harrymitsidis' VirtualTourist Home Page

Welcome to my webpage... don't pay attention to the map, I really HAVE been to all world countries. It will take a while to build them, perhaps as long as 2 years, so be patient!
My name is Harry Mitsidis, half-Greek, half-English. At the age of 40 days, I crossed my first border from London, where I was born, to Athens, Greece, where I spent the first 21 years of my life...
Since then, life has taken me on a really wonderful journey! Especially starting from 1999 onwards...
My dream was to do all the countries in the world. At first this seemed impossible and ridiculous as an aim. But then I finished all of Europe at the age of 29...and started with the continents beyond. And, finally, I achieved my seemingly impossible aim at the age of 36 years, one month and 5 days. The last UN country I landed in was Equatorial Guinea, in the last minutes of March 19, 2008. It was there that I exclaimed 'I have conquered the world'! What a feeling, knowing I belong to a small group of people who can have a real mental image of every country in the world...
I will try to upload one to two countries a week, which means it will take me at least 2 years to complete the updating of the whole website! But it's a project worth completing!

Travel plan for coming month or so
11.7-18.8: Greek summer holiday (Athens, Rhodes, Halkidiki)
29.8-3.9: Svalbard (Spitsbergen)

Travels in 2008 so far (starting at the bottom)

ITALY (Sardinia: Alghero, Sassari, Castelsardo, St. Teresa, Tavolara): 8.7-11.7

GUERNSEY (St. Peter Port, Herm, Sark): 7.7-8.7

JERSEY (whole island): 6.7-7.7

UNITED KINGDOM (Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Chester, Crewe and Wales: Rhyl, Llandudno, Conwy): 2.7-6.7

ISLE OF MAN: 1.7-2.7

IRELAND (Dublin and around it): 29.6-1.7

UNITED KINGDOM (Belfast): 28.6-29.6

HUNGARY (Nagymaros, Visegrad): 27.6-28.6

SLOVAKIA (Bratislava): 27.6

GERMANY (Munich): 12.6-13.6 and 15.6

AUSTRIA (Vienna, Salzburg): 4.6-5.6 / 13.6-15.6

SYRIA (Damascus and Lattakia) : 26.5-4.6

LEBANON (Beirut): 27.3-31.3

GREECE (Athens): 23.3-27.3 / 31. 3 - 4.4 / 21.6-27.6

EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Malabo and Bata): 19.3-21.3 (my last UN country!)

MOROCCO (Tangier and Casablanca): 17.3-19.3

U.K. (GIBRALTAR) : 16.3-17.3

SPAIN (Madrid, Ceuta): 14.3-16.3 and 17.3

KOSOVO (Pristina, Pec, Djakovica, Prizren): 2.3-4.3

FYR MACEDONIA (Skopje): 1.3-2.3 / 4.3-5.3.

SLOVENIA (Brezice, Ljubljana): Day trips on 26.1 and 9.2

ANGOLA (Luanda): 16.1-18.1

MALAWI (Lilongwe) : 13.1-15.1 (plus excursion to Lake Malawi)

SOUTH AFRICA (Pretoria) : 11.1-13.1 / 15.1-16.1

FRANCE (Paris, Bonifacio) : 7.1-10.1 / 9.7 (day trip to Corsica)

CROATIA (Zagreb) : 3.1-7.1 / 19.1-27.1 / 4.2-13.2

SERBIA (Belgrade, Nis, Crvenka and day trips all around) : New year until 3.1 / 27.1-4.2 / 13.2-1.3 / 5.3-14.3 / 4.4-26.5 / 5.6-12.6 / 15.6 - 20.6 (peaceful at home)

I opened this page on May 29, 2008 in an internet cafe in Damascus, Syria. I have been rather disappointed the last few days. Not only in the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest this year but also in people too. Sometimes one wonders whether true friendship exists and whether anybody can be trusted.

Yet today something miraculous happened. I am reading a book called 'The Monk who sold his Ferrari' (I am reading this in Serbian, which is not my mother language, yet a very beautiful one). It is about finding the beauty in life. There I was today sitting at a cafe and reading about how a simple exercise to cleanse the mind of negativity is to daily take the time to look at a red rose intensely and simply concentrate on its beauty. The first few days, the text continues, concentrating will be hard as millions of other cursory (mostly negative) thoughts will poison your mind. And yet, if you focus enough, and try every day, eventually you will train your mind to find the beauty in the rose. And the rose symbolises life itself. I was reading the text and pondering it when I look out the window to the street and what should I see? A little boy, aged 6 maybe, is holding a bunch of fresh red roses for sale. A miracle? He passed by and I smiled at this coincidence on a road in Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world... And then, after 20 minutes, I left the cafe, and what should I see on the road? The little boy is coming my way. I bought a rose, of course. And smiled. For in little things, one can forget all one's worries and focus on the rose...

I know a few people who actually don't like to travel. I know people who have never crossed a border and have never been on a plane! For someone like me who has had more than 1000 flights and has not stayed in the same country for more than 99 days since 1993 this is inconceivable...

And yet, of course there are other things... here are a few of life's beauties that give my life a meaning (in no apparent order): philosophical conversations with friends in nice cafes (preferably with a view), astrology, Eurovision Song Contest, aviation and especially collecting JAT Yugoslav Airlines memorabilia, learning useless languages such as Romanian, Slovenian and Turkish all of which I still dabble with, quarreling with my parents over finances (there is a bizarre satisfaction in this), reading books in Serbian, business class lounges that have lots of food and free internet, my flat in Vouliagmeni when there are others to share it with (I miss it), watching Murder She Wrote (I love Angela Lansbury!), savouring a good lemon meringue pie (the best I have eaten was in Swakopund, Namibia!)...and never to be forgotten Smoki! The best crisps in the world, made in Serbia!

Among the things I don't enjoy are: smoking, people who don't smile enough, those who don't take the Eurovision seriously (are you nuts?), working with bosses from hell or selfish people, fish - I NEVER eat fish unless it is fish fingers or McFish, but that hardly counts - globalisation (KFC in Damascus is a big disappointment), ignorance and intolerance or racism.

PS: For those who haven't noticed I am a 36-year-old child. Yet my former students will tell you I am a pretty tough lecturer if I want to be!

One of my passions is statistics. And of course I have applied this to countries as well! I have included a complex formula for assessing each place which includes the people, the beauty of cities and the countryside, value for money, infrastructure, food (very important!), and some more factors! Based on these dynamic features - dynamic in the sense that they can change following every visit, my top 10 countries are the following:

1. Portugal
2. New Zealand
3. Serbia
4. Spain
5. Netherlands
6. Canada
7. Cape Verde
8. Turkey
9. Syria
10. Finland
11. South Africa
12. Tuvalu
13. Namibia
14. France
15. Philippines
16. Mozambique
17. Japan
18. Tajikistan
19. Samoa
20. Ethiopia

Of course this is all very subjective, so don't take it entirely seriously! And it is subject to change!

This list could be endless of course! So I will divide it into two parts. First, places I have been to that I would like to go to again (in order of urgency!):

1. Argentina (tour around)
2. Ethiopia (must see Lalibela and the churches)
3. Cape Verde (a wonderful country...want to do all the islands)
4. Tajikistan (and go on a wild trek inland)
5. Mozambique (anyone interested?)
6. Brazil (especially north coast and Salvador)
7. China (must have a cruise on the Yangtze river!)
8. Croatia (coast and islands)
9. Russia (Kaliningrad and also some typical towns to get the feel of doom!)

Then the places I have yet to 'conquer' though none of these are countries, just entities or would-be countries...

1. Abhazia
2. South Ossetia
3. Nagorno-Karabakh
4. New Caledonia
5. French Polynesia
6. Wallis and Futuna
7. American Samoa
8. Norfolk Island
9. Cook Islands
10. Falkland Islands
11. Reunion
12. Mayotte
13. Bermuda
14. Turks and Caicos
15, Guadeloupe
16. Martinique
17. Azores
18. Madeira
19. Svalbard
20. St. Pierre and Miquelon

If I manage to do these in the next 10 years, I will be most satisfied!

Number of days without crossing a border since July 1993: 99.
Number of days without crossing a border since April 2003: 58.
Maximum number of days outside EU zone since 1997: 61 (April 4 - June 4, 2008).

Total number of flights registered until today (as of 1972): 1062
Total number of airlines flown: 196

Total number of flights in 2008: 39
Total number of flights in 2007: 157
Total number of flights in 2006: 93
Total number of flights in 2005: 88
Total number of flights in 2004: 56
Total number of flights in 2003: 41
Total number of flights in 2002: 96
Total number of flights in 2001: 70
Total number of flights in 2000: 35

Top 10 airlines flown since 1972 (number of flights indicated in brackets): Olympic (141), Aegean Air (53), Lufthansa (47), British (47), KLM (44), JAT Airways (27), Easyjet (27), Malev (23), Alitalia (22), Turkish (21).

Longest Sector flown: Auckland-Dubai (via Melbourne; total time approx. 19 hours). A dream on Emirates' first class!

Total number of countries visited: 196/196 (independent countries)
Total number of countries visited in 2008: 23
Total number of countries visited in 2007: 75
Total number of countries visited in 2006: 43
Total number of countries visited in 2005: 47
Total number of countries visited in 2004: 29
Total number of countries visited in 2003: 24
Total number of countries visited in 2002: 43
Total number of countries visited in 2001: 23
Total number of countries visited in 2000: 28

Countries most visited since 1998 (most border crossings, excluding Greece): Serbia, Germany, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Hungary.
Countries spent most time in since 1998: Greece, Finland, Serbia, Croatia, UK.

Well folks...my last European country was Belarus in June 2001. I was so convinced that Minsk would be boring that I didn't bother take a camera with me. Silly, silly me! There were independence celebrations with communist-like parades everywhere!

Anyway, following Belarus, I branched out considerably! Here is a list of all non-European trips I have taken since July 2001... If you find a country that is not below (i.e. Canada, Indonesia, Taiwan etc) be assured that I made it there before July 2001!

2001 (July): Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - Kazakhstan

2001 (August): Brazil

2001 (September): Lebanon - Syria - Jordan

2002 (January): St. Maarten - Antigua and Barbuda - Puerto Rico - Panama - Costa Rica - Nicaragua - Honduras - El Salvador - Belize - Mexico - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Jamaica - Cuba - Grenada - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Dominica.

2002 (March): India

2002 (September): Azerbaijan - Georgia - Armenia - Turkmenistan - Iran

2002 (October): Laos - Thailand - Myanmar

2003 (July/August): Australia - New Zealand - Tonga - Singapore - Malaysia - Brunei

2003 (October): Afghanistan (via Dubai)

2004 (March): Oman - Qatar - Bahrain

2004 (April): Greenland

2004 (September): Russia (Siberia) - Mongolia - China - North Korea

2004 (September): Kuwait

2005 (January): Algeria - Mauritania - Tunisia

2005 (March): Pakistan - Nepal - Bahrain - Lebanon

2005 (March): Brazil - French Guiana - Suriname - Guyana - Trinidad and Tobago - USA (New York only) - Bahamas - Venezuela - Aruba - Curacao - Dominican Republic - Colombia - Ecuador - Peru - Bolivia - Paraguay - Chile

2005 (December): Japan - South Korea

2005 (December/January): Syria

2006 (February): Bangladesh - UAE

2006 (March/April): Qatar - Saudi Arabia - Yemen - Philippines - Singapore - Australia (Darwin only) - East Timor - Singapore - Sri Lanka - India - Bhutan - Morocco (I know, weird routing and my most tiring trip to date)

2006 (August): Iraq - Jordan

2006 (September): Tajikistan

2006 (September): Venezuela

2006 (November): Lebanon

2006 (December): South Korea - Northern Marianna Islands - Guam - Palau - Micronesia - Marshall Islands - Kiribati - Fiji - Samoa - New Zealand

2006 (December): Lebanon

2007 (January): Cote d'Ivoire - Togo - Ghana - Nigeria - Libya

2007 (January): Lebanon - Jordan

2007 (February): Mauritius - Madagascar - Comoros - Seychelles

2007 (March/April): Egypt - Sudan - Uganda - Rwanda - DR Congo - Burundi - Ethiopia - Djibouti - Somalia (Somaliland) - Eritrea - Lebanon

2007 (April): Sao Tome and Principe - Gabon - Cameroon - Kenya - Tanzania - Zimbabwe - Botswana - Lesotho - Swaziland - Mozambique

2007 (May): Cape Verde - Senegal

2007 (July): Namibia - Zambia - South Africa

2007 (August): Australia - Nauru - Solomon Islands - Papua New Guinea - Fiji - Tuvalu - Vanuatu

2007 (September): Mali - Niger - Burkina Faso - Benin - Central African Republic - Congo - Chad

2007 (October): Tunisia

2007 (November): Kuwait - Yemen - UAE - Lebanon - Jordan

2007 (December): Senegal - Guinea Bissau - Gambia - Sierra Leone - Liberia - Cote d'Ivoire - Guinea - Morocco - Western Sahara

2008 (January): South Africa - Malawi - Angola

2008 (March): Morocco - Equatorial Guinea

2008 (March): Lebanon

2008 (May/June): Syria