Interesting discussion. I also go by the one-night rule to consider a country visited, but I keep a separate list for airports.

On the definition of a country, when I read my list again I noticed I've been wildly inconsistent. I considered French Polynesia as a separate country, but not Corsica. British Virgin Islands, but not Falkland. Puerto Rico, but not Svalbard. The list goes on and makes very little sense.

I have two separate lists; "been to" and visited." If I've been within a country (or US state's) border even if just transiting it can go on that list. Visited means usually spending at least a day somewhere outside of the airport, train station, etc. Admittedly Belgium is a stretch for my visited list since I was only in Brussels for a few hours but I did technically leave the train station for awhile.

I decided to use your implied "spent a night there" measure. And went through https://www.worldometers.info/geogra...-of-countries/ -- dammit but it's 49! Adding 2 within the next month though so I'll stave off fudging that rule.

That came up recently too. As a very young kid I went to Czechoslovakia and USSR in the late 80s. I am not counting them separately as since I've been to Slovakia and Ukraine.

I also went to Serbia and Montenegro when they were briefly together under that name in 2004. I count them as 2 since I actually went to both.

Another interesting parameter is the 'potential weight' of each country. Lots of countries are massive and have multiple options of varied landscapes, fauna climates and urban types. As a Canadian, I've been to several dozen places in the US that are so different to each other that without context one would be hard pressed to see and common point.

Someone once told be Chile is made up of the leftovers from every other Country and has all 5 Major Climate Zones. Visiting the Atacama Desert and Torres del Paine is almost like visiting different planets.

Canada, Australia, any many others are in similar boats.

I’m not suggesting there should be a different pointing system or weighted value, but its hard to argue that someone who has makes 6 distinct trips to Hawaii, Maine, Florida, Arizona, Alaska and Illinois counts 1 country while a 2-day trip through Benelux could count as 3.

Either way, it was fun making the list and thinking back of all those places I’ve been. Wish I could keep adding to the list more regularly.

It's a complex question. French Polynesia isn't a country. It's a territory of France and if you've been to France already then you can't count it. It would be like counting Puerto Rico as a separate country if you'd already visited the USA. I can't count my first visit to Hong Kong when it was a UK colony but going there post-handover was my first trip to China.

Schengen adds to the complication. I flew into a Warsaw from a non-Schengen country connecting to a Schengen country. I cleared customs but never left the airport. Was I in Poland or not?

The one-night rule doesn't seem to fit either. Using it would mean I can't count my day trips to Slovakia, Slovenia and Zimbabwe but I can legitimately say I've visited them.

I use the "talked to someone" rule. I know others don't like it, but if I'm in an airport and purchasing a meal from someone who works there, I've been to that country. Certainly the employee is in their own country, so if I'm interacting with them, how can I not also be there?

Re: what's a country, the only one I have that would maybe be a gray area for some is the Cook Islands. I visited before the US recognized it as sovereign, but I still count it as a country visited.

My definition:

• Country: any entity in the world which has an ISO 3166:2 code defined, plus Kosovo (XK).
• Visit: Set foot outside the port area
  • In case of channel swimming, the "port area" is defined to be the beach where I land my channel swim
• Direct transit: Either
  • entering and leaving the country on the same vehicle
    • If the vehicle is an aircraft, it must land the country
    • If the vehicle is water vessel, it must dock at a port, or travel via inland waterway
    • Merely overflying or passing through territorial sea doesn't count
  • Making a direct journey from outside the country to a port, and make another direct journey from the same port to exit the country, without leaving the port area in between
    • If I enter / exit the country on a public transport vehicle, the port is where I board / alight the vehicle
    • If I enter / exit the country without a vehicle / on a private vehicle, the port is where the law requires me to report to the authorities. If it is not required, no transit is possible and I would have visited the country once walked over an open border / alighted my private vehicle.
  • So in case of channel swimming above, if I get back to the boat / swim back immediately, I count it as a transit.

See, I do count pre-handover Hong Kong as a separate country.
Needed a passport to arrive from the UK, was stamped and had a different currency, so it wasn't the UK. I needed a visa to enter China from HK, and again a different currencies, so it wasn't China.

I also count East Germany, even though I only used the transit route to West Berlin. I stopped at the service station, used the facilities, and didn't pay for the loo ;)
Also had to get my first full UK passport for using it, and was my first passport stamp.

At the end of the day, it's your game, so your rules, and all a bit of fun. :)

Good point. My HK number remains the same then. Two visits but only one "country." No direct access to China and not a visit to the UK.

If different currency is the measure then French Polynesia is a different country. Even though it's a French Territory they don't use the Euro unlike St. Pierre and Miquelon. But what about Guernsey, Jersey, Scotland and the Isle of Man? All part of the UK but each with its own currency. Scotland bumps me up one.

By that criteria my number rises by two. I talked to people at the airport in Poland and I chatted with an airport worker in Senegal during a refueling stop.

If this keeps up I may need another badge. :)

A friend complies with the Traveler's Century Club rules. Amusing, because by having visited all seven emirates of the UAE, each counts as a checkmark on his list.

This is an interesting point. As I understand it, the USA has about the same land area as the European continent (including the "Europe part" of Russia). I'm American and have visited (and driven a vehicle in) all 50 states. I have slept at least one night in 41 of them, and performed work in 37. Beyond that, I have been to Canada, Mexico, France, Ireland, and 14 or 15 Caribbean islands - so maybe 20 countries.

Someone who lives in Europe could explore the same amount of land area as the USA and visit ~50 *countries* (depending on how you count them), compared to my 50 states in one country.

Someone from Canada could explore the same amount of land area as my 50 states and only be able to count 10 provinces in one country..

Looking at it like that, "number of countries" starts to seem like an artificial metric.

For Scotland, the 3 banks issue their own promissory notes but the underlining currency is still Pound Sterling.

If you try to redeem the note as in
”I promise to pay the bearer on demand” you’ll end up with sterling pound coins.

Northern Irish banks also issue their own Sterling notes.

On Jersey, when I visited, they just accept my BofE notes but do have their own.

Funnily enough, Hong Kong banks had their own Dollar notes in a similar way to Scotland.

The TCC list is a bit much.
There are also similiar lists on nomadmania and mosttravelledpeople.

Whatever the list is, its fun clicking off new places

Hong Kong's currency is not similar to Scotland. Hong Kong Dollar is a currency itself, but Scottish Pounds are just a variant of British Pounds which is authorised by the UK Government.