A LIFE WELL TRAVELLED?

On the occasion of my 66th Birthday, my thoughts turned to how far I've come. Physically, not metaphorically.

On the surface of this planet, I have visited (or spent a little time, not just passed through) the following places:-

UK - I'd say most of Wales, most of England, most of Scotland (only a few of the Islands), none of Northern Ireland.

FRANCE - Paris, Papeete, Bora-Bora, Lille, Cannes, Antibes, Frejus, Macon, Annecy, Flaine, Les deux Alpes, Val d'isere, Tignes, Sarlat-la-Caneda, Vannes, Chamonix, St Tropez, Frejus, Toulouse, Albi, Bordeaux, Royan, Bergerac, La Rochelle, Cognac, Vannes, Lorient, Quimper, Rennes, Avranches, Bayeux, Liseaux, Mont St. Michel, D-Day beaches, Le Havre, Honfleur, Rouen, Le Touquet, Limoges, Calais, Arras, Cambrai, Amiens, Orleans, Cavalaire-sur-mer, Valenciennes. 

SPAIN - Madrid, Cadiz, Bilbao, Barcelona, Pamplona, Calpe, Valencia, Gandia, Denia, Benidorm, Alicante, Alcoi, Granada, Cordoba, Murcia, Malaga, Marbella, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, Plama & most of Mallorca, Mahon & most of Minorca.

PORTUGAL - Lisbon, Porto, Cascais, Lagos, Albufeira, Algarve. 

ITALY - Rome, Bolzano, Trieste, Lecce, Brindisi, Otranto, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Lucca, San Giminiano, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Venice, Verona, Lake Garda, Genoa, Elba. 

GREECE - Athens, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Lemnos, Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, Ios, Naxos, Delos, Palairos, Lefkada.

TURKIYE - Bodrum, Marmaris, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Izmir, Didim, Denizli, Pamukkale, Fetiye, Kas. 

AUSTRAILIA - Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Victoria, Coffs Harbour, Magnetic Island, Townsville, Mt. Isa, Darwin, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock, Kakadu, Coober pedy, port Macquarie Newcastle, Swansea, Cardiff (yes, really).

NEW ZEALAND - Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington Christchurch,Whakarewarewa (great name, eh?)*

TRUMPTON - New York, Brooklyn, Tampa, kissimmee, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, LA, San Francisco, Route 66, Route 101. 

EIRE - Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Dingle, Limerick, Galway, Portumna.

BELGIUM - Bruges, Ghent, Tournai.

CANADA - Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish.

SLOVENIA - Ljubljana, Bled.

CROATIA - Dubrovnik, Split.

NEPAL - Katmandu, Pokhara.

CUBA - Havana, Viñales.

INDONESIA - Bali

INDIA - New Delhi

SWITZERLAND - Verbier

POLAND - Krakow

HUNGARY - Budapest

THAILAND - Bangkok

ICELAND - Reykjavik 

NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam

CZECHIA - Prague

AUSTRIA - Salzberg

SINGAPORE 

& I've probably missed some. Phew!

However, there are so many places left! South America, Africa, South east Asia, China, Eastern Europe, (post bellum ;-) Scandinavia.

So, onwards! AFRICA & Marakkesh next!

Distance travelled I hear you ask? Well.....

BY WAY OF THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH 

24901 x 66 = 1,643,466 plus one circumnavigation 24901 = 1,668,367 miles

BY OUR ORBIT AROUND THE SUN

584 million x 66 = 38,544 million miles

AS PART OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Around the Milky Way Center

• Distance: About 3.9 billion miles (6.3 billion km) per year. = 257.4 billion miles

Relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background

• Distance: About 7.2 billion miles (11.6 billion km) per year. = 475.2 billion miles

TOTAL

732.6 billion miles or 0.1246 of a light year (plus change)

No wonder I feel tired!

* Whakarewarewa is a shortened version of the full 37-letter name, Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao - "the gathering place for the war parties of Wāhiao" or "the uprising of the army of Wāhiao" in the Māori language