Traveling Poll 1: How many countries?

From New Zealand, have been to England/ Wales, Australia (of course), Germany, France, Switzerland, Turkey (shithole), Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Samoa, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, USA. But most exotic was Kyrgyzstan, I had three weeks there

OP if you havent got to Japan I can highly recommend it, of all the Asian countries it's probably the best one to start with

Thanks R1 I will try to get there!

You thought Turkey was a bigger shithole than Kyrgyzstan or Cambodia, R1? The coastal areas look nice...

Cambodia is still probably my most "exotic" - I went in 2007 and the poverty was shocking...though I'm sure it's more developed now, at least around Siem Reap.

[quote] My most exotic was probably Equador.

Apparently the correct spelling was too exotic for you.

Flying to Cam-bo-diaaaa

There's a group for people who are well-traveled called the Travelers Century Club. It keeps a list of "countries" that includes some places that are not unique countries, but so out-of-the-way that visiting them counts. Here's my list (note, it's the TCC list -I'm not claiming that Alaska and Hawaii are countries):

Argentina, Alaska, Austria, Aruba, Bahamas, Balearic Islands, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Belgium, Guadeloupe & Dependencies, Belize, Hawaiian Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macau, Brazil, Martinique, Canada, Puerto Rico, Chile, St. Barts, China, St. Croix, Colombia, St. Thomas, Costa Rica, Scotland, Croatia, Wales, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam

"Most exotic" is tough, because a lot of what constitutes exotic is timing. Does the former East Germany count as exotic? How about other countries visited when they were behind the Iron Curtain? China, back before Tienanmen? Vietnam in the 80s?

My most out-of-the-way places:

The Sinai Field Mission (1981, when it was being ceded from Israel to Egypt)

UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi)

Bahrain

Saudi Arabia

Kuwait

Qatar

Jordan

Kenya

Uruguay

Some of the smaller Caribbean islands

[quote] UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi)

I'm going to Dubai!

I’ve only been to 25 countries so far, but will add Dominican Republic later this year. Even people who don’t do foreign travel should at least have Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas on their list.

I have no desire to travel to offbeat countries and locations. I value my life more than experiencing shithole places. No offense to those who live in or have connections to shithole places.

Offbeat and out-of-the-way does NOT equal shithole, R9. New Zealand is very out-of-the-way for Americans, and not many have visited there. Is it a shithole country? I'd feel a helluva lot safer anywhere in Central America than in Russia.

65, have lived in 8 (from southern NZ to western Sweden), citizen of 2 now.

Hard to say most 'exotic' but interpreting is as unusual and different from my own world, I guess Cuba (I went during the short window it was legal without a sponsored tour), Yunnan provice in China, or riding across south India in an Ambassador.

Why hasn't Charlene chimed in yet?

Serious question: does Canada count as a foreign country if you're from the US?

Yes, Canada is a foreign country if you are from the US. So is Mexico.

[quote] Offbeat and out-of-the-way does NOT equal shithole, [R9]. New Zealand is very out-of-the-way for Americans, and not many have visited there.

I didn’t say “out-of-the-way”. You pulled that out of your ass and added it on your own. Offbeat is not a synonym for out of the way. New Zealand and Australia fall within the range of conventional places to travel to, whereas someplace like Somalia does not. I’ve been to Australia already but expect to get to New Zealand someday.

[quote] Serious question: does Canada count as a foreign country if you're from the US?

If you travel to Saint Pierre and Miquelon, that would also be another country (France).

That reminds me that I’ve actually been to 26 countries. I always forget to count Iceland.

A couple of posters on DL have talked about how New Zealand was, indeed, kind of a shit hole. IIRC, even v8fairy, who I think lives in NZ, admitted it was kind of a shit hole.

I really don't think I would ever travel to NZ.

Canada, Mexico, both West Germany and the later, unified Germany, Switzerland, and France.

I know it's not much, but for people where I come from, I'm positively a world traveler!

I always tell people, "PA Dutch people never leave..."

These are apples and orange as Europeans travel to several countries within a few hundred km, yet someone in North America who has been thousands away could say only one or two.

R16: my first trip to France was the island of St. Martin.

Ha ha r4, you got me!

Actually forgot that I went to the Cayman Islands, so I can bump my answer up to 13 (self-governing so I think I’d count it as separate).

Ecuador isn't very exotic. Laos was when I went there the first time--very few paved roads, ditto Cambodia. In Nepal, I went to places where everything was transported on the back of a person or a pack animal.

My list: Ireland, England (and Northern Ireland), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Italy, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Botswana, S Africa, Zaire, Thailand, Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar. Next month, I plan to add Noway, Sweden & Denmark.

R17: NZ is not a shithole. Incredible natural beauty. The settlers were farmers and merchants, and the general tone of the place is very bourgeois, esp. in comparison with Australia.

Added another 9 as they were mentioned here…41. But since I visited Yugoslavia when it was still one country, I should add a couple more. I didn’t count Puerto Rico because it’s part of the US.

Exotic? Well inland Bosnia and Croatia away from the coast was, well dirt roads and donkey carts. Forgot Laos, 42. No roads upcountry, take a boat. That’s the advantage of being old, saw these places “before”. When it was bicycles and motorbikes, no private cars. But there’s always an earlier “before”. I would’ve loved to travel in the Middle East and North Africa back in the 30s. I can say that I was able to travel before you had to make reservations for hotels/hostels and book arrival times for museums in Europe. Hate being pinned down by a schedule.

From the US and have visited 18 countries. Most exotic, Vietnam. Biggest surprise, Slovenia (loved it). Biggest letdown, Barbados.

Almost 40 by now. My favorites are the MENA countries mainly because of their exotic men.

Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Ireland, the UK, Sweden, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Turkey.

17.

I still hope to hit Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Switzerland. I wouldn't mind visiting Chile, Argentina, or Brazil.

I have no urge to go anywhere in Africa, Asia, Central America, or the Pacific and Indian oceans.

I’ve been to 76 UN countries and 11 non-UN countries and to every continent except Antarctica. All 50 states too. Lived in 3 countries.

Most ‘least visited by travellers’: DR Congo, Burundi, Moldova, Faroe Islands

Weird US places: Pt Barrow, AK: Kentucky Bend, KY; Pt Roberts, WA.

My least fave region of the world is the Caribbean. I’m game to go anywhere though.

[quote] Biggest letdown, Barbados.

Can you please elaborate? TIA.

OP: "Of course, just being in an airport to switch doesn’t count."

Incorrect. As once explained to me on Datalounge, if you died in that airport in, say, Switzerland, they would say "he died at an airport in Switzerland". If you could have died in the place, then you've been there.

I've been at O'Hare airport, but have never really seen Chicago.

[quote] Of course, just being in an airport to switch doesn’t count.

I’ve only ever changed planes twicd in a foreign country. One was with Icelandair, but I had already stayed in Iceland that trip. The other was in Frankfurt, but my final destination was Berlin, so it was still in the same country. I would want a nonstop flight from the U.S. to my destination and not stop in a country that I wasn’t also going to visit.

R32, I’ve flown to Istanbul a few times when going to Vienna — I take Turkish Air, a great airline. I’ve never actually gotten out of the airport though and it would be silly to count Turkey as a country I’ve visited.

[quote]Can you please elaborate? TIA.

Barbados was over-commercialized and the locals were the least friendly I’ve encountered in the Caribbean. There are beautiful pockets of the island, especially on the west coast. But much of it felt like I might as well have been in SoCal.

I wouldn't mind visiting the Faroe Islands. Seems kind of interesting.

Argentina Uruguay Brazil Mexico England France Spain Italy

None of them I would consider exotic tbh. I guess maybe Granada, Spain because it almost seemed like Morrocco- light. So many moors there.

Nothing stimulates pointless tick-mark bragging like the suggestion of interest in a person's travel experience.

[Quote] I wouldn't mind visiting the Faroe Islands.

Oh is that where Mia’s people are from???

R37 has never left Pennsylvania

WHY must everything be a COMPETITION!?

I'm from the United States and so far I've been to England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.

I would love to see Ireland, Greece, Norway, and Spain.

Oh, I forgot Mexico 🇲🇽

I hope to have wanderlust some day but at this point, I don’t.

All of North America, Belize, Japan, England, Ireland, all of Scandinavia, all of Western Europe, Russia, Egypt, and Morocco.

117.

[quote]You thought Turkey was a bigger shithole than Kyrgyzstan or Cambodia

R3 Admittedly I only had a day stopover in Istanbul, apparently the rest of Turkey IS nicer, which wouldnt be hard

[quote]A couple of posters on DL have talked about how New Zealand was, indeed, kind of a shit hole. IIRC, even v8fairy, who I think lives in NZ, admitted it was kind of a shit hole.

R17 NZ's cities are mostly a bit of a letdown, with the exception of Dunedin which is charming. And parts of Auckland and Wellington are beautiful, it's just the CBD of both places are unimpressive and kind of dirty

[quote]NZ is not a shithole. Incredible natural beauty. The settlers were farmers and merchants, and the general tone of the place is very bourgeois, esp. in comparison with Australia.

R23 Also true. We have incredible natural beauty outside the city centres, especially in the South Island. Whether its worth travelling the long distance it involves for most people will depend on what you want to see and where you're from. The wouldnt be much point in a Norwegian coming half way round the world to see our fiords

So as a New Zealander, I can say that both R17 and R23 are both right at least to some extent

[quote]My least fave region of the world is the Caribbean. I’m game to go anywhere though

R28 I gather the Carribbean is mostly extremely homophobic, giving the Middle East/ North Africa a run for its money, and Jamaica is an exceptional shithole

[quote]Of course, just being in an airport to switch doesn’t count.

That's why I left out Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. Going by my airport experience I'm glad I never bothered leaving the Abu Dhabi airport

I want this poll broken down by age, income and country of origin.

And body weight

So far, Canada, Mexico, St Martin (St. Maarten), St Vincent, Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Morocco, Greece

Next February, I'm adding Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Singapore.

To me, I guess the most exotic would be Morocco. But that will probably change next year.

Question: I went to St Maarten, part of the Netherlands, but also to the French side of the island, St. Martin. Does that count as two countries? I only counted it once. It's the smallest landmass to consist of two nations.

[quote] So many moors there.

Moops!

[quote] Does that count as two countries?

Yes.

I think 37. My parents used to take us to the conferences they’d attend when we were kids.

I don't know how anyone can afford to travel. I never have enough money to do it. I also am kind of fearful of places that I'm not familiar with, so that keeps me from traveling.

I've been to Mexico. That's it. And I hated it and could not WAIT to come home.

MARY. Why not just get in a car and drive somewhere? Plan your trip, of course. Stay at a cheap or affordable place. If you don't have a car, rent one.

[quote]I don't know how anyone can afford to travel. I never have enough money to do it. I also am kind of fearful of places that I'm not familiar with, so that keeps me from traveling.

You could see the USA, in a Chevrolet. There's a lifetime of things to see without leaving the country.

Siberia

Are you sending me there because you don’t like the topic, r55?

Sending you to the gulag r56

30 from a quick count. I'm not an adventure traveller, nor one who seeks out the most remote of places: Europe, North Africa, and North America mostly.

That puts me in the starter wheels category of travellers who collect distant and difficult destinations and experiences. Eating goat eyes in a Berber tent, crossing rope bridges over deep gorges, figuring elaborate ways to visit places where visas are tricky and travel.difficult, spending 24 hours in "the world's most dangerous city"...I'm glad for others who like this sort of travel and whose adventures I can watch or read, but not for me. There's a long list of cities that I especially want to see in Italy and I've only scratched the surface there despite spending much time in terms of adding up the days. I like to spend a few days in a place, not see a few cities in one day.

Every traveller has his own focus in travel, his own sense of how to see and experience places, and his own style of discovery. I have American friends who ask why I have never been to a remote and fairly obscure city in Japan when they have never been to London or Paris (because too many others have); but I know I'll be ancient by the time I give the possibility any time, or maybe I'll go suddenly on a whim at someone else's instigation. And there are people who don't like the idea of travel at all, which I don't begin to understand but their numbers are not insignificant (if outside my circles of friends, many of whom are much better travelled than I am.)

I have long lists if cities I want to visit, but assuming the implausibility of ever seeing them all, it would add that many countries to the list. I'll always be the traveller who has been to all the countries in the world...except most of them.

My partner used to work for a travel agency years ago and then we went all over. Now that I am older I like the comforts of home too much.

[quote]I don't know how anyone can afford to travel. I never have enough money to do it. I also am kind of fearful of places that I'm not familiar with, so that keeps me from traveling.

It's one of the "must be nice!" trolls:

Time for a vacation? Must be nice to have the time!

Your aunt died and left you a mangy fox collar scarf that stinks of mothballs? Must be nice to have real furs!

Your boss let's you take off for vacations? Must be nice!

You get paid for vacations? I can't imagine. Must be nice though!

You can afford to travel! I don't know anybody who can afford to leave the county? Must be nice!

You leave your sofa for vacations? Oh that must really be nice!

You're not afraid to leave the sofa? Not afraid to get in an airplane and fly across an ocean? Not afraid to go someplace [italic]foreign[/italic]? I can't imagine. Must be nice!

I've done all 50 states because I think it's important to know something about your own country, esp. if you're from some place that's fairly insular like Manhattan or Indiana. But collecting countries seems to miss the point of traveling for its own sake--international travel is expensive and often requires a lot of planning. Better to try to understand a few countries or regions in some depth rather than scheduling some complicated trip to an obscure place just to add it to your passport stamps.

I've been around the world twice and have been to 45 states. Working on the last 5 (MT, ID, NE, ND, SD.)

[quote]Every traveller has his own focus in travel, his own sense of how to see and experience places, and his own style of discovery.

R58 I'm kinda .... unfocused. My travel has often been focused on going to places where family or partners family/ friends/ relatives happen to be or where my partner has wanted to go. Fortunately the places I've wanted to go have largely coincided with these factors. The one thing I do love to do when I go to a place is borrow or rent a bicycle of some sort and ride on any available cycle paths, so I've cycled in Japan, Uruguay, Switzerland, Australia (a few times), often on some pretty subpar bikes with non working brakes and bent wheels etc

That works, too, R63. Sometimes you get an invitation to visit or meet someone in a place that you might never have considered of its own merits. I've had great trips like that where I had underestimated the destination.

Likewise I've learned to plan some things I want to see or do - and be ready to toss them aside for other opportunities at the same place. Planning is going, and sometimes going off plan is better. If I like a place, I almost always want to go back and usually do.

Spain, The Netherlands, Mexico and England. Mexico many times. England several times, I actually lived there briefly on a 6 month work visa. My favorite was Spain.

USA to the Argentine mainland x 3, Australia x 2, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil x 2, Canada (a lot), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba x 2 (but the first time I was 7 years old), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France x 3, Germany x 2, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, the Republic of Ireland x 4, Italy x 2, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Jamaica, las Malvinas/Falkland Islands (UK possession, not actually a country), Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama x 3, Poland, Portugal x 3, Spain x 7, Switzerland, the Soviet Union x 1 and the Russian Federation x 4, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Vatican City, Ukraine (when it was part of the Soviet Union), United Kingdom x 10-plus, Uruguay, Venezuela x 2, and a visit to an Argentine Research Base in Antarctica.

I get a bonus because countries I visited in the past have since split into multiple countries.

R64 some places you need to plan, others its actually better not to. Japan is one of those places where the best stuff you see is that which you stumble upon by accident.

The best temple and temple gardens we saw in Japan the whole trip my partner and I were the first time we only went to because it happened to be convenient to my brothers panelbeater (he lives there running a used car export business), it was truly spectacular. Several times we encountered some astonishing and/or beautiful parks, gardens, temples etc either because we got lost or found them on the way to something else.

If I count Puerto Rico, it's ten. But realistically, it's 9. I've been to Italy several times. But I counted Vatican City as part of Italy.

Turkey, Greece,Egypt, Italy, the UK, France Canada,Mexico, Bahamas,Puerto Rico.

I want to go to Hawaii. Does it count?

Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth and part of the United States.

Vatican City counts.

r60 you could not be more wrong. I honestly don't like traveling so I have never said "Must be nice" in my entire life.

[Quote] I want to go to Hawaii. Does it count?

No, and no.

How many people have been to multiple micro-nations--Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Malta, many of the Caribbean and Pacific islands ....

The Caribbean islands are border cases because a lot of them are kinda part of a bigger country, kinda independent.

I once read that San Marino’s single largest source of income is the Italian government paying it not to have a separate radio station.

[quote] I once read that San Marino’s single largest source of income is the Italian government paying it not to have a separate radio station.

I thought Vatican City would clean up if they had a casino, but I see that Rome already has some.

R77, they’re the Roman Catholic Church. They “clean up” just by persisting.

[quote] The Caribbean islands are border cases

I betcha Border Czar Kah-MAH-lah let all them immigrants cross over and take our jubs!

A lot of those tiny nations used to make money from selling postage stamps (as did the UN) but since no one mails anything anymore ...

OP, I've been to 80+ countries, and it looks like there's only one or two other DLers who've even done 40. Raised in a family of travel nuts, and even without a huge amount of money, mine has been traveling to every corner of the globe since I was 5. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to do anything of the sort. I'm doing a solo trip to Patagonia this winter (with a small group, that is, but not other family members) as my next major one.

American here. I've been to these countries:

Mexico

Canada

Japan

Hong Kong (when it was part of the UK)

England

France

Italy

Vatican City

Have any of you been to Vatican City or San Marino but not to Italy?

[quote]I've done all 50 states because I think [bold]it's important to know something about your own country, esp. if you're from some place that's fairly insular like Manhattan or Indiana.[/bold]

Agreed, R61, though I'm not the completionist you are. Born in the US, I've lived in 10 states and visited 40 or so -- having seen all of the Northern Plains states, there's not much short of wild sums of money that could lure me to their Southern Plains counterparts. Together with Texas, I've avoided that other extremity state Florida long enough to have become a firm principal. Can't say that I could recommend some of the states I have seen; their virtues are few and underwhelming.

Having travelled in a similar number of countries as US states and can say that

I think the old US argument against foreign travel, "why, when we have do many beautiful states here?" is held most tightly by those who have seen the fewest of the (not all of them beautiful) states.

Having travelled in a similar number of countries as US states, I can say that exploring the US is not the same as exploring the world.

[quote]Have any of you been to Vatican City or San Marino but not to Italy?

And more interestingly, R83: How did they do it?

Even though I have extreme wanderlust, I also understand why some people don’t like travel or are apprehensive about it. What you’re not seeing on people’s highly curated social media posts are the negative sides of travel which can be very stressful or disappointing. I’ve been ripped off, pickpocketed, been forced to pay bribes, missed connections, had cancellations, had food poisoning, had to visit my embassy due a stolen passport, encountered vile people. If I had invested half the money I spent on travel in my retirement, I would have exponential more. I traded that for life experiences, It’s all worth it to me on the whole because the positives outweigh, but the negatives can really challenge your optimism. There are some shitty days when you’re globetrotting.

You don’t have to go far or spend tons of money or time to travel. You could easily start with small trips visiting your own state. You could visit state parks or county seats or local festivals. So many options. Some of my biggest travel regrets are not seeing enough of wider local areas before moving in to a new place.

Americans, also don’t give a shit about how you’re perceived. After living half my life in Europe, the truth is most Europeans take package tours to soulless and interchangeable beach holiday destinations that are often tourists hells devoid of local character. They often surround themselves by their compatriots in a bubble where you don’t even have to try the local food. It’s rare to find someone taking a transcontinental road trips like you would in the States. It’s all relative to what constitutes ‘real travel’.

My point is travel is not a competition…well, there are many country counting groups and social media influencers. Do your own thing within your comfort zone and financial/time budget.

I agree with all of that, r86, and the purpose of my poll was not to evidence how many winners vs losers we have. It was more to see how much a generally educated and urbane population — gay men — like to travel.

I’d venture to guess that if this poll were done in more of the general population, we’d see lower numbers overall.

I was surprised to see myself in right about the middle in terms of how many countries I’ve visited. I never left the USA until I was 31 years old! But I did a lot of overseas traveling in the twenty teens and got the number up to thirteen.

Haven’t left New York since the pandemic, though, except on quick trip to Connecticut.