A new country every year
Back in 2009, just as I was about to “ORD” from the RSAF, I made a promise to myself — to visit at least 1 different country every year.
It’s been 8 years since, and here’s how I’m doing so far:
2009 — Bali, Indonesia
Up until then, the only time I’ve ever flew out of the country was to Thailand with my family when I was about 10. I also didn’t have a lot of savings then since I’ve basically spent 22 years of my life mostly in school and the army, so I picked a pretty safe and cheap place to go for my first country. This remains the trip I did the most research on and spent the least. I also made a friend who was traveling around the world on his own and he later visited me in Singapore.
2010 — Cambodia
I wanted my next place to be still relatively cheap and affordable yet a little less safe and more epic. So I visited Angkor & Siem Reap in Cambodia. Another solo trip, got a little “temple burnout” by the end of the trip. I had a lot of fun and made friends with a tuk tuk driver whom I hired to go to all the places.
The temples were really badly preserved and maintained and the amount of tourists who visit daily doesn’t help. The architecture that do remain were intricate and amazing.
Pro tip: Leave Angkor Wat to the last and visit the other temples first.
2010 — Taiwan
At my first full-time job, a couple of my colleagues had some friends in Taiwan and invited me to go along at the same time. Thanks to the gracious hosts, I got to see 九份(Jiu Fen), a small town a few hours away from Taipei and had some awesome street food.
2011 — Hong Kong
After Taiwan, I thought Hong Kong was a good next place. It’s a really busy city, much like Singapore. I stayed in a tiny room along Nathan Road and I believe the hostel I was in was in the same building where Chungking Express was shot.
2011 — Malacca
A short trip with some of my new colleagues to Malacca where I visited one of the oldest letterpress foundry — The Royal Press and had lots of amazing food at Jonker Street.
2011 — New Zealand (North Island)
After all the cities, I decided that I like nature trips much better. Also, it was around the time when budget airlines added flights to New Zealand. I booked some tickets and went off on a semi-solo trip to the land where the Lord of the Rings was shot.
New Zealand is an amazing place with very different landscapes, scenery and amazing people. The hostels I stayed at were clean and cheap. There was also Stray Bus which allowed me to travel the entire North Island easily and cheaply. I also took an approximately 12 hour train ride from Wellington to Auckland — which I don’t recommend.
I also did my first and only ever skydive.
2011 — Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava
At Kinetic, I was lucky enough to go on an all expenses paid trip to Europe along with the entire company.
We did a lot of countries in 9 days by bus. It was tough trying to remember which place was from which country, especially with all the drinking involved as well ;)
Out of all the cities we visited though, Vienna really stuck with me. I love the quiet streets and old architecture.
My first time in Europe, won’t be my last!
2012 — United States
In 2012, I got a paid internship at firstborn in New York. I’m counting this as a unique experience and country because I definitely did some traveling here too!
While in New York, I visited almost all the museums and parks. On some weekends, I went to Washington DC too. In total, I spent 5 months in New York during this stint.
2012 — Vietnam
Back in Singapore later in 2012, I set off to Vietnam with a good friend.
We visited Halong Bay and even did an overnight cruise on the bay. Vietnam was very similar to Cambodia to me for some reason. There were however, way too many scooters on the road and not enough working traffic lights. To cross a street, if you wait for a light that will never come, you’ll never cross. After a day, we learnt that the scooters learn how to avoid you as you cross the street. I never got used to it!
2013 — South Korea
I visited South Korea with the girlfriend I was with at the time. Being an Asian country, South Korea had a lot of great food & shopping. For my nature fix, we also went to Jeju Island which I really enjoyed.
2013 — Nepal
Later that year, I went on a 9 day trek in Nepal with another good friend of mine, Phil, whom I used to work with at Firstborn.
It was a trek that really pushed my limits both mentally and physically.
2014 — Thailand
Thailand again, I don’t remember it much from the first trip I made with my family when I was 10, so I decided to go yet again to Bangkok for some good food and a nice getaway from work.
Bangkok is a busy city with a lot of cheap and good food and shopping.
2014 — Japan
The country that I’ve always wanted to visit. I love Japan so much that I’ve since been back around 5 times.
This trip was with 3 of my good friends. We drank a lot, played a lot of arcade, shopped a lot and had a lot of great and amazing food.
2014 — United States (West Coast)
A road trip was something I’ve always wanted to do at some point so I set off in 2014 to visit some of my ex-colleagues back at firstborn and also do a short trip with Phil to Silicon Valley and then a road trip with another friend of mine.
In the end, I visited Google and Apple, some Ivy League colleges, San Francisco, Las Vegas & Los Angeles.
At this point, I decided that the USA is too big a country, and its cities too different for me to count it as 1 unique country. Every new city I went to was so different that I believe they each deserve to be considered a unique place.
2015 — Japan (Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe, Hakone, Tokyo)
Before I moved back to New York, I wanted to do Japan properly so I set off on a 2 week backpacking trip to Japan. Just like the USA, every city in Japan was different and I feel like I need to count each place like a different one. There are plenty more cities that I want to visit in Japan some day.
Thanks to some new friends I made from work who lived in Japan, I got to visit a sake distillery.
I did short hikes in Kyoto. Went to a hot spring in Hakone (which was amazing). And visited Kobe for a day trip to eat some Kobe beef.
I really loved the mix of nature and city in Kyoto. I’d like to live here some day if possible.
2015 — Toronto, Niagara Falls
Back in New York again, I took a nice short trip to the Niagara Falls + Toronto with Phil and another colleague at firstborn, Roel.
2015 — Ubin, Singapore
While not exactly a new country, Pulau Ubin is a small island off the island city of Singapore. I did a kayaking trip with some of my best friends from the Air Force while I was back for a visit.
2016 — Mexico City, Cancun & Playa del Carmen
Another friend of mine decided to visit me in New York before we headed to Mexico together. We saw some pyramids and relaxed at the beach. It was a great time to get out of the cold in New York.
2017 — Iceland
Iceland was immediately part of my bucket list after I saw the secret life of Walter Mitty. The landscapes were amazing and we were lucky to see a very faint aurora borealis.
Food is really expensive in Iceland though.
2017 — Switzerland
Another year, another trip with Phil! This time, we decided to go hiking in the Swiss Alps. I spent a couple of days in Paris where Phil now lives, and we then took the train to Zurich.
We also visited Lucerne, Lauterbrunnen, Zermatt and Geneva.
The Swiss Alps reminded me of my time in New Zealand and a little bit of Nepal. Being in nature is always the best.
2017 — West Coast Road Trip #2
I did the 2nd road trip with my brother and his girlfriend. I finally got to visit Yosemite and the Big Sur and really enjoyed myself with the nature. They were amazing company as well and very easy going.
Along the way, we went to Santa Barbara and Monterey too.
Summary
So the summary here counting unique cities/countries:
2009 — Bali (1 city, 1 country)
2010 — Cambodia, Taiwan (2 cities, 2 countries)
2011 — Paris, Bratislava, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Hong Kong, Malacca, New Zealand (8 cities, 8 countries)
2012 — New York, Washington DC, Vietnam (3 cities, 2 countries)
2013 — South Korea, Nepal (2 cities, 2 countries)
2014 — Bangkok, Tokyo, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (5 cities, 2 countries)
2015 — Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe, Hakone, Toronto, Niagara (7 cities, 1 country)
2016 — Mexico City, Cancun, Playa del Carmen (3 cities, 1 country)
2017 — Iceland, Switzerland, Santa Barbara, Yosemite, Big Sur (5 cities, 2 countries)
Approximately 36 cities if I’m being vague, more if I count the actual cities I went to in countries like Iceland and Switzerland.
Around 21 countries in total.
Traveling has given me a lot. It has broadened my views. It has been an escape from the routine of daily life. It has taught me that there can be so many different ways to live and so many people out there who are so very different yet so similar.
To the people I’ve travelled with or met on my travels, thank you. I’ve enjoyed every single trip with every one of you.
To 2018 and the years beyond, I want to visit even more cities in the United States, and even more countries and even a continent that I’ve not been.
