Don’t envy him. It’s not where you’ve been but how you experienced it. However, you can’t say that in pins.

I’ve only been to 11 countries, and I’m living in The Netherlands a country so small that most people live within an 1.5 hour drive to the border. But I’ve experienced some of the best times in my life at places I’ve stayed at for a longer time (month+), something that friend of yours can’t possibly afford with a busy life like that.

Melle:

Great point; travel is about experience, not a checklist.

At this juncture, I need to clarify about how my friend travels (especially since I posted his map without his permission). He loves the experience of other cultures and has friends all around the world.

He lived in Austria for three years right after high school (studying hospitality management) and currently lives in the Czech Republic. As you know, when you have a home base in Europe, it is easy to travel around the rest of the continent.

One of his best friends’ family owns a resort in Kenya, another has a place in Norway…he has visited both for extended stays. I have seen pictures of him on the Finland/Russia border, climibing Kilimnjaro, and landing on Antarctica.

In fact, for many of the pins, I’ve heard the back story…always entertaining.

MIke, pins in the map – just as with stamps in the passport – often tell a very different story than what actually happened.

I spent nearly five years of my life with a 90% business travel schedule, that, aside from about 8 conferences a year, was literally “a different city every day”. (I remember a four week stretch that had no less than 19 different stops – and 6 connections between those stops – the ticket book had to be done in two parts because the travel people couldn’t drive a staple through it.)

But you don’t experience anything other than a hotel room, someone’s office, the back of a taxi driver’s head and the endless joy that is the airport that way. I, for instance, have been to Oslo seven times – but never with even one hour for the Viking museum there. (I do know how to get a pizza at 1.00 am, mind you, having arrived late at night.)

So the memories of cities fleeting by the taxi’s window are charming, but the pins aren’t everything. One day someone will allow a map to be constructed that has a “there for pleasure”, “there for business”, “there only for a day”, etc. nuance.

For all that, Trip Advisor’s maps are enjoyable. So’s the great circle map for a year’s travel, and the map that shows provinces/states (North America) and countries (rest of world) that you’ve been to. It does show travel density in intriguing ways!

I’m the Gord referred to in Mike’s blog.

The point about “pins in the map” not necessarily being a valid representation of one’s experience of other countries and their cultures is certainly a good point.

I can honestly say that I have been extremely fortunate in that my business has taken me to suburban neighbourhoods, remote jungles, off the beaten track inns and eateries, and countless other places and not the insides of boardrooms and globally generic chain hotels.

I suppose this is truly the main drawback of this Facebook application, but then again – if posted for the benefit of friends, as in my case, it is really meant as more of a collegial resource, rather than a statement of ego.