Jaimy: Numbers & Shizzles

IMG_9350 3

A picture says a thousand words ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

The idea behind the ” Signature Pose ” was/is to pose like this when I’m visiting all these iconic landmarks.


Intro:

Born in South Korea, adopted by Belgians, so that’s how I ended up with my Dutch name De Clerck.

It creates a lot of funny, odd, strange and some unbelievable moments in the airports. They are always surprised and often confused even suspicious, a Dutch name, Belgian nationality, but an asian face (most people think that I’m Japanese). And when they browse through my passports, with all those stamps, bit of Yakuza/Japanese mafia look, they think this is too fishy and maybe that I’m some kind of a criminal or an international money trafficker.
My mother tongue is Dutch and I even speak better Turkish than Korean…

As you will read below, I actually started traveling quite recently abroad.
Until the summer of 2015 I only took twice a plane in my entire life.


Travel Numbers & Shizzles:

So far I travelled to 71 countries

2020:
Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ทย  ๐ŸŽ‚
Sรฃo Tomรฉ รฉ Prรญncipe ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡น (71)
Saudi Arabia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (70)
Oman ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡ฒ (69)

2019:
Kenya ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ช (68)ย ๐ŸŽ‚
Tanzania ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฟ (67) $470 – โ‚ฌ385 roundtrip flight *
Maldives ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ป (66)
Sri Lanka ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฐ (65)
United Arab Emirates ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช (64)
Tunisia ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณ (63)
Cabo Verde ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ป (62)
Kosovo ๐Ÿ‡ฝ๐Ÿ‡ฐ (61)
Macedonia ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐ (60)
Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (59)
Belarus ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ (58)
Moldova ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ (57)
Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ (56)
Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท (55)
Malta ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น (54)
Perรบ ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช (53) visited Machu Picchu, the last of 8 World Wonders
Canada ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (52) visited Niagara Falls
Andorra ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฉ (51)

*** Travelled in 2019 to 25 countries and visited over 18 new countries (PTR)

2018:
Palau ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ผ (50) ๐ŸŽ‚
Hong Kong ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ
Macau ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ด
Philippines ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ (49)
Senegal ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ณ (48)
Portugal ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น (47)
United States of America ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ (46) $370 – โ‚ฌ250 roundtrip-flight *
United Kingdom ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง (45) visited Stonehenge
Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (44)
Estonia ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ช (43)
Latvia ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ป (42)
Lithuania ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡น (41)
China ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ (40) visited the Great Wallย $570 – โ‚ฌ465 roundtrip flight *ย 
Poland ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ (39)

2017:
Belize ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฟ (38)
Mรฉxico ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ (37) ๐ŸŽ‚ย visited Chichรฉn Itzรก
Isla de Pascua ๐Ÿ—ฟย visited Easter Island
Chile ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑ (36)
Vatican ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ฆ (35)
Madagascar ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฌ (34) visited the Allรฉe des Baobab
Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ (33)
Indonesia ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ (32) visited Borobudur (biggest Buddha temple in the world)
Brunei ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ณ (31)
Malaysia ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ (30)
Thailand ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ (29)
Cambodia ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ญ (28) visited Angkor Wat

2016:
Brazil ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท (27) ๐ŸŽ‚ย visited Cristo Redentor & Iguazรบ Falls
Jordan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ด (26) visited Petra
Egypt ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ (25) visited the Pyramids
Cuba ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ (24)
India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ (23) visited Taj Mahal
Norway ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด (22)
Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช (21)
Denmark ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ (20)
Morocco ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (19)

2015:
South Africa ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (18) ๐ŸŽ‚
South Korea ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท (17)


Birthday Travel Tradition (BTT)
ย ๐ŸŽ‚๐Ÿ›ฉ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒŽ๐Ÿฅณ๐Ÿฅ‚๐ŸŽ‰:

2020:ย Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ทย  ย ย continent: Asia
2019: Kenya ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ชย  (68) ย  continent: Africa
2018: Palau ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ผ (50) ย  continent: Oceania
2017: Mรฉxico ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ (37) ย  continent: North America
2016: Brazil ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท (27) ย  continent: South America
2015: South Africa ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (18) ย  continent: Africa


Personal Travel Records ๐ŸŽˆโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿ›ฉ

2016: Visited 4 Wonders of the World in 18 weeks
2016: Travelled to 5 continents in 1 year
2016: Travelled to 9 new countries in 1 year (New Travel Record/NTR)
2017: Travelled to 5 asian countries in 12 days
2017: Travelled to 11 new countries in 1 year (NTR)
2018: Travelled to 12 new countries in 1 year (NTR)
2019: Visited all 8 Wonders of the World
2019: Travelled to 18 new countries in 1 year (NTR)
2019: Travelled in 25 countries
2019: 51 flights in 1 year

Travel Statsย ๐ŸŽˆโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿ›ฉ

2015 – 2019: 138 flights & 37 different air lines
2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019: managed to travel each year to 5 continents
2015 – 2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – 2020: managed to spend my birthdayย ๐ŸŽ‚ abroad (since 2015 outside of Europe)

Drove so far in 4 continents and 21 countries:
* Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ (20), Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช (21), Norway ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด (22), Malta ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น (54)
* North America: Mรฉxico ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ (37), Belize ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฟ (38)
* Asia: Oman ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡ฒ (69), Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท
* Africa: Sรฃo Tomรฉ รฉ Prรญncipe ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡น (71)

ย 

How I became ” traveller “-ish:ย 

* South Korea 2015 – The very first time that I left Europe by plane, my very first solo travel abroad, my first time back to my birth country, my very first time to Asia.ย On my way back to the airport of Incheon, I met in the train a South African family, we exchanged Facebook, messaged and 5 months later, I went also to South Africa, it was my first time in Africaย and from that moment I also introduced – without knowing – a new Travel Tradition, to celebrate my birthday (11th of December) ๐ŸŽ‚ย each year in another country than Belgium.

* 2016 –ย 7 trips, visitedย 4 Wonders of the World in 18 weeks and did 5 solo travels.
Taj Mahal (India), Pyramids (Egypt), Petra (Jordan) & Cristo Redentor (Brazil).
7 trips was also a new Personal Travel Record (PTR) ๐ŸŽˆโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ€
Travelled in 5 continents in 1 year (PTR) ๐ŸŽˆโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ€
By plane, by taxi, by car, by ferry, by rishka, by tuk tuk, by bus, by horse, by boat.