How many countries have you been to?

[mathauck0814]

It's a fun question. Having run a consulting business for the last decade I've traveled to over a hundred countries and all but four US states. It's to the point now where we have a loose understanding that unless you have a good story or experience, just having a passport stamp isn't enough to say you've been to a place. After all, it's easy to land in the airport, get in the taxi, get out at the high rise, hang in the conference room, retire to the hotel, get back in the taxi and go back to the airport - that's not really having been someplace.

So I guess it depends on what standard of experience you hold yourself to. It could be argued that I've been to fewer than a few dozen countries.

Someday I hope to visit many more for fun (or diving!)

 

[vladimir]

Twenty-four, spread among Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe, mostly; none in Africa, none in South America (unless you count Bonaire in SA).

 

[CuNanoTube]

I have been to one other country. I don't have the money to travel.

 

[SCUBASailor]

I feel cheated. Only 6. However, because of family considerations, I have always refused overseas job assignments.

 

[Code Monkey]

45 (46 if you count Antarctica).

@vladimir: It's hard not to count. Never wanted to just go checking boxes but, after a while, you get curious. Doesn't really matter -- whatever gives you pleasure without hurting others is valid. Counting hurts nobody.

@mathauck0814: Wow!

@ocdiver1: How'd you get to so many places?

 

[lsorenson]

As of this date... I have been to;

32 countries
8 Canadian Providences
48 States (still need both North and South Dakota)

From climbing the Great Wall in China, to spend time at the Taj Mahal, to hanging out in Christiania (Freetown) Copenhagen, to hiking the Milford Track in NZ, to Bird watching in Sydney, to climbing the stones of the Pyramids, to a bizar taxi rides from Sharm El Sheikh back to Israel, to spending Christmas in Hamburg (Germans do Christmas very well!!!), to watching the marionette shows on the Charles Bridge in Prague (my favorite city in the world), to walking the streets in Rome, to diving with the sharks in the Cocos,and too many other places I have fallen in love with...

The South Island of New Zealand is my favorite location, Prague, as mentioned above is my favorite city, and the Galapagos for the wildlife...!

Will be knocking off the UK come this next September!

lee

 

[koozemani]

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You guys make me jealous... only 5 *sighs*

Woohoo!! I beat somebody with my big 7.

 

[lsorenson]

45 (46 if you count Antarctica).
@ocdiver1: How'd you get to so many places?

ocdiver1 has been to alot of places... The United States' State Department only recognizes 195 countries. So OC have been to over one third of them... I know I have been to alot of places myself but less then half of OC's... I would be interested in that list and which is the favorite and which is the least favorite and why...

When I think of my least favorite (that I have been to) would be Egypt however, with the borders of Mexico being so bad these days, I may have to reconsider even though I loved Monterrey (omitting tourist spots)

Still thinking.... yep, Egypt!

 

[vladimir]

Favorite and least favorite countries?

Although I enjoyed my stay in Jamaica, I think the chances of me "hooking up" with a 19-year-old girl from the University of Maryland are significantly slimmer than they were in 1980, so I probably won't be returning. Martinique looked pretty bleak outside the Club Med, where I spent my whole trip, so I probably won't be back there either (though a bus ride from the airport is a pretty poor basis for judging a country).

While not necessarily my favorites, I'd like to go back to Burma and Laos the most, because I feel like I barely scratched the surface in my short visits.

 

[Rhone Man]

I made a list of 37, I'm probably forgetting a few. Then there are places that I'm not sure how to count like Greenland (Denmark?), Jan Mayen (Norway?), Guam (USA?), etc.

If we count countries that have their own flag <snip>

Yeah, the old "what is a country" question is a bit tricky - I use the rule of thumb that if they have their own immigration stamp, they are a country (so Dependent Territories like Bermuda and Martinique are countries under the "Rhone Man rule", but Guam and Puerto Rico would not be).

Apparently you have a lot of company in this obsession. From a recent article in Slate:

Phew! Thank goodness - even crazy people like company!

It's to the point now where we have a loose understanding that unless you have a good story or experience, just having a passport stamp isn't enough to say you've been to a place. After all, it's easy to land in the airport, get in the taxi, get out at the high rise, hang in the conference room, retire to the hotel, get back in the taxi and go back to the airport - that's not really having been someplace.

Very true. A lot of my countries were very short visits - I was in Bangkok less than 36 hours in total on a weekend break from Hong Kong (but in fairness, it was a pretty memorable 36 hours - what a city!). But some countries are so large, you could spend a lifetime there and never really "know" them.