Today I have reached a big milestone. I’ve now visited 25 % of every countries in the world! This is celebrated by looking at the best experiences so far.

The country adding to the list as number 50 is Luxembourg. Not to far from my home in Norway, but still only the 109th most visited each year. Luxembourg is by the way one of the best countries I have visited so far and the new favourite country in Europe.

The purpose of travelling is of course not to visit as many countries as possible, although I’ll admit enjoying cleaning up the scratch map every now and then. But borders are often the separation between cultures and visits to few cities in many countries may enable you to experience more diversity and different experiences than visits to many cities in few countries.

Below is a summary of the best city, country, building, experience, beach, view, hotel and restaurant I’ve experienced so far.

Best city

According to TripAdvisor I’ve visited more than 230 cities. Picking a favourite is no easy task; however, one does stand out: London. The combination of an understandable language, cheap flights, a superb metro system and a plethora of things to do makes it hard to find a city that I enjoy more than London.

Other cities that almost made it to the top: San Francisco, New York, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris og Tokyo. 

Best country

Another hard one to pick. There are so many countries that are great in their own way. After a long discussion with myself I came to the conclusion of a rather “rare” country: The Federated States of Micronesia. As a Norwegian I can travel here visa free, there is almost no presence of tourism scams, the scenery and nature is absolutely stunning, prices are acceptable, the country features an incredible ancient city on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list and the population is very hospitable and friendly. At the same time getting here is a long journey, regardless of where you travel from. However, it is worth the time and cost, FSM is one incredible place!

Other countries that almost made it to the top: USA, Cambodia, United Kingdom, Namibia and Luxembourg

Best building

Humans like making buildings and when you travel you run into quite a lot of interesting ones. But one stands out as more mind-blowing than any other: Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is ridiculously tall and my brain cannot really process it and understand that it is real. It is not a skyscraper, because it goes way beyond the sky!

Other buildings that almost made it to the top: Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, One World Trade Center on Manhattan, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. 

Best experience

The correct answer is the trip when Tora and I got engaged. Saying anything else will just lead to trouble… However, among experiences that others can ehm… experience… it is really hard to pick one moment. Experiences come in so many shapes and colours, therefore I ended up with three:

Standing on top of the world:

During our visit to Svalbard we visited Pyramiden, the world’s second northernmost city. To the north there were a few hundred people. To the south there were around 7.4 billion people. That made us for a very brief period of time the 0.0000068% northernmost people in the world!

Rhino tracking in Zimbabwe

Wild rhinos are unfortunately not a common sight anymore and experiencing them up close in their natural habitat is a very special experience. In Zimbabwe we were lucky enough to join a guide on rhino tracking on food and get as close as 20 meters.

Walk the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

They say it’s all about the journey, not the destination. Most people having walked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu are probably agreeing to this. Seing Machu Picchu is an amazing experience itself, but for me it was an even greater one getting there. The feeling of knowing that you are walking the same path as the Incas did hundreds of years ago is truly extraordinary, but when you add the views from the mountain tops to the equation it takes it to a whole new level.

Other experiences that almost made it to the top: Tracking elephants in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, visiting Nan Madol in the Federated States of Micronesia and seing the “big five” in Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Best beach

Maho Beach, St. Maarten! Finally an easy pick. Maho Beach is in no way a perfect beach (don’t get me wrong, it’s a white beach with crystal clear water in the Caribbean, but so is every other beach in this area too), but it makes it to the top of the list for the simple reason that it’s located right next to an airport. Like right next to it. It is one of the few places in the world where you can take a bath and also see airplanes fly above you with just a few meters of space in between.

Other beaches that almost made it to the top: Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda and Labadee, Haiti. 

Best view

The best view I’ve ever had was captured very close to home. A foggy sunrise at Pulpit Rock looks like something Leonardo da Vinci could have painted to represent paradise. A cloud cover below the feet, a rock appearing to be floating on top of it and golden rays of sunlight spreading from the horizon. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Other places that almost made it to the top: Yosemite National Park in California, Trolltunga in Norway, last part of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Kjerag in Norway, Fish River Canyon in Namibia and the observation deck of Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Best hotel

Usually we stay in cheap hotels to save money while travelling, but a hotel that was an experience itself was Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin. Each room is custom made to some strange theme and we slept in coffins!

Other hotels that almost made it to the top: Yotel in New York, Atlantis in Bahamas and Crazy House in Vietnam (the last two I’ve visited, but not spent the night)

Best restaurant

Like hotels we do not spend much money on food while travelling. Therefore the list of good restaurants is rather short, but one does clearly stand out: Le Jules Verne in Paris. The restaurant has been awarded a Michelin star and is located above the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t think it gets much better than that?

The future

I’m looking forward to reviewing the list when country number 100 is added to the list. So far the Vatican, San Marino ,Switzerland and Liechtenstein is on the itinerary for this year. Further than that I have no planned.. so far…

At the very end, here is the list of countries I have visited so far: