Last weekend, I was asked in two separate conversations: “So, what’s your country count? How many countries have you visited?”
This was not the first time I’ve heard this question, and it won’t be the last. In travel banter, number of countries is considered to be a good proxy for well-traveled-ness. World travelers tend to keep a running tally.
Not me.
On the spot, I added up my countries visited. The total came to 23. Compared to the general population, that’s probably above average. But within travel culture and for someone who has dedicated her adult life to travel, it’s pretty low. For me, it’s just right. Here’s why I’m okay with my modest number.
I’m a country monogamist
On every trip abroad that I’ve taken, both long-term and short-term, the trip has been focused on one country. I trace that trend all the way back to my first world travel experience – a semester abroad in Mexico. I was based in Puebla and traveled around every weekend. By the end of semester, I had seen more of the country than most Mexicans have.
Ever since, that has been my style. I’m a one-country-per-trip kind of gal. My trip to Guatemala was about Guatemala, both times (although I did swing down into Nicaragua and El Salvador the second time). Uzbekistan, Ecuador and Iceland: when it was you, it was only you.
Maybe I’ve missed out on covering entire continents using the hit-it-and-quit-it approach to countries. But if I were a country, is that how I’d want to be treated? No. I’d want travelers to stay long enough to remember my full name and maybe even my currency and capital city for years to come.
“Anyone who ‘does’ a country didn’t really do anything at all…” ow.ly/bTLL7 #indietravel
— BootsnAll Travel (@BootsnAll) June 29, 2012
You can’t “do” a country
I once retweeted a Bootsnall tweet that said, “Anyone who ‘does’ a country didn’t really do anything at all…”
I thought about the way people recap their multi-country trips through Europe, Southeast Asia or Latin America. “First we did Costa Rica, and then we worked our way down to Panama and Colombia, and kept moving south because we were flying home from Buenos Aires and we really wanted to do Ecuador, Peru and Chile along the way.” Can’t we think of a better verb here? How does one actually “do” a place? I’m confused.
Travel is not a contest
The same Bootsnall tweet linked to a tenet of an indie travel manifesto. “Private transformation over social status and bragging rights.” Well said.
I like going back to places
Country counters, bent on their mission to score more points, have trouble justifying a return to past places visited. I like finding reasons to go back. In the same way you can’t really “do” a country, I think you can never really be “done” with one either.
After that semester abroad in Mexico – the trip that awakened the traveler in me – the next trip I took was to Mexico. I was back within a year to visit. One of my dream trips is to return to Puebla in 10 or 15 years with my study abroad friends, retrace our steps, re-create photos, and wax nostalgic about what we remember and what has changed.
Domestic travel is unaccounted for
I’m from the United States, a country that is very big, beautiful in its diversity, and worthy of a whole lifetime of travel. Exploring my own home state of Colorado has kept my wanderlust in check for an entire year and counting. Outside of Colorado, the year I spent in Vermont and my six-week jaunt in the Pacific Northwest are among my all-time favorite travel experiences.
The time I’ve spent seeing the States hasn’t done anything to increase my country count, but it has still shaped me, challenged me and gratified me as a traveler.
Next big trip: 8-day brewery tour by bicycle from Fort Collins to Durango, Colorado.
Number of countries I hope to visit in my life: who’s counting?
This post is May’s addition to my Ambassador series for VacationRoost.com
I LOVED this post! Every word that you had written I feel the same way just about. I’ve visited 18 countries and as you put it, compared to the average American it’s a lot but when compared with the RTW travelers on Twitter, it’s minuscule. But I do try to see the bigger picture which is I’ve been to five continents, have visited countries multiple times, and seen a lot of the countries too (as opposed to visiting one city in a country and claiming you’ve seen it). No, with my limited vacation time and not unlimited funds, my travel is not “carte blanche” and yet I do love the four some trips I get to go on each year. I’ve also been making it a purpose to see more of the U.S. since a lot of it is incredible.
I can’t stand country counters. It seems more like travel bragging than traveling to me.
I agree that the number of countries visited in one’s lifetime does not qualify the experiences they’ve had internationally, nor should it be used to prove others’ travel experience inferior. However, I find the country count is a fun, tangible way for me to measure the time, money, loneliness, and many other sacrifices I have made to reach this number. My country tally is a personal point of pride for myself, just as a marathoner or triathlete would be proud of how many competitions they had completed in a lifetime. Some of us are just competitive people and are driven by numbers. I have a goal to see all 50 states in my lifetime, does this make me vain? Even Julie, who hates country counters, has stopped to compare herself to other travelers and justify herself through the “bigger picture”. I think its natural to compare ourselves to others, its the ones that brag about their total that are missing the point. Great piece!
Cynthia,
This is a great article. Spot on.
I remember going on a nine country European trip with my family when I was 19.
It was for two weeks. Increased my country count from three (US, Canada, Mexico) to 12!
But I never got to really experience anything about those countries. It was more like a 3D post cared.
But the extended periods I spent with you in Menorca and Gina in Zambia was one where you do get an immersion in place and culture. Tho it only increased my country count by two, it increased my foreign experience measureby a factor of 10.
Most refreshing. Nice to see you value good ol’ Colorado.