How many countries have you been to?

[Fenman Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fenman]

The two that I have no clue on, however, are Aland Islands (Mariehamn) and Lampedusa. Anyone have a clue where either of those are?

Carolinian,

Not sure if anyone answered this bit but.......
Mariehamn is part of Finland, although the local language is Swedish.

Lampedusa is an Italian island in the Mediterranean south of Sicily

[dwhm Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dwhm]

Anybody been to a country that doesnt exist?

No joke, there are some countries wich are there. borders, political system, own currency but they are not recogniced by the UN so you cant find them on any official political map. I will visit one of them in November this year. it is called Transnistria or Pridnestrovie. There are more of them, mostly somehow part of ther former Soviet Union and now supported by Mr. Putin who tries to get some influence in this part of the world.

Just had a little thought and i must have been to about 90 countries, proper countries and not according to the list of travelerscenturyclub. I think that this list is rubbish. stick to official countries somehow. Dodecanese Islands? Balearics? own countries? you must be kidding me. ( BTW, how about countries that dont exist anymore? I visit Prague since 1987 and since them Prague was the capital of the CSSR, then the CSFR and now of the czech Republik. Or take Yugoslavia.....) If i take the list of centurytraveler, i come easily over 100....



Anyone interested in the politics and/or the progress of democracy in eastern europe, please get in touch with me. I am always looking for informed or interested people.



Greatings from a very sunny and warm Athens/Greece

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

I have been to Transdnistria, where they don't seem to be aware that the Soviet Union has vanished. An interesting place in a weird sort of way after you get over the inevitable shakedown by customs/immigration. I have also been to several of the ''independent'' homelands that have since been reincorporated back into South Africa, although the only one of them that had a border post and stamped my passport was Boputswana.

Some of these places on the TCC list were independent countries at one time, such as Hawaii, an independent kingdom until it was overrun and conquered by the US Navy in 1893, and the Balaeric Islands, an independent kingdom until it was overrun and conquered by Spain in the Middle Ages. While the Hawaiian royal family no longer makes an active claim to the throne (the head of the Kalakaua dynasty, who no longer uses his royal titles actually served in the Hawaii legislature as a Republican not too many years ago), the Balaeric royal family, which is also still around, is cashing in on its status. For several decades, they have earned a nice living selling knighthoods and titles of nobility, which from an article I read start at about $50,000. Their titles have been recognized in every European court of law where they have been challenged as valid titles of nobility. If their long deposed royal family can still confer on you a valid title as a count or baron, maybe there is something to the Balaerics still being on the TCC list.

There are some interesting ones that are not on the list. Take Sark, a channel island that is the last feudal state in Europe, ruled by a Seignure (Sp?) who pays a nominal tribute to the English crown whose amount has not changed since the Middle Ages. Another is the Soverign Military Order of Malta, which was a territorial state until the Napoleanic Wars, and has since been recognized by many countries as a sovereign non-territorial state and is run from a sprawling palace in Rome, where it issues coins and postage stamps bearing the portrait of its current Grand Master, and passports. Among those who recognise it, oddly, is the Republic of Malta, whose terriitory it once ruled. In walking the old towns of Prague and Budapest, I have run across embassies of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Czech Republic and Hungary. I guess if you walked into one of their embassies or their palace in Rome, you could say you have been to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

No joke, there are some countries wich are there. borders, political system, own currency but they are not recogniced by the UN so you cant find them on any official political map. I will visit one of them in November this year. it is called Transnistria or Pridnestrovie. There are more of them, mostly somehow part of ther former Soviet Union and now supported by Mr. Putin who tries to get some influence in this part of the world.

Just had a little thought and i must have been to about 90 countries, proper countries and not according to the list of travelerscenturyclub. I think that this list is rubbish. stick to official countries somehow. Dodecanese Islands? Balearics? own countries? you must be kidding me. ( BTW, how about countries that dont exist anymore? I visit Prague since 1987 and since them Prague was the capital of the CSSR, then the CSFR and now of the czech Republik. Or take Yugoslavia.....) If i take the list of centurytraveler, i come easily over 100....



Anyone interested in the politics and/or the progress of democracy in eastern europe, please get in touch with me. I am always looking for informed or interested people.



Greatings from a very sunny and warm Athens/Greece

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Two ( US and Canada). Yeah I know just two? Yes just two. ( I don't count a 2 hour drive thru Tiajuana as a visit to Mexico).

But headed to Europe later this month and we can't wait.

BonJour!