I hate counting countries. I don’t mean to go on to brag about how much we’ve traveled or sound like a grouch, it’s just a goofy system of counting, and I think I found a better way. But not only that, most people don’t realize that there isn’t an official number of countries.
“Puerto Rico” culturally Latin America, geographically Caribbean, politically it’s own and therefore… obviously it’s part of the USA. Yeah, obviously.
There’s no way of counting in countries
And I used to think it was a political fact that a country is a country. While I actually believe that it should be obvious that Puerto Rico would “count” as it’s own country, it seemed that facts said it was a part of the USA. But according to what? To us, that’s who.
Turns out, each country or organization can count countries differently. Just google “how many countries are in the world?” and google pulls up something that says 196… except some don’t count Taiwan, so 195. Obviously google isn’t an official resource, but it does say “the UN counts 192 countries”.
Which is crazy because the “.gov” answer from the US is 206. That’s 14 off, somehow. What’s crazier is that the US’ list which is the higher number doesn’t include the following countries: French Guiana, French Polynesia, Greenland, The Cook Islands(!), Cayman Islands, and many many more equally ridiculous.
No one agrees with anyone
For example, Kosovo thinks it is a country, and half the world does not consider Kosovo a country. Which half is right?
Or the obvious – Taiwan. Which looks, acts, and quacks like a country… but China says it isn’t.
Politics Don’t Matter
The most ridiculous thing is the political nature of dividing countries. For example, Hong Kong has its own passport stamp, its own currency, and its own political system and yet, it’s China? No it’s not, it’s totally different in every way possible.
Culture and Geography Don’t Matter
Hawaii, what the heck? It’s not even close to being anywhere near the USA. And culturally it’s Polynesian, but it’s our political entity. And don’t even tell me Guam is the US.
Or the opposite- when two countries have the same culture, language, etc but have separate systems, and therefore are separate countries. Like when East and West Germany were separate.
And when talking to another traveler…
Time doesn’t matter. People use it like a check list to brag about. We’ve been to 51 countries now, but I know there are people who have been to as many countries without ever spending any time in any of them. Just stamping your passport counts. We’ve spent probably 3-4 months of our life in Thailand, but someone else who has been to Bangkok for a night has been there too.
I mean, there are countries we’ve “been to” technically, but just for a few hours. Like Australia. It feels funny saying “we’ve been to Australia” when we really just spent a night in Sydney.
Size Doesn’t Matter
Also, we’ve been not only to Bangkok, but to the nearby Ayutthaya, and the border towns of Cambodia, the golden triangle and Malaysia. We’ve been to Chiang Mai and the country side in the north and all over the south including islands of Thailand like Phuket, Phi Phi and Koh Samui.
But someone who has been to Bangkok for a night can say, “yep we’ve been to Thailand”. But have they? Do they know Thailand?
A ridiculous example would be people who have laid over in Beijing or Shanghai. That is such a small percent of the country and it’s not how 90+% of Chinese people live or ever get to see. If you want to say you’ve seen China go inland and see an ever poorer city, or rural life, see the incredibly diverse terrain, and learn that the language changes as you go.
The “what is a country” test?
French Polynesia:
- Geographically – It’s on the complete opposite side of the world as France. In the middle of the Pacific, and France is two oceans away on the west coast of Europe.
- Culturally – It’s the complete opposite as France as it’s an island culture, Polynesian to be pacific… I mean, specific. French Polynesians like to catch fish, fish, fish, pineapples, coconuts, yams, taros… sounds like France to me.
- Politically – French Polynesia has its own president
- Currency – French Polynesia has its own currency
Country test answer: French Polynesia is France according to our government, and the french government.
So that’s that?
The Better Way of Counting Countries
My big beef is that I try to see cultures and that’s not at all defined by the UN. Like there is no inherent definition of countries by political lines. For example, until 1993, Slovakia wasn’t a country but a part of Czechoslavakia. Today Slovakia is its own country. So which one was right? Both definitions? That one day it wasn’t and then one day it was because people voted on it?
Or when people have the world record for visiting all the countries of the world (youngest world record holder, first, one guy did it all without flying), they all have to race to a new country when it’s added to their official list.
But I found a list the defines things like I wish they were defined. That seeing Puerto Rico is not seeing the US, that seeing Tahiti is not seeing France, and that seeing Greenland is not seeing Denmark.
Rapid Travel Chai said he was interested in the Indonesian Hopper and that it would get him closer to the “Travelers Century Club”. After a quick google search, it’s an actual club of ~2,000 people who have been to over 100 countries. But they don’t use the political UN list, it’s a list for travelers.
Take a look at the list here.
This is the best list I’ve seen and it has 324 (by my count) countries.
Conclusion
Is this me copping out in order to increase the number of countries I visit? No.
If anything, my goal is to see every country, and I just increased the load by a lot. And I travel slow, so it’s going to take me a long time.
Sometimes we call something a country a country because it operates differently… and sometimes you you call it a territory. Believe it or not, I think this system is less ambiguous as it isn’t dependent upon the fickle government of your choosing.
What’s a country?
When you go someplace, and it’s different.
![Nick of FM on #40kFarAway [TIF Podcast]](https://travelisfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/travel-is-free-podcast-nick-40K-120x86.jpg)
It’s Travelers Century Club and their list is well respected. They try to make the list non-political, but ofcourse it does change, such as when Yugoslavia broke up.
Also, while someone who has just been to Bangkok for a night may not meet your criteria of having really visited the country, for TCC members any visit counts – even if you just sit on the airplane while it re-fuels, that counts as a visit.
I think you have to draw the line somewhere. I am sure someone in this community can one up you with respect to Thailand, so the difference between you and the person who spent a night in Bangkok is that you know the country better.
IMHO you have to spend the night somwhere to claim you have been there. That’s my line. Landing a plain for refueling seems a bit extreme
..
I gave up country counting about two years ago. I realized there were some countries I wanted to see in depth, or re-visit. I decided I wanted to see more of the USA. Basically, I came to the conclusion that I’m better off traveling to fulfill the experiences I’m looking for rather than checking off a list. That said, I do still try to include a variety of destinations and I’ve been fortunate to learn more about dozens of cultures.
My advice: count them any way you want to.
To me the Travelers Century Club is a list designed to make it somewhat easier for people to become members. Many of the “countries” they list are nowhere close to deserving that status.
For better or worse, politics decides what is the status. To me an entity has to be widely recognized as independent to count – Taiwan counts due to the fact a couple of dozen countries recognize it; Northern Cyprus does not count since Turkey alone recognizes it. Palestine probably should count – recognition is increasing, and it’s hard to say it is a part of any other existing country. Hong Kong, though a Special Administrative Region, is a part of China.
No count is perfect, so when people ask me how many countries I’ve been to, I really don’t have a precise answer. I wouldn’t count an airport stop alone, but would count several hours or an overnight away from the airport, though it may be only an introduction to the country.
Do you have a Chase Ink 70k link? Tnx.
I generally subscribe to the TCC listing. I heard Rapid Travel Chai speak on International Travel at the 2013 Chicago Seminars.
I feel the chase for 100 (and then more) drives me to see more of the world. I visited Prince Edward Island on a long weekend as part of the quest. A great place I might not have otherwise traveled to but, I am glad to have visited.
My main issues with the list are that Antarctica is 7 territories. I also feel that Quebec should be it’s own territory as it is culturally and politically VERY different from the rest of Canada.
With a similar litmus test I’m sure there are other internal territories that are significantly different from the mother country. Kurdistan in Iraq comes to mind, I’m sure there are others.
As has been noted, this is definitely a ‘to each their own’ issue. I don’t count/say I’ve been some place unless I spent enough time or did something worth saying. Which I’d guess typically would just take a full day or night.
For instance, I wouldn’t say I’ve been to Denver despite having spent a night there due to weather cancellations.
Very interesting. I don’t have any ambitions to collect countries, but this kind of argument can be taken very far. Why is Abhasia recognized as a separate entity, but North Osetia isn’? Russia is huge and incredibly diverse; putting it all in Europe is a hell of an understatement. Brazil is very different, from African in the Northeast to European in the Southeast. I know the lines have to be drawn somewhere, but still, this list sounds kind of artificial to me.
It surprises me how much they break up the US. It’s somewhat possible to make a case for Hawaii to be considered part of the US. It’s joined to the US politically, linguistically, and with its currency. There are more white people in Hawaii than there are native Hawaiians. Also, it surprises me that they separate Alaska from the rest of the US. Then they don’t separate the Native American reservations.
Another aspect I am surprised about is their approach to China. On the Traveler’s Century Club list, they separate Hainan, which I generally think of as culturally and politically Chinese. On the other hand, they don’t separate Xinjiang, which is probably more culturally different from mainland China than Hainan is. Also, they place Okinawa in the “Pacific Ocean” while they place Japan in “Asia”. I agree that Okinawa is separate from Japan, but it’s strange that they also consider Okinawa to be in a separate region of the world.
The way they did Southeast Asia is interesting. They separate Indonesia into 7 territories (which is probably accurate), and they make Sarawak and Sabah their own “countries”. But, they don’t separate the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao from the rest of the Philippines.
There are a some gray areas when it comes to these classifications. In general, they don’t seem to place enough emphasis on demographics and politics. It seems impossible to create a 100% accurate list. But, I like the Traveler’s Century Club list more than the other ones, and I like that they generally lean toward separating regions rather than lumping them together.
Sorry for the typo, I meant “There are some gray areas”, not “there are a some gray areas”.
I agree that the TCC’s list is the best I’ve come by as well. I also like the Most Traveled People’s list, but that one splits up even more… over 800 I think! So going to every one there is probably not even reasonable. I believe that an area is considered a different region is that it is either geographically or politically separated. Might be cool to make a profile on there, they have a map that color codes the areas you’ve traveled to… I like it because it’s so much more detailed.
Sounds like to me that you’re crying that too many other people are visiting more countries than you despite spending your life traveling. “You haven’t “really” been to Thailand, I have I have!” As someone else wrote, I’m sure there are many travelers in our community who have spend years in Thailand and laugh at you “bragging” about your poultry 4 months there along with your “knowing” the country. It’s all relative and you’re coming off as the spoiled child you are who cries foul.
Paltry, not poultry. Poultry is a chicken
all about cities
Now that I’m traveling a lot, I would like a world map where I can black out the countries that I’ve visited. Can you direct me to such a thing?