52 Countries in 52 Weeks, Chapter 16: Halftime Stats & Mailbag!

In Which I Quantitatively Look At What I’ve Done In The Last Six Months, And Answer Questions About Fitness And Rankings And Stuff

Right now I’m in Italy having just wrapped up a leg of the trip with my Dad and brother — yes, I’m behind in writing, but my Very Important France Takes will come soon, promise! — which was really lovely for a couple of reasons.

One is that it’s nice to see the people you love — and in this particular case, give, with my brother, the present to our dad of an Italy trip that was supposed to happen in 2020, but you know, pandemic.

It’s also some lovely symbolism and timing, because as of this week, I’ve reached the halfway point of this trip.

I left Pacific Centre station in Vancouver on March 11, 2024 and have a ticket from (insert mystery location!) to Vancouver on March 11, 2025, and it feels weird to now be closer to the end than the beginning.

But it’s also an excuse to check the many metrics that I’ve been measuring this trip by (because I can’t help myself), and answer some questions from folks who sent in queries via Substack and Instagram.

So now, once again,

Who is ready for some charts?

At the halfway point, I’ve been to 32 countries, travelling (approximately) 73,449 kilometres.

Compared to the 1st quarter stats, that’s 20 more countries, but only about 19,000 more kilometres.

Which is an overly numberical way of saying “I spent most of the summer going to different European countries for short amounts of time.”

And that was truly wonderful, but it made a lot of my measurements for this quarter very skewed in particular directions.

Like, say, methods of transportation in the past three months.

Look at all those trains!

The big reason, of course, is that Europe is filthy with trains, and this three month period aligned perfectly with the three-month Eurail pass I purchased, which gave me free first-class travel on most* trains for under $2000.   

(*In some countries taking a high-speed train will set you pack an additional $5-$20 per trip, but this can be avoided most of the time if you’re willing to spend a little longer taking the slow train that’s on the same line between cities)

If you research the Eurail pass online, you’ll find a bevy of complaints that it’s overly complicated to use, often requiring separate knowledge of a country’s own rail service, and that it’s cheaper to fly and bus everywhere.

And these are reasonable arguments!

On the other hand, you learn how to navigate the rail system pretty quickly, trains are infinitely more comfortable than planes or buses, there’s reduced anxiety when you arrive right in the middle of town every time, the views are amazed, and given how much I used the pass, it worked out to about $20 a train ride.

For those curious, here are the overall figures for the full six months, which are somewhat more balanced.

(Any route that required transfers counted as a single leg)

Well, if the method of transportation was heavily dominated by one choice the last three months, surely the type of activities I’ve been doing won’t be that comica oh no

Yes, I *may* have gotten a *little* enthusiastic about museums over the last little bit, but big European cities have so many of them, and many of them are very good, and are air conditioned, and let you learn about a place and its culture without having to talk to people.

I say that somewhat facetiously, but also: we all have different ways of learning about things and interacting with a place.

A few months ago, someone criticized my travel philosophy, and said the better way to appreciate a country was to chat with local people and ask questions about their experiences.

Which, if I’m being honest, sounded a bit like some of my former journalism bosses, who would constantly talk about needing stories with emotional people sharing their feelings, and seemed confused by the awkward guy in the corner who had difficulty connecting with strangers, but was pretty good at telling stories using research and charts and maps and historical analysis and maybe a few jokes about Burnaby being boring.

The point is, there are certain ways I enjoy learning about things and figuring out a situation, and I’ve found that while travelling, museums can be a big part of that.

At the same time, I’m curious to see what this chart looks like in another three months, as I go through countries that are a little less museum-dominated.

Finally, let’s look at what types of accommodation I’ve been in.

Wow, 50 nights in hostels! That’s a lot!

It probably won’t seem as much in six months time though, and that’s because the rest of the trip is in countries where it’s a little bit easier to get a hotel for under $100 a night.

But overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well my hostel experience has gone. I’ve only had one putrid experience (involving a 12-bunk dorm in York with terrible snorers and people who kept the lights on all night), and otherwise I’ve gotten mostly cromulent sleeps, decent amounts of privacy and limited amounts of lads barrelling into my room at 2am.

There’s another thing that I’ve been tracking on a regular basis, and it’s a good segueway to the mailbag section of this post!

@Kitcksychick: “How are you feeling physically?”

@susanquig: “Are you fitter than you were pre trip?”

@crystalkaren23: “Is all your walking/hiking keeping your weight in check”

@Sheila Bodner: “Are you taking good care of yourself? I know there has been lots of walking. But are you getting enough health food and good quality sleep?”

A lot of people, including my Aunt Sheila (hi Aunt Sheila!), asked questions revolving around food/health/fitness stuff, moreso than earlier in the trip, which I suppose makes sense.

First, here’s a chart of the amount of kilometres I’ve been walking every day.

You can see that it’s generally around 10 to 15 kilometres a day, and has generally been a bit higher over the last few months, which I think is because there’s been less days where I’m either on a train for the entire day (as in North America) or spending seven hours flying, in an airport, or travelling to an airport (as in South America).

Again, trains good, etc.

Walking that amount has helped with my overall health, and I’ve noticed a reduction in blood pressure and an increase in stamina.

At the same time, I’ve only lost about five pounds, because a) I’ve built up some muscle, b) the funny thing about Quintessential Foods is they tend to be very rich and/or hearty, and c) I’ve gotten into a bad habit of wanting to try the various sodas of different countries when I’m wandering around a city for a day, when I really should be getting water instead.

But overall, it’s a much better routine than I had at home, and one I’ll try to keep parts of when I return.

And to more specifically answer Aunt Sheila’s question, I’m getting better sleep than normal, because my life no longer involves such things as as “partying with friends on a weekend and falling asleep at 1am”, or “getting up at 7am five days in a row because that’s what happens when you have a job.”

vaniayvr: “Looking back, anything you would have done differently?”

jbenwilson: “If you had done your trip in reverse, is there anything you’ve learned that would change the 1st half?”

vertmachin: “How different would your pre planning or pacing be if at all?”

DarrinRigo: “Have any reflections on how you’d do this differently if you planned it again?”

There were a bunch of other questions along this vein, but you get the picture. And what is a halftime break without some earnest contemplation about whether a strategy worked?

Overall, the core of my plan is working very well: my two big worries were that I would feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the pace, or that I would start to feel…not bored, but no longer amazed and inspired by the breadth of the world at a certain point.

That hasn’t happened, so the things that I would change with a time machine are tweaks that would elevate my strategy and emotional highs, rather than any major surgery.

1. I would create a few more gaps where I had nothing booked, allowing me to come up with a plan anywhere from a couple weeks to a day ahead of time based on my energy levels/new research/evolving interests. Overall, having places fairly locked has been great, because I’ve been able to focus on enjoying my destinations rather than figure out how to get there and where to stay, but I’ve found I’m really good at adapting on the fly, and it would be nice to have like 10% more spontaneity on this trip.

2. I would add in a couple more nature experiences, or smaller cities right next to a great hike. Despite being a city geek, anytime I’ve gotten out in the wild it’s been fantastic. I probably would tilt the balance a little bit more towards the natural world the next time around.

3. I would be more diligent about booking hotels and hostels that are close to train stations (or transit stations to airports). It’s both a time and energy suck to be hauling around bags for 30, 40, 50 minutes in both directions, often just to enjoy a city for just one or two nights. I’ve done a reasonably good job of this, but every time I’ve faced a long commute I’ve been kicking myself.

Janice: “What time did you pack that is essential and which item could you live without?”

robsungryoungkim: “What’s been the lifesaver tool/gadget you didn’t expect during your trip?”

A 10 litre dry bag has absolutely been the best lifesaver that I didn’t fully appreciate when a member of the fashion team ordered I buy it during the Trip-Centred Fashion Excursion before I left.

It’s primarily been my laundry bag, which I can squeeze and make super small — which helps to keep all my stuff to one carryon and one tiny backpack — and makes it easy when I need to travel a couple kilometres to find The One Laundromat In Town Open On Weekends.

I’ve also used it to keep my passport dry when I was required to bring it to Iguazu Falls, and turned it inside out and used it for swimming trunks returning from the ocean or the beach.

As for what I didn’t need, I answered this in a previous chat, but I brought a big Lululemon backpack, and quickly found there were actually no situations where I was using it (the small pack worked perfectly for hikes), so I ditched it a few months ago in Spain.

kimmcivor: “I look forward to every post. I’m interested to hear about your organizational tools. Do you use a spreadsheet or app to maintain your accommodation confirmations, tour bookings, etc?”

polydor3: “Would love to hear how you keep all your plans organized!”

jeannette.m.rhn: “How do you manage all bookings/confirmations/itineraries?”

I realized that while I described my planning process in previous posts, I hadn’t actually talked about what it looks like. So let’s do that!

First, there’s the basic spreadsheet that says where I am on any day, the times of my flights (trains are much more flexible so I don’t plan too far ahead for that), and where I’m staying.

(There are separate tabs for each country, and then a separate tab for quintessential food stuff, or legs where friends/family are joining)

95% of my accommodations have been booked through Expedia, HostelWorld or Airbnb, so that acts as a backup. Any email I get that’s trip-based I put a star next to, so it’s saved in a separate folder and easier for me to search for later on. And most tours are booked through GetYourGuide or Viator, so again, easy to find later on.

That’s pretty much it though! While my global itinerary is very detailed, my daily plans are not…so most of what I do in a day is decided either on the day, or the day before, which minimizes the need to create detailed city spreadsheets.   

tamramcmanwilson: “Why aren’t you rating your hotels/hostels/airbnbs?”

interconnected.threads: “How many rankings are you building?”

katy_merrifield: “Top three fav foods so far”

brendanlensink: “Please tell me there’s rankings at the end of all this amazing travel”

wow it’s like I have a brand or something.

Here’s the thing about rankings: they will be in the book that I’m writing about this trip, which will come out either in late 2025 or early 2026. And in the interest of “having people buy the book,” I’ve been avoiding most of the ranking questions in the monthly mailbags.

However! Because I’ve been scoring basically everything I’ve done on this trip, I can tell you some of the rankings I’m planning on putting in the book. There will be others, some more silly and some more serious, but these are definitely part of it:

• Train Routes

• Train Stations

• Quintessential Foods

• Cuisines by Country

• Actual Hidden Gems

• Museums

• Castles

• Cathedrals

• Urban Parks

And my current thought is to end the book with a ranking of every city I’ve spent significant time in…and also include Vancouver in it.

i’m sure that will go well with everyone and won’t cause any shouting