sunshine007

Just curious. Do you travel for pleasure only? Do you have a particular goal -- like visiting all of the countries of the world before your health prevents it? Are you one of those Frequent Flyer addicts who fly places to maintain special status?

Thanks. Sunshine 007

thit_cho

Hi, fortunatly I get to travel frequently for business, which allows me to build up and replenish my frequent flyer accounts (to answer your last question, I have not, and don't think I would take a flight solely to maintain status, but I guess it depends on how near I am to increasing or preserving status, the price of the flight and the destination, but to date I have fortunately have not had to resort to taking a so-called "mileage run&quot.

I would like to visit all of the countries or regions (I usually refer to the list of the Travelers Century Club). I generally think the best thing in a new country is more interesting than the 10th best in a country I have already visited -- but I do revisit some favorite places. I am leaving on Tuesday, flying to Barcelona, which I will revisit, but also visting Mallorca and Andorra (so one new country, and a new island group).

My last trip of 2008 is at the end of December: Guam, Saipan, Yap, Palau, the Philippines, Sabah (a new region of Malaysia) and Brunei.

I am ticketed to visit the following new places in 2009: February (El Salvador); April (Barbuda, the half of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda that I have not visited, and Montserrat); May (Jordan, Syria and Lebanon); July (Turks and Caicos -- I will go to both island groups); August (Nigeria; Sao Tome and Principe; Gabon and Cameroon). And I am currently planning a trip for December 2009 -- likely via Qatar to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, but that one is not ticketed (I am going to try to use United miles for a flight on Qatar Airways).

Where are you thinking of visiting?

thit_cho

One more point, before I attract the inevitable accusations of overspending during a worldwide recession -- I am sure I spend much less on all of my annual trips combined than many spend on a single safari (I no longer stay in 5-star hotels, but now find local, preferably historic places, where I can stay for less than $100, and often less than $50, a night). I understand the need to spend a lot to visit some African parks and reserves, but that's not the case in a town or city.

Kavey

Thit_Cho, you do not have to justify your spending, we all of us have made choices in life (and perhaps fate has also made some choices for us) but, let's face it, all of us able to post here on Fodors are much better off than the majority of the world's population and very lucky indeed.

Whether we travel once every few years or several times a year, we all share the good fortune to explore the world.

I always enjoy reading about your trips and wish you many more happy years of travelling.

cary999

Agree, you do not have to justify your spending on travel or for anything else. Most everyone makes expenditures that can be considered luxuries by others. Even in some of the richest countries. What I admire about your travels is your energy and enthusiasm for it. That's worth more than the money to me.

regards - tom

sunshine007

Wasn't thinking about the money at all. I think it's great that you get to travel so much and to so many places -- makes me very, very envious. I always enjoy your trip reports.

What do you do that allows you so much travel & so much free time to travel?

I used to be a lawyer in Seattle, but now I teach English as a Foreign Language in Cairo, Egypt -- a much simpler life. It's like being on vacation all the time.

Would like to go on safari to see the wild animals, but I'm focusing on this area now. I travel to the Egyptian desert here as much as possible and once a year have gone to another Moslem country -- Morocco & Tunisia so far. I'd love to go to Lebanon, but that's not possible these days duie to the political situation. Maybe Syria or Turkey next. I was to go to Libya last year, but they canceled all visas for Americans.

aknards

really, thitcho, no judgements; much jealousy; and are you married?

thit_cho

sunshine007, I'm an attorney too. And I really don't take that much vacation, if you count days away from the office, I just try to maximize my days out of the office by adding them to long weekends and holidays. I hope the situation in Lebanon improves since I have a flight out of Beirut next May -- even if it doesn't, I intend to visit anyway.

You are quite lucky to be in Cairo -- I have been there a few times, and its one of my favorite cities to visit, and Egypt is one of the most interesting countries that I have visited.

aknards

michael, i hope you know that i was joking...

anita

Grcxx3

michael - next time you make it to Cairo...you need to get together with sunshine and Casual_Cairo! I did that last fall and had a blast! Of course, we met up at a restaurant in Ma'adi owned by a friend, which was even more fun. Percy was supposed to be there.........

atravelynn

Thit Cho,
Your spending will help us get out of this worldwide recession. No apologies needed.

demitademi

holy cow.
i am so jealous.
i think you travel more in one year than i have in my LIFE!

=)

By the way... how did you decide on your screen name?

rickmck

There's a whole 'nother thread about screen names, and thit_cho's explanation is one of the more interesting ones...

atravelynn

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35095158

12/17 at 9:26 am

Mohammed

Hi Michael, if your heading to Sri Lanka do give me a buzz mohammed at slt dot lk.

thit_cho

Mohammed, will do. I'm tentatively thinking about this circuit: Colombo (I have always wanted to stay at the Galle Face Hotel) -> Kandy -> Cultural Triangle. I don't think I will have time to get to Yala or another wildlife area. I'll shoot you an email today so that I remember to add your address to my yahoo contacts.

Gritty

Mmmmm....dog meat.....

Zambezi

Thit Cho: Having stayed at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo in late September, 2008, I can attest to its special qualities. I particularly enjoyed seeing Prince Philip's first car in its small museum and a bust of Arthur C. Clarke, a frequent guest as well as resident during the writing of one book. Nothing exceeds, however, having the elderly doorman with the enormous handlebar mustache salaam me. He must have been the model for the house manager in "Elephant Walk," starring Elizabeth Taylor and set in the tea region of old Ceylon. It is a great movie. ZZ

demitademi

Having been in Vietnam last year, when I saw Thit_Cho's name, that threw me for a loop (LOL). Thanks for the link to the names, all!

thit_cho

Well, I had to change my August 2009 trip by cutting out Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. My initial goal was to spend time in Gabon, and the more I learned from Mistral Voyages, the more time I realized I needed in Gabon, so I will spend most of that trip in Gabon, with a few days in Cameroon on the the return.