Originally Posted by swingaling

I will definitely get around to Shanghai at some point (going to Beijing in May). I may do a short trip there later this year for a quick mileage run to finish off my AA EXP renewal (will only need 5k miles, but fares to PVG are super cheap) and burn a couple upgrades.

I'm at 29 countries currently, with another 7 already booked for later this year. Here's a link to the countries I've visited (or booked confirmed travel to) thus far.

Some countries I plan to visit aren't really possible at the current time. North Korea is one (no go for me on a US passport). It would be tough for me to enter Saudi Arabia as a non-Muslim, but I could easily book a flight on Saudia to transit the airport and tick it off that way. However, that's not my preferred way to visit a country. That said, Saudi Arabia is in the midst of passing social reforms and I expect them to open to tourists in the years to come. Most of Africa requires a visa, which will add complexity and cost.

I'm not eager to visit war zones like Afghanistan or Syria, so those will have to wait. But I have so many other countries to visit in the mean time, it's not a problem putting those off to later. In order to do this in a reasonable time frame, I'm targeting 10 new countries each year at a minimum (a target I may or may not hit). For 2018, I'll add 16 new countries to the list.