40 Before 40

I mentioned last year that I fancied doing 40 before 40, and I’ve made strides towards it this year but haven’t really documented the plan for the future or talked about it much on here. I wanted to have something I could link to when I mention this and check back in with on a regular basis to see how I’m doing. As I turned thirty one yesterday, giving me just under nine years to hit this target, it makes sense to write this today.

Countries visited so far in my 40 before 40 (as of August 2018)

Belgium

I’ve been to Bruges on a mini cruise with a good friend of mine, and had a great day-but I definitely need to spend more time in the city and explore some more of the country too.

Cuba

I spent two weeks in Cuba in 2011 and I’ve written a fair bit of content about that trip, so do have a read of that.

Cyprus

As a child I spent a week in Limassol with my family. I don’t remember much of the trip, other than visiting ‘no man’s land’ where you could see the patch of land between Greek Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus so I do think I need another trip to Cyprus, but I’m counting Cyprus anyway!

England

Okay so I’m FROM England and this is technically cheating but I have visited a few different bits of our fine country and again, I’m counting it.

France

I’ve been to Paris twice, once with my family and once with school. There’s so much more of France I need to see and it’s definitely on my list.

Germany

I visited Berlin in August 2018, and spent 72 hours in the city.

Ireland

I visited Dublin in April 2017 and wrote about my #CheapFlightsChallenge at the time.

Poland

Wroclaw was a bucket list destination for sure, and I had a brilliant weekend there in May. There are plenty of posts about my trip, including what I did in my 72 hours in the city, and a Wroclaw food diary, for you to have a read of.

Scotland

I also visited Glasgow this year and had a great weekend with Fiona. There are a few Glasgow related posts on here for you to enjoy.

Spain

I’ve done mainland Spain a good few times and Majorca twice. There’s Majorca content for you on the blog too.

The Netherlands

Amsterdam is one of my new favourite places and I’ve been twice this year. And whilst I’d like to go back, I need some new places first.

Wales

My ex lives in Wales and so I visited him regularly. I also did Cariff (very, very briefly!) this year, and Barry Island.

Completed : 14/40

To visit : 26/40

Now if your maths is decent (I’ll admit to having to use a calculator!) you’ll see that I need to visit just over three countries per year for the next nine years. That’s got to be achievable, right?

The plan:

The below list is the countries I want to visit over the next few years, to add to my total. If I can get the below done by the end of 2021 I’ll be on a total of twenty three out of forty countries. That will leave me with seventeen countries to visit in five years, which should again be doable.

2018

Denmark

2019

Japan 

China 

South Korea 

Sweden

2020

America 

Canada 

Greece 

I’m crossing my fingers that I can pull this off, and will be adding as much as possible to my travel fund to make that happen.

Do you have countries you really want to travel to? Which would be on your 40 before 40 list?