Country Count

I have been asked on occasion how many countries have I been to.  That would seem to be an easy one, right?  Maybe.

I have been to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Morocco, Peru, Spain, Sudan, United States, and Vatican City. That’s 27.

But what about Great Britain?  Technically, it is a collection of 4 countries and I have been to 2.  So I can drop Great Britain, and add England and Scotland.  That’s now 28.

But there is still a problem.  This list does not reflect some of the more interesting places I have been.  Like Antarctica.  I have been to Easter Island, which is technically part of Chile, and the Galapagos, which belong to Ecuador, but somehow that seems inadequate.

Enter the Travel Century Club.  To join this club, you need to have visited 100 countries or territories.  They maintain their own list of places that “count.”  They count a place separately if it is physically and culturally separate from the parent country.  They count Antarctica, Easter Island and the Galapagos.  They also make some distinctions I think are a little questionable – They count Alaska (which I have been to) and Hawaii separate from the continental US.  They count Egypt in Africa separate from Egypt in Asia (the Sinai Peninsula – been there).

But who am I to judge their list?  If I take it as is, I get Alaska, Antarctica, Easter Island, Egypt in Asia, Galapagos Islands, and Reunion Island (a part of France, located in Indian Ocean).  That’s 34.

The next question to answer is what does it mean to visit a country.  I don’t have a hard and fast rule myself, but the Century club counts it even if you just passed through the airport.  I have passed through the airports in Hong Kong, Kenya, Panama, and Turkey.  I had a plane with a mechanical problem make an unscheduled stop in Colombia.  I had a friend pick me up at the airport in the Netherlands, and drive me to Belgium, and I slept in the car the whole way.  And 2 times, we passed through Thailand, where we left the airport only to stay at a hotel right next to the airport and leave the next morning.  Add those 7 and I am up to 41.

So give all this, I think the answer to how many countries I have been to is “a lot.”

Depending on how you count, this map is accurate.