The debate about what is and is not a country has been litigated on this blog for quite sometime. Do you go with the TCC list that includes Hawaii, or do you go with the United Nations list that excludes Taiwan? I recently read a post by my friend and fellow T-Bird grad, Lee Abbamonte, called Why I Chose Not to Go on My Expedition. Lee is 6 short of hitting the TCC total of 325 countries and decided that an eternity at sea would not be worth inching closer to that goal. In the post he says that he doesn’t care if he reaches the milestone as much as he previously did.
I agree with him. The more I travel, the more comfortable I am with how I travel. I don’t care to see museums. I don’t want to set foot into another temple. And I do think that spending 3 to 4 days is more than enough to experience the country.
By year end, depending on where the readers send TPOL to live next, I will clear the 100 mark for TCC and will hit at least 72 UN countries. After I reach that goal, I will still go to new places because I want to go, not because I have to go. To be clear, I never wanted to go to half of the places on the TCC list. I just enjoyed the idea of having an endless adventure and reaching the mythical number of 100.
Here’s where I stand with the UN through 2017. The TCC list still needs to be updated. Click on the hyperlinks to see TPOL’s adventure in each country.
UN Country List
| Country | Visited |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | |
| Albania | x |
| Algeria | |
| Andorra | |
| Angola | |
| Antigua and Barbuda | |
| Argentina | x |
| Armenia | |
| Australia | x |
| Austria | x |
| Azerbaijan | |
| Bahamas | x |
| Bahrain | |
| Bangladesh | |
| Barbados | x |
| Belarus | |
| Belgium | x |
| Belize | |
| Benin | |
| Bhutan | x |
| Bolivia | x |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | x |
| Botswana | x |
| Brazil | x |
| Brunei | x |
| Bulgaria | x |
| Burkina Faso | |
| Burma (Myanmar) | x |
| Burundi | |
| Cambodia | x |
| Cameroon | |
| Canada | x |
| Cape Verde | |
| Central African Republic | |
| Chad | |
| Chile | x |
| China | x |
| Colombia | x |
| Comoros | |
| Congo, Rep. of | |
| Congo, Dem. Rep. of | |
| Costa Rica | x |
| Côte d'Ivoire | |
| Croatia | x |
| Cuba | |
| Cyprus | x |
| Czech Republic | x |
| Denmark | x |
| Djibouti | |
| Dominica | |
| Dominican Republic | |
| East Timor | |
| Ecuador | |
| Egypt | x |
| El Salvador | |
| Equatorial Guinea | |
| Eritrea | |
| Estonia | |
| Ethiopia | x |
| Fiji | |
| Finland | x |
| France | x |
| Gabon | |
| Gambia | |
| Georgia | |
| Germany | x |
| Ghana | |
| Greece | x |
| Grenada | x |
| Guatemala | |
| Guinea | |
| Guinea-Bissau | |
| Guyana | |
| Haiti | |
| Honduras | |
| Hungary | x |
| Iceland | x |
| India | x |
| Indonesia | x |
| Iran | |
| Iraq | |
| Ireland | x |
| Israel | x |
| Italy | x |
| Jamaica | |
| Japan | x |
| Jordan | x |
| Kazakhstan | |
| Kenya | x |
| Kiribati | |
| Korea, North | |
| South Korea | x |
| Kuwait | |
| Kyrgyzstan | |
| Laos | x |
| Latvia | x |
| Lebanon | x |
| Lesotho | |
| Liberia | |
| Libya | |
| Liechtenstein | |
| Lithuania | |
| Luxembourg | x |
| Macedonia | x |
| Madagascar | |
| Malawi | |
| Malaysia | x |
| Maldives | x |
| Mali | |
| Malta | x |
| Marshall Islands | |
| Mauritania | |
| Mauritius | x |
| Mexico | x |
| Micronesia | |
| Moldova | |
| Monaco | |
| Mongolia | x |
| Montenegro | x |
| Morocco | x |
| Mozambique | |
| Namibia | |
| Nauru | |
| Nepal | x |
| Netherlands | x |
| New Zealand | x |
| Nicaragua | |
| Niger | |
| Nigeria | |
| Norway | |
| Oman | |
| Pakistan | |
| Palau | |
| Panama | x |
| Papua New Guinea | |
| Paraguay | |
| Peru | x |
| Philippines | x |
| Poland | x |
| Portugal | x |
| Qatar | x |
| Romania | x |
| Russia | x |
| Rwanda | |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | |
| St. Lucia | |
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines | |
| Samoa | |
| San Marino | |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | |
| Saudi Arabia | |
| Senegal | |
| Serbia | x |
| Seychelles | x |
| Sierra Leone | |
| Singapore | x |
| Slovakia | x |
| Slovenia | x |
| Solomon Islands | |
| Somalia | |
| South Africa | x |
| South Sudan | |
| Spain | x |
| Sri Lanka | x |
| Sudan | x |
| Suriname | |
| Swaziland | |
| Sweden | x |
| Switzerland | x |
| Syria | |
| Tajikistan | |
| Tanzania | x |
| Thailand | x |
| Togo | |
| Tonga | |
| Trinidad & Tobago | x |
| Tunisia | |
| Turkey | x |
| Turkmenistan | |
| Tuvalu | |
| Uganda | |
| Ukraine | |
| UAE | x |
| United Kingdom | x |
| United States | x |
| Uruguay | x |
| Uzbekistan | |
| Vanuatu | |
| Venezuela | |
| Vietnam | x |
| Yemen | |
| Zambia | x |
| Zimbabwe | x |
| Total | 87 |
Singapore is listed twice
Damn it
ah it was supposed to be slovakia! thank you
Yeah I used to think I wanted to hit every country, or some magical milestone. I still do, and want to, go to new places. But now I just go to places that interest me and don’t worry about adding to a list per se.
Besides, the number of countries, and their boundaries, will not stay stagnant over time, so I figure why get worried about it? I am going to hit every continent though.
i think that initial drive to hit numbers was good motivation to get me going and keep me from saying “there are 50 states in the US, i aint gonna visit none others till i see these” 6 continents i’ve been, i don’t care if i ever see Europe haa
Funny, you haven’t visited Albania…
“Vote on which country TPOL visits”
Haaa. Who me?
Albania!!
3-4 days? I pity you. You have not travelled at all.
Thanks for the pity. I hope to die and not come back as you.