The list goes on

I’ve recently mastered the art of creating HTML tables in my blog posts. You can see the fruits of my labour here and here. These pioneering efforts have inspired me to create a table listing every country and territory I’ve visited, along with the date of my visit. Below is my final masterpiece.

For now, I’ve kept my dates simple and have listed them as MM/YY. These were relatively easy to source thanks to passport stamps, blog posts and travel documents I’ve kept on file. However, it’ll take a lot of archive searching to pin down an exact date for some locations, so I’ll save this refinement for another day.

I’ve also included a short list of countries that I’ve technically visited i.e., I’ve crossed the border into their sovereign territory. However, I’ve not counted them because I never left the airport, got off a bus or ventured more than a few feet into the country. Years ago, I set some minimum thresholds for counting a country, or territory, on my list. Two or more of the following must occur for it to be counted:

1. leave the airport or port of entry,
2. eat a meal in a local establishment i.e., do more than sleep in a hotel,
3. see one or more local sights (and it must be more than just a statue outside the airport gate),
4. sleep overnight in a venue outside the airport (excluding transit stops if I never leave the hotel).

Over the years these rules have resulted in some quirky “non-compliant” visits. For example, my first visit to Jordan occurred courtesy of Royal Jordanian Airlines in June 1990. I was travelling with a group from Singapore to Vienna, via Amman. Upon arrival in Jordan, we were bused to a transit hotel for a few hours of sleep before returning to the airport for our next flight. I’ve never counted this stopover. Instead, my first visit to Jordan is listed as December 2005 when Garry and I visited on an organised tour.

This same trip saw me visit Yugoslavia for the first time. Our flight from Amman to Vienna made a brief stop in Belgrade. We sat on the tarmac for less than an hour while the aircraft refuelled. Nobody joined or left the flight, and we weren't allowed to disembark. While we waited, the crew opened the front door of the aircraft to give us some fresh air. However, the security guards would quickly wave us away if we ventured too far up the aisle.

All in all, it was a rather odd flight. There were about ten of us on the plane, most of whom were part of the group I was travelling with. We were also accompanied by several security guards – three if I recall correctly. We were travelling on a Middle Eastern airline and tensions were high in the region. At the time, Saddam Hussein was threatening military action against Kuwait. He ultimately invaded the country two months later, in August 1990.

I also recall meeting a middle-aged woman who was flying alone. We got to talking and I learned that she was off to see her doctor in Europe as she simply didn’t trust the healthcare system in Jordan. This was my first taste of the decadent expat life on offer in the Middle East.  

For the more technically oriented, this flight was also the first and only time I've ever flown a Lockheed Tristar. Likewise, it was my first time flying business class. Our group was upgraded at the airport in Singapore. However, the upgrade ultimately offered little more than a larger seat with a deeper recline, and we were still served standard economy-class meals.

Likewise, until February 2016, I’d had the dubious distinction of visiting Thailand five times but never left the airport. On each occasion, my visits were merely transit stops while flying with Qantas to and from Europe. As you can see from the list I’ve also visited North Korea twice, but again, for less than an hour and only because I crossed a few metres into North Korean territory while on a tour of the DMZ, north of Seoul.

As for the visit to Paraguay, it occurred when my tour bus traversed the length of the Itaipu Dam. This dam straddles the Parana River marking the border between Paraguay and Brazil. The same river in turn feeds the spectacular Iguazu Falls.

UPDATE: 28 February 2024

I've revised the table below to reflect a new holiday we've booked this week and one we've recently completed.

COUNT	COUNTRY	DATE
Europe
1	Austria	Jun 1990
2	Belgium	Jun 2008
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina (Yugoslavia)	Jun 1990
4	Bulgaria	Jul 1990
5	Croatia	Oct 2009
6	Czech Republic	Oct 1996
7	Denmark	Aug 1990
8	Estonia	May 2008
9	Finland	May 2008
10	France	Oct 1990
11	Germany (East & West)	Aug 1990
12	Greece	Aug 1990
13	Hungary	Jun 1990
14	Iceland	Apr 2008
15	Ireland	Oct 2008
16	Italy	Sep 1990
17	Liechtenstein	Aug 1990
18	Malta	Nov 2007
19	The Netherlands	Oct 1990
20	Norway	Aug 1990
21	Poland	Feb 2019
22	Portugal	Oct 2006
23	Republic of Macedonia (Yugoslavia)	Aug 1990
24	Republic of Montenegro	Oct 2009
25	Republic of Serbia (Yugoslavia)	Jun 1990
26	Romania	Jun 1990
27	Russia	Dec 2006
28	Slovenia (Yugoslavia)	Jun 1990
29	Spain	Oct 1990
30	Sweden	Sep 1990
31	Switzerland	Aug 1990
32	Scotland	Nov 1990
33	England	Oct 1990
34	Wales	May 2009
35	Vatican City	Sep 1990
Central & South America
36	Argentina	Nov 2005
37	Brazil	Nov 2005
38	Chile	Nov 1998
39	Panama	Aug 2008
40	Peru	Oct 2005
Africa & Middle East
41	Egypt	Nov 2005
42	Jordan	Dec 2005
43	Morocco	Oct 1990
44	Oman	Dec 2008
45	South Africa	Oct 1996
46	Turkey	May 2007
47	United Arab Emirates	Dec 2007
48	Zambia	Oct 1996
49	Zimbabwe	Oct 1996
North America
50	Canada	Oct 1983
51	Mexico	Aug 2008
52	USA	Jul 1983
Oceania, Pacific & Antarctica
53	Antarctica	Dec 2010
54	Australia	Nov 1988
55	Cook Islands	Sep 2023
56	Fiji	Sep 2018
57	French Polynesia (Tahiti)	Nov 1998
58	New Caledonia	Jan 2024
59	New Zealand	Born here
60	Vanuatu	Jan 2024
Asia
61	China	Oct 1998
62	Hong Kong	Mar 2000
63	India	Feb 2002
64	Indonesia	May 2000
65	Japan	Apr 1998
66	Macau	Mar 2000
67	Malaysia	Jul 2002
68	Singapore	Nov 1990
69	South Korea	Sep 2003
70	Taiwan	Jan 2003
71	Thailand	Feb 2016
Border Crossing (not officially visited)
72	North Korea (x2)	Sep 2003
73	Paraguay	Nov 2005
Scheduled trips
74	Samoa	Sep 2024
Sighted at ground level
75	Albania	Sep 1990
76	Israel	Dec 2005