5 Countries

I got a letter from my American friend, A, a few days ago (I love writing and receiving "old-fashioned" hand-written letters). Like me, she loves travelling. She wrote that a Moroccan man had told her that she should just pick five countries, and that's it! A and I feel the same way about that: NO WAY!

Visiting only 5 countries might be alright for some, but I'm not one of them. I've already been to... 13 or 14 countries I think... N, a British friend of mine, would maybe be able to only visit 5 countries though. I have talked to N about what's following before, so I'm not gossiping about her behind her back...

Marmaris

N fell in love with Marmaris, Turkey, during her first visit in 2008 when she went with a friend C and C's family. In 2009 I went to Marmaris with her, I did tell her that if she wanted to go somewhere else in Turkey or another country since she'd already been to Marmaris, then we could do that, but she said she really enjoyed Marmaris and she knew it, so she wanted to go back. I did enjoy our trip, which was my first time to Turkey, but I have to say I preferred Alanya, which is where I went last year with my family, which was my second time in Turkey.

Alanya in the sunset

Last year N went to America with a friend D and D's family. They visited Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada while they were there. This year she's gone to Marmaris again, with D this time. D and N has also booked a trip back to Orlando for next year, but without the rest of the family this time.

I can understand why she wants to go back to Orlando, there were loads of things they didn't have time to see and do the last time, and there is loads of stuff to do there. But going back to Marmaris 3 times (Maybe more to come)? I don't get it, even if she does love the place. But maybe that's just because I haven't found a place that I love as much as she loves Marmaris?

I can understand why elderly people or people with small children would just want to go to the same place, maybe even in their own country. But I don't understand it about people with no obligations and with enough money to go to a new place. Like Marmaris, N could go to a different country, or just a different city in Turkey for the same amount of money...

I don't mean to say it's wrong or anything, I'm just saying I'm not the kind of person that could do that. What do you prefer? Going to just a few places/countries, maybe "getting to know it", or travel to as many places as possible?

If I had to choose only five countries that I was allowed to go to from now on, I think I would choose one from each continent. Yes, I know there are 7 continents. Most of the countries I've already been to are in Europe (although I would love to see even more), and although it would be fun to travel to Antarctica, just to say that I've been there, it's not on my must-see-list. I would also go to a different place in each country each time I went to visit one of the 5, so that I got to see as much as possible of them.

So the 5 countries I would pick are in no particular order (except for the two A's):

Australia (And I'm actually going there so; yay!)
America ("United States of" for all you nitpickers)
China
Kenya (Or possibly Egypt, so that I could see the pyramids...)
Brazil

Which 5 countries would you pick if you had to?