How many countries/cities have you travelled?

This is a room for the discussion of travel plans or experiences and the culture of places you have visited or plan to visit.
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby Sedge » Wed Nov 27, 2019 4:27 am

My brother and I have a long-running travel competition to see the most places. I think we might be tied on states of the US. I have been to more continents (5), and he has been to more countries.

My countries, with stars by the one that doesn't really count because I've only been to an airport:

US (47 states)
Canada (2 provinces)
Japan
Ecuador
New Zealand*
Australia
Cayman Islands
Jamaica
Costa Rica
Iceland
Peru
Chile
Colombia

Tentatively planning a trip to Africa in 2021 to see my 6th continent; I'm leaning towards Tanzania. 2020 I'm hoping to knock off at least one more of my remaining US states, but of course two are on opposite coasts and one is in the middle of the Pacific, so it's not like they're easy to loop into one trip!
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby Iversen » Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:58 am

cjareck wrote:My first trip abroad was to Czechoslovakia - I was 12 years old, and they were not separated yet. Does it count as two? ;)

SCMT wrote:How should one count Caribbean Islands? I mean, USVI might be the United States, and the Caymans might be UK, but what is Aruba? Is St. Martin France? Is St. Maarten Holland? Is St. Martin/St. Maarten just St. Maarten? Is St. Barths different?
And by the way, how should I count the parts of the UK? I started to post a number and confused myself.


You can choose whether you count the countries as they were when you visited them or as they are right now, but I prefer looking at the present situation because you don't have to remember when you visited a certain place, and you also avoid potential problems with places you have visited several times and who have changed statues in between the visits. For instance you could have visited Bratislava and Praha in 1990 and that would score as Czechoslovakia at the time. And now you revisit Praha - should you then count Czechia because of Praha and retain Czechoslovakia because of Bratislava which you visited before the separation?

I'm a member of a travel club where we register the countries of each member. I the beginning we used the historical principle, but it turned out that it was too complicated to keep track of all the places our members had visited when you also had to consider when they did it, so we changed the system to the here-and-now principle. And that means that according to the registrations I have visited Uzbekistan, even though I was there during the Sovjet era, and on the other hand I have never been to neither BRD or DDR, only to Germany. This may seem odd, but in a club where members typically have visited at least 40-50 countries plus territories we need a simple registration system. And two dimensions are easier to deal with than three.

As for territories: I have never understood how the United Kingdom could get away with claiming that it consisted of four or five countries in sports. But it is just one country with some subdivisions according to the rules of the United Nations, and that's also how it is counted by the club I mentioned (you don't have to fancy the UN to use its member list as a reference). The same list stipulates that everything French stays French - i.e. the French half of St.Martens is part of France just as well as Ile-de-France or any other department in mainland France (or Saint Pierre and Miquelon in Canada, for that matter). On the other hand most English speaking islands have declared their independence, but a few have chosen to remain British - like the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Montserrat. The Dutch islands have also remained within the Netherlands, but with a high degree of internal autonomy. Their exact configuration has changed, but this is how Wikipedia defines it:

In 1954, the islands became the country (Dutch: Land) Netherlands Antilles (1954−2010). The autonomy of the Netherlands Antilles' island territories was specified in the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles. Initially the Netherlands Antilles consisted of 4 island territories: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and the Windward Islands. The latter split into the Island Territories Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten in 1983.

The island of Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 to become a separate constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, leaving five island territories within the Netherlands Antilles. This situation remained until the complete dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as a unified political entity in 2010. In that year Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous constituent countries within the Kingdom (like Aruba); while Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper, which is the constituent country that is mainly located in Europe.


But this is also somewhat confusing since all the islands mentioned in the quote remain part of the Netherlands, and speaking about countries within countries is nonsens (although it can be founded on the use of the word "land" in Dutch). By the way: Sint Maarten is only one half of an island - the other part belongs to France. In contrast Suriname is a fully independent country. I visited the three Guyanas a few years ago, and it was funny because I spoke English in Guyana, Dutch in Suriname and French in Guyane Française - and Danish to the only other person in the travel group.

And just to add to the confusion: Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands belong to USA, but they aren't states. And Greenland and the Faroe Islands belong to Denmark, but they are not even members of the European Union so we have essentially a national border that doesn't follow the borders of the EU. You may also have noticed that I used the countryname UK (United Kingdom) above. Many refer to the country as 'England' which is a blatant error since it doesn't include Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland. But many of those who try to avoid this error instead use "Great Britain" as a country name. Well, without going into politics it would have simplified brexit if this name reflected the political realities, but it doesn't since Northern Ireland isn't included (and by the way, what about the Channel islands?). The Netherlands as the name of the country is also more correct than "Holland" since only two af the parts of the Netherlands are named as Holland-something - albeit these parts are the most relevant for tourists. Actually it would be even better to say "Netherland" in the singular since the Dutch call their country "Nederland" - but the plural in the English name goes back at least to the Renaissance and maybe longer so it is probably too late to rectify things.
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby rdearman » Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:43 pm

Many people confuse the geographical areas of the UK, with the political.

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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby SCMT » Wed Nov 27, 2019 4:06 pm

Iversen wrote:
cjareck wrote:My first trip abroad was to Czechoslovakia - I was 12 years old, and they were not separated yet. Does it count as two? ;)

SCMT wrote:How should one count Caribbean Islands? I mean, USVI might be the United States, and the Caymans might be UK, but what is Aruba? Is St. Martin France? Is St. Maarten Holland? Is St. Martin/St. Maarten just St. Maarten? Is St. Barths different?
And by the way, how should I count the parts of the UK? I started to post a number and confused myself.


You can choose whether you count the countries as they were when you visited them or as they are right now, but I prefer looking at the present situation because you don't have to remember when you visited a certain place, and you also avoid potential problems with places you have visited several times and who have changed statues in between the visits. For instance you could have visited Bratislava and Praha in 1990 and that would score as Czechoslovakia at the time. And now you revisit Praha - should you then count Czechia because of Praha and retain Czechoslovakia because of Bratislava which you visited before the separation?

I'm a member of a travel club where we register the countries of each member. I the beginning we used the historical principle, but it turned out that it was too complicated to keep track of all the places our members had visited when you also had to consider when they did it, so we changed the system to the here-and-now principle. And that means that according to the registrations I have visited Uzbekistan, even though I was there during the Sovjet era, and on the other hand I have never been to neither BRD or DDR, only to Germany. This may seem odd, but in a club where members typically have visited at least 40-50 countries plus territories we need a simple registration system. And two dimensions are easier to deal with than three.

As for territories: I have never understood how the United Kingdom could get away with claiming that it consisted of four or five countries in sports. But it is just one country with some subdivisions according to the rules of the United Nations, and that's also how it is counted by the club I mentioned (you don't have to fancy the UN to use its member list as a reference). The same list stipulates that everything French stays French - i.e. the French half of St.Martens is part of France just as well as Ile-de-France or any other department in mainland France (or Saint Pierre and Miquelon in Canada, for that matter). On the other hand most English speaking islands have declared their independence, but a few have chosen to remain British - like the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Montserrat. The Dutch islands have also remained within the Netherlands, but with a high degree of internal autonomy. Their exact configuration has changed, but this is how Wikipedia defines it:

In 1954, the islands became the country (Dutch: Land) Netherlands Antilles (1954−2010). The autonomy of the Netherlands Antilles' island territories was specified in the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles. Initially the Netherlands Antilles consisted of 4 island territories: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and the Windward Islands. The latter split into the Island Territories Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten in 1983.

The island of Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 to become a separate constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, leaving five island territories within the Netherlands Antilles. This situation remained until the complete dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as a unified political entity in 2010. In that year Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous constituent countries within the Kingdom (like Aruba); while Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper, which is the constituent country that is mainly located in Europe.


But this is also somewhat confusing since all the islands mentioned in the quote remain part of the Netherlands, and speaking about countries within countries is nonsens (although it can be founded on the use of the word "land" in Dutch). By the way: Sint Maarten is only one half of an island - the other part belongs to France. In contrast Suriname is a fully independent country. I visited the three Guyanas a few years ago, and it was funny because I spoke English in Guyana, Dutch in Suriname and French in Guyane Française - and Danish to the only other person in the travel group.

And just to add to the confusion: Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands belong to USA, but they aren't states. And Greenland and the Faroe Islands belong to Denmark, but they are not even members of the European Union so we have essentially a national border that doesn't follow the borders of the EU. You may also have noticed that I used the countryname UK (United Kingdom) above. Many refer to the country as 'England' which is a blatant error since it doesn't include Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland. But many of those who try to avoid this error instead use "Great Britain" as a country name. Well, without going into politics it would have simplified brexit if this name reflected the political realities, but it doesn't since Northern Ireland isn't included (and by the way, what about the Channel islands?). The Netherlands as the name of the country is also more correct than "Holland" since only two af the parts of the Netherlands are named as Holland-something - albeit these parts are the most relevant for tourists. Actually it would be even better to say "Netherland" in the singular since the Dutch call their country "Nederland" - but the plural in the English name goes back at least to the Renaissance and maybe longer so it is probably too late to rectify things.


I think this is all further evidence that while it is fun to count, it is useless to keep score.
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby badger » Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:58 pm

Europe:
UK (home)
Austria
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Ireland (Republic of)
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Africa:
Egypt

Caribbean:
Barbados
Cuba
Dominican Republic

North America:
USA (CA, NY, OK)


hmm, looking at that list, it's been a *really* long time since I went to a new country. I quite fancy somewhere in North Africa next year. & maybe the Republic of Scotland. ;)
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby aokoye » Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:45 pm

Countries? Canada, Germany, Austria, France, England, Poland, Czech Republic

Cities (counting visits for conferences and not including anything in Oregon or most of Washington): Seattle, Victoria, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Ithaca, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Vienna, Pinkafeld, Berlin, Lyon, Paris, Oxford, Krakow, Brno

As someone who doesn't typically get to do a lot of traveling and has spent most of my life in the US, this thread has always seemed like a function of a. where someone lives and b. how much money someone has had access to. Prior to studying in Vienna, I had only been out of the country once, and that was to Canada. Most of the cities that I'd visited were either super close (Seattle) or I had been funded to go to because of the organization that I was on the national board of as a teenager (that's where the NY, New Orleans, and LA come in).
The only reason I've been able to go to Europe has essentially been because I've gotten enough financial aid to study there.

That isn't a criticism so much as an observation. It's somewhat analogous to when people are so shocked to hear how few people from the US are passport holders. When you have a country that is geographically large, only borders two countries, and said countries also only border 1-2 countries this should come of no surprise. Add in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans...
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby LeeGood » Wed Jan 15, 2020 3:10 pm

Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Turkey, Egypt - 7 countries yet
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby Mline » Mon Apr 20, 2020 8:30 pm

I only went to European countries :

France, my home country, which I did NOT visit entirely)

England (London, York, Durham, Devon, Kent)

Ireland (Dublin, Gallway, Kilkenny, Conemmara, Wicklow)

Spain (Madrid, Salamanca, Toledo, La Rioja, Logrono, Bilbao, and parts of the Pyrenées)

Italy (Rome, Florence, Toscany, and a bit in the Alps)

Belgium (Bruxelles, Bruge)
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby vegantraveller » Thu May 28, 2020 6:49 pm

Travelling is my biggest passion together with language learning. Before Covid-19, I used to travel a lot, both for work and for leisure.
Here is the list with countries, cities, and regions I have been so far (I will try to regularly update it). The great absent is Latin America, unfortunately. I have subdivided Italy in regions, since it is my home country and I regularly spend short weekends exploring it:

ITALY (domestic travel - 16 regions out of 20):
Abruzzo: I travelled the highways and byways of it, I went there twice and loved it. It's mostly mountainous, with rugged landscapes and little medieval towns and castles scattered all around. The main centres are Pescara, Chieti, Sulmona, and L'Aquila.
Aosta Valley: Aosta, Courmayeur, Valtournenche & Cervinia, numerous medieval little towns with their beautiful castles.
Apulia: Alberobello, Taranto, Lecce.
Campania: Caserta only, on a daytrip from Cassino. I have unfortunately not been to Naples yet... Hope to visit it someday soon.
Emilia-Romagna: Bologna, Piacenza, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Rimini.
Lazio: Rome, Tivoli, Cassino (the city my father lived in when he was a teenager, I happened to go there quite often until my paternal grandparents were still alive).
Liguria: Genoa, the West Riviera, the Cinqueterre.
Lombardy: Milan, Pavia, Bergamo, Cremona, Lake Garda (Lombard shore).
Marche: Ancona, Urbino.
Molise: my family's region: my grandparents moved to Turin in the 1950's but they always had strong ties with this tiny, mostly mountainous, region. I've been there quite a lot when I was a child, and more recently, when my maternal grandmother moved there again until she passed away a couple of years ago. I have been to the province of Isernia and the coastal town of Termoli.
Piedmont (the region I live in): Turin (my city), the Po Hills (Chieri), Susa Valley, Ivrea & Canavese, Cuneo, Cuneo Alpine valleys, Mondovì and the Monregalese, Langhe & Roero area (Alba and numerous medieval hill towns), Monferrato (Asti, Casale Monferrato, Acqui Terme, and numerous medieval hill towns), Alessandria, Vercelli, Biella, Lake Maggiore (Piedmont shore).
Sicily: Palermo, Catania, Taormina.
Trentino-Alto Adige: Trento, Rovereto, Lake Garda (Trentino shore), Valsugana, Brenta Dolomites, Bolzano, Val d'Ega/Eggertal.
Tuscany: Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni, Val d'Orcia (Montalcino), Pienza, Montepulciano, Grosseto & Maremma.
Umbria: Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto.
Veneto: Venice, Verona, Lake Garda (Veneto shore), Padua, Colli Euganei.

EUROPE
Albania: Tirana, Shkoder, Durres, Vlore.
Austria: Vienna, Salzburg, Graz.
Belgium: Brussels.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo, Mostar, Medjugorje, Neum.
Bulgaria: Sofia, Plovdiv.
Croatia: Zagreb, Istria.
Cyprus: Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol.
Czech Republic: Prague, Česky Krumlov.
Denmark: Copenhagen, Aarhus.
Finland: just crossed the border from Swedish Lapland (Karesuando) to Finnish Lapland (Kaaresuvanto) - does it count? :lol:
France: Paris, Strasbourg, Loire Valley, Dijon, Bordeaux, Lyon, St. Etienne, Marseille and Provence, Nice and the French Riviera, the French Alps and Savoy (Chambéry).
Germany: Berlin, Potsdam, Neumünster, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Nuremberg, Munich, Eichstätt, Stuttgart.
Greece: Athens, Karpathos.
Hungary: Budapest.
Iceland: Reykjavík, the Golden Circle.
Ireland: Dublin.
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Montenegro: Podgorica.
Netherlands: Amsterdam.
Norway: Narvik only (a daytrip from Swedish Lapland).
Poland: Krakow.
Portugal: Lisbon, Porto.
Romania: Bucharest, Sibiu.
Russia: Moscow, Saint Petersburg.
Serbia: Belgrade, Novi Pazar.
Slovakia: Bratislava.
Slovenia: Ljubljana, Nova Gorica.
Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Castille (Salamanca, Ávila, Segovia, Ciudad Rodrigo and the mountainous region of La Alberca), Andalusia (Seville, Granada, Malaga and the coast), Lanzarote.
Sweden: Stockholm, Eksjö, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Umeå, Östersund, Kiruna and Swedish Lapland, Visby and Gotland.
Switzerland: Zürich, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano.
Turkey: Istanbul.
UK: London, Brighton and the Southeast coast, Canterbury, Winchester, Southampton, Bath, Bristol, the Cotswolds, Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Yorkshire, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gibraltar.
Vatican City

AFRICA
Algeria: Algiers, Oran, Mostaganem, Béjaia, Constantine, Annaba, Sétif.
Tunisia: Tunis, Carthage, Sidi bou Said, Nabeul, Sfax.

MIDDLE EAST
Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Palestine: Bethlehem.
UAE: Dubai.

ASIA
China: Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xi'an, Kunming, Guangzhou, Shenzhen.
Hong Kong
India: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore.
Japan: Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Okinawa.
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore
Taiwan: Taipei, Taichung.

OCEANIA
Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.
New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch.

NORTH AMERICA
Canada: Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Vancouver, British Columbia, Banff and Jasper National Parks.
USA: New York City, Hartford (CT), Los Angeles, San Francisco.
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Re: How many countries/cities have you travelled?

Postby fresh_air » Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:19 am

Brazil - São Paulo, Curitiba, Foz do Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Cabo Frio, Uberlandia, Pato de Minas, Santos, São Vicente, Praia Grande, Lavras, Recife, Salvador, Fortaleza, Natal, João Pessoa, Olinda, Maceió, Aracaju

Argentina - Puerto Iguazú

United States - Seattle, Anchorage, Portland, Las Vegas

Finland - Far north Lapland (I forget the name).

Canada - Vancouver

Norway - Oslo, Alta, Kautokeino

Germany - Frankfurt, Mainz, Bremen

Scotland - Glasgow

The Netherlands - Amsterdam

Czech Rep. - Prague

Next location - Ukraine!
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