Travel Limits

There is one more aspect to my trip to the Golden Gate Bridge that deserved being addressed, but it makes sense to dedicate it a separate entry. In fact, the spot on the beach at the Golden Gate has been the furthest west I have travelled so far (in terms of longitude). My stay in the U.S. is the first time outside Europe, so anything west of that will set a new record. In that light, the trip to the Californian west coast is about as far as I can go within the (contiguous) United States. While I would certainly like to visit Hawaii and Alaska, those places will have to wait. - The runner-up in the west is actually the Chicago area.
The eastbound limit had been Budapest, Hungary, since September 1999, and was surpassed only recently, in 2007, when I went to Turku, Finland, for a scientific conference while still being a graduate student. To date, Turku still holds the record; actually both in the east and the north. The second most northern location I have visited so far is Glasgow, Scotland/UK, where I spent one wonderful semester as an undergraduate student.
Finally, southbound I have gone as far as Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands that are Spanish territories just in front of the African Atlantic coast. The Canary Islands share the same lattitude as Orlando, FL. The runner-up in this direction is Atlanta, GA, where I spent an as great as intense weekend with my friends Heather and Jon, number three is the San Francisco Bay area, and believe it or not: number four are both the area of Naples, Italy, and Chicago, IL! While Italy is generally perceived as a warm country (and rightfully so), Chicago is infamous for its cold Midwestern winters ... Indeed, Europe is not only east, but also (mostly) north of the U.S., but I don't think there is a single place in Germany that gets as cold as Chicago in the winter. You would have to go as far north as Scandinavia to experience -17°F in the European winter. (Well, Russia might do the trick, too.)
Further travelling plans encompass Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I have a friend and former colleague from Berlin; several coastal cities in China; Moscow, Russia; Iran, Homa's home, which might prove to be complicated, due to political obstacles; and many other destinations that I am not thinking of right now.