Been There

Country Sheri Eric
ar Argentina 2017 2017
au Australia 2016 2016
at Austria 2016 2016
belgium Belgium 2016 2016
bz Belize 2004 2004
Bhutan Bhutan 2016 2016
Bolivia Bolivia 2017 2017
an Bonaire 2005 2005
Botswana Botswana 2011 2011
Brazil Brazil 2017 2017
bulgaria Bulgaria 2016 2016
Cambodia Cambodia 2016 2016
ca Canada 2018 2018
Chile Chile 2017 2017
cn China 2016 2016
Colombia Colombia 2017 2017
Costa Rica Costa Rica 2017 2017
Croatia Croatia 2016 2016
Czech-Republic Czech Republic 2016 2016
Denmark Denmark 2016 2016
Ecuador Ecuador 2017 2017
eg Egypt 2008 2008
Estonia Estonia 2016 2016
Ethiopia Ethiopia 2016 2016
Finland Finland 2016 2016
fr France 2016 2016
de Germany 2016 2016
Greece Greece 2016 2016
hn Honduras 2007 2007
hk Hong Kong 2003 2005
Hungary Hungary 2016 2016
Iceland Iceland 2016 2016
India India 2016 2016
bali Indonesia (Bali) 2016 2016
id Indonesia (Java) 2016 2016
Ireland Ireland 2016 2016
Israel Israel1 2008 2008
Italy Italy 2016 2016
Japan Japan2 2003 2003
Jordan Jordan 2008 2008
Kenya Kenya 2016 2016
Latvia Latvia 2016 2016
Madagascar Madagascar 2016 2016
Malaysia Malaysia 2016 2016
Maldives Maldives 2016 2016
Mexico Mexico 2012 2012
Morocco Morocco 2016 2016
Myanmar Myanmar 2016 2016
Nepal Nepal 2016 2016
Netherlands Netherlands 2016 2016
New-Zealand New Zealand 2016 2016
Nicaragua Nicaragua 2017 2017
Norway Norway 2016 2016
Peru Peru 2017 2017
Poland Poland 2016 2016
Russia Russia 2016 2016
Serbia Serbia 2016 2016
Seychelles Seychelles 2016 2016
Slovenia Slovenia 2016 2016
Singapore Singapore 2016 2016
South Africa South Africa 2016 2016
South Korea South Korea3 1989 2000
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 2016 2016
Sweden Sweden 2016 2016
ch Switzerland 2000
Tanzania Tanzania 2016 2016
th Thailand 2016 2016
tw Taiwan 1976
tb Tibet 2016 2016
Turkey Turkey 2016 2016
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 2016 2016
gb United Kingdom 2014 2014
us United States 2015 2015
Vietnam Vietnam 2016 2016
zm Zambia4 2011 2011
zw Zimbabwe 2011 2011

We travel for the experience and not simply to check a place off a list, but we are occasionally asked where we’ve been on our travels. I didn’t give it much thought until I started writing this page and as it turns out, it’s not as many places as people may think—77 for Sheri and 75 for me.

According to the Traveler’s Century Club, even the shortest stay, transit, layover or fuel stop qualifies as a visit to a country or territory. When a short visit happens, we explain the circumstances in the footnotes and hope to return at a later date for a longer visit. The TCC recognizes 324 countries and territories. That’s more than the official U.N. list of countries, but it includes some places that are distinctly separate, so for a traveler, it’s a more meaningful list. For example, the Indonesian island of Bali is very different from the island of Java, where Jakarta is located. Bali has a different culture from the rest of Indonesia and could be considered its own territory.

We have been married for about 15 years, and in that time, we have traveled together to Belize, Bonaire, Botswana, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel1, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, South Africa, U.K., Zambia2 and Zimbabwe prior to our around the world trip.

Prior to knowing one another, we each separately traveled to Australia, Austria, Germany, Indonesia, Nepal, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Taiwan, and Tibet. We’ve also been to nearly all 50 states in the U.S. and 4 Canadian provinces.

On the map, green are countries we have visited for the first time on our around the world journey, yellow are countries we have visited on this trip but have visited before, together or separately, red for those Sheri has visited, and orange for countries we have visited together in the past.

Yes, we obviously love to travel, but we’re just getting started. Our around-the-world trip is finished, so this map and list only shows all the places we have been to so far. We have more travel planned in the future, we hope to add to the number of places as soon as we replenish the coffers. This list shows where we’ve been and the last year we visited.

Footnotes:
1 We transited through Israel on our way from Egypt to Jordan. We spent about an hour going through their tough border security and 20 minutes in a cab to the Jordanian border.
2 Sheri spent 3 months in Japan in 1981, and we both had a layover in Narita in 2003 on our way to China.
3 I had a 4 hour layover in Seoul in 2000 on my way to Thailand.
4 We transited through Zambia from Zimbabwe to Botswana. We only stepped foot on Zambian soil when we got out at immigration and to wait for the ferry.

3 thoughts on “Been There

  1. Hi Eric –

    I love it that you are about to have another big adventure. I used to be in the travel industry for 15 years, so have travelled extensively also (very blessed to have those experiences!)

    Is there some way I can make/use a page like this for myself? I’m not a programmer and don’t know even WordPress. But I’d love to be able to log my own travels too (and w/ my husband or other companions). Very cool!

    Cheryl

    • Hi Cheryl,
      Unfortunately, the plugin that allows me to track all the locations only works with WordPress, as far as I know. Setting up a WordPress site isn’t difficult, but to do it correctly requires a bit of prerequisite knowledge of system administration. Thankfully, it’s getting easier to manage a WP site and soon it may be so automated, you may only need to press a few buttons to get one up and running.
      Cheers!
      Eric

      • Thanks Eric – Maybe over the coming holiday I will give it a try. I could be as adventurous on trying WP as my travels, I guess 😉

        Be well and enjoy your travels!

        Cheryl

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