Originally Posted by
oneworld82
Wish I had all the free time y'all have
Question: do you consider a place like French Guyana or Mayotte simply as France for the count? I think that a count of territories is much more valuable.
Also, what is the
minimum criteria for saying: "I have been to country X"?
Thanks!
To answer your question and as you've seen from the last 5 posts, it's all debatable!
There are a number of popular lists - the two I follow are the UN+3 and TCC Lists. There's a lot of discussion and debate throughout this thread about the lists and their opinions but at the end of the day I think it's up to you to make up your own mind.
Here are a couple blog posts on the matter:
http://baldpacker.com/how-many-countries-in-the-world
http://baldpacker.com/travelers-century-club-countries
As far as minimum criteria, that's also debatable. Some "country collectors" believe getting off a plane for 20 minutes is enough. Others have funny rules about taking a dump or using a credit card. For me, I always like to stay long enough to get a "feel" for a place. For example, on an upcoming trip I'll only be spending one day on Cocos (Keeling) Island. Given it's a very small island with only 600 people, I believe that's enough.
For a big country like Australia, Canada, US, Russia, or China I figure a month is about minimum to get a proper taste. Once again, to each their own...