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Update: Visited 50 Countries!

Here’s a quick but really big update on my travel goal – I just visited my 50th country!  It’s been quite the adventure! As a quick reminder, I started this site based on my crazy travel goal, to inspire people to visit 50 countries by age 50 (click to learn more about the goal).

Over the past few years I’ve gone swimming in shark infested waters, ziplining in a cloud forest, been just steps away from orangutans in the wild, hiked up a volcano, gone snorkeling with massive whale sharks, hiked to the top of Machu Picchu, had a monkey literally jump on my back, climbed The Great Wall of China, gone volcano boarding, visited the real Tomb Raider locations in Cambodia, eaten brains in a hotpot Chengdu, explored the pyramids in Teotihuacan, and photographed animals in the wild that I had never even heard of (tarsiers?) .

I’m long overdue to post the stories and photos from my last few trips on here – Portugal, Spain, Tulum, and now Iceland. I loved all of them! I’ve been posting on Instagram regularly and will include more extensive posts here.

Below is from the Instagram announcement that I reached my 50th – if you haven’t already, do follow me on IG as well.

visiting Iceland, my 50th country

Many of you know I’ve had this crazy travel goal, to visit 50 countries by age 50. Iceland was my 50th! It’s been quite the adventure!

I’l be putting together a larger full post on Iceland, because it was really amazing, but in the meantime here’s a quick photo from our very first day. We loved it so much!

Visit 50 countries? Done! I visited Iceland my 50th
sneak preview for my upcoming Iceland post

Visiting 50 countries – reflection

When I made the goal, I really didn’t know if I’d ever make it to 50. That number just sounded crazy! I was already 22 years old when I finally got my passport, and at 25 my visit number was still at about 4. It all changed during my Costa Rica trip. That’s when I truly caught the travel bug. I’ll be writing about why that experience had such an impact on me in a future upcoming post.

Now that I’ve visited my 50th, I’ll look back at some of my top experiences, Some of the requests I’ve received to reflect on include my craziest adventures, most beautiful views, best beaches, most delicious foods, scariest moments, travel failures, photography tips, and more!

What would you like me to weigh in on?

I count countries visited, but it’s not about the number. It’s about the experiences!

How Deep is the Ocean?

Ever wonder, how deep is the ocean?  This video answers that really well. Then we’ll provide some info about Mariana Trench.

How deep is the ocean?

Picture Mount Everest upside down…and that’ll get you partially the way there. The below video explains.

Click the below image:

40m is the maximum depth for recreational SCUBA Divers
maximum depth for recreational SCUBA Divers

The ocean is mind-numbingly deep – the ocean is 14,000 feet deep.

Here’s a great info-graphic, with some highlights below.Enjoy!

The average depth of the ocean is 4267 meters
The average depth of the ocean is 4267 meters
Blue Whales can dive down to 500 meters deep.
Blue Whales can dive down to 500 meters deep.

The Titanic is currently 12,500 feet down

Mount Everest is 8850 meters, and the ocean goes even deeper
Mount Everest is 8850 meters, and the ocean goes even deeper
How deep is the ocean? 11,034 meters deep. That's the bottom of the Mariana Trench
The ocean goes 11,034 meters deep. That’s the bottom of the Mariana Trench

 Mariana Trench

James Cameron visited the top of the Mariana Trench, an amazing 7 miles underwater that  broke a record! In the Bloomberg article they mentioned he risked implosion. wow.

He spent several million dollars on the sub, called Deepsea Challenger, which needed to withstand pressures of at least eight tons per square inch.

The feat equaled the 1960 record set by Don Walsh and the late Jacques Piccard, and the movie director became the first to solo to the earth’s deepest point.

Video of the experience can be found at Nat Geo.

The Marianas Trench is located just northeast of Indonesia.

The world’s deepest point in the oceans is the Challenger Deep which is found within the Marianas Trench. The Marianas Trench is a depression (deep cracks) in the floor of the western Pacific Ocean. Marianas Trench is formed (as other ocean trenches) as a result of the oceanic plate being pushed against a continental plate whereby causing the oceanic plate to pushed downward making deep fissure. Its location is east of the Mariana Islands and is 1,554 miles long and averages 44 miles wide (see diagrams below). The Marianas Trench depth is 36,200 feet (11,033 m or 11.03 km).

I certainly haven’t gone diving this far! However, I’ve had some awesome diving experiences. I’ve gone diving with sharks without a cage, thresher sharks, and swimming with whale sharks.