My Ticket Stub, the Brochure, and a Reminder

What first made this feel like I was traveling was how I approached the event. I was figuring that with the crowds, parking would be difficult near the stadium, so I chose to park a few miles away, and walk. This afforded me the opportunity of exploring parts of downtown Seattle, where unfortunately, I don’t get to very often. During my walk, I was able to browse in and out of many shops that I never even knew existed. One of the shops I walked into happened to be selling photographs of Native Americans taken by Edward S. Curtis. These were amazing photos showing the people and the land of those that lived here around 100 years ago. Needless to say, the photographs were selling for an average of $5,000 each, so I chose to buy a couple of postcards (which I usually do when I travel) of $1.00 each. More my budget.

Postcards of Native Americans; Photos by Edward S. Curtis

Once I arrived at the stadium, I felt like I was traveling around the world in only a few hours. There were people of all nationalities attending this amazing event, many of them dressed in their traditional clothing. The Dalai Lama pointed out to the audience during his talk of compassion, that we are all human beings, all part of humanity, over 6 billion people around this world, that the whole world should be considered part of each one of us, and that it is secondary that we are of different color, culture, religion, social background, etc. Seeing so many people in this stadium, to me, proved these facts that I also experience when I travel to other countries.

“Seeds” of Compassion

While I don’t want to reiterate what His Holiness spoke of, as you can listen to his talk on the website of seedsofcompassion.org, I do want to say that compassion can be defined in many ways. As the Dalai Lama says, it is “taking care of others,” and a “sense of concern for others.” Compassion can also be defined as acceptance, respect, kindness, affection, peace, love…towards all. Compassion can be put into action in many forms, from small acts of human kindness, to large humanitarian efforts. And compassion can be demonstrated on many levels, as the Dalai Lama says, whether on an individual level, family, community, national, or on an international level.

Braided Bracelets to Weave Your Compassionate Intentions

According to His Holiness, compassion is necessary for lasting world peace. In my opinion, whether one is a traveler or not, compassion is necessary for human existence…

Sweet Travels!

I came across this quote by His Holiness the Dalai Lama a few days after I originally published this blog…

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

This lifetime goal of theirs sparked my curiosity, and I wanted to know just how many countries there actually are in the world. I found an interesting article at http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.htm, stating that by most accounts, there are 195 countries; although the number varies a bit according to the source. There is even a link from this article to a list of all these 195 countries. So, this couple that I had met had set a goal of seeing about half of the countries of this planet!

I also wondered how far I would have to travel to reach this goal for myself, if I ever decided I wanted to try to accomplish it. As of March 2008, here is my tally, both from solo trips, and from travel with others:

United States (and I have been to about 37 of them, including 33 during a three-month trip in an R.V., and a solo excursion to Alaska)

Australia
New Zealand
Vietnam

17 countries during my five-month solo European journey, including Vatican City

7 countries during my “around the Baltic Sea in 15 days” trip

Iceland (a European country that I visited on its own vacation)

Canada (but do I really count that if I have only been to Victoria and Vancouver so far? sure, why not.)

Mexico
Jamaica
Belize

Puerto Rico (but that technically doesn’t count because it is a territory, so I shall not count it)

That is a total of 33. Not too bad, but definitely way more to go. So, let’s see…how can I visit 67 more countries in approximately the next 40 years?

*I could travel to 1.675 countries a year for the next 40 years.

*I could visit one country a year until I retire, and then I would need to see about 42 countries during retirement.

*I could explore 3.35 countries a year for the next 20 years.

*I could go see 2 countries a year for the first 20 years, and 1.35 countries for next 20 years.

*I could take a trip to 5 countries every other year for 13.4 years.

*I could journey to 28 countries this year, and one country a year for 39 years thereafter.

*Or I could just quit my job and travel to all 67 countries now…

Oh so many countries, so little time. And the exciting part is getting to choose which countries I would want to explore. I guess I better start planning my next vacation if I want to reach this goal…

Sweet Travels!

maps from maps.com