Earle chased by Zwaan

Mr Earle reported his 79th country visit to your secretary in person, at 40,000 feet in KLM's business class from Amsterdam to Washington. He and the Mrs celebrated their 22nd anniversary in the Czech Republic. Beer was taken. Photos thereof, we hope, are forthcoming.

Mr van der Zwaan reported by text message visits to North Korea (v/d Z described it as "most unique", quite!), Australia and Singapore, bringing him to tie for fourth with yours truly at 77 countries. Photos have not yet been submitted because, apparently, v/d Z is in the midst of a "Baltic Hat Trick". Details forthcoming.

Yr, sec'y. -s

A Dance for the Country Club

Mr Secretary,
Have you seen this youtube video? As a leader in our country club, and a fellow traveler who is a bit dancing-challenged, like me,you'll love this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

If you can't go to this link, then just go to youtube, and type in 'where the hell is matt?'. make sure you watch the 2008 version. Shall we put this link on our blog? it is too too funny, and plus really lifts the spirits..
Governor Hovig

Deidrick Ventures Forth

Mr Sempliner,
Mr Deidrick's home of record is now updated on the Club Ladder.
During these several occasions, did Governor Deidrick ever muse about, for example, visiting a new country? One of the many charms of our fine club is the inability to be relegated, yet research into the archives of the Club (always available at http://tccproceedings.blogspot.com/) reveals the little known fact that Mr Deidrick has managed, in our nearly six years of existence, to have visited but one country. In 1990, Mr Deidrick had the thickest passport that I had or have ever seen. Why should he no longer be peripatetic?
--------
Club Ladder as of 1 December 2002 (number of new countries since then in parentheses)
1. Mr Hovig: 82 Countries (+13)
2. Mr Greeley: 81 Countries (+7)
3. Mr Heart: 65 Countries (+3)
4. Mr Chapman: 63 Countries (+14)
5. Mr Warshauer: 62 Countries (+7)
6. Mr Karam: 55 Countries (+5)
7. Ms Thuermer: 54 Countries (+0)
8. Mr Deidrick: 52 Countries (+1)
9. Ms Hommes: 49 Countries (+12)
10. Ms van Herksen: 34 Countries (+15)

Yr secr'y, -s

Mr Secretary,


OK, OK. I am pleased to report that Nepal (Feb. 2008) and Bangladesh (Oct. 2007) have been added to my list. Despite the fact that it was Ramadan during my visit to the lovely city of Dhaka, a surprising amount of alcohol was to be had.
JD

Cashews Are Not Even A Beverage

Dear Mr. Secretary,
While I may add nothing of substance to the great cashew polemic I would offer one small correction for the record. Mr. Deidrick is no longer resident in Laos and now resides, along with me, in Phnom Penh. Indeed his home is but a leisurely stroll from my own and we have met on several occasions. I will save all the boredom of photographs of those evenings but assure you that drink was taken.
Best, as ever,
Sandy

Duke visits Republic

Mr Earle reports:

Aye Im a glad ye reminded me to report to ya Mister Secretary ... I was in
County Mayo drinking a few Guiness and playing goff in a 40 mile an hour
breeze back in March ... check out the pants in the attached pic ... after
the round we had a wee dram or two of fine triple distilled irish whiskey
... I believe that puts me up to 78 mr. secretary, leaving you with a little
hind tit to nurse on ... the second pic has a nice Guiness ad
Sloncha to all ye mates

v/d Z visits Syria, country 73

Forgot the attachment; see previous post! -s

v/d Z visits Syria, country 73

v/d Z in Syria (country 73) moments before trying a freshly roasted cashew in Damascus in January!

Honorary Past President Presents Honorary Future President!

Fellow country clubbers,
It is a slow saturday morning in London, and so I started reviewing my traveling spreadsheets. And whups...I found that I had not posted an update on my trip to Uganda a year ago. So I think this might take me up to 93 countries -- slow and excrutiating progress towards the elusive century, but progress nonetheless.
Let me also take this opportunity to thank our secretary, who manages to keep our country club on life support. Let us all renew efforts to breathe life into our club, and our blog.
Finally, I post a photo of my newborn son (Kaue) and his father on the day of his birth, overwhelmed with both terror and joy, in equal measure. He is 2 months old now, and has bagged his 2nd country already, and is acquiring his 3rd passport. During his travels, he is meeting the beverage requirement via his mother, and gets particularly giddy during a breastfeed while Flavia is sipping a glass of oaky Argentinian Malbec. If Kaue keeps up at this rate, he will pass the century mark when he is 8 years old. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Happy and safe traveling in 2008 and beyond.
DANA

One Uninterrupted Year in Tanzania

I might have established a club record of some sort. I have been in one country without ever leaving, for 12 months. This is something that I last did in 1985.

However, we did manage a PSI-alumni mini reunion in December. Chris Brady, Tim Manchester and myself managed to throw down a few beers at the Tanga Yacht Club. 

v/d Z Middle East Hat Trick: Now at 74 countries!

v/d Z reports via SMS visits to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Ties Bob K for the lead in the region. Already the most prolific traveler in the club, he has now visited 25 countries since joining the club.

Sempliner visits Countries 51 & 52

Mr Sempliner wrote to announce recent visits to Lao and Vietnam! Deidrick and Thuermer have just one country more!

Lucky 69!

I'm pleased to report my 69th country visit! I spent most of last week in lovely Cartagena Columbia. Cartagena boasts a fascinating and well-preserved old city as well as a modern skyline (see photo). Many lovely islands are just a short boat ride away from downtown, and I can report that the snorkelling is not bad at all....

Columbia boasts several nice beers, although Aguila quickly became my favorite. Now I just have to plan my visit to several of PSI's Nordic donor countries.....

v/H visits Liechtenstein, 48th Country Visited

Mr Secretary. I am at the Zurich airport after a good meeting with the client, a nice dinner and a succesful trip to Liechtenstein. Took the train to Sargans, the Swiss city bordering Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein bus to cross the border to Balzers, about half way to Vaduz. I had a little bottle of Fendant handy as I was warned that Balzers was a hole in the wall with few facilities. Majestic snow capped mountains and all that in a tiny street size village with two trust offices and a photocopy center... Anyway, 1 more country to add to the list. At least I worked on the train to make up for the madness of losing one day like this. -M

Ms van Herksen visits Bosnia, 47th Country Visited

Bosnia lies just 15 minutes up the road from Dubrovnik; it would have been madness not to visit. Mr Hovig sadly forgot he had it and in this photo believes he is getting his 93rd country. Pity! Ms van Herksen still trails Mr Sempliner by three countries, but is catching up fast.

Hovig, van Herksen and Chapman visit Montenegro

The UN's newest state, Montenegro, is just 30 minutes from Dubrovnik, so we popped in. For Mr Hovig, this is his 92nd country, for Ms van Herksen, her 46th, and for yours truly, his 77th. That's the local pivo, recently sipped!

Hovig, van Herksen and Chapman visit Croatia

Mr Hovig, Ms van Herksen, and yours truly visited Croatia this past week, making the visit official with Posip, a jaunty white from Korcula.

v/d Z Reports Balkan Hat Trick

Dear Mr. Secretary,

Just returned from an amazing trip through the Balkan, where I managed to fulfill my personal Balkan hat trick: drank Albanian beer in multiple stoney cities in this mysterious country, enjoyed local Montenegro wine and "Gorska Crna" in Ulcinj and Podgorica, and swallowed a couple of refreshing Pivo Skopje in a heat-wave plagued Macedonia to mitigate temperatures of well over 40 Celsius. Happy to hereby have joined the elite five, and don't forget: 'objects in the mirror are closer than they appear'....

Yours truly,

Bob

v/d Z on the March! Sempliner and Chapman Inch Forward

Mr van der Zwaan rang to announce visits to Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro in the past two weeks. Details of qualifying acts are forthcoming. v/d Z has now tallied 22 Country Visits since joining three short years ago. Mr Sempliner has moved house and is now resident in Cambodia where he has had "more than a few drinks" in the past week. "More [countries] will follow in short order". Yours truly did some tidying up in his own backyard by visiting nearby Luxembourg this past Sunday by motorcycle and taking a junior sip of a Jupiler.

Denominator Modified

In June 2006, Montenegro was admitted as a member state of the United Nations, thereby increasing our denominator to 193. In keeping with our long tradition of being utterly up to date, it is my pleasure to announce that the denominator was, today, adjusted in all relevant documents of The Country Club.

v/d Z confirms Jamaica

Mr van der Zwaan reports "a good time drinking Red Stripe in Jamaica, and a conference in June in Thessaloniki should enable me to drink my way through a couple of Balkan countries, satisfying my short-term appetite for passing the bar of 70."