Baldpacker

You're entitled to your opinion. I haven't been to Asian Turkey or Sumatra and Java yet so I can't comment for certain but I do expect them to be quite culturally dissimilar. It's hard to come up with "rules" that suit everyone's opinions but I think the TCC provides a pretty good balance overall.

It does cost to join plus an annual fee (around $100 I believe) so I have not actually bothered to register yet.

rankourabu

That would explain the rather low membership then.
From the pictures looks like most of the membership is my grandma's age

Trust me, there is no "cultural" difference between one side of the river and the other in Istanbul. I stand by the fact that listing asian and european Turkey as 2 countries for the sake of padding numbers is ridiculous.

One good list I found that provides a balance between UN and TCC is the ICAO list, it takes into account seperate territories like AAland, Guam, Svalbard, but it doesnt go ridiculous.

http://www.airlineupdate.com/content...s/icao_nat.htm

DanielW

Looks like they split Egypt into two 'countries' too (Asia & Africa) .

I'm surprised they treat Australia and Tasmania as separate 'countries', but the North and South Island of New Zealand are treated as one 'country'. Even South Korea is split into two 'countries' (mainland & Jeju).

Doesn't seem to be consistent anyway.

rankourabu

Had me curious - so I did count my TCC list - came up with quite an inflated number of 159.

Baldpacker

The other side of Istanbul isn't considered "Asian Turkey" for the list. You'll not it's listed as Turkey in Asia (Anatolia, Ankara, Izmir)

rankourabu

So lets say, if I go to Bursa or Urfa - its not in Asia? Just the ones that TCC has randomly listed? Its still TURKEY, whether it be on the Asian or European side. Just like Prince Edward Island is still Canada. And Corfu is Greece.

Find me a Turk that will agree with you that the Asian and European sides of Turkey are a different country......

Baldpacker

I dated an Emirates stewardess from Ankara and she did not relate to people from Istanbul in any way. Regardless, I'm not going to argue about it as everyone is entitled to their own opinions and whatever "list" you believe is the most fair based on your opinions is your choice completely.

The TCC has established clear criteria which I generally agree with and while I understand it may not always make perfect sense to all, it makes sense to me.

At the end of the day, I like any list that gets people traveling!

FallenPlat

I won't quarrel with Baldpacker's sentiment -- clearly the only correct answer -- but, really, any list that shows Alaska and Hawaii as separate, um, countries while showing Switzerland and Belgium (!) as one country is more than a bit suspect in my book. I'd be inclined to be a "UN plus a few" kind of guy, but then I've hardly been anywhere outside Europe so you should probably discount my views very considerably.

Baldpacker

Switzerland and Belgium are separate on the TCC list.

rankourabu

Do people from New York relate to people in Middle of Nowhere, Arkansas - probably just as much as in your example - maybe we should just make up some more separate countries..... how about Perth and Cairns?

Baldpacker

DanielW

They include Scotland too, which looks like it will be a separate, distinct country in every sense very shortly:

FallenPlat

Oh, come now, let's not have any faux-naivete here among friends. My point was that Switzerland has three separate communities, French, German and Italian speaking. (One of my professors in college was a specialist in a fourth language, Rheto-Romanish, but that's just getting too arcane even for me.) Belgium is even more interesting in that the two communities, Flemish and French speaking, are at political war with each other to the point that the long-term viability of the country is now somewhat in doubt.

I'm reminded of what the editor of the New York Times puzzles once said years ago. When asked whether it was ok to use a dictionary in solving a crossword, his answer was something to the effect that it's your puzzle and you can solve it however you like. Well, I'd say the same thing here.

Baldpacker

Well said.

ironmanjt

I think that's all that needs be said on this topic. Now, can we move on to where people stand?

159 here, 170 in early December after the South Pacific and Israel/Palestine using the UN+3 list

206 on the TCC list, soon to be 218 in early December.