Yesterday was my 21st birthday. Incidentally I’ve been to 21 foreign countries before my 21st. I figured this was a good time to reflect on good and life-changing times.
I am so grateful for these experiences and memories. It’s been quite the wild ride these past few years. Who knows how many countries I’ll have been to before the next milestone?
The first country is the US, which is where I was born and spent all but 10 days of my adolescence. I can’t really comment on it objectively, since I’m from there.
Costa Rica
This trip is much more well documented. I have several blog posts and lots of pictures separated by topic (the reason we were there, the streets, the flora, the park, the rain forest, the chocolate, the volcano, and Cartago).
United Kingdom
The next country I went to was Scotland/the UK. Like I just said, right after I graduated and turned 18, I moved to Scotland to go to university. I can’t really do justice to Scotland in just a short paragraph, but I will say that it’s beautiful, full of history, windy, and absolutely my favorite place in the world. I have written probably most of my blog posts about Scotland, but some of my favorites are my first day in Scotland, How to Love Scotland in 48 Hours, and Scotlanniversary.
Ireland
The first time I left the UK was to go to Dublin for a weekend. It didn’t really really feel that much different than the UK, but different enough to be a good traveling experience. We flew Ryanair for the first time (which is an experience all on its own), had a passport scare, and did full-on touristing. This was the first time I went on an international trip without anyone to help plan it.
Belgium
I went to Belgium to stay with some family friends. This was such a good trip. I really got to experience the culture (read: food) and history. We were in the eastern part, which is very rural. I got to practice my French (I even got asked out in French!), and I also got to pop quickly over to two other countries: the Netherlands and Germany. We actually got to go to the place where the three countries intersect!
The Netherlands
We went to Maastrict for one day on my trip to Belgium and I found it to be such a clean and beautiful city. All the buildings were white, cream, or some off-white color, which was absolutely beautiful with the fall leaves. Also one of my favorite parts was finding out that’s where D’Artagnan from the Three Musketeers was from. We had just read it in my French class the previous year, so I nerded out about it.
Germany
I’ve been to Germany twice. The first time was on a day trip while I was in Belgium to Aachen to visit the Christmas market. The second time was to Bavaria with my aunt. The highlight was seeing Neushwanstein in the snow!
Austria
Ok, this is kind of cheating. I’ve slept in Austria for three nights. This was while visiting Neushwanstein. We walked across the border both days into Germany – that’s how close we were. So I don’t know if that really counts…
Italy
I went to Italy in February to visit a couple of friends in Florence and Rome. I fell in love and had an amazing time. It was also my first solo trip, which was pretty big for me.
Vatican City
While in Rome, of course I went over to Vatican City (no passport check though!). The whole place is covered in gold, paintings, and statues. It’s unbelievable. Also, I was there on Ash Wednesday, so it was kind of nuts.
Spain
I’ve also been to Spain twice. The first time was to visit my cousin who was in Granada on her semester abroad. We also went to Murcia together. The second time I went to Spain was to go to Barcelona, which admittedly was not a very good trip.
Sweden
When I went to Finland in the summer of 2015, we had an overnight layover in Stockholm. Instead of sleeping on the floor of the airport, we went into town from about 1am to 5am and wandered around as the sun was rising (at 2am!). It was so beautiful.
Finland
I went to Finland because my flatmate at the time is from Helsinki. We went for a week or so, and it was really cool (but expensive!).
Estonia
I went to Talinn, Estonia for the day while we were in Finland. I takes two hours by ferry, so why not? I wasn’t really excited for Talinn and didn’t know anything about it. We were there on probably the hottest day of the year and walked around the old town. It was beautiful.
Iceland
I went to Iceland just after New Years in 2016. I went with some friends and we stayed for about 4 days in Reykjavik. Since it was winter, the sun barely came up, but it was golden hour all day. We got pretty good weather and I liked Iceland.
Norway
I went to Oslo on a quick break during revision week. I didn’t blog about it or take that many pictures. It was just a break.
Switzerland
I went to Switzerland to visit two friends who both live in Basel. I basically took a day trip every day in Switzerland and it was incredible. The best day was the day we went to Jungfrau and then accidentally ended up in the most beautiful valley ever.
France
One of my day trips in Switzerland was to France. I think this is also probably cheating, but I went!
China
I’ve been in China for about nine months now on my year abroad. I’m living in Hangzhou, but I’ve been all over the place – from Beijing to Lhasa and quite a few places in between.
Taiwan
I wen to Taiwan last October for a long weekend. I was primarily in Taipei, but we also went to Jiufen for the day. Like everyone who has ever been, I absolutely fell in love and can’t wait to go back.
India
I was ridiculously lucky to be invited to India to join some family friends on a trip to Tamil Nadu last December. They planned everything, so I was pretty much just crashing their family holiday. I can’t wait to go back to India. It just made me want to go to different parts of India, since it’s such a diverse place.
Thailand
I went to Thailand to escape China over Lunar New Year. I stayed in Bangkok for a few days and also took a SCUBA diving course on Koh Tao. Thailand was just kind of perfect. The weather was so lovely in January. The food was incredible. Everything was cheap. It was the perfect escape from winter and from the insanity of Chinese New Year.
That’s 21 foreign countries that I’ve been to before my 21st birthday. For someone who had only left the country once when I was 9 or 10 before I was 18, I honestly can’t believe it. The beautiful places, wonderful food, interesting and foreign cultures, not to mention all the lovely languages I’ve been exposed to so far have drastically changed my outlook on life. I don’t know who I would be now without these experienced. I’m so grateful for all the opportunities and experiences I’ve had so far!
