Map of Countries Visited

Countries & Territories Visited

My goal is to reach 100 countries and territories from the Travelers’ Century Club list by the time I am 40. And then visit every place in the world, of course.

The list from the TCC is interesting because of that “and territories” designation. People who wrote the list believed that there are places within a country that are so distinct, whether culturally, geographically, or otherwise, that they deserve to be designated as different places entirely.

This is why, for example, Hawaii is considered a separate territory from the mainland U.S. Some places are also counted as separate because they have decided they are independent without international recognition.

Some people will argue that counting countries and places visited is not the point of travel. Others will say that the point is to travel deeply and really immerse yourself in a culture.

And I agree with the latter point. However, I like to count places visited. Why? For myself. Because I do.

Ideally, we would immerse ourselves in new cultures and truly get to understand what each place is really about the the nuances of life there. However, there are over 180 countries in the world, and even if we literally spent all our time traveling from age 18 onwards, there’s little chance we’d be able to get profound experiences in every country in the world.

So, I would argue, even a little exposure to a different culture, cuisine, and history, is better than none at all.

Here are the destinations I’ve covered so far, amounting to almost 50 countries and 70 territories: