DISQUS

Sadie · 9 months ago

I've been to the Bahamas (the water's so blue!!), Canada, England, and France. I live in the US. My favorite so far is England. I'd love to spend more time there. The British Museum in London was amazing, and all of the history is just awesome! I took the ferry from the White Cliffs of Dover over to France and that was really neat, but the people in Paris really are kind of snobby to Americans. I took French in school and know enough to fumble my way along - I was really trying! - and they were so rude about it! I'm glad I went there and saw all of the big things in Paris, but I'm not sure I'll go back.

I really want to go to New Zealand and Japan and Ireland.

cartoonmoney · 9 months ago

Four by any definition. The Netherlands, where I've lived all me life, Luxembourg, where we used to go on vacation every year, Belgium, where we occasionally went during those vacations, and France where I've been with school.

I've passed through Germany and a few other countries and have been in Italy when I was six months old but I don't count those.

aarestad · 9 months ago

According to MostTraveledPeople.com, I've been to 40 locations, though most of those are US states, so that's kind of lame. :) I have set foot in 8 countries besides the US; besides the obvious Mexico and Canada, I have been to El Salvador and Guatemala, Ireland and the UK (just Northern Ireland), India, and (by virtue of a layover en route to India) the Netherlands.

On the wish list: as much of western Europe as I can, especially Norway, France, and Spain, the latter because I have a friend in Barcelona; Australia to visit friends in Brisbane; Russia to visit a friend in St. Petersburg; Japan... but in this economy, I don't think I'll be seeing any of these places any time soon.

Alex Berger · 9 months ago

Great post with some fantastic points. I think by my last count I was at 25 or 26. That includes places like San Marino, The Vatican etc. which inevitably leads to conversations about what constitutes a country - love the criteria outlined in your post and definitely going to check out MTP!

Mavis Hoffman · 9 months ago

I live in Canada so been to nine of the ten provinces, then traveled to the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, England, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand. There are highlights from each of them. And each holiday had its own purpose and adventure. I just hope that I can visit many more of them.

soultravelers3 · 9 months ago

Funny, but I have never added mine up yet. I think it is more important HOW MUCH of each country that you have been to and how deeply you have immersed means more than just how many. I was surprised that I had already been to 51 on the Hillman Top places list. I didn't even know that until you tweeted about it.

We have been to 29 countries so far on our open ended tour and traveled over 75,000 miles, mostly overland ( or via sea). Almost all of them were done going 2 1/2 years with just one plane flight! Overland and going slow gives one such a true experience of an area.

We like to immerse deeply and take our time. Lots of people see Madrid and Barcelona, but we have seen more of Spain than most Spaniards. The same thing like many other countries like Turkey, Morocco, Croatia, France, Portugal,Sweden and more.

I haven't even added up all of our UNESCO World Heritage Sites, although we have seen a ton.

I am not interested in seeing every country, but I AM interested in knowing deeply, the places we visit. Well as deeply as one can in a finite universe. My goodness one could take decades in just one country.

Trevor · 9 months ago

China, Laos, Thailand, Panama, Jordan, Canada, U.S. - Seven, I guess, unless Hong Kong counts (a separate customs district although it's officially a part of China). Do I get extra points for going to China five times and traveling to really remote provinces?

Richard · 9 months ago

Not enough...

radbadnomad · 9 months ago

Gary, just voted for ya, you are only 2 votes out of first place now. Great post, didn't know some of those lists were out there.

LH · 9 months ago

Hmm, not counting the countries I've lived in (Canada and S. Korea), I've been to 11 so far, and 2 more to be added in an upcoming trip (Greece & Turkey). I just went through the top 100 list, and saw 18 plus 6 to be added from the said upcoming trip. I only started traveling about 3.5 years ago, so that's not bad..? Been to mostly Europe, and rather easy to cover a lot of ground by train. :-) I daydream about a trip like yours, but hoping to do so one day.... Don't know how yet.

rachaul · 9 months ago

Another criteria to consider is not only what constitutes a country, but what constitutes a visit. Some people say you have to have at least left the airport, others take it as far as to say that if you've not left your all-inclusive tourist resort you haven't really been to the country. My personal opinion is that if your passport says you've been, then you have.

... · 9 months ago

Interesting topic. Based on the UN list, I'm at approximately 60 countries.

MDNomad · 9 months ago

I use the Travelers Century Club because my Grandparents were members with a total of 175 countries, and my parents are 10 countries shy of joining. I started traveling at 3 months of age with my parents and to date I have 50 countries on my list. I havent added a country in a while. But now I'm back in school to be an airline pilot at the Delta Connection Academy. That will feed my addiction again. My blog follows me through flight school to the goal of more access to travel.

Josiah · 9 months ago

I've only seen 5 of the 100 top destinations. At least I've seen those 5! However, I've been to 16 different countries in total. I really like this website. It has a lot of content, and a lot of valuable information. Thanks for putting so much effort into your posts! They are much appreciated!

Irv · 9 months ago

Why does it even matter "how many" countries, or places, or whatever a person visits? I can see the allure of counting, but it makes it all sound so frivolous. Isn't it the quality of the travel? Isn't it expanding one's view of the world, seeing how others live and learning about other cultures? Quantifying travel like this kind of defeats the purpose.

Gary Arndt · 9 months ago

Because when you are talking to a group of people about traveling and you give an answer like that, it is a conversation killer and really not very fun.

Numbering the places you've been doesn't destroy the good experiences you've had.

DrManette · 9 months ago

I'll just list out the places I've been (countries and states):

Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Illinois, Washington DC, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Quebec.

Sherry Ott · 9 months ago

34 if I don't include just passing through an airport (I didn't think that was fair to include!). Doing number 35 in a week!

ClearlyEnlight · 9 months ago

That number counting is based on ego driven self-glorification of oneself.

Quality outweighs Quantity within most subjects, and indeed, the traveling subject.

Most people that are traveling fast based on numbers cannot explain the deeper levels of culture or even the dynamics of the country, at least from my experience talking with people that travel fast and numerous countries within a short time.

This subject is stupid as the question, What is your favorite country or place?

Gary Arndt · 9 months ago

Don't dare to tell me what experiences I've had, or try to be the benchmark for everyone in the world for how people should travel. If you want to spend 5 months in Egypt compared to my 1, I'm happy for you, but the fact that I spent more time than 99% of most people who visit hardly makes me "fast".

Also, I'd like to point out that you list the countries you've been to at the top of your "ego driven" website.

ClearlyEnlight · 9 months ago

Many travel blogs I visit, I have a hard time figuring out their route. I list the countries in order so people understand my route, although a person can perceive and judge the context as they wish.

My comment was not referring to you, I have not visited with you in person, although most people that I have visited in person that travel fast cannot explain the deeper levels of the culture or the dynamics of the country.

Everyone has different style of travel, but the counting of numbers of countries a person has been to doesn't mean a thing—it's shallow.