{"id":2391,"date":"2026-09-21T20:25:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T10:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=2391"},"modified":"2026-09-22T21:17:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:17:01","slug":"rules-counting-countries-youve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/rules-counting-countries-youve\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules for Counting Countries You\u2019ve Been To"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So far, I\u2019ve been to 87 countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least according to my<\/em> rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because once you start counting countries, you discover that travellers can become remarkably argumentative about what the word \u201cvisited\u201d<\/strong> actually means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, after 87 countries, here are my completely unofficial rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #1: Airports Absolutely Do Not Count<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sorry. If you spent four hours at Doha Airport eating a sandwich, you have not been to Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t care if you bought a magnet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #2: Your Feet Need to Touch the Country<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Flying over Mongolia? No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cruising past Cuba? No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually getting off the plane, train, bus, boat, or camel and standing there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Country unlocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #3: You Don\u2019t Have to Sleep There<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some country counters insist you need to spend a night somewhere before it counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reject this rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day trips count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #4: Driving Through Is\u2026Questionable<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re driving from Germany to Italy and pass through Austria. Have you visited Austria?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, you need to stop. Get out. Walk around. Eat something. Visit something. Give Austria a fighting chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stopping at a petrol station to use the toilet is pushing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #5: Territories Need Their Own Category<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is where country counters can lose entire evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenland? Puerto Rico? Hong Kong? Aruba? Faroe Islands? Guam?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep my main count relatively conservative and track territories separately. There are travel communities that take this much further. NomadMania<\/a>, for example, divides the world into 1,381 regions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That should keep you busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #6: You Don\u2019t Need to See the Whole Country<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only been to Tokyo, so I haven\u2019t really been to Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody has explored every corner of every country they\u2019ve visited. If you spent meaningful time somewhere, you\u2019ve been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just don\u2019t pretend three days in Tokyo makes you an expert on Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, How Travelled Are You?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here is my completely unscientific scale:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0\u201320: The Explorer<\/strong> \u2014 You\u2019ve caught the travel bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21\u201340: The Globetrotter<\/strong> \u2014 Your passport is getting interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

41\u201360: The Seasoned Traveller<\/strong> \u2014 People now ask you for travel advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

61\u201380: The Serious Country Counter<\/strong> \u2014 You choose destinations partly because you haven\u2019t been there yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

81\u2013100: The Passport Addict<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cWhy are you going there?\u201d \u201cBecause I haven\u2019t been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100+: The Century Club<\/strong> \u2014 Finding somewhere new now requires actual planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 87, apparently I\u2019m a Passport Addict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to Start Counting?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Try NomadMania<\/a><\/strong>, a community for serious country and region counters; Been<\/a><\/strong>, which creates a visual map of places you\u2019ve visited; or Countries Been<\/a><\/strong>, where you can track countries you\u2019ve visited, lived in, and want to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s the Travelers\u2019 Century Club<\/a><\/strong>, whose list includes 300+ countries and territories for travellers who find the normal number of countries insufficiently challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, though, there is only one rule that really matters: be consistent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no international Country Counting Police demanding evidence that you really left the train station in Liechtenstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel is about experiences, people, food, and discovering somewhere completely unfamiliar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m still counting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

87 down. Number 88, wherever you are, I\u2019m coming.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019ve been to 87 countries. At least according to my rules. Because once you start counting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"page_builder":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[3230,42,3231,56,184,58,46,60,69,3229],"class_list":["post-2391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlighted-articles","tag-country-counting","tag-expat-life","tag-globetrotters","tag-international-educators","tag-international-school-teachers","tag-international-teachers","tag-living-abroad","tag-teaching-abroad","tag-travel","tag-world-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-Cz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/survey-results-are-in-where-are-you-spending-your-extra-money-while-teaching-abroad\/","url_meta":{"origin":2391,"position":0},"title":"Survey results are in: Where are you spending your ‘extra’ money while teaching abroad?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0survey results\u00a0are in, and it seems as if most visitors and members of\u00a0International School Community\u00a0who voted are spending their 'Extra' money on traveling, clothes and food. 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