c4countdown

And list them, obviously. Only currently-existing countries on the Sporcle list of 197 countries (which includes Taiwan, Palestine and Kosovo due to their independence having wide int'l recognition) count. Or you can just list them and I'll tell you if they don't count. You can also include 5-word descriptions or anecdotes based on your personal experiences.

Seeing as we're all over-competitive geeks, I'll make a leaderboard in order of who's been to the most.

1. Norm 54/197 (3/4)
2. ME 45/197 (4/4)
3. David 38/197
4. Ed 33/197
5. Paul 29/197
=6. Heather B 28/197 (3/4)
=6. T-Cap 28/197 (3/4)
8. Sean 27/197 (4/4)
9. Joyce 24/197
=10. Charlie 22/197 (3/4)
=10. Matthew 22/197 (4/4)
=10. Peter 22/197 (3/4)
=13. Dan 20/197 (3/4)
=13. Conor 20/197
=15. Andy 19/197
=15. Ian F 19/197 (4/4)
17. Michelle 16/197 (2/4)
=18. Bayf 15/197 (3/4)
=18. Gev 15/197 (4/4)
=18. Giles 15/197 (3/4)
=18. Matt 15/197 (2/4)
=22. Lav 14/197 (4/4)
=22. Jack 14/197 (3/4)
=22. Maus 14/197 (4/4)
=25. Eddy 13/197
=25. Corby 13/197 (3/4)
=25. Clive 13/197
=25 Ian V 13/197
=29. Jono 12/197 (3/4)
=29. Phil 12/197 (4/4)
31. Mark M 11/197
32. Heather S 10/197 (4/4)
=33. Graeme 9/197 (3/4)
=33. Mark D 9/197
=33. M George 9/197
=36. Ryan 8/197
=36. Robbo 8/197
=36. Mark J 8/197 (4/4)
39. Bradley 7/197 (1/4)
40. Innis 6/197 (3/4)
41. Tom 5/197 (3/4)
42. Jim 4/197 (3/4)
43. Zarte 3/197 (3/4)

I'm going to come last in this, or near last:

England, Scotland, Wales (unless this just counts as the UK), France, Spain, Portugal. That's it.

JimBentley wrote:I'm going to come last in this, or near last:

England, Scotland, Wales (unless this just counts as the UK), France, Spain, Portugal. That's it.

Sadly the UK only counts as 1, but I'll put number of UK nations visited in brackets next to your total.

UK (3)

Ireland

Portugal

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

JimBentley wrote:I'm going to come last in this, or near last:

England, Scotland, Wales (unless this just counts as the UK), France, Spain, Portugal. That's it.

Sadly the UK only counts as 1, but I'll put number of UK nations visited in brackets next to your total.

Just thought - does Majorca just count as Spain? It does, doesn't it? Ah well.

Do changeovers count? For instance, I've walked on Egyptian soil (well, tarmac), but never left the airport.

Mark Deeks wrote:Do changeovers count? For instance, I've walked on Egyptian soil (well, tarmac), but never left the airport.

If you've left the vehicle in which you are travelling through a country and been outside it for more than 10 minutes, it counts. So yes, that counts.

Rightyoh then. It's not much of a list, but - UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Egypt, Uganda, America.

EDIT = Forgot Ireland.

UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising amount of ways to travel cheaply - over Christmas, we got a bus from London to Düsseldorf for the equivalent of 20 quid pp.

Thomas Carey wrote:UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising amount of ways to travel cheaply - over Christmas, we got a bus from London to Düsseldorf for the equivalent of 20 quid pp.

15 seconds... gonna need more info to verify whether this counts or not. You have disembarked from the vehicle in all of these countries, right?

And you don't need to tell me that it's possible to travel cheaply... ;D

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Thomas Carey wrote:UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising amount of ways to travel cheaply - over Christmas, we got a bus from London to Düsseldorf for the equivalent of 20 quid pp.

15 seconds... gonna need more info to verify whether this counts or not. You have disembarked from the vehicle in all of these countries, right?

And you don't need to tell me that it's possible to travel cheaply... ;D

Yeah. For 15 seconds, in Switzerland's case.

Thomas Carey wrote:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Thomas Carey wrote:UK (4), Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain (not mainland though), Switzerland for all of about 15 seconds if that counts. Think that's it. You're probably going to think I'm a rich kid - my family's income is about 5-10K a year. There's a surprising amount of ways to travel cheaply - over Christmas, we got a bus from London to Düsseldorf for the equivalent of 20 quid pp.

15 seconds... gonna need more info to verify whether this counts or not. You have disembarked from the vehicle in all of these countries, right?

And you don't need to tell me that it's possible to travel cheaply... ;D

Yeah. For 15 seconds, in Switzerland's case.

Not sure I can allow this, because I said earlier:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:If you've left the vehicle in which you are travelling through a country and been outside it for more than 10 minutes, it counts. So yes, that counts.

MORE DATA REQUIRED.

Fair enough, don't count it then

UK (Eng, Sco, Wal and Nir), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, USA, Malta and Vatican City (dubious if this is counted).

Travelled through Luxembourg and Albania but never left the coach either time.

If we were doing this on beer, I would whip your asses

UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Czech Rep, India, Italy, Netherlands.

My Switzerland story is similar to Thomas's except I got off the train for a bit and walked around for at least 5 minutes, and was in the country for a considerable time longer than that. I'm still not going to count it though.

15 then.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:1. ME 34/197 (4/4)

Always dubious when people start "what have you done?" threads in the knowledge they have an very good score! So for the sake of me being mean I hope someone beats you

By the way, what's the "(4/4)" for? I scanned the thread, and didn't see - obviously I'm being stupid but enlighten me?

James Laverty wrote:If we were doing this on beer, I would whip your asses

Try me. (Might start a thread.)

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:1. ME 34/197 (4/4)

Always dubious when people start "what have you done?" threads in the knowledge they have an very good score! So for the sake of me being mean I hope someone beats you

By the way, what's the "(4/4)" for? I scanned the thread, and didn't see - obviously I'm being stupid but enlighten me?

It's OK, I do too, but I wanted to set a benchmark

Number in brackets is how many of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the person has been to, as they don't count in the 197.

UK*, Ireland*, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands*, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czech Rep, Poland, Serbia, Hungary*, Slovakia, America. I have lived in the countries marked *

James Laverty wrote:Vatican City (dubious if this is counted)

OF COURSE THIS COUNTS.

You didn't give your list, Jen.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:what's the "(4/4)" for?

how many of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the person has been to, as they don't count in the 197.

Only 2/4 for me (with Wales). Though in a way I'd prefer to see these not listed.
I know they're a bit more like "real" countries but then you might as well note down I've been to Tenerife and Majorca as well as mainland Spain.

Conor wrote:You didn't give your list, Jen.

Chronologically: UK [England], France, Spain (loads of islands), Cyprus, USA, [Wales], Italy, UAE (airport transfers), China, Croatia, Vatican City, [Northern Ireland], [Scotland], Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina*, Montenegro*, Albania* (bus station stopover, out of the bus for like 15-20 mins and made a blog proving I was there), Kosovo*, Macedonia*, Greece*, Bulgaria*, Lithuania*, Latvia*, Estonia*, Finland*, Denmark*, Sweden*, Norway*, Malta.

Countries starred are ones I've been through all on my lonesome!! #StrongIndependentWhiteWomanWhoDontNeedNoTravelCompanions

15/197: (England, Wales, Scotland), USA, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Vatican City (?), Liechtenstein, UAE, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic

Lots of the holidays I've been on are US centric and I'm trying to visit as many states as possible.
Right now, 11/50: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Texas.

Matt Morrison wrote:

James Laverty wrote:If we were doing this on beer, I would whip your asses

Try me. (Might start a thread.)

123 countries. 124th to be consumed once the pain killers are no-longer needed

James Laverty wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:

James Laverty wrote:If we were doing this on beer, I would whip your asses

Try me. (Might start a thread.)

123 countries. 124th to be consumed once the pain killers are no-longer needed

123 beers or beers from 123 countries?

14 that I can think of, although some of the later ones may have been on a cruise when I didn't bother getting off, so not sure if they count. I'll list them in a vague chronological order:

UK (England, Wales, Scotland), Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, USA, Cyprus, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Russia, Belgium, Dominican Republic. Might have been to Turkey as well but I really can't remember.

beers from 123 countries

Impressive. Never even thought of trying it like that, I just go for different beers rather than different countries.

James Laverty wrote:beers from 123 countries

On a related note, how many of the 197 countries produce beer? They can't all do as it's illegal in some of them. 123 will look even more impressive if it's only out of 160 odd (or whatever).

My count is UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy and USA.

UK (3), Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Vatican City, Montenegro, Croatia, Greece, UAE (transfers only), Japan, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, USA for 20 total. No new ones planned for this year yet - may fill in one of the holes in Western Europe

Ireland (obviously), UK (Rhyl, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, London, Liverpool, Belfast, Derry), Netherlands (Amsterdam, Utrecht), Canada (Toronto), Germany (Hannover, Berlin, Hamburg), Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan, Sopot, Gdynia), Spain (Benidorm). Only 7 so I threw in some of the different areas within the countries to pad it out a bit. Toss up between Germany and Canada for favorite. Poland was decent but the people in Warsaw almost ruined it. Nice place but the people are dicks. I have Polish friends now in Ireland from there and even they hate it. I think Spain is the only holiday I ever had that didn't involve me going to some sort of sporting occasion or stadium.

I've been to 7: UK (1/4), Greece, USA, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland.

(Although, I'm going to Ireland in a couple of weeks.)

UK (all 4), France, Greece, Italy, Vatican City, Belgium, Ireland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Singapore. I make that 14.

Giles mentioned US states - I've been to Nevada, Arizona, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Connecticut (stopped there briefly), Illinois (connecting flight), Texas. That's 8.

I have been to 13 countries, Ireland, UK, America (New York twice), France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Poland and Bulgaria. So I am quite well travelled. At the moment most of my trips abroad are the UK to countdown events seeing as I have nobody who will go on holiday with me now that the days of family holidays are over for me

JimBentley wrote:

James Laverty wrote:beers from 123 countries

On a related note, how many of the 197 countries produce beer? They can't all do as it's illegal in some of them. 123 will look even more impressive if it's only out of 160 odd (or whatever).

Officially 13 countries ban alcohol, as well as parts of India and the UAE.

That being said, I've had beers which claim to have been brewed in 2 of the countries listed (Bangladesh and Somalia).

The official list is


Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Brunei
India - (Prohibited in the states of Gujarat, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram (legal, but permit card is required to buy alcohol) and the union territory of Lakshadweep.)
Iran
Libya
Kuwait
Maldives
Mauritania
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Somalia
Emirate of Sharjah in United Arab Emirates
Yemen

I was surprised myself that both San Marino and the Vatican brew beer. I need the Vatican one to complete Europe.

What about countries that don't exist any more? I travelled all round Yugoslavia in my student days. Do I get to count all the present-day countries?

UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Denmark, Monaco, Sweden, Netherlands, Andorra, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Barbados, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Turkey, Finland, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, St Marteen, Gran Turk(?) The Bahamas, Cyprus.

In alphabetical order: Canada, Finland, France, Italy, Monaco, Sweden, United Kingdom (England only), United States. Some only for about 20 minutes.

David Williams wrote:What about countries that don't exist any more? I travelled all round Yugoslavia in my student days. Do I get to count all the present-day countries?

All of the ones you've been to, yes. And you should definitely share anecdotes.

Paul Worsley wrote:UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Denmark, Monaco, Sweden, Netherlands, Andorra, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Barbados, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Turkey, Finland, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, St Marteen, Gran Turk(?) The Bahamas, Cyprus.

This is a good list. Gran Turk is part of the Turks & Caicos Islands which are a British Overseas Territory and St Marteen is a Dutch territory so they don't count for the 197, but looking this up has meant that I learned that the capital of Turks & Caicos is called Cockburn Town, so thank you for including them

Still waiting for someone to take you down to Cockburn Town Jen.

I make it 22 countries. The asterisks are for countries I’ve been to football matches in, cos that’s how I roll.

UK [3***], Ireland [2**] (see what I did there?)

Spain, Portugal (family hols and a couple of other trips to Spain)
USA (work, but with some touristy bits. Almost got shot in New York)
Australia* (via UAE and Singapore. Sydney Olympics. Claimed to be the Irish archery team while hanging out with the Australian beach volleyball crew)
France* (4.5 visits)
Italy (3.5 visits)*, Vatican, Austria, Czech Rep, Slovakia* (first hol with the boss, oblivious to events of 9-11 for several days)
Hungary*, Croatia* (football- Dundalk in Europe, plus Hungary GP)
Belgium* (stag including football)
Greece, Slovenia (plus Croatia, Italy again- honeymoon)
Germany* (2006 world cup, 6 matches)
Andorra (via Spain, obviously, skiing)
Malta (family wedding)
Luxembourg* (via Belgium, football- Dundalk in Europe. While in Luxembourg I walked into France- because I could)

Seeing as we’re riffing on brief visits to Switzerland I almost visited Switzerland by accident when boarding the wrong train from Monza to (I thought) Milan after the Italian GP.
Annoyingly missing asterisks in Czech Republic as (in pre-internet days) we turned up 24 hours late, and Spain when an Espanyol match was moved from a Saturday to a Sunday. And most other countries on the list cos summer holidays tend to coincide with football off seasons, boo.
On the sports front I’ve watched football in about 70 stadia in 14 (FIFA) countries including medium-large scale riots in 4, grand prix in Hungary, Italy, Spain, and played Apterous in Ireland, the Occupied Territories and France.

For smutty names I've been to Nobber and Muff.

And now I have to start counting my beer countries………

I make mine 19 if I read the rules correctly (so ignoring Madeira and the Canary islands, oh and Sardinia!)

UK(4), France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Croatia, Greece, USA, Canada, Denmark

12/197: UK (3/4), Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, USA, Australia, Hungary, China (Hong Kong airport for several hours on the way to/from Oz). Also passed through Luxembourg on coach going to Germany once but can't remember if we got off or not (it was 40 years ago, FFS). May be some more I've temporarily forgotten.

sean d wrote:Australia. Sydney Olympics. Claimed to be the Irish archery team while hanging out with a bunch of Ozzies pretending to be the Australian beach volleyball crew.

FTFY

Matt Morrison wrote:

sean d wrote:Australia. Sydney Olympics. Claimed to be the Irish archery team while hanging out with a bunch of Ozzies pretending to be the Australian beach volleyball crew.

FTFY

megalolz Matt, gg wp.

UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Bahrain, Singapore, Australia. 11. I can't think of any others.

UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)
France (EuroDisney several times + Paris citybreak once)
Spain (various summer holiday resorts and islands)
Belgium (citybreak in Brussels)
USA (work twice - Boston & Charlotte)
Romania (Steaua v Saints)
Hungary (Budapest citybreak)
Netherlands (Amsterdam for the wife to watch Take That)
Switzerland (work in Zurich)
Cyprus (visiting relatives at Akrotiri)
Denmark (to watch REM and go to Legoland - sweetener from suppliers at work)

I may come back to this because I really struggled to remember some of them...

I suppose someone could be on zero, if they spent their entire life in a non-country like the Isle of Man.

Jon Corby wrote:UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)

Rep of Ireland or Northern Ireland?

I've just realised that if this was restricted to the last 30 years I'd be down to 1/197 (2/4). What a dullard. Maybe I should apply for a passport?

UK (England, Scotland, Wales)

France, Belgium, Luxembourg (brief petrol/coffee stop, definitely over 10 minutes), the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Russia, USA, St. Kitts & Nevis, Brazil. 20 countries in total.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

David Williams wrote:What about countries that don't exist any more? I travelled all round Yugoslavia in my student days. Do I get to count all the present-day countries?

All of the ones you've been to, yes. And you should definitely share anecdotes.

In that case I can stretch to 37. Must be an age thing, because I wouldn't consider myself as particularly adventurous or well-travelled.

Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland
Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta
Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands
Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia
Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK
USA, Vatican City

If you want a Yugoslavia anecdote, it was August 1968. We noticed that there were quite a few Czech tourists on the campsite where we were staying, but they seemed to spend all their time listening to the radio. One of them spoke good English, and he told us that the Russians had invaded Czechoslovakia. They were obviously among the better-off Czechs, being able to afford to holiday abroad, so returning home might be dangerous. Yugoslavia was communist, so they had been able to travel there, but it wasn't really behind the iron curtain, so they had the option to cross the border into Italy, which would mean leaving behind all their possessions except what they had with them. Not the sort of dilemma any of us have ever been presented with.

Later on the same trip we woke one morning in Bulgaria to find the Black Sea full of warships. We were about to head for Romania, but there was a Road Closed sign on the only road. We decided to ignore it, and were soon met by a convoy of Russian armoured cars coming the other way. Fortunately they seemed just to be amused by our ancient minivan with GB plates. At the Romanian border three threatening border guards began a meticulous search of our vehicle, until one of them came across a football magazine, which he opened, looked at a picture, and said "Bobby Charlton, very good!" Sensing that my companion, a diehard Liverpool fan, was ready to debate the issue, I quickly opted for discretion, agreed with him, dredged up the names of a couple of Romanian players. Within five minutes we were on our way. We never did find out if Russia had invaded Bulgaria and not told anyone.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)

Rep of Ireland or Northern Ireland?

Oh yeah, Rep, that doesn't count as UK (does it?)

Excellent stories, David.

Jon Corby wrote:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland)

Rep of Ireland or Northern Ireland?

Oh yeah, Rep, that doesn't count as UK (does it?)

NO! Only Northern Ireland counts as UK.

UK(3) France Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Germany Austria Switzerland Italy Czechoslovakia (before separating. but I think both) Hungary Romania Greece Yugoslavia (before breakup - not sure how many of the parts) USA

I've visited, and stayed for at least 2 nights, in all of the following:

1. UK (England, Wales, Scotland only)
2. The Netherlands
3. Belgium
4. France
5. USA
6. Australia
7. Norway
8. Canada
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Spain
11. Germany
12. Austria
13. Liechtenstein

I've also stopped off for a few hours between flights in Singapore Changi Airport, and spent an hour or two in Switzerland.

I notice that this tally puts me tied with Matt M. Nice symmetry.