why - Jan in Asia

I've "always" wanted to go to somewhere in Asia.

I want to see large parts of China, Japan, and basically most other of the civilized parts of the world.

And while I'm in Asia, Australia is just a short flight away. Well, short compared to going to Singapore in the first place.

It's exotic, it's very, very exciting, and I'm spending a lot of money.

Earlier in life, I've traveled a bit, but not very far east. Semi-chronological order:

Norway (pretty large parts of Norway, too)
Gran Canaria (Spanish territory, part of the Canary Islands off the West-African coast)
Sweden (southern parts)
Denmark (almost all over the three main parts)
Finland (Helsinki and surrounding areas)
Germany (many parts)
United Kingdom (London)
Iceland (only Keflavik airport, but I was there ;))
USA (New York city, Kansas City in both Kansas and Missouri, Kirksville in Missouri, Ottumwa in Iowa, several parts of Colorado, Las Vegas and other places in Nevada, many parts of California, Philadelphia)
Spain (Barcelona)
Austria (okay, okay, just drove through on the way to ...)
Switzerland (driving through and stopping)
Italy (driving through and stopping in Milan)
France (from the riviera in the south, via the Rhone valley and Burgundy, to ...)
Luxemburg
Belgium (yeah, I know, another drive-through)
The Netherlands (twice)
Czechia

So, my personal bests were:

East: Helsinki in Finland
West: San Francisco
South: Gran Canaria (Los Angeles is farther north)
North: Nordkapp in Norway
Highest: a mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, somewhere between 11,000 and 12,000 feet
Longest vacation: summer of 2003, three weeks
Longest flight: Heathrow-LAX/LAX-Heathrow

So I'm going to beat five of those records. Let's pretend that's a reason for going.

Current personal bests