Where I’ve Been

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It all depends what you count as a “country”, but I’ve been to:

• 109 of the 195 countries (sovereign states) officially recognised by the UN
• 2 of the 11 disputed states partially recognised by most UN countries
• 13 of the 39 additional territories, islands, and dependencies from the Matador Network list which are not countries in the internationally agreed and recognised sense, but which are quite distinct from their parent country. For example, Greenland is technically part of Denmark, but you can’t go to Copenhagen and consider that a tick in the box for Greenland, ditto for the Faroe Islands. Likewise, a visit to Paris doesn’t really tick the box for the French Polynesian islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora, or French Guiana in South America. While it’s certainly easy to tick off the UK, that really doesn’t cover you for the Isle of Man, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, etc. This list also counts England, Scotland and Wales separately.

PS, whether you (probably a British person) like it or not, England is not a country. Some people are offended by that, believing it to be disrespectful and dismissive of England’s status. It’s nothing to do with respect – what makes a country a country is by definition international recognition. Inside the UK, we commonly refer to the constituent UK provinces as countries, and why not. But on an international level, the United Kingdom is a country, not its constituent provinces. Internationally, a country has widespread (not necessarily universal) recognition of its status and borders, autonomy over foreign trade, prints its own money, controls foreign policy, education, and transport. England does not control any of those things – the United Kingdom government does. That’s an important distinction. England does not have its own military – the United Kingdom does. England does not have foreign embassies – the United Kingdom does. The Bank of England is the central bank for the United Kingdom. England is not externally recognised as a country – the United Kingdom is a member of the United Nations, not England. Some like to claim that England, Scotland, and Wales all have their own governments and so they must be countries, but that simply isn’t correct. England doesn’t have its own government: it is ruled by the government of the United Kingdom. Scotland doesn’t have its own government: it has a parliament with some devolved local powers, but ultimately subject to the rule of the United Kingdom government and under United Kingdom law. Wales has an assembly with some devolved powers over local matters, but again all subject to the overriding rule of the government of the United Kingdom. There is a clear difference between devolved powers over local matters permitted by a central government and independent self-government. Some like to point out that some sources such as Wikipedia define the constituent parts of the United Kingdom as “constituent countries” and so, they like to shout, the 4 nations must be countries because it says “constituent countries“. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but choosing to ignore the word “constituent” in “constituent country” doesn’t make something a country any more than the Deputy Prime Minister is the Prime Minister, or the Vice President is the President. Or a vegetarian burger is really a burger. You might claim that your model railway is a railway, but try commuting to work on it and see how that goes. If you’re upset and railing against all these points as “mere semantics”, then you’re missing the whole point – what makes something a country is nothing to do with importance, heritage, cultural identity, language, geography, or history, but is very much down to how you define a country for the purpose of international law and global political interaction. Some will say that England is a country because the UK is only a “political structure”, again missing the entire point that those political structures are the very basis of how a “country” is defined. England is not an independent international country – the United Kingdom is.

The Complete List of Places I’ve Been

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (South), Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mayotte, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland (eSwatini), Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Vietnam, Wales, Zambia, Zimbabwe

USA

Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.