How many countries have I visited?
My good friend Andy has directed me to a great web site that enables one to create a personal map showing all the countries one has visited. I’ve eagerly done this and posted the map on my web site.
Now on my web site, I list the 49 countries that I reckon I have visited. But, creating the map on the World66 site, I clicked on a total of 52 countries. Two of the extra countries are the Channel islands and Vatican City. Should I count these for my web site calculation. The third extra country is my own: the United Kingdom. Do I count this on my web site list?
Help me out here, guys. I need your advice.
By the way, the World66 map misses out an entire continent: Antarctica.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:19 am
In my day the Channel Islands were part of the UK.
So if you include them, what about, IOM, Orkneys, Shetland et al.
Vatican City is just what it says a ‘City’.
Or am I too simple?
By the way, have you tried Google Earth, you can put photos, bookmarks et al.
And its free.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
The Channel Islands are crown dependencies of the UK, and do not count as a country.
The Vatican City is a independent country and therefore should count to your total. It is also the smallest country in the world and ruled by an absolute monarch!
May 10th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
World66 seems to equate “Russia” to the old USSR, so maybe the 66 stands for 1966?
May 11th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Well, we seem to have a consensus on the Channel Islands – that it does not count as a separate country.
Maybe the Vatican City is technically a country, but it seems almost cheating to include such a tiny place. If I do though, then my total comes up to a round 50.
Andy, the various former republics of the USSR are listed as separate countries, but I do get a big blob of red on the map simply by having visited St Petersburg.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Thanks for posting my comments. A further, thought provoking question is what constituents a visit to a country? Do you simply have to have had 2 feet in the territory (as in landed at an airport), had a specific length of time there, or stayed overnight? What are your views?
Cheers
Chris
May 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Good question, Chris.
I haven’t counted any countries where I have simply used an airport.
In practice, every country I have counted I have spent at least half a day there (and this applies to only one country), but I don’t have a defined minimum period of time.