Just like the title says. This year at 40 I hit the every “recognized” country list (195). Surprisingly, it took me until three years ago to hit all U.S. states. Ask me anything.
Edit: Thank you for all the questions everyone. Apologies but have to take over from the wife for the kids. Will answer more of these this evening.
Edit #2: Back. Answering again.
Comments
Whats the most unsafe you felt in a country?
What was the hardest country to get into
How good was the “Pastel de Nata/ Pasteua de Belém” in Lisbon?
Ready for Bogainville?
Which country’s people treated you the best/worst?
Which country would you never want to visit again even if you were paid, and why?
How often did it feel pointless to travel just for the sake of checking off your country list?
What’s your favourite city and why? What was the most boring country?
How often do you fly first class?
How do you count? Do you count being at the airport waiting for a connection flight as “been to the country”? How about an overnight stay where you simply go to the hotel and sleep? Like what’s your minimum requirement to count as you have been to the country? What was the shortest stay have you been in a country that still meets your minimum requirement?
How often did you get sick or do you have an iron stomach and digestive system ?
What did u think of Brazil?
What did you think of Cambodia
Which countries would you not return to?
How often do you travel, and how long are your stays? Are most trips for work or pleasure? How expensive has it been?
Does the list include newer countries such as East Timor (2002) and South Sudan (2011)?
What precautions do you take when visiting a country in political turmoil or wartime?
Are you married with kids?
How were you able to visit every country on earth logistically speaking?
What do you do for work that allows you to travel all the time?
Where felt most opposite to western /US life in a good way?
Which country was the most naturally beauitful?
How’d you afford it?
What was your experience here in Palestine?
What is one of the most unique experiences that you have had that made you want to continue on this goal?
What’s Turkmenistan like? The food, friends, people, doing errands, local quirky things?
Tell us about the ‘stans in general. What’s cool in Tajikistan?
Hope you did it for other reasons than leasure.
What do you do for a job that allows you to never be needed regularly somewhere and make enough money to travel the world?
Which country has the best washroom?
I’m from Dominican Republic, tell me about your trip there.
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You went to Central African Republic then what did you think ? You work at Total ?
Did you spend at least one night in each country? Or step foot in the country??
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I’ve been to 136. Worked in 135 of them.
I’ll never visit the rest.
After a while, it all got watered down.
Like going to a shopping mall in your middle age. It’s just not “magic” anymore. You spend your time analyzing the layout, the building, and thinking about their operating costs and overhead. 😂
Did you go to Lebanon before or after the beirut explosion?
Which non recognised countries have you been to
What do you do for work?
Why did you decide to travel to every country, and how much did it cost to do that? And did you go alone mostly? Which country was your favourite, or was the most interesting?
When did you visit Palestine? (This is a genuine, true question not rage bait)
Yes, but have you been to SEALAND?
-a Sealand e-resident
Which European country has the best food according to you?
Which country surprised you the most in positive and negative ways? (Culture shock etc.)
When you visited Australia, how many states did you visit?
Have you ever been on a cruise?
What do you do for a living? Were you able to go to every single country in the world because of your job?
What was your favourite country you’ve been to, and why?
How was Algeria?
How was Somalia? Seems like the country isn’t very stable
Spill the beans: how was Somalia? I am Somali who grew up in Mogadishu.
Ever been in medellin? When? How was it?
I have only been to a few countries and so far medellin was the scariest place i’ve been. I think it has a reputation that is worse than it deserves though. I did not encounter any direct issues there i simply saw some sus stuff from a distance.
How old were you when you started/how old are you now? Curious how many years it took you to do this
I have heard China and Japan are amazing in your experience Is that true? I’ve always wanted to go to both
What is somaliland like?
How was Antarctica and the Arctic?
How was the Heard & McDonald Islands?
What did you do in Singapore?
What did u think of Iowa? 😂
Hey! How was your trip to Moldova?
You mentioned that North Korea gave u the heebie jeebies? Whys that, its obvious but im curious as to why
What did you think of The Gambia?
Favorite cuisine?
Places like Mauritania, South Sudan, or Somalia, where they tell you you shouldn’t travel there. Why did you go and how was it there?
Whats your favorite country that you visited in the South Asia region ?
How was ur trip to bangladesh?
Ever been to Antarctica? If not, is it in your list?
Have you visited the Channel Islands? If so, what did you think?
What was the scariest experience, and aside from North Korea, what was the hardest country to get into?
What was the craziest wildlife you’ve seen and where?
Are there places which aren’t full countries, but feel sufficiently independent that you’d still like to expand your list with them? I saw you’ve been to Antarctica and Transnistria already, for example, but are there any other places like that remaining as a possible goal for you? Or do you feel totally finished with this effort and no desire to expand to more marginal cases?
Where in your opinion did people genuinely seem the happiest? (Not how happy or kind they were to you but just authentically happy) I’m from Georgia too and this thread has been such a treat to go through while giving me hope for more travel🤝
What are some of your top recommendations to immigrate to from the US considering its current state? 😂
How has traveling the world affected your world view? Is there a particular country or moment that made you see things in your own life/country differently?
How was st Lucia and st Vincent
How do you know how many people have done that? Did the UN send you a membership card?
How much of Canada have you visited? And did you ever get engrossed in other countries cultures and history? Which of them had the most lasting impact on you?
How was your experience in Trinidad and Tobago?
How did u get into turkmenistan?
Are there any countries you wish you just didn’t go to?
What did you think of Belarus? When were you there?
Thoughts on Armenia?
How many times have you been seriously sick in the course of your travels?
Holy shit having just actually properly thought about that; that is awesome. I haven’t seen the other comments lol but what’s your favourite? Or top 3-5 If you can’t narrow it.
Have you ever been to Antarctica?
I just wanted to thank you for your thoughtful post. I read through all of the questions and answers. Your journeys sound soul enhancing. Thank you for sharing.
As someone who has travelled extensively in the US and most Caribbean islands if you were to say one country to visit in Europe & why ?
How was Macedonia? Hope you visited Ohrid and enjoyed the pearl of the Balkans 😁
Are you generally well to do in terms of cash?
What is your demographic? I see 40 but are you white? Male? American?
Best night life that you have experienced?
What place surprised you the most (in a positive, and negative way) and why?
For instance, I didn’t like Barcelona when I went 3x (too touristy, too American), despite people loving it, and I loved the Rhine River in Germany
What’s the farthest North you have been?
What did you think of austria?
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What was it like in Haiti?
What is the worst country you have been to in terms of how pleasant it was to stay there?
For me, the answer to this question is hands down Bangladesh. The people were very friendly, but the place was so crowded, constantly smelled like shit, such heavy traffic, generally just dirty and rundown. Absolutely horrible. Normally I like to walk around and try different restaurants rather than sitting the whole time in the hotel, but in Bangladesh I spent almost the entire time at the hotel.
Close second for me would be South Sudan, though they did have the advantage of having compounds for UN staff that were actually fairly pleasant. Smoked a very nice shisha pipe on the banks of the Nile at one of them.
What was your reason for coming to Honduras and being completely honest what did you think of it?
Hi OP!
Really love your AMA – got 3 questions here:
You obviously felt unsafe in quite a few places. Considering your sex (and ethnicity maybe) – Would you also have fulfilled this childhood dream if you were female? Alternatively, if your wife wanted to travel to all countries herself (let’s assume you haven’t got the kids yet) – how would you feel/react about that?
How did the travelling impact your political views? Were there any major changes, any beliefs you wouldn’t have expected to believe in in the past (or opinions you had in the past that you can’t imagine having now)
whereabouts in Austria did you go, how did you like it, and what did you think about the people? ( honest answer, I’m Austrian who moved away over 5 years ago, I’m very curious)
Have you run out of space for stamps in your passport?
Have you visited Pakistan? If so, how was your experience?
Fave country?
You have a shockingly good memory for these places. Do you take copious notes/pictures? Or do you just have a mind for this kind of thing?
Did you visit all the Balkan countries? How was your time spent and what did you like?
Do you think about your carbon footprint at all? The environmental cost of “collecting” countries must be absurd.
I’ve loved reading your comments OP. Is there a book in all this?
When did you go to all the territories in Antarctica?
I was to the geographic South Pole to hit them all in 2001
Are there any countries that you would straight up tell a solo female traveler not to visit?
What do you think about Prague? Which place would you put it on a list of cities?
How was Scotland? Did you go to many places there?
I’m about to inherit some money and this will be my last chance to travel overseas. Can you recommend the places that were really something special/life changing? And which ones might be too dangerous for a person travelling solo?
How did you overcome language barriers and currency exchange in so many different places?
Aren’t there 198 countries not 195?
When/how did you visit North Korea?
Which country was the most fun or exciting for you?
Which countries had the best weather? (I know this can be broad so feel free to just list a couple countries or regions)
What countries did you feel the safest in?
How does Micronesia rank among the Pacific island nations you visited?
Would it be too much of an ask for you to put together a list of must visits for architecture touring? Cuba has been my favorite so far, but I haven’t gotten around nearly as much as I would like to.
Which country had the most beautiful in terms of nature and mountains? Which country had the most beautiful ocean or sea and best beaches? I heard Pakistan has gorgeous nature. Which country had the friendliest people, where did you feel completely comfortable to go up to anyone and speak to them on the streets? Which country had the rudest people? Which country (or countries) had the most interesting history? Which country had the most diverse groups people? Which country had the most unique architecture? What was your favourite African, Asian, Middle Eastern, European, South American country? Which countries were most affordable? Which country had the best food? What was the strangest food you ate? Which country had the spiciest food? What was the most advanced country in terms of technology? What was the most uninhabited or sparsely populated country? Did you ever have a moment where you thought you thought that you wouldn’t see tomorrow?
Great AMA! I am the female version of you in many ways except for a) the cool job that pays to travel and b) having been to every country. Where in Iran did you go, and what did you think of the country?
My question is very boring! (Sorry in advance) When you went you England did you venture outside of London? If so where? 🙂
Which country had your favorite or most memorable music?
I’m originally from Seoul, so we of course have K-Pop. I was raised performing in a traditional dance group too, so I am also familiar with the traditional music; I was surprised that a lot of chronically online Americans heard traditional Korean music via a very silly YouTube video called The Pricemaster.