Random Travel Game: My League of Nations

Since I’ve hit the 227 country mark on the Traveler’s Century Club it feels like a milestone and way back when I landed in Tunisia for country 100 in March 2015, I raised a smile. On the way to the century, we don’t only visit each country once of course and there are many repeats. Using a logic similar to the UFWC (Unofficial Football World Championships), who determine that the reigning world champions are the team that beats the previous world champions. So going back to the first football international back in 1872 when England beat Scotland, that makes England the first ever Unofficial Football World Champions, the trend continues in the same way as a “boxing match” – beat the current champion and you take the title of world champion. So how can you do that with countries?

Easy – you count each INDIVIDUAL visit to a country/prominent territory in your whole life and see which country you have visited on the most occasions. So for example you go from Brazil into Argentina, back into Brazil then head to Bolivia then to Peru, then to Ecuador then back to Brazil. As it’s one point per visit, this means you give three points to Brazil as you have had three separate visits, and 1 to all the other nations.

The Rules of this Random Travel Games: My League of Nations
– 1 point per single visit to each country (no matter how long or short the visit).
– In the case of a tie, the country listed higher is the one you spent longest in.
– When flight and train changes to another country mean you have left the country you were in, and progress to a new country, they are counted in this chart (I don’t count them in my normal travel journeys unless I’ve actually seen the country but for this, the airport stops have to count as you left a country and went to another).

So I’ve done the same with my travel lifestyle since the day I was born. I hope that kind of makes sense, so here are the results. These are the countries I have been to on the most visits since 1980, correct as of 30th July 2024:

1.   Northern Ireland – 116
2.   England – 106 *
3.   Poland – 65
4.   Republic of Ireland – 52
5.   Hong Kong – 36
6. China – 20
7.   Germany – 21
8.   Scotland – 21
9. France – 15 *
10. Italy – 14
11.  Spain – 10

* France, England, Guernsey and Jersey would be much higher if I counted every shift I worked on the cross channel ferries, so they are not included.

EIGHT Visits

Malaysia – 8
Thailand – 8
Singapore – 8
Austria – 8

SEVEN Visits

Turkey – 7
Sweden – 7
Belgium – 7
Portugal – 7

SIX Visits

Wales – 6
Hungary – 6

FIVE Visits

Israel – 5
Denmark – 5
Slovakia – 5
South Africa – 5
The Netherlands – 5
United States of America – 5
United Arab Emirates – 5
Brazil – 5
Morocco – 5
Ethiopia – 5
Lithuania – 5

FOUR Visits

Kyrgyzstan – 4
Russia – 4
Rwanda – 4
Georgia – 4
Belarus – 4
Croatia – 4
Argentina – 4
Australia – 4
Greece – 4
Romania – 4
Moldova – 4
Lithuania – 4
Angola – 4
Senegal – 4

THREE Visits

  Switzerland – 3
Cyprus – 3
Palestine – 3
India – 3
Nauru – 3
Kiribati – 3
Namibia – 3
Ukraine – 3
Qatar – 3
Indonesia – 3
Suriname – 3
Uganda – 3
Czechia – 3
Guatemala – 3
The Gambia – 3
Uzupis – 3
Barbados – 3
Kazakhstan – 3
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta – 3

TWO Visits

Tunisia – 2
Uzbekistan – 2
New Zealand – 2
Canada – 2
Bosnia – 2
Herzegovina – 2
Montenegro – 2
Jordan – 2
Armenia – 2
North Korea – 2
Latvia – 2
Malta – 2
South Korea – 2
Chile – 2
Macau – 2
Kaliningrad – 2
Philippines – 2
Togo – 2
Honduras – 2
Panama – 2
Tajikistan – 2
Botswana – 2
Kiribati – 2
Malawi – 2
Reunion Island – 2
Mauritania – 2
Azerbaijan – 2
Dominican Republic – 2
Sint Maarten – 2
Antigua And Barbuda – 2
Cape Verde – 2
Saudi Arabia – 2
Seborga – 2

ONE Visit only

Kugel Mugel – 1
Brunei – 1
French Guyana – 1
Mexico – 1
Belize – 1
Iran – 1
Mauritius – 1
Mozambique – 1
Madagascar – 1
Uruguay – 1
Taiwan – 1
El Salvador – 1
Iraq – 1
Nicaragua – 1
Costa Rica – 1
Kosovo – 1
FYR Macedonia – 1
Bulgaria – 1
Transnistria – 1
Vietnam – 1
Algeria – 1
Vatican City – 1
Kuwait – 1
Austenasia – 1
Gibraltar – 1
Lagoan Isles – 1
Frestonia – 1
Christiania – 2
Bangladesh – 1
Bahrain – 1
Faroe Islands – 1
Ladonia – 1
Lovely – 1
Don’t Stop Living – 1
Podjistan – 1
Afghanistan – 1
Gorno Badakhshan – 1
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – 1
Antarctica – 1
Slovenia – 1
Serbia – 1
Eswatini/Swaziland – 1
Lesotho – 1
Zambia – 1
Karakalpakstan – 1
Monaco – 1
Tanzania – 1
East Timor – 1
Venezuela – 1
Mongolia -1
Krolestwo Dreamlandu – 1
Colombia – 1
Guyana – 1
Ecuador – 1
Ivory Coast – 1
The Kingdom of Romkerhall – 1
Western Sahara – 1
Northern Cyprus – 1
Paraguay – 1
Myanmar – 1
Artsakh / Nagorno Karabakh – 1
San Marino – 1
Liechtenstein – 1
Luxembourg – 1
Andorra – 1
Trinidad and Tobago – 1
Sri Lanka – 1
Benin – 1
Lebanon – 1
Bolivia – 1
Laos – 1
Cambodia – 1
Peru – 1
Iceland – 1
Burundi – 1
DR Congo – 1
Zimbabwe – 1
Japan – 1
Wallachia – 1
Fiji – 1
Papua New Guinea – 1
Solomon Islands – 1
Marshall Islands – 1
Adammia – 1
Cameroon – 1
Gabon – 1
Guinea – 1
Albania – 1
Alderney – 1
Guernsey – countless
Jersey – countless
Sark – 1
Lihou – 1
Herm – 1
Sao Tome E Principe – 1
Nepal – 1
Pakistan – 1
Gagauzia – 1
Sierra Leone – 1
Guinea-Bissau – 1
Turks And Caicos – 1
Curacao – 1
Haiti – 1
Jamaica – 1
Cuba – 1
Bahamas – 1
Guadeloupe – 1
Saint Martin – 1
British Virgin Islands – 1
Dominica – 1
Saint Vincent And The Grenadines – 1
Seychelles – 1
Saint Lucia – 1
Grenada – 1
Azores – 1
Nepal – 1
Pakistan – 1

** If I counted ferry dockings while working on the ferries France would be around 70.

*** I have included the Channel Islands as I have been to 6 of them. But if I included every visit to Guernsey and Jersey, the results would bring Guernsey and Jersey into the top 10 and England to number 1. Crazy.

**** Extra countries/territories included in the Traveler’s Century Club list are Tasmania, two Antarctic territories and a few other islands. I haven’t included them on this.

Conclusion
This is a crap system to work out how well travelled you are, as my home country of Northern Ireland comes first, meaning I haven’t really travelled at all! If it’s any consolation, more than half of these visits to Northern Ireland were in the first 20 years of my life. In the last 6 years, I have registered just 5 visits.

Australia being far down on the list as well is a red herring, as although I have only been there on four separate visits, I actually lived there for about 18-20 months in total.

By the same token, Iran features in the bottom countries on the list as I have only been once, however I was there for 30 days on my only visit to the country.

It’s only a random travel game for fun, but I like it!

The Countries I Have Spent Most Time in During my Life are (in order):
1. Northern Ireland (24 years)
2. England (8 years)
3. Poland (8 years)
4. Hong Kong (3 years)
5. Australia (18 months)
6. China (1 year)
7. Kyrgyzstan (3 months)
8. Republic of Ireland (3 months – mostly in transit)
9. France (2 months)
10. Brazil (7 weeks)