40 Most Unusual or Obscure Countries I Have Visited
If you have followed the blog for what is now 10 years, you might be aware I have a passion for the obscure and absurd. Backpacking places like Rome, Paris and New York just didn’t excite me any more. It has to be a little bit off the wall, off the map, somewhere lots of people haven’t heard of. So I started backpacking to villages like Pelplin, Tashkurgan, Ballyhalbert and to debated countries like Austenasia, Monaco, Uzupis and Podjistan. This is all part of my current mission to backpack to 200 countries by the age of 40.
40 Most Unusual or Obscure Countries I Have Visited
I decided to concoct this post on the 40 Most Unusual or Obscure Countries I have Visited, but placed it on my current blog, a new blog which I just introduced to you all!
Dziwaczne Odkrycia: Top 40 Debated Countries or Regions I Have Backpacked Through
And at a glance here is the full list of the first 40 unusual or obscure countries I have backpacked through:
1.Antarctica
2.Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh)
3.Austenasia
4.French Guyana
5.Transnistria
6.Kashubia (Kaszuby)
7.Basque Country (Euskadi)
8.Adammia
9.The People’s Republic of Podjistan
10.The Republic of Uzupis
11.Catalonia
12.Gibraltar
13.Ladonia (Nimis)
14.Kosovo
15.Karakalpakstan
16.Gorno Badakhshan (The Pamirs)
17.The Republic of Frestonia
18.Freetown Christiania
19.The Kingdom of Lovely
20.The Lagoan Isles
21.The Faroe Islands
22.Hong Kong
23.Macau
24.The Principality of Monaco
25.The Vatican City State
26.International Waters/Divers
27.Don’t Stop Living (DSL Republic)
28.Iraqi Kurdistan
29.Druze
30.Maasai
31.Kaliningrad
32.Sark
33.Herm
34.Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ)
35.Andaman Islands
36.Macedonia
37.Krolestwo Dreamlandu
38.Donkey Kong Country
39.Narnia
40.Leblandia
41.The Kingdom of Romkerhall (2017)
42.Western Sahara (2017)
43.Northern Cyprus (2018)
44.The Sovereign Military Order of Malta
45.Kugel Mugel
46.Wallachia
mighty stuff! that list looks awesome! great accomplishment !
Hi Ross, thanks for the comment. It was quite a great accomplishment I guess although along the way I met a few nasty people who lied to me and disrespected my blogs and journeys. Safe travels. Jonny
Erm… how is Monaco a “debated country”?
Hi Sam, thanks for your comment. It’s all down to opinion on all of these, and nobody id right or wrong. Many don’t recognise Monaco. I personally do but many many people who don’t. They have NO currecny of their own, no language, no real border to France, no international football team and even their local team play their matches in the French League. So in that sense Gibraltar (which has all of those different to bordering Spain) is a country and Monaco is not. However, I still recognise both. Which ones do you debate on my list? Safe travels. Jonny
Monaco has a strange status and setup to be sure, but that doesn’t equal illegitimacy. Can you be specific as to who the “many” are that don’t recognize them? I have never heard of (and can’t find in my research) a single country, political party, lobbying bloc, or even a news commentator oppose their status as a sovereign state or their entry into the UN, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, etc.
Lots of states – extant, potential, or former – have had their statuses questioned, debated, negotiated, and fought over on the international stage in modern history, such as the former Yugoslavian regions that ultimately became countries, Kashmir, Taiwan, South Sudan, Tibet, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Puerto Rico, Cyprus, hell – even Northern Ireland. But I cannot find evidence of any such controversy regarding Monaco, other than where to put their football team, and the fact that France is a tad annoyed that French citizens set up camp there as a tax shelter. So please link in some sources?
Hi Sam, did you even read the article? It is about disputed and unusual territories and regions! Even your response admits it is strange! What you are trying to do is get me to remove it from the list just to keep you happy? Is that what you want? If so I will do it but it seems ludicrous!!
I cannot be specific as I never ask for people’s names if I don;t respect them. Jim from Ballyclare, David from Arizona, Belinda from Madagascar and the Empire of Uzerbogijan! No sources will be linked as I am busy enough – you add them in instead as you have more time than me – wind yer neck in or complain about something else instead of trying to lead me to suicide again. Safe travels. Jonny
Good job, man, keep going. (And get to Andorra, it’s a neat little place and the cops will stamp your passport at the border too.)
I did 48 new ones when I was 22, but that took a year of backpacking through Asia and Latin America. Slowed down a lot since (life got in the way), but at 67 have made it to 109 on the Travelers Century Club, and 7 continents too. I tell you, once you start this you can’t believe any more of the crap that governments and news organizations put out about the world, because you’ve seen it for yourself. And you know what I found? People everywhere…are just people, and up close it’s hard to hate or be scared of them. My own US is living in terrible fear, and it is destroying this place, but fortunately not everyone here is consumed by such thinking.
Here’s to better days again–
Hi Richard, thanks for the comment. I visited Andorra just once before, back in 2014 and I got a bus in and out, which didn’t stop at the border so I missed the passport stamp there sadly. I managed to get it in a few of the other places on that list though including Podjistan and Monaco. Safe travels. Jonny