Questions: Travel

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?

I've always sort of felt this way, but now I feel that a lot of states really aren't that interesting. Maybe if I didn't have a passport or I had an infinite amount of money or someone else paid for it, I would do it. It's still not off the table, but the older you get the more you start to realize how precious money and time is, and you stop focusing so much on "collecting places" and start focusing more on seeing the places that are truly worth seeing. I've already been to all the Western and Gulf states, as well as Georgia, New York, Nebraska and the Dakotas, and there are only a few other states in the U. S. that really interest me. I'd rather use my money to see more places abroad.

Europeans can answer this question for Europe, or I guess it can apply in a more broad sense too.

I never intended to visit every country on earth, but I wanted to at least visit every country in Europe and the Americas, as well as every US state and territory and every province and territory in Canada.

But now there are places in these regions that no longer really interest me or appeal to me. Maybe if I saw all my bucketlist places first