While it's more than I assume a lot of people manage to achieve, five of those ten countries I "visited" in uniform. Of those left over, I'm a citizen of one of them, and that's a freebie. Canada and Mexico are easy destinations, Jamaica slightly less so. And I added the Bahamas because I was once on a boat off the Florida coast filming a fishing tournament for ESPN that unexpectedly stopped in Bimini to refuel. Never got off the boat, but it was tied to a dock, so I was briefly tethered to Bahamian soil.

As far as where the Marine Corps took me; I was stationed in Japan for a couple of years, and I did get out some while there. Maybe I'll write about it sometime if you're interested. Went to Korea with Armed Forces Television to cover "Team Spirit," a big US/South Korean military exercise designed mostly to show off our readiness to retake Pyongyang at will. I don't know if they still do this today, since Kim Jong-("Mentally") Il got himself some nuke, but it used to be a big deal. I did get a brief opportunity to re-trace some of my dad's Korean War travels under less hostile conditions, so that's legitimate tourism. Slept on the ground in Honduras for two weeks that just happened to coincide with the Sandinistan "honest" elections in neighboring Nicaragua, and briefly joined the chase for Manuel Noriega, fulfilling a US combat commitment to write press releases. The Philippines... well, every Marine stationed in the Far East once managed to pass through there somehow.

Because Puerto Rico's a choice, I picked it as well, but it's technically incorrect to call it a country, it's a US commonwealth. Puerto Rican nationalists can be outraged that I do not consider it Country #11.

And I did not select China, though I got to travel to Hong Kong once on leave, but that was before it reverted to Chinese control. And that's a shame, because China would fire up a huge section of landmass and look more impressive than, say, any of those Caribbean flyspecks.

So much to see and do. Makes me want to plan a vacation that requires suitcases and a passport, instead of a buzzcut and a seabag.... hmmm....

Europe beckons, and looking at some of Paul's photos from his recent trip, I'm once again thinking I have to get over there. Because Prussia (or the Euro-Baltic region that used to be called Prussia) is the only traceable part of my Heinz 57 heritage, I want to visit the "homeland" someday too. Adsit, by the way, is an English surname (derived from "Adsett" and "Adshead" which are more obviously Anglo, but imagine the grade-school taunts!), but I've not a jot of that in me, because I was adopted by my stepfather. I knew you were curious.

And if you read this far, you're probably bored too. But at least it isn't another vague tale of emotional burnout from me. I'm feeling a little better. Brief flashes of happiness here... spring is closer than it seems. 12:25:46 PM    comment []trackback []