BootsnAll Travel Community

quote:

Originally posted by Tortuga_traveller:
Bah Humbug.

Come on now... counting countries is just a bit of harmless fun.

The Wikipedia-list includes some weird "countries", doesn't it? Why, for example, is Akrotiri and Dhekelia (essentially a British military base) on the list and not Diego Garcia/Chagos? Odd. Maybe it's better to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_member_states

And, Jacob, about the criteria (and this is no criticism, mind - just curiosity): Why did you choose to differentiate between getting out of a train and getting out of a car?

oh and btw my own answer is 32

quote:

Originally posted by Anne-Sophie:
Maybe it's better to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_member_states

Switzerland just joined the UN in 2002. If you went to Switzerland prior to then, does it count?

Anyway, it is too late to redefine the criteria...we have already voted. (Or maybe you are from Florida, so this suggestion is just business as usual for you? Ha ha?)

Jacob's wiki link is the standard for this thread.

Ok... who voted 100+ ?

quote:

Originally posted by Stoo:

quote:

Originally posted by Anne-Sophie:
Maybe it's better to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_member_states

Switzerland just joined the UN in 2002. If you went to Switzerland prior to then, does it count?

Anyway, it is too late to redefine the criteria...we have already voted. (Or maybe you are from Florida, so this suggestion is just business as usual for you? Ha ha?)

Jacob's wiki link is the standard for this thread.

Stoo, you have a point - or I suppose, several. Also, I'm not from Florida - or Zimbabwe

quote:

Originally posted by Craze_b0i:
Ok... who voted 100+ ?

Kind of a scary avatar that one, so I'd better come clean.

Suppose I shouldn't complain about Jacobs list as it brings me past 100 which is cool. 106 now; Moldova and Transnistria to be added in June.

I thought I'd been to lots of places until I read where others have been. So many more places to go

quote:

Originally posted by Stoo:
(Or maybe you are from Florida, so this suggestion is just business as usual for you? Ha ha?)

18 for me and another 4 news ones penned in for next year. Not bad considering I only left the UK for the first time in 2001! I like the idea of going to at least as many as you age...sadly I'm 11 behind at the moment but with 4 penned in for next year I'm catching up!

This is fun to think about. I've been to 31.

Here's my travel chronologically grouped by time/trips for those who are trying to figure which countries some of us are visiting:

United States (home but I'm counting it too)
Mexico

France
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
UK

Spain
Morocco
Algeria
Niger
Nigeria
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Zaire (now Congo)
Rwanda
Burundi
Tanzania
Kenya
Egypt

French Polynesia
Chile (Easter Island)

Australia
New Zealand

Canada

Germany

Singapore

Italy
Vatican City
(Sicily in Italy - no it doesn't count but it's different than much of Italy)

Iceland
UK again (just for Scotland this time - No, I didn't count it again, but shouldn't Scotland count with a new parliment and a flag flying everywhere?)

Peru

Japan

I've hit some popular ones and some that are harder to get to. Coming up this year, Czech Republic and Israel, maybe Jordan though I'm feeling like I'll be pressed for time in Israel so Jordan may fall off the list.

Guess I'd better keep moving - no rest for the wicked. So many places to get to, and so little time...

I think the UK should count as four different countries - their not states as in the USA, so you could have been to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland . And of course you could have gone to Ireland too.

So that's potentially another five you could add to your list

quote:

I think the UK should count as four different countries -

No it should not.

Until the Scots or Welsh vote for independence we are still one country. If you are gonna count the UK as 4 different countries then you have to count the US as 51 countries - after all each US state can make its own laws.

Spoken as a true English man there Craze.

There is a difference between the US 'States' and the countries in the UK - for a start in the UK they are countries - which is often a give away at the difference.

It's not the United States of England, just for the record.

I think if you spoke to any Scotts man they would tell you they fought for the right to be their own country a long time ago. As for Wales, just take that ride 20 minutes up the motorway and surely you can see it's an entirely different country.

But if that doesn't do it, try telling a Welsh man that that Wales is just a state.

Open your mind, it's fun, plus you're minds bigger that way.

P.S For the recond The UK has never, not once throughout history been one country, nor has it ever been a collection of states.

quote:

Originally posted by KathrynD:

Spain
Morocco
Algeria
Niger
Nigeria
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Zaire (now Congo)
Rwanda
Burundi
Tanzania
Kenya
Egypt

Sounds like an incredible trip. Was it all over land until Kenya?

quote:

Originally posted by Dharker:
Spoken as a true English man there Craze.

There is a difference between the US 'States' and the countries in the UK - for a start in the UK they are countries - which is often a give away at the difference.

It's not the United States of England, just for the record.

I think if you spoke to any Scotts man they would tell you they fought for the right to be their own country a long time ago. As for Wales, just take that ride 20 minutes up the motorway and surely you can see it's an entirely different country.

But if that doesn't do it, try telling a Welsh man that that Wales is just a state.

Open your mind, it's fun, plus you're minds bigger that way.

For the purpose of this thread, Wales, England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland count as one country, because Wikipedia's list (the standard for this thread, as I wrote in the first post) only has "United Kingdom".

Usually, however, I would count them as separate countries. If I had been to the UK and wanted to count subdivisions, I would probably go by counties.

Not to be too picky, but as is often the case Wikipedia is wrong.

The UK, is a collection of 4 countries - the UK is not one country. And it is not a 'subdivision' - that is like saying that all Europe is the same place and is one country.

Plus, if you say that the UK is the one place, everyone who has been to London will think that they have been to all four countries.

There are four different capitals, four different countries, four very different places. Wales for example has it's own language and a dual language policy - Welsh is compulsory in all the schools.

If the UK is not one country, but a collection of several, then it must be something greater than a country. What is the word for it? Why do those constituent countries lack their own armed forces, or representation at the UN, or diplomatic missions in world capitals?

quote:

Originally posted by Dharker:
Not to be too picky, but as is often the case Wikipedia is wrong.

Feel free to take that debate up at wikipedia, which they allow and welcome--check out the lengthly discussion if you are inclined. Until then, for the purpose of this thread, it counts as one. There they make a distinction between 'countries' and 'Constituent Countries' (like Scotland, etc.)

quote:

Plus, if you say that the UK is the one place, everyone who has been to London will think that they have been to all four countries.

Many do already.

quote:

There are four different capitals, four different countries, four very different places.

And one head of state. And there is a capital of the UK...London.

quote:

Wales for example has it's own language and a dual language policy - Welsh is compulsory in all the schools.

So, following that logic, how many countries does that make Switzerland?

Anyway, it is all wikidemic. For all practical purposes, the United Kingdom is an American Colony.