How many countries/cities have you travelled？

[PeterMollenburg]

Australasia
• Australia (home)
• New Zealand
• Thailand
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia (Bali)
• Singapore

Americas
• USA
• Costa Rica

Europe
• UK
• The Netherlands
• Belgium
• Germany
• Luxembourg
• France
• Switzerland
• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece
• Norway

Terrific！
Have you ever been to HongKong？
I ’ve gone to HongKong once，ivisited the Ocean Park，Madame Tussauds Hong Kong，still a happy and unforgettable memory！
HongKong is a very busy and crowded place，how do you feel？

According to the rules that Iversen uses, I shouldn't count Hong Kong nor Singapore in fact. I visited these places for less than 24 hours. I made a definitive effort to see parts of these places and as they are very small countries I felt it worthwhile putting them on my list. Places i've never set foot on land or left the airport I would not (and have not) counted. The small glimpses I had of these places (Hong Kong and Singapore) didn't overly interest me. They were certainly interesting from a different country perspective but I did not specifically travel to these destinations. They were (like San Francisco) places I happened to land in and have sufficient time to get out and explore but substantially less than 24 hours.

As for what I got out my short visit to Hong Kong. I remember briefly asking someone for directions (on foot) and was met was a rather arrogant reply. This could happen anywhere... and I did ask in English. However the man I asked was a little older (not elderly) and I'd expect he would have had some contact with the English language due to Hong Kong's history. I could be wrong and I don't EVER like the idea of EXPECTING other people to speak English for whatever reason- so I was really being what I don't like then, but what else was I to do, speak Spanish or Dutch or French? Anyway it's a busy place as you said, and I really wasn't there long enough to get a good feel for the place, sorry.

[Iversen]

Both Hong Kong and Macao (Macau) are now part of The People's Republic of China (with a special status), and they belonged to respectively the United Kingdom and Portugal until the transfer happened. So they have never been independent countries EXCEPT during the period where Spain had gulped up mainland Portugal and Macao flatly refused to bow to that fact. So you could say that while the occupation lasted the only free part of Portugal was Macao, and its governing body therefore became known as "o Leal Senado". I have visited both places in 1994 (before they became Chinese) and liked them both. While I was sitting in the plane to Hong Kong the man beside me asked where I would be staying, and I answered "The Excelsior". Then he asked why I was sitting on economy class - but I had got a good offer so I didn't get ruined by the experience. After 3 nights I took a boat from Hong Kong to Macao and got a room in a hotel I found in Lonely Planet and stayed there for a couple of nights without ever meeting anyone who spoke English. In both places the overwhelming majority around me spoke some kind of Chinese (probably Cantonese), but place names were still quoted in the colonial languages.

Apart from that, this thing with overseas territories can have interesting consequences. For instance people living in the USA might visit Martinique or Guadeloupe before they ever set foot in Europe. Have they then visited France? Yes they have, because both islands belong to France at the same level as Eure-et-Loir or Deux-Sèvres or Paris. With a few exceptions (like the ill-fated volcanic island Montserrat) the English Caribbean colonies became independent countries, but neither the French nor the Dutch ones did. As for Greenland and the Faroese islands they belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, but they are not even members of the EU. The only land mass on planet Terra which isn't part of some country is according to our club Antarctica - but personally I think it should count as a country even though it hasn't got any permanent human inhabitants.

[rdearman]

I have a friend who walked around the world 20 times.



He was in the military and at the south pole so he walked around it in a circle 20 times. He said he could have walked around the world more than 20 times, but he got bored.

[steyyan]

I haven't been to too many countries: Norway (home), Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Germany, Spain (well, Mallorca), and the United Kingdom.

Doesn't exactly match the list of languages that I'm learning...

If the the airside area of Schiphol airport count as the Netherlands, I've been there too.

[Adrianslont]

how’s the mood when you go to a completely new place？
excited？interested？or can't wait to find something funny？
haha....

Excited and interested and stimulated - I love the feeling of being somewhere new. It's one of the best feelings. And even returning to a place is great too.

My list:
England
Wales
France
Switzerland
Italy
Yugoslavia (it was then)
Greece
China
Hong Kong (I'm counting them separately - if you have to change money and buy a visa - which you do - it's separate enough to count separately)
Cambodia
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia
Australia
New Zealand

I think that's all. Sri Lanka and Yemen don't meet the twenty four hour rule though I did walk around a bit - so I'm told - I was very young.

[Josquin]

Oh, I love travelling! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to travel a lot during the last few years due to various reasons, but I have managed to visit these countries until now:

Europe

• Germany
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• France
• Italy
• Vatican
• Spain (mainland and Canary Islands)
• Greece
• Denmark
• Ireland
• Poland
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia

Asia

• Turkey

Americas

• United States

[Stelle]

Africa
Kenya
Tanzania
Malawi
Zimbabwe
Zambia
South Africa

Nice.

I spent six months backpacking through Eastern and Southern Africa using public transportation when I was 21 - it was an amazing experience! I wasn't yet into language learning as a serious hobby, but I picked up some kiSwahili that I still remember to this day. I'd love to go back someday.

[Aeryn]

I love travelling, and plan to visit many more countries in the future. I have been to:

Europe:
Norway (home)
Sweden
Denmark (+ Faroe Islands)
Iceland
United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Wales)
Ireland
Germany
Austria
Hungary
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Romania
Spain
Italy
France

Asia:
Thailand
Laos
Vietnam

[tarvos]

If we count countries whose soil I've touched, it's going to be a bit more, but to give you a realistic idea...

* denotes countries I've lived in

Europe:

Netherlands*
Belgium*
Spain*
Romania*
Greece*
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Iceland
Austria
Switzerland
Italy
United Kingdom (but only England)
Czech Republic
Andorra
Vatican City
Hungary
Russia

Passed through Poland and Belarus. I will visit Poland over the summer.

North America:
Canada*
United States (quite a few states, about 10 or so I think?)

Asia:
China PR*
South Korea
(and technically North Korea as I stepped over the border at Panmunjeom)

[Nandemonai]

Let's see:

Europe:
Belgium
The Netherlands
Germany
France
UK
Lithuania
Italy
Austria
Spain
Switzerland

Others:
Japan
South-Korea
Australia
USA (California)

I visited Australia when I was two years old, so I'm not sure wether or not I should count that one.