Do you know those itchy-scratchy maps that people have in order to show off where they have been?
I always find them a bit misleading, especially when someone has been to Saint Petersburg on a cruise once, and then they mark 11% of the world’s land mass as “visited”. Or people who have been to Yugoslavia in 1984 and now check all seven of its successor states.
Granted, when I say that I have been to 66 countries or so, it also includes those where I merely changed trains and loitered around for a few hours. That’s why I never take these lists and competitions serious.
A somewhat better version – and in any case a neat way to pass the time while procrastinating on what we should really be doing – is www.tenpages.github.io/us-level/eu.html for Europe or www.tenpages.github.io/us-level/us.html for the United States.
For each country that you have ever set foot in, you can award yourself between 1 and 5 points, depending on the depth of your experience. Obviously, that’s still subjective and I have seen some people be rather generous with what constitutes “staying” or “living” in a place. I myself have applied these terms quite conservatively, and I currently score 132 points for Europe.
The most depressing thing is that there are still blank spots on my own continent, after years, in fact decades of traveling.
To my great shock and dismay, I have also noticed that I still haven’t been to any new country in 2023. Nor in Europe, nor anywhere else. Obviously, I can’t allow the year to end like that.
So, for Christmas I have to go to either to
- Norway (too expensive),
- Finland (too dark),
- Ireland (I would really prefer to visit in summer, because it looks like a lovely place for hiking),
- Andorra (I think they have snow there, too),
- San Marino,
- Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Bulgaria,
- Belarus,
- or Iraq.
For what will be a trip of not more than two weeks, I really don’t want to fly. I am one of those somewhat environmentally conscious people, you know. I guess I could also take a ferry to
- Cyprus or
- Tunisia.
From the latter, I could then even hitchhike to Libya. That would be more in line with some of my previous Christmas trips, which have taken me to Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
I know it’s silly to stick to the at-least-one-new-country-per-year rule, because it would be just as exciting to get to know Asturias, Moravia or Bukovina. But as someone who regularly reneges on all his other resolutions, from dieting to exercise, from studying to writing, I should at least hold this last line of defense.
So, now I am asking for your thoughts, especially if you live in any of the countries mentioned. And if you have a couch, you might even make a new friend. ;-)
The Happy Hermit 
Even more disappointingly, no new country has visited my blog since 2020:
https://andreasmoser.blog/2016/03/17/15-missing-countries/ :-(
Interestingly I score about half of your points for Europe. I’m told Norway and Finland can be interesting in winter
For someone who isn’t from Europe, that’s quite impressive!
(I realized how unfair this contest is when I filled in the US map and scored 42 points. No chance against people who were born there, of course.)
“Interesting” is always a double-edged sword, which has cut off the frozen limbs of many unaware travellers.
I once spent a whole winter in Lithuania, and it was interesting indeed.
I’ve been in Finland at the beginning of March, so I can say I’ve seen the less interesting bits of winter. No limbs lost
I scored 60 on the US one🤷🏼♀️ I think I should get extra points for also going to Mexico and Canada. Also, the western states should be worth more points since they’re bigger and take longer to travel thru😂😂
Thanks Andreas! This was fun!
Also, it’s much easier for someone to visit several states when he/she lives in New England, for example.
I mean, you already need to drive a full day to leave your state. The people from Vermont just need to hop on a train, and by sunset, they have been to seven states.
OMG i ‘ve forgot all about you. i remembered after the attack on Israel
That’s my life. :-(
People only remember me in times of crisis, famine and mayhem.
Das Bild aus dem Libanon ist großartig und erschreckend. Ich bewundere deine Unerschrockenheit. Oder sind Bewaffnete auf der Straße alltäglich? Die aktuellen Ereignisse in und um Israel lassen das vermuten.
Das Denken in nationalstaatlichen Grenzen ist absolut outdated. Schon mal was vom „Europa der Regionen“ gehört? 🤔
Für den Winter kann ich Irland empfehlen. Am Ring of Kerry ist es auch Weihnachten schön warm, es sei denn, der Golfstrom hat inzwischen seine Richtung geändert. Und in Irland wird man als Hitchhiker gerne mitgenommen, es sei denn, das Familienauto ist mit den üblichen fünf Kindern auf der Rückbank belegt. (Zumindest war das bei meiner Reise 1979 so. ;-))
Das Foto von den bewaffneten Jungs habe ich aus dem Internet, das ist nicht von mir.
Man gewöhnt sich im Nahen Osten schon daran, dass Leute mit Waffen herumlaufen. In Israel ist es besonders sichtbar, weil die Wehrpflichtigen dort alle ihre Gewehre mit nach Hause nehmen. Wenn man also im Feierabendverkehr den Bus nimmt, kann es durchaus vorkommen, dass ein 18-jähriges Mädchen mit Maschinenpistole, Sturmgewehr oder gar Granatwerfer neben einem sitzt – und ganz in ihr Handy versunken ist.
Aber Fotos von anderen Menschen mache ich ungern, deshalb gibt es Fotos mit Waffen eigentlich nur von mir selbst:
Und du hast Recht, ich sollte diese Länderzählerei hinter mir lassen. Die Regionen sind ja auch oft viel interessanter, vor allem so alte, jetzt grenzüberschreitende Regionen wie die Bukowina oder Galizien. Und natürlich das grausam zerstückelte Tirol.
Jetzt muss ich mich aber schnell auf den Weg machen, damit ich um 18 Uhr beim Schleusenkrug bin. Bis gleich!
Hi Andreas. I have greatly enjoyed reading your travel adventures! A score keeping system to visit different countries or regions or cities is only slightly interesting. After visiting so many, is your favorite Country, your most enjoyable City, most fun or most exciting trips another way to keep score? Why travel just to fill in a checklist?
I have just finished my 2nd year of 4 months house sitting a German Sheppard. The Homeowner travels 4 months every year. I really love her forest, pond and creek. I saw beaver and otters this summer. It’s a stable home base for me that I believed would repeat year after year.
But she surprised me coming back a few days early. I was in the middle of cleaning up. She was horrified at the state of her home. She cancelled all future sits on the spot! So now I must Strike out and find new ground for next summer.
I will find a new balance between your constant travel and my months long house sits in one place. Exploring new places versus a comfortable, stable home base is the journey we are all on. I hope to meet you one day to swap stories in person. Thanks for the inspiration.
I absolutely agree with you on the uselessness of a checklist. Whenever I hear of those “I have been to 180 countries before I turned 30”-people, I know that they didn’t take away much from their travels. They couldn’t have, because they spent most of their time in airports.
I only have two personal numerical benchmarks:
The number of countries I have been to must not fall below my age. (I am now 48.)
And ideally, I should visit at least one new country every year.
But even that is somewhat nonsensical, as I would experience something completely new and different if I went to Corsica (although I have been to France), Alaska (although I have been to the USA) or to Asturias (although I have been to Spain).
I totally get what you say about house sitting. I have also been most happy at the places where I could return to year after year, where I already knew the cat, the city and could feel at home. There was a family in Vienna from whom I house-sat every summer, for example. But then, they got more children and stopped going on long trips.
People coming back early and then acting surprised by the house not being spotless are really strange. Apparently, some people think we spend all day cleaning.
In my case, after 5 years of house sitting, I got a bit tired of it and I missed having a place of my own. I don’t really crave the stability on a personal or emotional level, but with all this moving around, I never really got to do anything for university.
So I have just settled down in Chemnitz, a very interesting, but completely underrated city in Germany. The rents are low, so I don’t need to work too much and can still travel. After all, traveling the way I do it doesn’t cost too much.
Now I only do house sits for friends or people whom I already know. And in places where I really want to go. At the end of October, for example, I will be in Görlitz with two cats.
But I no longer need to accept house sits just because I need a place to stay.
Last night, I returned to my apartment in Chemnitz after a 3-week house sit for friends in Berlin, and I was surprised how happy I felt about coming “home”. After being an almost full-time house sitter for 5 years, it’s so relaxing to be in a place where you don’t need to do what other people tell you, where you don’t need to keep anyone informed, where you don’t need to take photos of their cats and where you can have Couchsurfers and friends over whenever you want.
But, as someone who is simply too interested in too many parts of the world, I assume I will stay in Chemnitz for a few years, hopefully use the time to finish my studies in history, and then move again. I really can’t see myself staying in one place forever.
hmmm i wish there was a more concrete way of determining if one lived or stayed in a country, or if one stayed or visited a country. I was in Romania for 3 months but I don’t think I lived there. My definition used to be if I worked or attended school in a country then I lived there. Now that I am always working regardless of my physical location, it’s more difficult to determine if I lived in a country or merely just stayed there.
My distinction is: When I rent an apartment and put my name on the doorbell and on the letterbox (and maybe even register with the municipality or get on the electoral roll), then I live there.
Also, when it’s an open-ended stay, then it feels more like living. Whereas when I go somewhere for a few months, but already know where I will go thereafter, then it feels more like staying.
The distinction between staying and visiting is easier, I think. When I do longer house-sits in one place, then I feel like I am staying.
When I travel around and stay in different hotels every few days, then it’s visiting.