Progress as of September 2011: 65 of 196 (33%) of world's countries visited shown in red

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”
Aldous Huxley

I recently made the mistake of buying a large wall map of the world with a view to plot past travels and plan future journeys which has had the unintended effect of making me realise I’ve visited a third of the world’s countries and that I’d like to try to visit the remaining two-thirds while I still have the energy. My working title for this travel photography project is “Looking Here & There” which may become a book or an exhibition.

My goal is to complete this odyssey by 2025 when I’ll be aged 50 and god willing, some of the world’s most dangerous countries will become less so by then. This equates to travelling to around nine countries a year which I think is achievable in a few months per year. My intention is to fund the travel as I have done for the previous few years via architectural photography assignments, fine art prints and producing books and exhibitions.

My choice on the number of world countries for this adventure is based on the 193 UN member sates plus Vatican City & Kosovo (both UN observer states) and Taiwan which is treated by the international community as an independent country, bringing the total to 196.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. ”
Henry Miller