Autobiography - On the Road Again and Again

We are all just visiting this planet so I try to make life decisions by asking - in five or ten years what will I wish I had done. I have traveled around the world several times on business and have visited 64 countries as of 2020. I always made sure to do as much sight-seeing as possible. I would ask myself when will I be back here again. The logical answer is probably never, so see and do everything you can. Hey, you might get back there again but why take the chance and procrastinate. I have been sky-diving in Sydney, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, crawled through the Cu Chi tunnels in Saigon, climbed the Great Wall, been shark cage diving in Capetown and have eaten the still beating heart of a cobra in a back alley restaurant in Hanoi.

I always take those "100 things to do before you die" quizzes. I tend to score above average although eating a cobra heart is not usually on the list. I have been blessed to have visited many of the outstanding places on this earth. Not all but many. If I were to try and rank them it would be very difficult but here is rough attempt.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Petra, Jordan
Great Wall, Bejing, China
Forbidden City, Bejing, China
Dead Sea
Machu Picchu, Peru
Galápagos Islands
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Patagonia, Argentina
Cu chi tunnels, Saigon Vietnam
Table rock, Capetown, South Africa
Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Killing fields, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Hanoi war museum
Hau Long Bay, Vietnam
Rome
Colosseum
Pantheon
Athens
Parthenon
Tokyo Tower old and new
Temple of the dawn, Bangkok, Thailand
BrIdge on the River Kwai
Grand Canyon
Niagara Falls
Bitter end yacht club
Taj Mahal
Red Square / Kremlin
Wailing wall, Jerusalem
Venice
Lake Como
Hoover Dam
Empire State Building
Statue of Liberty
Gold Coast of Australia
Great Barrier Reef
Motorcycle ride Capetown, South Africa
Alamo
Atlantic City Boardwalk
Tower of London / Big Ben
Canals of Amsterdam
Dead Sea
Devil'sTower
French Quarter - New Orleans
Gateway Arch - St. Louis
Gettysburg Battle Field
Golden Gate Bridge
Pearl Harbor - Hawaii
Hollywood Blvd.
Las Vegas Strip
Mount Fuji
Hiroshima
Mount Rushmore
Napa Valley
Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur
Redwood National Park
Sears/Willis Tower - Chicago
Sistine Chapel
Smithsonian Institution
Stonehenge
Sydney Opera House
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Times Square
Walt Disney World
The Washington Monument
Arlington National Cemetery
White House - Washington DC
Yosemite National Park
Painted Dessert
Custer's Battle Field - Little Big Horn
Death Valley and Four Corners
North Channel of Lake Huron
Robin Island - Nelson Mandela Prison

Panama Canal

Havana
Bejing
Shanghai
Taipei
Bangkok
Kuala Lumpur
Borneo
Manila
Jakarta
Japur
New Delhi
Rhine River Cruise from Milan to Amsterdam

I have cruised all five Great Lakes and Lake Champlain

Erie Canal

Channel Islands, Santa Barbara, CA

Transited the Okochobee Canal from Ft Meyers to Stuart and then to Riviera Beach.

Cruised America’s Great Loop - 6,500 miles over 362 days 2015 - 2016


A list of the 64 countries I have visited

Anguilla
Argentina
Aruba
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba

Curaçao
Dominican Republic
Dubai
Ecuador
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Honduras
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Ireland

Israel
Italy
Jamaica

Japan
Jordan
Macau
Malaysia
Martinique
Mexico
Namibia
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand

Panama
Peru
Philippines
Puerto Rico
Russia
Saint Barts
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Switzerland

Taiwan
Thailand
Ukraine
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam



John Simons