“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”. Here are the 33 countries on the 6 continents in the world that I visited so far, for a few hours of for many years. I only have one wish: that the map below will keep getting bluer and bluer in the future!
I have lived in three European countries…
–France: I was born in Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast. I spent my first 19 years there, before moving to Rennes in Brittany during three years for my studies. I came back to Saint-Nazaie between 2019 and 2022. I also travelled a lot around the country, especially with my parents when I was younger, but there are still many places I never visited!
–Germany: my mother’s country. We used to travel there once a year with my parents when I was a kid, and I went back on my own a few times more recently, to visit Berlin, Dresden, lake of Constance next to Austria, Hamburg… I also lived in Saarlouis, next to the French border for a few months of internship in 2009.
–Switzerland: I lived in Neuchâtel for five years between 2011 and 2016. Switzerland is a small but gorgeous country and I explored it from top to bottom and from left to right during this period. I even went once in Liechtenstein for a few hours. I probably know Switzerland better than many of its inhabitants!
…and I travelled to many others:
–Iceland: one of the greatest trips of my life: an unforgettable twelve-day road trip around the country in 2018.
–Italy: I visited most of the main Italian cities (Turin, Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice…) and travelled around the country on a few other occasions: one week in Sicily in 2014, one week in and around Naples and a two-week road trip in the north of the country in 2020, as well as a week in Sardinia in 2022. When I was in Rome, I also went to the Vatican, the smallest country in the wolrd!
–Spain: I spent a few days in Madrid and Barcelona, but also a week on Mallorca in 2021 and two weeks in Andalusia in 2022.
But also : Belgium (one week around Brussels, Bruges and Leuven in 2017), Czech Republic (only to Prag), Denmark (a frist trip in Aarhus and Copenhagen in 2018, a second in Sønderborg, Aalborg and the north of the country in 2021), England (London twice, Cambridge and Bristol once), Hungary (only to Budapest), Ireland (only to Dublin), Luxembourg for two days, Netherlands (only to Amsterdam), Norway (a week between Bergen and Stavanger in 2021), Poland (only to Wroclaw), Portugal (Lisbon and Porto), Scotland (many stays in Edinburgh and Glasgow), Wales (one day in Cardiff) and Turkey (one week in Istanbul in 2005, including a few hours on the Asian side of the Bosphorus).
–Canada: I went to Canada twice, the first time in 2015 (two weeks in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and the Niagara Falls), the second time in 2017 (Quebec City and Montreal again, but also ten days of road trip around Gaspésie and ten days exploring Vancouver and Vancouver Island).
–United States: I went to the US for the first time in 2015 (eight days in Boston and New York), for the second time in 2017 to explore the archipelago of Hawaii, and for the third and last time so far for a seven-week road trip in 2018 from Los Angeles to San Francisco through California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and countless National Parks.
–Peru: I spent three weeks in Peru in December 2022: I went to Lima, Arequipa, Cusco… where I got stuck for an entire week because of political protests that paralysed the country! Unfortunately, I was unable to reach the lake Titiaca and travel to Bolivia as originally planned, but luckily I still had the chance to visit the fantastic Machu Picchu…
–Chile: as soon as the borders of Peru reopened, I left the country and flew to Chile, where I travelled for about ten days, visiting Santiago, Valparaiso, and a tiny bit of the Atacama desert in the north.
I’ve only been to Morocco, for a week in Fez with my parents in 2006.
–Japan: I spent two fabulous weeks in Japan in 2018, visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and the island of Miyajima. My only regret: I couldn’t see Mount Fuji!
-But also: five short stopovers on my way to and back from Australia: Thailand (3 days in Bangkok in 2016 and again 2 in 2023), Malaysia (two days in Kuala Lumpur, one in 2016 and one in 2023) and Singapore for 2 days in 2017.
–Australia: my other “home” country, since I lived there for a year between 2016 and 2017. I went back to Australia for three months between 2017 and 2018, and again four months between 2018 and 2019. I drove around almost the entire coutry with my van and also lived and worked for a few months in Melbourne, a city that I deeply love. I’m actually currently back there since March 2023, still with the same great pleasure!
–New Zealand: I lived and worked in Auckland for a month and a half by the end of 2017, then visited the country in 2018 (four weeks on the South Island, two weeks on the North Island).
