Originally Posted by NotSoFrequentColorado

My personal rules for country counting (my total is “only” 52): You must leave the airport and go through immigration. (The immigration requirement suspended for cruise ports because they usually don’t require each person to clear). And the country must be independent, not a possession or territory. So none of the islands on my French Polynesia cruise counted. And only a few (St.Lucia,Barbados,Dominica) on my 9-port Caribbean cruise. My 1984 refueling stop in Cape Verde doesn’t count - I got off the plane but didn’t leave airport property. And my trip to Antarctica counts as a continent but not a country - because it isn’t one. An interesting question came up in my family of country counters - what if it’s not a separate country now, but was when it was visited - specifically East Germany? (We decided it counts.)