How many countries?

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I suggest we establish some form of ground rules here...how about the following:
  • Only count current countries e.g. West & East Germany count as one not two countries....the USSR is no longer so Russia & the Ukraine now count as two even if you visited prior to the split.


  • Trouble is that west Germany, east Germany and Germany are all very different countries. The countries I visited in 1978 were West Germany and East Germany, not Germany. Further supported by the war not officially ending until the reunification of Germany. If it was a legally recognised country when visited then that is what counts IMO.

    And no need to think I'm trying to pad a count with this, I've also been to Yugoslavia. If I listed the current countries, instead of the country that I visited, then my count will jump up a little bit ;)

    Oh and with the one night stay in the Vatican, whoever mentioned that. It is possible, you just need to hear a calling. :D
 
I suggest we establish some form of ground rules here...how about the following:
  • Only count current countries e.g. West & East Germany count as one not two countries....the USSR is no longer so Russia & the Ukraine now count as two even if you visited prior to the split.
  • The UK is counted one country...otherwise you could go on forever with places like Jersey , Isle of Man etc.
  • Principalities such as the Vatican City, Monaco should be counted but self proclaimed area's such as Christiania (in Denmark) should not.
  • Having an hour or two stopover at an airport should not count...you need to enter the country (go through imigration or get out of your car and wander around a bit!)
  • Hong Kong and Macau are now part of China both SAR's so they both probably should count just as China.
  • The French make it a bit difficult with some territories such as Tahiti ,New Caledonia, Reunion etc which are still technically part of France - so probably should just be counted as France...this may be open for debate?
I will revise my list...any other thoughts?
Personally I'd say post it however people see fit as it really does not matter.

My list is quite short compared to some here though.
 
I am a little behind-40 countries plus Antarctica.
However Thailand~25 times,Japan and singapore-14 times.
Many trips to the USA and have slept in every state + DC.All up have spent 6 months in NYC.
Then again we live to travel.Probably another 5 countries for 2012.
 
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What a suprise, some very well travelled frequnet flyers here!

22
in my 32yrs on Earth. 18 of them in the last 2.5 years. Hoping to reach 30 by the end of 2012.

Oceania (2)
New Zealand
Vanuatu

Asia (7)
Vietnam
Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
Hong Kong (China)
Jordan
Indonesia

Europe
(8)
Czech Republic
Poland
UK
Portugal
Italy
Vatican City
Spain
Hungary
----
Germany (FRA transit)

South America (2)
Brazil
Argentina
----
transits:
Chile (SCL)
Peru (LIM)


North America (3)
USA
Canada
Mexico

It doesn't count but Egypt and Israel were within my eyesight.

Seems typical aussie pattern is Asiap-Pacific plus Europe in bucket loads, but South America is not has well loved or accessible for us folks downunder.
 
My FlightMemory lists my total countries as 25 since mid 2006 when I started traveling for work. Have probably been to a few more than that considering a few rail/bus trips through Europe.

I'd really like to see new countries but I seem to go back to the same ones over and over...
 
Yeah my flightmemory.com lists 34 countries but then i have transitted through some countries i didn't visit and trained/bussed through some countried i didn't fly to...

In terms of rules, yes it doesn't have to get overly restrictive which is why when i initially posted i said i didn't want to rain on anyone's parade if they desperately wanted to count something or somehow self identify with the number of places visited and like a nice long list (i suppose if you want it even longer you could list your cities instead and then we could get into what is a city/town etc)...

But if you are going to make something of the number of places you have visited in a knowledgeable forum like this i think it will have more credibility if they conform to a reasonable set of standards or at least you put a comment in about why you think counting certain unusal places conform.. Of course there are a bunch of places that no longer exist that younger travellers will have no hope of reaching, where as places like Yugoslavia/USSR have unravelled and are open to everyone to now visit... But anyway, i can see a certain logic for people being proud of visiting certain old places and its not worth losing any sleep over, each to their own...

And yes some people will have visited few places, but those few very often, which at the end of the day suits their way of travelling and they also should lose no sleep.. I have talked to people before about the way i travel of constantly exploring and being on the on the move and they have said they wouldn't like it and its not for them... I had a friend who went to the US for the first time last year and spent 5 weeks in just NYC 'experiencing it"... I also had a friend who went to just Japan last year for 5 weeks and did it comprehensively... Me personally i wouldn't travel to one city for 5 weeks although i have gone to the US a couple of times and spent 3 and 4 weeks doing it from West to East...

But these days i tend to travel to see the amazing places of the world rather than just a few amazing diners/restaurants/landmarks of a particular city... Part of how i choose some of these places is i found a site with the 100 most amazing places in the world (according to the guy who runs it) and that along with a few other ideas is partly how i plan where i might go next (Hillman Wonders of the World)... I've done 32 of the 100 so far...

I am also becoming a little hooked on things like flightmemory.com and getting my map of flights taken to look a bit more interesting compared to some others i have seen (i am a bit at a disadvantage flying out from Perth to do this and also comparing my map of personally paid travel to those of people whose work may have been paying for the last 20 years of their flights) :p... But what i need to remind myself in my inclination to now pick different routes every time to get to places is to not pick dud airlines or dud older aircraft types just to make that map look more interesting... Just the same as people shouldn't change to a different way of travelling, or feel their travels are underwhelming compared to some of the lists of people here, if at the end of the day its not what makes them happy...
 
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Australia
New Zealand
Fiji
New caledonia
Tonga
USA
Thailand
Japan
China
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
HK
China
Iran
Pakistan
UAE
Bahrain
Israel
Morocco
Austria
Switzerland
Lichtenstein
Germany
Czech rep
Slovakia
Poland
Hungary
Italy
Vatican c
Spain
France
UK inc Scotland
Greece
Also a couple of other islands in the pacific years ago cant remember which.
That's about one per year.
 
Australia

Indonesia
Singapore
Macau
Hong Kong
Laos
Cambodia
Thailand
Japan
Malaysia

Turkey
Israel
Jordan
Egypt
Syria

Greece
Yugoslavia
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Rumania
Italy
Austria
Portugal
Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia
West Germany
East Germany
Germany
France
Poland
Belgium
Netherlands
UK
Ireland
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
Hungary

Senegal

US
Canada
Mexico

41-counting countries that were sovereign states when I visited
 
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