So time for me to gather my thoughts a little bit and basically use this thread for that purpose.
Where I am now:
(haven't clicked some smaller countries like Luxembourg or Singapore but have visited them, or in the case of Singapore, lived in them). edit: and forgot to click Kyrgyzstan
What my time constraints are:
I can probably travel 3 (or almost 4) months per year for the next 3 or 4 years assuming I make progress with my PhD. Of this, 2 months is usually a longer summer trip, 3 weeks for a winter trip and then the rest smaller trips, maybe up to 1 week in length.
Potential trips 2015:
Revisit Tokyo for about a week this fall. I'm quite likely to do this, though might change my destination to Laos. But Laos isn't the kind of place that's good to just spend a week in because even if a week is enough to see important things, it's not enough to get me into the "traveller mindset" needed for places like SE Asia, it's better for large cities etc.
Ukraine. My friends are going to Ukraine and I could tag along with them for a 4/5 day "weekend", though undecide on whether I really want to do this. One problem is that I'd like to work, though a long weekend is excusable, the other reason is that 5 days in Kiev and the environs is fine, but once again Ukraine might be better as part of a bigger trip (like Belarus to Turkey overland). Maybe I can do both. The flights definitely look cheap.
Ethiopia: That's my plan for my Christmas 3 week trip. Maybe visit Somaliland/Djibouti as well, since they're all included in one Lonelyplanet guidebook
This trip is pretty sure to happen.
Next summer:
My hope right now is for a Georgia/Armenia/Azerbaijan -> Iran -> Turkmenistan transit visa -> (transit through) Uzbekistan -> Pamir Highway trip. Should be doable in two months, even if it's a little bit rushed, since I've been to Iran before and would basically just go there to recharge and party. Gotta hope Armenia and Azerbaijan aren't at war by then.
Other things to do in the near future:
Maybe try to visit places that I can visit in weekend trips to European countries I haven't visited yet, like Slovenia (maybe skiing), Kosovo, Montenegro, FYROM, Andorra. I reckon a long weekend isn't a huge mistake for each those countries. I can always come back if I really like them I guess. Same goes for Kuwait and Bahrain, the two gulf countries I haven't visited yet. Actually, for those two, I'd probably just go visit them in one weekend. But to be completely honest, there's nothing I want to see in either so it would be "tick the box" travel which I hate. Maybe I could do it as a mileage run?
Places like Lebanon, Tunisia and Algeria could be good 7-10 day trips in the next 2 years. Maybe put them on the list after Tokyo.
Revisit Zimbabwe and try to see the cities (Harare, Bulawayo) when visiting my parents in S. Africa. Alternatively, visit Botswana or Namibia.
In the future:
Two longer (i.e. 2 month or so trips) I'd like to do are 1) Mexico to Panama overland and 2) Belarus to Turkey overland. I guess I have to reserve some summers for them. Trans-Mongolian would be cool as well, as would spending two or so months in India, but those will have to wait.
That should fill my map at a healthy pace while still allowing me to spend enough time to enjoy places (and enjoy the actual act of travel), maintain my FF status, get work done and so on. And quite importantly, this still leaves me time to do my own trips to places I've visited before, which still consists of like more than half of my travel. Then before or after graduation (3 or 4 years) I need to try to do a 6/7 month African overland trip which should really help with making my map more blue