Journey to 100 Countries

For those avid travelers seeking a new goal, I recently heard about Travelers Century Club. To become a member, a traveler has to travel to 100 “countries”.

While the world only has 191 countries, the Travelers Century Club has 321 countries as of July 2011.

The reason for the discrepancy is that the Travelers Century Club defines a country as a region “removed from the parent country, either geographically, politically or ethnogically.” This means that Alaska, Hawaii, and the Continental U.S. are all considered “countries.”

To assist travelers in reaching these goals, the shortest stay in a country,such as port-of-call or a plane stop, will count as a country.

I have been traveling internationally (excluding Canada) for the past 10 years and am up to 30 countries as defined by the Travelers Century Club.