INTRODUCTION

Since 1983 my number one "hobby" has been world travel. Some would say that I have been everywhere, but this statement is only half correct, because I have only really been to 75 percent of the countries of the world and over 55 percent of the world destinations.  Note that I have little desire to visit a majority of the remaining countries primarily because of safety issues (Iraq or Sudan) or because there is nothing to see (Mauritania).  Who wants to see militia guerillas when trying to visit the mountain gorillas or visit Afghanistan just because the Kabul Hilton is advertising great room rates?  I'll leave this sort of tourism to Robert Young Pelton of the World's Most Dangerous Places fame.  I will continue to visit safe countries but at a much slower rate than in previous years - primarily because there are fewer desirable places to visit, many of which are not geographically close to each other creating logistical issues requiring financial resources to visit them that must be spread out over time.  There are 195 sovereign countries  in the world - Montenegro became the 194th sovereign country in 2006, Kosovo number 195 in 2008 - although disputed.  There are also numerous other non-sovereign countries and other territories - the exact number varies depending on which source one utilizes.  The standard source for these "countries" use to be the Guinness Book Of Records.  Up until the 2001 edition of their book, Guinness had a listed record for the "Most traveled person" and another for the "Most traveled couple".  The Guinness list was a "secret internal list" that consisted of 72 additional entities (for a total of 265 destination) - but it is no longer in use.  Check out the Guinness Web Site for more information and updates.  The current standard source for non-sovereign countries and other territories is an organization called The Traveler's Century Club - more about them lower on this page.  Below I have listed these foreign destinations with my personal count. I would be most interested from hearing from people who have visited those destinations I have not. Drop me a line. Through out this web site I have included photos of some of my most interesting sites for your enjoyment. Be sure to check out the Photo Gallery for photographs of many of the following destinations.

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

 

SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES

There are officially 195 sovereign countries (or nations) in the world - various news agencies might claim more - for example, during the Olympics papers reported that there were 225 nations participating. Their count included sovereign countries PLUS non-sovereign countries and other territories. Sovereign countries all have independent governments including a President or Monarch and their own military, banking, judicial systems. Countries are listed utilizing the locally approved name. For example, Myanmar (Burma) and Palua (Belua).  Sovereign countries are all eligible for United Nations membership with 190 countries as members. The five countries not members are: East Timor, Kosovo, Taiwan (Republic of China), Tuvalu, and the Vatican City. 

 

Machu Picchu, Peru

 

NOTES:
Red Colored = Visited
2X, 3X = Visited Twice, Thrice etc.
NR = No Diplomatic Relations (3)
NS = Not Safe (28), Countries on U.S. State Department's Travel Warning List
Total Sovereign Countries Visited = 146 / 195 = 74.9%

NON - SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES AND OTHER TERRITORIES

The following destinations are not actually countries in their own right, they have been included because they are removed from their "parent" countries, either geographically, politically or ethnologically.  For example, Tahiti (An island in French Polynesia) is part of France, but is more closely tied to the Pacific Islands than to the European Mainland.  If you have visited Tahiti (I haven't yet), you would not mistake it for France.  None of the following share the above listed characteristics of sovereign countries, although Hong Kong has their own currency which might change depending on the rule of the People's Republic of China.  The following all are recognized by the "The Travelers' Century Club" which lists 319 countries and territories worldwide - their goal is to promote peace through international travel.  The club divides existing recognized countries into separate "countries".  I'm not really a big fan of their list however.  Many "countries" are really just rebel controlled land or separatists movements.  Using their criteria it seems logical that each state in the United States should also be listed as a separate "country".  For me I'll just stick with universally recognized countries but I choose to provide this expanded list for informational purposes only.  In order to derive the list below the following four countries had to be deleted from the above list: 1) Indonesia - listed below as Irian Jaya, Java, Kalimantan, Lesser Sundra Islands, Moluka, Sulawesi and Sumatra  2) Turkey - listed below as Turkey in Asia and Turkey in Europe  3) United Arab Emirates - listed below as Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujuaira, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Ummal-Qaiwain and 4) United Kingdom - listed below as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  For each destination, the "mother" country is listed in parenthesis.  For more information, The Traveler's Century Club can be contacted at P.O. Box 7050, Santa Monica, CA 90406-7500, Telephone: (310) 393-7419, FAX: (310) 395-9511 or at their Web Site .  The club reports that some members have visited all 319 destinations - at quite a considerable cost!   

Mopti (Dogon Country), Mali

 

NOTES:
Red Colored = Visited
2X, 3X = Visited Twice, Thrice etc.
Total Non - Sovereign Countries and Other Territories Visited = 174 / 319 = 54.5%
Traveled 570 Days using 75 Foreign Airlines, Flying 479,800 Miles and Staying in 228 Foreign Hotels

      FOR THE HARD-CORE TRAVELER ONLY

As noted above, some individuals have visited all 319 entities on The Traveler's Century Club (TCC) list.  In order to be crowned the "Most Traveled Person" a tie-breaking system had to be devised.  Charles Veley, "the man who has been everywhere" did just that - check out his website for updated information.  I will stick to using accepted lists of destinations produced by the two most reputable organizations - Guinness and The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).  Charles has used even more esoteric lists - more power to him.  Although Guinness no longer publishes a list of destinations there were 14 entities that were on their list and not included in the TCC 319.  They were 1) Ashmore & Cartier Islands Territory (Australia)  2) Baker & Jarvis Islands (U.S.A.)  3) Bouvet Island (Norway)  4) Clipperton Island (France)  5) Coral Sea Islands Territory (Australia)  6) Franz Josef Land (Russia)  7) Golan Heights (Israel & Syria)  8) Heard & McDonald Islands  9) Kingman Reef (U.S.A.)  10) Paracel Islands (China, Taiwan & Vietnam)  11) Peter 1st Island (Norway)  12) South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (U.K.)  13) Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Italy)  14) Spratley Islands (China, Taiwan & Vietnam).  No one has ever visited all 14 of these destinations but a few have been to 12 - the Paracels are extremely difficult because of their military operations.  The ARRL publishes a list of 335 "countries" for their DXers (DX = distant reception) in their DXCC (DXers Century Club) list.  Available at their website this list has 42 entities that are not on any of the other lists plus they divide other list entities into smaller entities.  I have derived a master list of destinations from the TCC's former list of 317, The Guinness 14 and the DXCC 335 List.  This list is only for the hardcore traveler and is available for download here.  Happy travels to everyone!

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