When have REALLY been to a country? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Canadian Dude** · 11-04-2004, 04:20 PM

So you took a train through Belgium with out stopping on your way to the Netherlands...does that mean you have been to Belgium?

What criteria do you use to detemain if you have REALLY been to a country...

Mine is if I have spent at least one night in the country and had a meal there then I can say I have REALLY been there...what do you use?

**pinion** · 11-04-2004, 04:23 PM

I think you can say you've visited a coutry if its it a day, just like what you said CD

I think it takes a couple to days to say you've expierenced it though. I can't really get a feel for a country unless I've been there for a bit

**space virgin** · 11-04-2004, 04:43 PM

Yeah, just because I've spent-- total-- about 12 hours at Schiphol Airport, I don't really count the Netherlands as a country I've visited. Even though I was only there one day, I *do* count Monaco, because I wandered all over the place and checked it out.

**omisan** · 11-04-2004, 05:26 PM

Yeah, I don't count a place unless I've left the airport/train station/whatever to check out some of the town, its people, and the unique smells that make it what it is.

Except Houston. I didn't need much more than the airport to say "been there, done that."

**skidrage** · 11-04-2004, 07:37 PM

I would say you need to spend the day or spend one night in a country to really feel like you have been there. Even then it can be kind of iffy. For example, I spent about 6 hours in Brussels on a stopover, but it does not feel like I was really in Belgium.

I have taken the train through a couple countries that I did not get off in, so I usually just tell people I passed through the country (thats a safe enough answer).

**simply_angelic** · 11-05-2004, 04:54 AM

I think it really just depends on what you've seen/experienced during the time that you were there. Like if you were there for only 6 hrs, but you somehow managed to have a meal, see a museum, a few sites, and possibly talked to some locals, then I would definitely consider you to have seen that country. But if you were there for six hours and spent all of them in the airport.....well then you didnt really see the country....you saw an airport

**my retro career** · 11-05-2004, 06:02 AM

Agreed agreed....

The criteria should be that one must at least leave the airport/train station and wander into the streets, soak up some local atmosphere, to be included as a place you've been to.

Some people determine it by a certain minimum time spent but i think that's a little too objective. After all, one can spend 1 year living aborad at a place and still not be able to fully grasp the essense of that country, so to limit oneself by certain hours/days/nights I think is unnecessary.

**kingcrazylegs** · 11-05-2004, 07:30 AM

Yea, I think you just have to get out and about to have visited a place...I always like to try and "live" in a place. How long do you have to have stayed somewhere to have lived there?

**bellelass** · 11-05-2004, 09:57 AM

Yeah, omi, from someone who is based out of houston, your impressions from the airport pretty much apply to the city as a whole....

bahrainrocks · 11-10-2004, 05:18 PM

I think you actually have to have an experiene in the country to count it. I've been to Crete and Italy, but it was only to sit at the airport while the plane got refueled. It was very tempting to not board the plane and stay in Naples for awhile, but since I was on my way home and out of the Navy, I decided against it. Oh well, there is always next time!

**worldwidemike** · 11-11-2004, 07:52 AM

Interesting question, CD! I agree that you have to leave the airport/bus station for it to "count." I joke that when I get to 99 countries, I will suddently back count Japan. On a stopover in Tokyo airport on my way to Korea, I got off the plane, wandered outside the terminal, looked up, and saw Mt. Fuji.

I don't count Japan as one of my countries, but tell everyone I will when I get to 99...!

worldwidemike

**mermaidnz** · 11-11-2004, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingcrazylegs@Nov 5 2004, 03:30 PM
Yea, I think you just have to get out and about to have visited a place...I always like to try and "live" in a place.* How long do you have to have stayed somewhere to have lived there?

omg i was thinking the same thing yesterday!! how do you detarmine if you LIVED in a country?? i used to think maybe if you rent your own place, and have a job. but ive only been in japan for 2 months, i dont know if i can go around telling people i "lived" here. i mean geez its only 2 months?!

would there be a time frame too?

**space virgin** · 11-11-2004, 01:37 PM

I would definitely count 2 months as having "lived" in a country-- especially since you've been working there, right?

**joanofarc** · 11-11-2004, 02:44 PM

until i've been to more than 5 cities in a given country - i only claim which cities i've visited...

like when i went to europe last year, telling people about it, i'd say-
i've been to amsterdam, munich, berlin and a small town in the black forest - rather than:
i've been to germany and holland.

it takes time and A LOT of exploration to have truly "been" to a country, IMHO.

bahrainrocks · 11-11-2004, 09:07 PM

Maybe the definition of "lived" in another country is when you have to start paying taxes to that country or when bill collectors from that country are after you.

**zylah** · 11-12-2004, 02:07 AM

joan, according to your defenition i haven't lived in australia yet.

oh well im leaving in a few months. 27 years is enough time to "visit" a country.

**beergal** · 11-12-2004, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Maybe the definition of \"lived\" in another country is when you have to start paying taxes to that country or when bill collectors from that country are after you.

Nope i can def say i have lived in Hungary cos i been all over the place and i dont pay taxes....benefits of being a student

**Wyzfen** · 11-13-2004, 02:55 AM

It occurs to me that you've 'visited' a country once you've had sex there.

Wyzfen

**mermaidnz** · 11-14-2004, 01:10 AM

ha i havent "lived" anywhere by joan standards!!

18 years in new zealand, and ive only been to auckland,whangerai, and hamilton. hah

and the year in aussie, sydney,melbourne and brisbane. that dont count either! lol

**Rozza** · 11-14-2004, 03:24 AM

a week for me, but even its only part of the country, lived in, hmmm i suppose thats when you have a perminant residence and a job...