After a short 4 day trip to London to speak at a Future of Tourism event, I’ve arrived in Charleston, South Carolina which is my 50th State!
There was no particular reason why South Carolina was my last state, it just sort of happened that way. Other states I’ve visited because they were on the way to somewhere else. Some I visited because of conferences or other events. I just never had a reason to visit South Carolina until now.
Claiming that you’ve visited all 50 states is really more of an American thing and probably doesn’t have as much meaning if you live elsewhere. I’ve actually met a few Europeans who have visited all 50 states, but they did big multi month road trips in the US.
If you look at a map, however, the US is about the same size as Europe excluding Russia. Oddly enough, Wikipedia lists 50 sovereign states with territory in Europe. At least geographically, visiting all 50 US states is on a par with visiting every country in Europe. (I know politics, language and culture make visiting every European country very different than visiting every US state.)
I’m also hoping to complete two more goals sometime this year: visit my 10th and final Canadian province (Saskatchewan) and my 5th and final US Territory (US Virgin Islands).
I don’t travel to check stuff off of a list, but lists are fun to keep nonetheless. If I really wanted to just maximize the number of countries I’ve visited, I would have been to far more than I currently have. I’ve probably been within a mile of 5 countries that I’ve never entered and I’ve been within an hour drive of several more.
Next Thursday I’m going on a mystery trip. I have no idea where I’m going other than it is within driving distance of Charleston, SC. I’ll be renting a car and I’ll be given instructions by my assistant Amy via Twitter. Then I’m off to San Francisco again.
Scottevest Transformer Jacket Winner
Last week we ran a contest to give away one of the brand new Scottevest Transformer Jackets; the jacket that convert to a vest in seconds.
The winner is Ricardo Perna from Portugal! Parabéns!!!!
As an extra surprise (we did not announce this), we will be giving away ten gift packages from Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado. The package includes an indoor marshmallow roaster and all the ingredients to make your own s’mores – just like the one’s served on the patio of this resort in Vail, CO. The winners of the gift package are:
- Joel Andres
- Sandra Howard
- Ryan Cowles
- Sang Park
- Brenda Bussell
- Christopher Belliveau
- Alisha Hilde
- Curtis Buxton
- Mary Robertson
- David Shanske
Links
- Will mystery of Amelia Earhart be solved?
- How Tech and Social Media Are Changing Travel [INFOGRAPHIC]
- Bloggers use Teletubbies to evade Chinese censors
- The UN’s chequered record in West Papua
- Australian Federal Police airport teams are just ‘for show’
As a former Charleston resident, might I recommend a day trip to Beaufort, SC? It’s a pretty area, a nice small town and an easy hour drive. Hope you have a great time in the Holy City eating and drinking. That’s all I ever did when I lived there anyways.