Traveling the World

As of 2020, the UN recognizes 193 countries in the whole world. 

If you prefer slow travel, it would take 16 years to spend a month in each country. 32 years if you only travel half the year. Needless to say, you’ll never have enough time to slow travel the world with two weeks of holidays per year. 

I’ve always wanted to walk the entire earth, but as I’m putting things into perspective, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to, and even if I can, is it worth dedicating so many years?

I don’t like traveling for the sake of it. I need a reason. A person, a project. Traveling to South-East Asia two years ago gave me the environment I needed to focus on growing my own first remote business. 

But it’s the other way around sometimes. Traveling creates its own reasons. As Pascal would say, the heart has its reasons that reason ignores. Great discoveries happen only in uncharted territory. Reasons have to be forced out of you.

There are two kinds of world travelers I admire: academics, and great reporters. The former travels to spread her teachings, the latter to find hidden truths worth sharing. Those are the two reasons I would need to develop and motivate to keep the fire burning.