Countries I’ve Visited: My World Travel Map & Checklist
I’ve visited over 55 countries across six continents, documenting real travel experiences, stories, and photography along the way.
This page is my complete travel map — a living record of where I’ve been, organized by region.
It also serves as a gateway into detailed destination guides, travel stories, and photography from each place.
Rather than just counting countries, Visit50 is about using travel as a way to explore new cultures, challenge perspectives, and create meaningful experiences around the world.
You can explore each region below to dive deeper into individual destinations.
The Visit50 Travel Challenge is to visit 50 countries by age 50. I created this page to track my journey and share the rules of this travel game. If you are working on your own bucket-list goals, here is exactly how my map breaks down across the globe.
The Visit50 Global Map by Region
Currently, my global journey stands at 55 unique countries and 31 US States. There’s still so much more to explore!
Country totals
I’ve broken it down by region, and will add links as I post those sections of this Visit50 travel blog.
With my Iceland trip, I’ve now visited 50+ countries! After visiting Uzbekistan, I’ve visited 55 countries so far. More country visits to come! See below for details.
Total countries visited = 55 (plus Hong Kong, Macau, Puerto Rico)
Countries visited, by region:
- Asia [12]: Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Japan, China including HK & Macau), Taiwan
- Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia travel experiences, guides, and stories. I also have posts on South Korea from my friend’s experience.
- Central Asia [1]: Uzbekistan
- Middle East [2]: Jordan, Bahrain
- Cultural, historical, and desert travel experiences across the region.
- Europe [21]: Monaco, Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia , Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Denmark, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, France.
- City travel, cultural history, and scenic destinations across Europe.
- North America (mainland) [3]: USA, Canada, Mexico
- From national parks to islands and cultural travel across the Americas.
- Caribbean [7]: Antigua & Barbuda, British Virgin Islands/Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica
- Central America [6]: Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala,
- South America [2]: Colombia, Peru
- Oceania [1]: Australia
- Africa: none…yet!
I’m still adding posts for each – so much more to share!
My most recent new countries visited include Uzbekistan, Monaco, Antigua, and Italy. My most recent new states visited were Arizona and Hawaii.
Explore Destinations
Featured Travel Stories
- Iceland snorkeling between tectonic plates
- Angkor Wat exploration
- Borneo wildlife encounters like orangutans, elephants,
- Whale Shark snorkeling
What Counts as a Country?
Travel counting can vary depending on definitions of countries and territories. On Visit50, I use a consistent framework to track countries visited while acknowledging that definitions can differ globally. When you ask people how many countries there are in the world, the debate starts immediately. It’s so debatable that I’ve written a whole post on this! For more on what counts as a country for the Visit 50 travel challenge.
Countries only count once!
I visited Thailand and Hong Kong again in 2026, and Costa Rica and France again in recent years. I had already visited all of those previously, so these do not add to the total.
Territories don’t count as countries.
I loved Puerto Rico but they’re part of the United States. It counts as the same country because it’s the same country.
Some country count lists are political
* Taiwan is a separate country from mainland China for this list. This has certainly raised some debate amongst followers of this blog, (primarily with my friends that live in mainland China) and I welcome you to continue it in the comments. I understand that not everyone may agree on this.
I’ve counted Hong Kong and Macau as part of China. Many travelers count them separately, since they have drastically different laws, immigration policies, and their own land, so I’ve always been torn on counting HK and Macau as countries. They’re technically and legally part of China, so I’ve included them as one country in my count. Do you agree?
How many countries are there?
There’s roughly 200 countries in the world. This comes from the 193 UN member countries in the world, and 2 “UN observers” (the Vatican and Palestine). There are 3 additional countries that are recognized by a fair number of the 195 above (Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara), so let’s include them as well.
Total US States visited = 31
(plus Wash DC and Puerto Rico, both of which should be US states)
Total states = 31
Most recent new state: Montana and Hawaii – loved!
States Visited:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Wyoming
19 US States not Visited yet:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
US States Notes:
- While I’ve been to Washington DC, it’s not a state and was not counted in the total. It has a higher population than Vermont and Wyoming so I’d argue they should change that.
- Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and thus is currently neither a state nor a country for this game. It has a higher population than 21 US States (not a typo – see full list here), and I’d argue we should change this, but that’s a very political debate.
- I’ve also been to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands too. Loved!
How many countries and US States have you visited? Where’s next for you?