After many years of teaching internationally, one of the greatest perks has been the opportunity to travel. School holidays, long weekends and simply living in different parts of the world have made exploring new countries much easier.
So far, I’ve been to 87 countries.
At least according to my rules.
Because once you start counting countries, you discover that travellers can become remarkably argumentative about what the word “visited” actually means.
So, after 87 countries, here are my completely unofficial rules.
Rule #1: Airports Absolutely Do Not Count
Sorry. If you spent four hours at Doha Airport eating a sandwich, you have not been to Qatar.
I don’t care if you bought a magnet.
Leave the airport and experience something outside it. Otherwise, international educators who regularly fly long-haul could probably add 15 countries to their totals based entirely on connecting flights.
Rule #2: Your Feet Need to Touch the Country
Flying over Mongolia? No.
Cruising past Cuba? No.
Actually getting off the plane, train, bus, boat, or camel and standing there?
Country unlocked.
Rule #3: You Don’t Have to Sleep There
Some country counters insist you need to spend a night somewhere before it counts.
I reject this rule.
You can spend eight hours wandering around Luxembourg, eating lunch and visiting museums, and experience considerably more than someone who arrives at 11 p.m., sleeps at an airport hotel, and leaves at 6 a.m.
Day trips count.
Rule #4: Driving Through Is…Questionable
You’re driving from Germany to Italy and pass through Austria. Have you visited Austria?
For me, you need to stop. Get out. Walk around. Eat something. Visit something. Give Austria a fighting chance.
Stopping at a petrol station to use the toilet is pushing it.
Rule #5: Territories Need Their Own Category
This is where country counters can lose entire evenings.
Greenland? Puerto Rico? Hong Kong? Aruba? Faroe Islands? Guam?
I keep my main count relatively conservative and track territories separately. There are travel communities that take this much further. NomadMania, for example, divides the world into 1,381 regions.
That should keep you busy.
Rule #6: You Don’t Need to See the Whole Country
“I’ve only been to Tokyo, so I haven’t really been to Japan.”
Nonsense.
Nobody has explored every corner of every country they’ve visited. If you spent meaningful time somewhere, you’ve been there.
Just don’t pretend three days in Tokyo makes you an expert on Japan.
So, How Travelled Are You?
Here is my completely unscientific scale:
0–20: The Explorer — You’ve caught the travel bug.
21–40: The Globetrotter — Your passport is getting interesting.
41–60: The Seasoned Traveller — People now ask you for travel advice.
61–80: The Serious Country Counter — You choose destinations partly because you haven’t been there yet.
81–100: The Passport Addict — “Why are you going there?” “Because I haven’t been.”
100+: The Century Club — Finding somewhere new now requires actual planning.
At 87, apparently I’m a Passport Addict.
Want to Start Counting?
Try NomadMania, a community for serious country and region counters; Been, which creates a visual map of places you’ve visited; or Countries Been, where you can track countries you’ve visited, lived in, and want to visit.
And then there’s the Travelers’ Century Club, whose list includes 300+ countries and territories for travellers who find the normal number of countries insufficiently challenging.
Ultimately, though, there is only one rule that really matters: be consistent.
There is no international Country Counting Police demanding evidence that you really left the train station in Liechtenstein.
Travel is about experiences, people, food, and discovering somewhere completely unfamiliar.
But I’m still counting.
87 down. Number 88, wherever you are, I’m coming.
