Note, I have defined my list as the 193 UN sovereign states, plus the Vatican, Taiwan and Kosovo for 196.

I have read/heard many debates about what is the ‘right’ list of “every country in the world”.  Different definitions included the obvious list of the 193 UN sovereign states, or only countries attached to continents (ruling out Polynesia), or only countries with their own currency (ruling out Tuvalu and Nauru for e.g, and arguably much of Europe), or countries that have control of their own government (including eg Somaliland and Transnistria). The travellers century club lists over 300 countries which includes all sorts of strange territories.

Everybody is free to use whatever list works for them, I find 196 works for me, its what Guinness World Records uses, so its good enough for me!

Likewise I have heard multiple arguments about what constitutes a country visit.   For me, I want to have a memorable experience, and that typically means staying a while or visiting more than once.   However, sometimes I only have a limited amount of time and don’t think there is much to see in a country so will just stay a few days or a night. I have a rather more unusual ‘criteria’ – you need to be in a country long enough to ‘use the facilities for a number 2!’ (excluding the airport!) Its just something a little different.   For some travellers a ‘visit’ includes transiting through an airport but it doesn’t  meet my criteria

I get to decide where I want to go and whether it is a visit and so does every other traveller.

Happy travels!