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 had a wee at a petrol station passing through Luxembourg. I can't really say I've visited, I just existed there in transit.

Leaving the airport. It's not like you'd leave the airport on foot, walk 5 minutes, then turn back and fly home. So once you've left the airport the assumption is your spending at least half a day there. Or doing some sort of activity, be it work, leisure, sightseeing, dropping off a parcel or whatever.
I think travelling through countries by road and stopping at a service station doesn't really count either. In any meaningful way.

I agree with you. Qatar I don't count as I didn't leave the airport, Bosnia I do because my bus from Montenegro to Croatia stopped at a bar with an amazing sea view for a rest break and I bought a glass of wine and a salad and took photos.

I think exploring it. I don't count sitting around a pool at a hotel resort and never leaving the hotel as visiting the country

I visited Zambia and went white-water rafting on the Zambezi, which forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The raft threw us all out at one point and carried on down the river before I could get back on. I had noticed a few mini crocodiles around, so I decided to swim to the nearest shore, which happened to be the Zimbabwe side. I was there for maybe five minutes before a kayaker came along and gave me a lift back to the raft. Probably can't be saying that I visited Zimbabwe...

We had a couple of layovers in Addis Ababa but I don't think I've visited Ethiopia. I do have an Addis Ababa fridge magnet that I got in the airport gift shop, but it lives near the edge of the fridge door because it feels like cheating.

We flew to London for a daytrip once (from Dublin) and I'd count that as having been to England. I was in Fishguard on a daytrip as a kid as well, which I think counted for Wales - I got my first Terry Pratchett book there.

I think a lot of definitions could become increasingly arbitrary. You could spend a month in Beijing and still know virtually nothing about China or how the majority of Chinese people live. Have you still visited China? And countries change over time: you could have thoroughly explored Iran in 1972, yet still have no knowledge at all of what is now essentially a completely different country you wouldn’t recognise. Have you still visited Iran?

I think you have visited if you have engaged with some aspect of the culture. Therefore, a transfer (plane, boat or train) does not count, but a trip that involves a meal, a place of interest or even shopping does - going into Andorra or Gibraltar when in Spain. We did a day trip to St Naum laste year which I would say definitely counts as visiting N Macedonia. We visited the monastry, we had lunch including local dishes (bavche gravche?) at a restaurant and we swam and sunbathed by the lake (Ohrid). We returned to our hotel in Podragec before sunset, all agreeing the at N Mac side of the lake was nicer than the Albanian side!

I think you have visited if you have engaged with some aspect of the culture.

Does it count if you fly in, transfer to your all inclusive hotel and stay there for a week and before flying home? (I’m not saying that’s a bad thing and have visited at least two countries in this way but wouldn’t pretend that I’ve even scratched the surface of what they have to offer.)

Leaving the airport and doing something.

I think if you only see the airport/harbour/ service station/railway station, you can't count it as having visited. Likewise looking out of the window as you pass through. Day trips count although I tend to say I've been to Dublin rather than Ireland as we only went to Dublin for a day. I know people who go on lots of city breaks but don't venture outside the city so haven't seen anything of the wider country.

I suppose to have really visited a country, you need to have been to different places within that country, stayed there and engaged with the country, not stayed in an all-inclusive resort.

When we were just a couple we used to have a policy of trying to visit as many Greek islands as we could. We'd have a week in one island and have boat trips from that one, then move to another for the second week and try to visit others from that. I think four was the most we managed... This year we did a Paxos and Antipaxos boat trip from Corfu; only Paxos counted as we didn't disembark from the boat at Antipaxos. We also managed to visit the monastery on Mouse Island so that counts, but not Vlacherna because that's accessed by the causeway rather than a boat. Rules are rules!

If we'd done a day trip to Turkey or Albania from Corfu I would count that as a separate visit. Like others, we've only stopped in Dubai for flight transfer, so we don't count that. I think I would count a country if I stopped there in transit and had a walk around and refreshments, but I'd always qualify it with "We were only there for half an hour though", because it's not the same as a day trip or overnighter.

I landed in Glasgow once. I was meant to be landing in Gatwick 🤔😂

So I got off the plane, walked out of the airport and onto the coach waiting to take us back to where we were actually meant to be.

I always say I've been to Scotland - but all I saw was Glasgow airport and the motorway back to England - in the dark!

I also say I've travelled through Belgium, Netherlands etc as I've driven through them on my way to Germany.

I only say I've been to countries if I've actually driven or landed there to stay.

I'd say leaving the airport is what I would count.

I've been to a disputed country which isn't internationally recognised, but since entering it entailed passport control, an entry form and currency exchange, I personally would count it as a separate country to the one from which I entered.

I had a layover of a few hours in Toronto many years ago, left the airport, and went to a Tim Hortons, which may or may not be a quintessential Canadian experience.

I think if you do anything there it counts.

If someone told me they had never been to Mexico but I knew they had spent two weeks there in an all inclusive, I would think that weird.

From future countries, I am now going to apply the coffee and cake rule. If you leave the airport/border crossing and have coffee and cake somewhere, you can tick said country off your list.

My DS is into country numbers… he’s got the Been App. This summer we went to France, but we drove straight to Belgium from Calais, saw several war graves and memorials, including the Menin gate in Ypres. We also had a very good very Belgian lunch. I think he can say he’s been to Belgium!

Definitely leaving the airport. I've transmitted at various Middle East airports and I don't count them

Where did you go? That sounds amazing and I'd love to do it.

I definitely don’t think staying over night is required.
I’ve only visited Portugal on a cruise, so didn’t stay over but have definitely been, done a tour of Lisbon, had lunch there etc.
We also went to the Bahamas for the day from Florida. Went over, spend the day on the beach and had lunch. Again, I’ve visited but not stayed.
Bruges, we’ve done the mini cruises where you sail over night, spend the day there and sail back.

Crossing the border. Airport transfers count.

There is a Facebook group dedicated to day trips call Extreme Day Trips, they fly all over just for the day. People share their itineraries and cheap flight finds if you are interested.

When I was a teen we drove to Calais to buy cigarettes and wine and had dinner and I told everyone I'd been to France even though it was literally 3 hours round trip! Technically correct though.

Similarly we re-fuelled in Canada needing a two hour stopover at Gander and for years I told people I'd "been to Canada twice". If that counted (I don't think it does), I've also "been" to Beirut and the Seychelles!

I think leaving the airport counts. And cruise stops definitely count. Overnight stays not necessary as, I've been to say Morocco and Gibraltar several times but as day trips from
Spain.

I think there is a distinction between "been to" and "visited", the former suggesting much less of a commitment than the later. So I have "been to" Puerto Rico when we landed, got on a bus and transferred to our cruise boat, but I haven't "visited" it because we did nothing relating to the country there.

I don't think you need to sleep there. I've been to San Marino and the Vatican multiple times but never slept there!