u/itiszd

QUICK ASIDE: this is not about whether it matters to count countries.

I’ve realised people have wildly different definitions of what counts as “visiting” a country, so let’s settle this and come up with the ultimate criteria list.

Some people count anywhere they’ve physically stepped foot or even just driven through without getting out of a car for a couple of hours. Others only count places they’ve properly travelled through or experienced and/or may have a specific number of hours or days they must have stayed there for.

For example:
- Airport layover?
- Leaving the airport for a few hours?
- Border crossing?
- Cruise stop?
- Driving through?
- One night stay?
- Visiting one region/state of a huge country?

In a few days I’ll add an EDIT based on what the general consensus looks like it’s swaying towards, but to start, this is my own current criteria.

You must have actually left the airport, port, station, cruise terminal, coach/train, or immediate point of entry…

AND at least ONE of these applies:

- You intentionally chose to spend time in the country, even if it was during transit, rather than simply being forced through it by travel logistics
- You engaged with the place in some way through food, culture, people, transport, or exploration
- You can point to a specific place, experience, or memory from being there
- You came away with some actual impression or feeling of the country
- You did something there beyond simply arriving and leaving

So for me, driving straight through Luxembourg without stopping wouldn’t count, but choosing a long layover to go intentionally explore Budapest for 10 hours would count for Hungary.

But the whole thing still feels weirdly subjective.

What’s everyone else’s criteria? Let’s go.

So I've been solo travelling around Tasmania and had one of the strangest travel experiences I’ve ever had in Queenstown.

I checked into the Empire Hotel in Queenstown planning to stay the night after driving from Strahan. The weather was awful, low cloud, drizzle, dark, barely anyone around. The off-season and I think I was the only tourist. But there was just something about the atmosphere of the town that got to me almost immediately.

Nothing happened. Nobody was unfriendly. I wasn’t unsafe. But within about two hours I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to leave right away. There was something telling me that I COULD NOT stay the night.

I packed my stuff back into the car and drove the 4 hours all the way back to Hobart in the dark. I didn't stop once and kept one eye on the rearview mirror. The Lyell Highway was equally unsettling.

It’s hard to explain properly. The whole place just felt incredibly heavy. There was a weight. An intensity. The energy.

I’ve travelled a lot, including some pretty remote parts of the world, and I’ve never had a town affect me like that before. I've never felt the urge to leave somewhere I've booked.

Am I imagining this or do other Tasmanians/Australians know exactly what I mean about Queenstown?

Also, before anyone says it, it’s not that I’m uncomfortable with small towns or remote places. I live in a pretty small remote town myself in North America and have spent a lot of time in isolated areas. I'm also NOT at all superstitious.

EDIT: this is my first Reddit post and I’m surprised it’s received such attention. Just to clarify, I live in a remote isolated misty non-touristy mountain town in the moody Pacific Northwest, not a city dweller as some have assumed here. It wasn’t simply the weather and atmosphere. It was a feeling.