Say Whaaaa?!

I was having a conversation with a new friend the other day, and he said that he had never traveled outside of North America.  Say whaaaa?!  That’s craziness.  I often forget that I am extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity and the means to have traveled to so many different countries.  For kicks, because I have never really listed it out and counted, here’s a list of countries I’ve been to:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Mexico
4. Cayman Islands
5. Argentina
6. Uruguay
7. Brazil
8. United Kingdom
9. France
10. Italy
11. Greece
12. Turkey
13. China
14. Japan
15. South Korea
16. Taiwan (yes, it is definitely its own country)
17. Thailand
18. Cambodia
19. Laos
20. Malaysia
21. Australia

I don’t think I’m missing anywhere… This may seem like a big list, or it may seem limited.  To me, it’s still much too small for my liking.  There are the heavy hitters like Spain and Germany that I’ve always wanted to go to, but just never had the right opportunity.  And as you’ll notice, I haven’t been to anywhere in Africa.  And that is where I want my next trip to be.  Namely, Morocco, and if I have the time and money (which can sometimes be such luxuries can’t it?), other countries as well, perhaps Egypt, Kenya, South Africa. (And I’ll be honest and say that I included Turkey because we stopped over in a town called Ephesus on a cruise once, but there are several other places in Turkey I’d like to see.)

Another “say whaaaa?!” moment I had when I was talking to this friend is that he said Machu Picchu was going to close to the public soon.  Is this true?  I googled it and couldn’t find a solid answer.  Can anyone confirm or deny it?