50 International locations and Counting, She Now Finds Worth in Sluggish Journey

Earlier this yr, as I set foot in nation quantity 50, I anticipated the milestone to really feel vital. Instead, I noticed how little the quantity really meant.

As an adolescent, I turned obsessive about seeing the world. My first buy on Amazon was a set of fifty mini flags to check every day. I turned to quiz web sites like Sporcle to study nation capitals and populations once I ought to have been fixing math equations for varsity.

At 14, I’d already developed my first main journey aim: go to each nation in Europe. Later that yr, after a visit to Greece, Italy, and France, I used to be each bit as enamored with Europe as I’d imagined I’d be.

Unfortunately, I would not go to once more for seven complete years. By then, I used to be 21, in school, and eventually had the liberty to begin touring by myself. Visiting Paris, Amsterdam, and Barcelona reignited the obsession I’d developed years earlier.

Provided by Macie Strum

I started touring throughout each faculty break

These journeys had been removed from stress-free. I deliberate jam-packed itineraries to see as a lot as I may inside a one- or two-week window. There was one journey particularly that also makes me anxious to consider. In June of 2019, my good friend and I crammed Greece, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, and Germany into 10 days. We did not have time to go to the Acropolis in Athens.

We spent lower than 48 hours in every place and had been continuously dashing to catch the subsequent flight. After checking off the primary points of interest, there was little time to expertise the tradition and historical past of every place. I keep in mind spending extra time in Split’s airport than I did exploring town.

It went like this for my first yr of touring. At most, I’d spend three days in every nation, sticking largely to capital cities. At one level, I attempted to justify a two-hour layover in Keflavik as a visit to Iceland.

Social media made journey really feel like a contest

Seeing folks checklist the variety of nations they’d visited of their bios strengthened my very own urge to maintain rating. Looking again, I used to be utilizing my quantity in a lot the identical manner: as proof that I used to be well-traveled.

At the identical time, a part of my rushed journey type stemmed from necessity. Between being a busy school scholar and later a full-time worker, I solely had a lot time to journey.

But once I was laid off on the finish of 2023 and determined to spend most of 2024 touring in Asia and Australia, these time parameters turned out of date.

I used to be in a position to prioritize sluggish journey as a substitute of seeing what number of nations I may squeeze into every week or two. On that eight-month journey, I usually spent three weeks in every place, generally longer.

The longer I stayed, the extra I felt like I used to be really touring. Instead of solely crossing off must-see points of interest, I really had the time to study native historical past and customs, go to lesser-known areas, and expertise on a regular basis life. In the top, I felt a deeper appreciation for the nations I traveled via slowly than those I raced via.

Staying longer made room for experiences that will have by no means match into my early itineraries. In Malaysian Borneo, I spent three days exploring the Kinabatangan River deep within the jungle, observing orangutans, crocodiles, and native birds alongside the way in which.

I took a crusing journey via the Komodo Islands in japanese Indonesia and earned my superior diving certification on Gili Air, a small tropical island close to Lombok. Those two months I spent touring throughout Indonesia confirmed me how culturally and geographically numerous a single nation could possibly be. From Java to Flores, every island I visited had its personal dialect, non secular traditions, crafts, and native delicacies.

Provided by Macie Strum

It’s not simply concerning the numbers

I ended viewing the nations I had already visited as locations I’d “done.”

The locations I do know greatest are those I’ve returned to again and again, and I nonetheless uncover one thing new with every go to. I first traveled to Italy at 14 and returned to reside there 10 years later. A visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summertime of 2025 led me to determine Sarajevo as my present dwelling base.

Those returns did not enhance my nation rely. Still, they’ve given me issues {that a} quantity may by no means mirror — significant relationships, new views, language expertise, and a real connection to every place.

Nowadays, I like planning my journeys so I start or finish in a well-known location. I’m all the time simply as excited to return to the locations I really like as I’m to go to someplace new. There’s all the time consolation in being again in a spot the place I do know my manner round, have associates and favourite spots, and might choose up the place I left off.

I have never fully stopped counting.

My aim to go to each nation in Europe remains to be alive and effectively — there are 12 left on my bucket checklist. Admittedly, I nonetheless get satisfaction from including a brand new nation to my Been app, and each milestone remains to be thrilling. The largest distinction is that the quantity is now one thing I observe as a substitute of one thing I chase.