What counts as having visited a country?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Normally I'm one for homestays and 'travelling' not being a tourist But I've visited a lot of countries and the subject came up today about what counts. I've been to a lot of countries but I can count them differently.

Various answers have been:

Leaving the airport (so transfers don't count)
Getting a passport stamp (now we aren't EU, that's more likely)
Eating in the country
Staying overnight
If a country is disputed, who do you listen to? (I've been to a few countries which have disputed borders.) I'm a fan of listening to the person I think is OK.
Countries within countries? Guadeloupe is part of France. But Puerto Rico? Greenland? All the UK countries? Do they 'count'?

Lighthearted (says she, hopefully).

I would argue leaving the airport as a minimum

Definitely leaving the airport.
Passport stamps are unreliable, so that wouldn't be a requirement.
I think I would want at least one night, maybe even a weekend before I would say with any conviction that a country was "visited". Anything less than a night is just a short stopover, not really a visit.
I would say the name of the state or territory if in a disputed or part of a different country. So if I visited Greenland, I would say Greenland, not Denmark. In fact if someone visited Greenland and told me they had visited Denmark, I would think them very strange.

In my head its a mixture due to my own travelling.

Agree you need to leave the airport - I had a layover in the far east don't count that country.

I spent a week in Germany for a work conference - never really left the hotel bar one walk so I wouldn't personally count that one

I have done day trips to all sorts of European places with Ryanair cheap flights in the early 00's and saw loads in a 10 hour window, 2 meals plus sights so would count those countries.

I used to be you had to sleep there but I changed after my day trips!

In fact if someone visited Greenland and told me they had visited Denmark, I would think them very strange.

I can see that. But in the case of France, because they are départements I think you have been to France if you've been to Guadeloupe.

I think I would want at least one night, maybe even a weekend before I would say with any conviction that a country was "visited". Anything less than a night is just a short stopover, not really a visit.

Oh, I don't know. I've been to Switzerland twice (different cities) for the day as have been staying somewhere near to the border. I definitely think I've visited/been to Switzerland.

I don’t know. I’ve been to Madeira but I’d lump that in with visits to Portugal. I think if it’s on a different continent I’d count it separately, so Guadeloupe should count but Corsica goes under the heading of France.

I work on the basis of if I look out of the airplane window and can identify the land mass we are passing over (first go, no second chances) then that counts as a visit.

Each trip accumulates the count, even if I been/passed over it before.

So far I have visited 1574 countries

So far I have visited 1574 countries

I think leaving the airport. And not just for a taxi ride to another airport for a connecting flight.

Staying for a bit (minimum overnight).

It used to piss me off immensely when my mother insisted I had been to Australia because I was in utero. Now my Ds1 is whittering about going to the US and I found myself telling him he has been to the US because I went to Washington Dc for a work thing when I was very newly pregnant and also later on went to Kenya when I was pregnant just before I went on maternity leave.

I think that your feet have to touch the ground. I can't count Belgium as I have only driven through on my way from Holland back to France. Likewise Germany. We were on a coach that started near Innsbruck and going to Salzburg, and the route took us into the very south of Germany and back into Austria. We never left the coach.

Yes to leaving the airport, but I've idly wondered about this in the past. For example, one time we had a 6 hour layover in a Caribbean country, so we hired a taxi to drive us round the island and had a lunch and a short walk. I felt we had "visited", but we hadn't stayed the night. And, what about all those cruises with one day visits to different countries? I feel like those usually count! I guess I have a two tier system though, with those short stops counted separately from the 2 plus day visits.

hmmm I am rethinking. A visit outdoors with a meal. Yes that counts.

Leaving the airport.

I don't think you need to stay overnight. If you're staying in one country, but are near the border you could have a day trip to a neighbouring country and you've definitely visited it, even if you haven't slept there.

I've holidayed in Egypt and we did a day trip to Jordan (Petra) and we drove through Israel to get there. I think I've visited Jordan but not Israel, seeing as we didn't get off the coach other than for passport control (so we did get stamps).

And, what about all those cruises with one day visits to different countries? I feel like those usually count!

Agree with this, I don't think having slept there is necessary to 'count'.

If a 'Countries visited' conversation came up, i'd definitely count both the Netherlands and Belgium in my answer - but I've only done a day trip in each as part of a mini cruise.

Staying overnight

I've had an overnight airport layover where I didnt sleep but I felt I'd visited the country. Bought food in that currency. Shopped in their shops. Took photos. Saw people dressed in local clothes. Signs in local language. Toilets were different!

If you've been subject to the laws of a country, you've victors!

Visited not victors!!

On that basis, DH and I have been to The Netherlands. We stopped at a motorway service station on a coach en route onto Austria. We got out and used the facilities. (I don’t really think this counts.)

It's something I sometimes mull over and haven't got a satisfactory answer. And I have a lot of internal inconsistencies in my own counting.

• Bahrain I count, even though I only left the airport to stay in a hotel.
• Brazil I count even though it was just an evening in a bar.
• Kazakhstan doesn't count even though I travelled through it on a train for at least a day, and saw a lot of it go by through the window.

I guess it boils down to feet on ground outside an airport. But I probably wouldn't count a stop at a service station, so who knows.

Just so we could say we'd been, DH and I drove over the border between Germany and Austria, parked up and went for a quick walk, then got back in the car and drove back to Germany. We were only in Austria for about half an hour, but I reckon it counts.

I think it's being there for a full day. I've driven through Germany on a trip to Austria, but didn't see anything of it (other than the motorway services) so wouldn't count that as having been to Germany.

Yes plus day trips off a cruise definitely mean you have visited that country

What about cruises then? Different country each day, spend a few hours doing various things, but not staying overnight.

I lived near an international border that needed a passport check.. we often popped over for coffee, but never stayed more than 4hrs... did we visit this country?