The age old question that has perplexed travelers for decades. If you didn't leave the airport, have you actually been to the place?

[KostasKouvalis]

Singapore's airport has a botanical gardens inside the terminal

One of my professors and her son had this talk, and me and my mom had this talk as a kid. Both parties decided that it counts, because you're still technically within the boundaries of the country.

The people who say "NO", especially for foreign country argue that it shouldn't count, because you never officially entered the country. Sort of like soldiers who were sent to the US base in Kyrgyzstan, but weren't allowed to leave the base. Though unlike the base, the airport is technically territory of the country. One girl argued she doesn't count it, because she didn't "experience anything". Surely interacting with airport staff or buying something counts as "experiencing something"😂

One guy said he counts it if it's a country he has no intention of visiting properly😂

This is where loopholes come in, because in Korea, I didn't clear customs or leave the airport, but they had cultural activities. In Germany I set foot on the tarmac, so my uncle counted it for me.😂 In NY and NJ, I didn't leave the airport, but I saw the skylines of the cities. So at one point I left NY and NJ on, but I took off some other states since I didn't really see anything, but then put them back to stay consistent.😂

I also filled in South Korea, Ontario and Germany on my map, briefly took them off, but then put them back, because Europe especially looked weird with neighboring countries being filled in, but Germany being blank😂 At one point I just gave transiting countries a special color.

Then there's the UK, where we were shuttled between airports, so I think at least this one counts😂

I've since managed to visit GA, NY and ON properly, so my map is mostly accurate, but I feel like I'm lying a little bit by having places where I didn't leave the airport😂

I even try to avoid transiting through certain places, unless I've had a chance to visit them properly😂

So, does it count?

It always counts

It never counts

It counts under certain circumstances (ellaborate)

[AviatorTom]

It counts... sometimes...

If you got off the arriving plane, and spent some time in the terminal, before boarding the departing plane, it's acceptable to count that as being in the country. It's further reinforced as being okay if you buy something in the terminal that involves the local currency; many places, for example, will accept US dollars or Euros, and give you change in the local currency. If you stayed on the plane, it doesn't count. Bringing home Korean Won, for example, would typically convince people you were in South Korea, even if you never left the Kimpo Airport.

The Schengen area of Europe further complicates this, because you don't have to clear customs and immigration if you're arriving from another Schengen country. Whether you stay at the airport or leave it, you don't get your passport stamped as proof you were in the country, so it makes sense to say that being in the airport counts as being in teh country.

[KostasKouvalis]

Someone said it doesn't count unless you take a piss😂

For the Schengen thing though, it doesn't matter if you didn't get a stamp, you were still in the country. There are places in other parts of the world where you can walk across the border in the mountains or go to a market with no passport control. And Canada doesn't stamp passports for Americans. And Macedonia and Greece didn't stamp my passport. I know some people like to get the stamp to make it feel more "official".
But that's why the comment about "officially entering the country" was kind of stupid. Airport aside, if you step foot even for a few seconds, I think it technically still counts, though if someone asked me to list the countries I've been to, I probably wouldn't list it.

But in the Polish mountains for instance, the trails run right on the border of Poland and Slovakia and Poland and the Czech Republic, and there's border markers. Czech was just forest, but Slovakia you could actually see into the country, so I would count it. But I ended up going deeper into Czech and Slovakia anyways.
My only other one that's really debatable is Hungary, 'cuz we passed through it at night, even though I did get off the bus and almost got hit by a car even. 😂 So I think that definitely counts.

Anyways, I went back to all my maps and took off the places where I didn't leave the airport😂

[KostasKouvalis]

A few years ago there was a Norwegian guy who was trying to visit 5 continents in 24 hours and French customs got annoyed with him because he wanted the guy to stamp his passport and the French guy said he won't stamp it, because he's a Schengen citizen 😂

[AviatorTom]

@KostasKouvalis That's a fair thing to do. There are few places I've been where I've only been at the airport, and I count them. For example, I spent 10 hours between flights, including spending the night sleeping in a rented room at the Changi Airport in Singapore, so I count being in Singapore, even tough I didn't leave the airport.

[KostasKouvalis]

Yeah, that's one of the loopholes. Did you go through customs?

[AviatorTom]

@KostasKouvalis Nope. Everything was on the secure side of the airport.

[AviatorTom]

@KostasKouvalis How about this as a determiner? If you contributed to the local economy, say by buying something at the airport, then it counts.

[AviatorTom]

@KostasKouvalis He should have stopped in Switzerland, which is not a Schengen country.

[KostasKouvalis]

Paris probably had better connections. He did Paris, Casablanca, Santo Domingo and Caracas, not necessarily in that order. I forgot which one he did for Asia. I think Istanbul, 'cuz said he could've just walked across the bridge to Europe, but that would've been too easy!

The customs officials probably thought he was insane and I'm surprised he didn't get suspected for smuggling. The best part was when he said in Santo Domingo he almost missed his flight to Caracas, because it left EARLY

[AviatorTom]

@KostasKouvalis FYI, both major Istanbul airports are in Europe. I flew in and out of Istanbul last year. If he's claiming Istanbul for Asia, he's got to redo his 5-continent challenge.

[KostasKouvalis]

I thought there was one on the Asian side.
Yeah, there IS. Sabiha Gökçen International Airport

[Lynx122]

It doesn't count to me because it's about experiences and you can't experience much inside an airport. I was in Doha and they have a beautiful airport for the world cup. On my way back from india my flight go delayed so I actually spent a day in Doha and I got to experience it but I wouldn't have known what it was like just based off the airport. If you have to rely on using airports to say you've been to a lot of places it probably means you should just travel more for real and actually see those places. That's what I think :)

[KostasKouvalis]

I had to cut it out of my post because it was too long, but originally I had written that, "when I was a kid, my list of places visited was very small, so I would take whatever I could get. But now I feel I've reached the point, where this is no longer necessary."

I guess it's kind of force of habit/OCD. On one hand, I don't think I'm wrong when I say I was technically within the boundaries of the country. But at the same time, I do think it's sort of lying since you didn't leave the airport. Even if you only spent the night at the hotel it's debatable and one of my teachers didn't even count it unless he spent at least a week. LOL
One guy only traveled between two airports in Korea, like I did in the UK and was debating whether it should count. Or even if you just drive through. Or that building in North Korea.
Even just crossing a few feet across a border can still count, but I do think you're right that only transiting through an airport, shouldn't count. I might edit my maps. :p

[alice55]

i think it count I mean is it a bit like just going to the city next to the frontiere... You may be in the country but is it highly touristic and everyone speak French (like on French border every city in Germany / Spain / Italy speak full French and there's only French people with shop with same prices as France even though we're technically in Spain / Germany / Italy...

Is it weird to consider going to the city border as counting but not the airport while truly the experience is highly similar.

[KostasKouvalis]

Border areas do indeed feel strange. I already changed my maps, but if YOU say it counts, then it COUNTS, so I'm gonna change them back😂

[alice55]

Borders area are extremely big though especially in Spain they got so many tourist that even if you drive near 1 hours you'll still be in a very touristic area where there's more French people than locals, everywhere there's tourist and the worker all speak French and English so in this logic we can also consider the city as not counting because in France for example all touristic city / village got ways more tourist than locals (which local sometime complain about because it raise their house price / restaurant price, etc..) nothing is authentic anymore expect the non touristic place lost and in the big city there's also tons of foreign worker, foreigner migrant, etc... So I do not think we can judge if an area is real enough or not to count, I consider everything as counting because imagine you go to a village where there's only 100 people and in summer there's gonna be 10 000 tourist living in the village... so with the logic of not considering the airpots as counting I don't think you could consider those village as counting either as there's highly touristic
There's also many city in the Basque and Corsican region that have ways more foreigner than locals, the foreigner buy like 80 % of the house and only live there during the summer and the locals only own 20 % of the house. It's not always in those extrem case but it happen often near the sea / Ocean locations and popular area. The house price is so big locals cannot buy house anymore and only tourism work is there, sometime locals live in garage because they don' have enough money or they get expelled from their locations during the summer months.

[KostasKouvalis]

It's still within the boundary of a specific country though

I know. It's becoming a problem.

There's a section of Spain called Llivia, that's completely surrounded by France. I was so close to it, and I was annoyed that our guide didn't take us there.

[alice55]

in France there's people that consider that you did not visit the country if you only went to touristic area because those are not "true" enough and have been "washed" from their authenticity so you can literally find any opinion.
I didn't know about this this is really interesting

[KostasKouvalis]

AH! I see what you're saying. That's how I feel about people who go to the Caribbean by cruise, or don't leave the beach/resort. Technically they were there, but they didn't experience the true culture/life.

French people seem like they know how to travel XD

Really, I told you about it before.

[alice55]

After if you od not speak the language you can't really experiment the true culture / life either, you can't even experiment it if you only go 2 weeks either because people act so different between tourist and foreigner who come to live during 5 or 10 years.

surprising considering most never leave the country XD

Guess I forgot then, we have so many long conversation in such shorts time I guess I just forgot about it O-O

[KostasKouvalis]

That's true unfortunately. Sometimes I'd love to connect with people, but it's difficult if there's a language barrier.
Exactly! Visiting for vacation is different then living there or doing business there.

I'm talking about the ones that you. XD I've seen French travel documentaries, and they seem to focus more on the people and culture, then the sites.

It's okay. We talk so much, I often forget some of the stuff we talk about too. I started saving some of the ones that were special to me. And occasionally, I'll stumble onto some of our old conversations. :)

Hang on, my dinner's ready. I'll be back :)

[alice55]

It's pretty impossible to do so and especially if you don't stay long
yes it's nothing alike, some people absolutely love "poor" countries and Japan but they would go crazy if they had to live and work there full time
Cultue is ways too different, there's a French guys called Togen who speak about it on youtube he say how he feel he cannot be friends with anybody in Korea because people are just used to "small talk friendship" nothing deep, how the work culture is crazy and the food not to his taste. He's kinda biased cause he really dislike korea but is it interesting to hear his point of view and how before he liked Korea the first fews years but now come to completely dislike it.

He want to leave and move back in France or somewhere else but is it hard to do so after speeding so many years there.

They definitely do, they never speak about the site that's true, I never really noticed it because i'm so used to it but i'm the same when I go in another city I'm not so focused on going to sites I like watching them from afar but I mostly talk to people in the street XD
It made me think of the emission "j'irais dormir chez vous" he's totally focusing on the people and not the site and same on YouTube with French people going oversee they talk about people but never the site.

I do so the same, I saved some conversation of ours that i really found great, it's good to see you do the same :)

ok what are you eating?

[KostasKouvalis]

That's honestly very true. I also find it funny how the same people who were offended by Trump's "shithole countries" comments or who support migrants and call people "racist" for saying White countries are better, would never move to those countries themselves or take their families there on vacation.

Damn!

I found some islands yesterday I didn't know were part of Taiwan and South Korea, after I changed back my maps yesterday and you got me curious about South Korea, and I might actually watch some stuff on South Korea tonight. I have a book on it too

Yeah, I heard Europeans don't care much about sites, because they have that in their own countries. I like both honestly, but if there is a crowd or lines it completely ruins it. I didn't go into any of the famous sites in Rome because I didn't wanna stand in line. That's why I liked Turkey during COVID. The place felt like it was just being discovered.

I watch Échappées belles, but it doesn't have subtitles. But usually I don't watch the whole episode because they mostly show people. But the French Guiana one had me very interested, maybe because I barely knew about the place. And I think Oman is the only other one I watched all the way through, and Rwanda and Algeria also weren't bad, but I didn't watch the whole episodes.

OMG! Are you serious? That really is saying a lot! I'm curious which ones you saved now. ^^

I had chicken, fries and onion rings.

I keep forgetting to ask you if you'd like to play a game app with me on your phone. I've done it with people before.

[Dinklex3]

No, it doesn’t count. Leave the nest of the airport, even if it’s just for half a day. Then it counts.

[KostasKouvalis]

I'm guessing "nest" means the airport grounds

[Drewtate]

If you fly over the country but don't land you also have technically been there.

[KostasKouvalis]

I've had that discussion too. What are you saying?

[Drewtate]

I'm saying you are technically there.

[thearchjoker]

its always no as simple as that

[KostasKouvalis]

So Option B?

[Pohjolan]

Only barely.