Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude is the only focus of my writing for the day, which for today is for the many places I’ve been able to visit on this planet thus far.
While the last few years I’ve struggled to travel due to my health issues, the fact remains that it’s a part of who I am and something I do enjoy immensely on a soul level. There was a time when I was travelling both inside and outside our borders quite frequently. Sadly, I never expressed much gratitude surrounding all those trips I used to take, which is why I felt today it was absolutely necessary to put a place marker on my blog for the thankfulness I have to God for how many places I’ve been able to visit around the world so far in life.
Did you know that statistically speaking, only 6 percent of the world’s population travels internationally and only 2 percent travels domestically within their borders? I was shocked when I learned those statistics after doing a little research, given how much of my life has been spent on travelling from one place to the next. That being said the following is a list of all the places I’ve been to and have immense gratitude for seeing:
United States – New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Nashville, Charlotte, Savannah, Atlanta, Charleston, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Key West, Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas, and many others.
Canada – Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls
England – Leeds, Bath, Dover, Canterbury, Winchester, London, and Manchester
Belgium – Brussels
Holland/Netherlands – Amsterdam, Kinderdijk
France – Paris
Caribbean – St. Thomas, St. Johns, St. Croix, Jamaica, St. Martin, Hispaniola, Grand Cayman, Nevis, St. Kitts, Barbuda, Antigua, St. Vincent, Cozumel, Bahamas, Aruba, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Haiti, St. Kitts, Martinique
Mexico – Playa Del Carmen, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta
Guatemala – Guatemala City
Costa Rica – San Jose
Panama – Panama City, Colon
After recollecting and writing all these places down for today’s article that I’ve visited thus far in life, I realized I truly have a lot to be grateful for given how much I’ve seen and especially given how many I’ve met who’ve never even left the state they were born in. While I know there are plenty who’ve travelled far more than I ever have or will, I’m very thankful to God to have been given the ability to see what I have on this planet.
And, for a final parting thought in today’s Grateful Heart Monday, I hope to one day be able to write about future gratitude for visiting the following places before I die: Hawaii and Anchorage in the United States, Sydney in Australia, Berlin in Germany, Rome, Sicily, Venice and Pisa in Italy, Reykjavik in Iceland, Cape Town in South Africa, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in China, Tokyo in Japan, Cairo in Egypt, Agra in India, Seoul in South Korea, Singapore City in Singapore, Bangkok in Thailand, Geneva in Switzerland, Stockholm in Sweden, Oslo in Norway, Dublin in Ireland, Edinburgh in Scotland, Madrid in Spain, Athens in Greece, Lisbon in Portugal, and Bora Bora in the French Polynesia.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson