only about 17% of countries in extant. Nonetheless, I like round numbers, and my new life goal will be to visit 50 countries. With Brazil coming in one month, I have just 15 more to go, about one every other year.

Again, a younger me would have chaffed against seeing just 15 more countries. What about Angola? What about Mongolia? However, fifteen at 41 seems quite reasonable. I have outgrown the limitlessness of youth and face the more limited realities and means of middle age.

I compacted this country list into the top ten countries I would like to visit before I die. The winning countries have a combination of history (Greece, Egypt, India), world import (China, Russia), animals (Ecuador/Galapagos, Tanzania), exoticism (Vietnam, Morocco), and spirituality (Nepal). I have listed all four from the BRIC (Brazil, Russian, India, China) and have just two from Europe (Greece, Russia). The bonus five countries, to make 15, would be Sweden, Costa Rica, South Africa, Argentina, and New Zealand. If you want to go to any of these places, I’m your man.

 

Scoring	Steve Dudek Where I want to go: Alphabetized		Steve Dudek Where I want to go: Rank Ordered		Steve Dudek Top 10 Destinations
How excited would you be to buy a plane ticket to this country?	Country	Score	Country	Score	Country
100: I sooo want to go	Afghanistan	5	Egypt	92	Nepal
0: I’d rather see a dentist	Albania	10	India	92	India
>80: I want to go before I die	Algeria	20	Morocco	92	China
<20: Never want to go	American Samoa	20	South Africa	92	Vietnam
50: Uh, why not?	Andorra	45	Sweden	92	Tanzania
Bold: Where I have been	Angola	6	Russian Federation	91	Greece
	Anguilla	35	Tanzania; officially the United Republic of Tanzania	91	Russia
	Antarctica	66	Vietnam	90	Ecuador/Galapagos
	Antigua and Barbuda	56	Nepal	89	Morocco
	Argentina	65	Singapore	89	Egypt
	Armenia	58	Greece	88
	Aruba	56	Thailand	88
	Australia	57	Tibet	88
	Austria	45	Costa Rica	86
	Azerbaijan	30	New Zealand	86
	Bahamas	55	Cambodia	85
	Bahrain	60	Croatia	85
	Bangladesh	40	Canada (Toronto)	84
	Barbados	59	United States (Road Trip)	84
	Belarus	35	Ecuador	84
	Belgium	32	Japan	83
	Belize	78	Brazil	82
	Benin	14	Finland	82
	Bermuda	72	Sri Lanka	82
	Bhutan	53	Indonesia	81
	Bolivia	62	Madagascar	80
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	Belize	78
	Botswana	22	China	78
	Brazil	82	Ethiopia	78
	Brunei Darussalam	61	Italy (far south)	78
	Bulgaria	35	Mexico (Baja)	78
	Burkina Faso	18	Gibraltar	75
	Burundi	12	Hungary	75
	Cambodia	85	Malaysia	75
	Cameroon	25	Myanmar, Burma	75
	Canada (Toronto)	84	Zimbabwe	75
	Cape Verde	22	Cuba	73
	Cayman Islands	25	Bermuda	72
	Central African Republic	19	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	72
	Chad	6	Malta	72
	Chile	67	Norway	72
	China	78	Philippines	72
	Christmas Island	13	Serbia	72
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	8	Lebanon	70
	Colombia	26	Spain (the south)	70
	Comoros	17	Czech Republic (Prague)	69
	Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)	28	France (Brittany)	68
	Congo, Republic of (Brazzaville)	23	Korea, Republic of (South Korea)	68
	Cook Islands	28	Papua New Guinea	68
	Costa Rica	86	Puerto Rico	68
	Ivory Coast	13	Chile	67
	Croatia	85	Antarctica	66
	Cuba	73	Argentina	65
	Cyprus	53	Kenya	65
	Czech Republic (Prague)	69	Hong Kong	63
	Denmark	55	Israel	63
	Djibouti	22	Nicaragua	63
	Dominica	16	Oman	63
	Dominican Republic	48	Panama	63
	East Timor (Timor-Leste)	21	Bolivia	62
	Ecuador	84	Eritrea	62
	Egypt	92	Estonia	62
	El Salvador	61	Kosovo	62
	Equatorial Guinea	14	Lao, People’s Democratic Republic	62
	Eritrea	62	Brunei Darussalam	61
	Estonia	62	El Salvador	61
	Ethiopia	78	Taiwan (Republic of China)	61
	Falkland Islands	24	Bahrain	60
	Faroe Islands	31	Fiji	60
	Fiji	60	Netherlands Antilles	60
	Finland	82	Turkey	60
	France (Brittany)	68	Barbados	59
	French Guiana	31	Armenia	58
	French Polynesia	38	Liechtenstein	58
	French Southern Territories	18	Macedonia, Rep. of	58
	Gabon	15	Peru	58
	Gambia	14	Poland	58
	Georgia	43	Slovakia (Slovak Republic)	58
	Germany	55	Slovenia	58
	Ghana	24	Venezuela	58
	Gibraltar	75	Virgin Islands (British)	58
	Great Britain	52	Australia	57
	Greece	88	United Arab Emirates	57
	Greenland	56	Antigua and Barbuda	56
	Grenada	35	Aruba	56
	Guadeloupe	20	Greenland	56
	Guam	29	Bahamas	55
	Guatemala	43	Denmark	55
	Guinea	26	Germany	55
	Guinea-Bissau	26	Martinique	55
	Guyana	30	Virgin Islands (U.S.)	55
	Haiti	53	Iraq	54
	Holy See	25	Bhutan	53
	Honduras	42	Cyprus	53
	Hong Kong	63	Haiti	53
	Hungary	75	Latvia	53
	Iceland	35	Saint Kitts and Nevis	53
	India	92	Saint Lucia	53
	Indonesia	81	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	53
	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	72	Syria, Syrian Arab Republic	53
	Iraq	54	Great Britain	52
	Ireland	45	Saudi Arabia	52
	Israel	63	New Caledonia	50
	Italy (far south)	78	Switzerland	50
	Jamaica	26	Tunisia	50
	Japan	83	Turks and Caicos Islands	50
	Jordan	42	Dominican Republic	48
	Kazakhstan	40	Kuwait	48
	Kenya	65	Lithuania	48
	Kiribati	25	Paraguay	48
	Korea, Democratic People’s Rep. (North Korea)	35	Turkmenistan	48
	Korea, Republic of (South Korea)	68	United Kingdom	48
	Kosovo	62	Romania	46
	Kuwait	48	Andorra	45
	Kyrgyzstan	39	Austria	45
	Lao, People’s Democratic Republic	62	Ireland	45
	Latvia	53	Netherlands	45
	Lebanon	70	Tajikistan	45
	Lesotho	40	Western Sahara	45
	Liberia	22	Georgia	43
	Libya	18	Guatemala	43
	Liechtenstein	58	Qatar	43
	Lithuania	48	Timor-Leste (East Timor)	43
	Luxembourg	30	Uruguay	43
	Macau	28	Bosnia and Herzegovina	42
	Macedonia, Rep. of	58	Honduras	42
	Madagascar	80	Jordan	42
	Malawi	22	Montenegro	42
	Malaysia	75	Pakistan	42
	Maldives	40	Samoa	42
	Mali	29	Solomon Islands	42
	Malta	72	Marshall Islands	41
	Marshall Islands	41	Bangladesh	40
	Martinique	55	Kazakhstan	40
	Mauritania	30	Lesotho	40
	Mauritius	24	Maldives	40
	Mayotte	16	Palau	40
	Mexico (Baja)	78	San Marino	40
	Micronesia, Federal States of	32	Swaziland	40
	Moldova, Republic of	24	Uzbekistan	40
	Monaco	28	Yemen	40
	Mongolia	36	Kyrgyzstan	39
	Montenegro	42	French Polynesia	38
	Montserrat	32	Seychelles	38
	Morocco	92	Trinidad and Tobago	38
	Mozambique	25	Suriname	37
	Myanmar, Burma	75	Tuvalu	37
	Namibia	32	Mongolia	36
	Nauru	16	Anguilla	35
	Nepal	89	Belarus	35
	Netherlands	45	Bulgaria	35
	Netherlands Antilles	60	Grenada	35
	New Caledonia	50	Iceland	35
	New Zealand	86	Korea, Democratic People’s Rep. (North Korea)	35
	Nicaragua	63	Sao Tome and Principe	35
	Niger	18	Portugal	33
	Nigeria	22	Senegal	33
	Niue	11	Uganda	33
	Northern Mariana Islands	11	Ukraine	33
	Norway	72	Vanuatu	33
	Oman	63	Belgium	32
	Pakistan	42	Micronesia, Federal States of	32
	Palau	40	Montserrat	32
	Palestinian territories	27	Namibia	32
	Panama	63	Faroe Islands	31
	Papua New Guinea	68	French Guiana	31
	Paraguay	48	Azerbaijan	30
	Peru	58	Guyana	30
	Philippines	72	Luxembourg	30
	Pitcairn Island	23	Mauritania	30
	Poland	58	Guam	29
	Portugal	33	Mali	29
	Puerto Rico	68	Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)	28
	Qatar	43	Cook Islands	28
	Reunion Island	26	Macau	28
	Romania	46	Monaco	28
	Russian Federation	91	Vatican City State (Holy See)	28
	Rwanda	8	Palestinian territories	27
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	53	Colombia	26
	Saint Lucia	53	Guinea	26
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	53	Guinea-Bissau	26
	Samoa	42	Jamaica	26
	San Marino	40	Reunion Island	26
	Sao Tome and Principe	35	Cameroon	25
	Saudi Arabia	52	Cayman Islands	25
	Senegal	33	Holy See	25
	Serbia	72	Kiribati	25
	Seychelles	38	Mozambique	25
	Sierra Leone	11	Falkland Islands	24
	Singapore	89	Ghana	24
	Slovakia (Slovak Republic)	58	Mauritius	24
	Slovenia	58	Moldova, Republic of	24
	Solomon Islands	42	Togo	24
	Somalia	13	Tonga	24
	South Africa	92	Congo, Republic of (Brazzaville)	23
	South Sudan	8	Pitcairn Island	23
	Spain (the south)	70	Botswana	22
	Sri Lanka	82	Cape Verde	22
	Sudan	9	Djibouti	22
	Suriname	37	Liberia	22
	Swaziland	40	Malawi	22
	Sweden	92	Nigeria	22
	Switzerland	50	Wallis and Futuna Islands	22
	Syria, Syrian Arab Republic	53	East Timor (Timor-Leste)	21
	Taiwan (Republic of China)	61	Algeria	20
	Tajikistan	45	American Samoa	20
	Tanzania; officially the United Republic of Tanzania	91	Guadeloupe	20
	Thailand	88	Tokelau	20
	Tibet	88	Central African Republic	19
	Timor-Leste (East Timor)	43	Burkina Faso	18
	Togo	24	French Southern Territories	18
	Tokelau	20	Libya	18
	Tonga	24	Niger	18
	Trinidad and Tobago	38	Comoros	17
	Tunisia	50	Dominica	16
	Turkey	60	Mayotte	16
	Turkmenistan	48	Nauru	16
	Turks and Caicos Islands	50	Zambia	16
	Tuvalu	37	Gabon	15
	Uganda	33	Benin	14
	Ukraine	33	Equatorial Guinea	14
	United Arab Emirates	57	Gambia	14
	United Kingdom	48	Christmas Island	13
	United States (Road Trip)	84	Ivory Coast	13
	Uruguay	43	Somalia	13
	Uzbekistan	40	Burundi	12
	Vanuatu	33	Niue	11
	Vatican City State (Holy See)	28	Northern Mariana Islands	11
	Venezuela	58	Sierra Leone	11
	Vietnam	90	Albania	10
	Virgin Islands (British)	58	Sudan	9
	Virgin Islands (U.S.)	55	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	8
	Wallis and Futuna Islands	22	Rwanda	8
	Western Sahara	45	South Sudan	8
	Yemen	40	Angola	6
	Zambia	16	Chad	6
	Zimbabwe	75	Afghanistan	5