[Off The Reservation]

There is a great race on now which many are not aware of, and that is to go "everywhere" on the earth.

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There is one awesome group where experienced travelers who have been to 100 countries can join, or 75 as an associate member: Travelers Century Club

TCC's rules and list differ from some other clubs. Their list is loosely based on "Countries" as in UN recognized countries but does include a very few distinct locations that "count" also. For example Puerto Rico which is not technically a different country counts as one point. Also the TCC rules allow a simple landing or plane change as having been there, as long as you have been on the ground.

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Another group is Most Traveled People. MTP is free to join and has distinct differences making it in my opinion the hardest test of who in fact are the most traveled people. Too many people have been to every country on earth to make it a useful measure. MTP uses "places" decided by its members. A place is a distinctive enough or important enough or geographically distinct or isolated to need to be visited to be counted. For example every US state, the UN headquarters, Dry Tortugas, are all "places" in the US. Every state in France is a place. Every state in Brazil is a place... El Salvador is just one place. You can see their list for more examples. The world is 875 parts according to this group. MTP has stricter rules. For a country you must pass immigration. You cannot count a fuel stop in an aircraft for example.

I have met one of the top travelers. Here is his personal site. He is one of the nicest human beings I have ever met and you can see from his site he is a big Ayn Rand fan and libertarian. In the last two years he has been between 1 and 4 on the list and all of the top 4 had over 50 "places" remaining. You can see the race is narrowing and someone may win.

MTP is my favorite personally. See also they track how many UN Heritage sites people have been to.

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If you know of another group like this or a RVF member who may be the most traveled here please share.

[Quaestum]

The TCC exists since the 1950s so the whole thing is not that new actually.

While the idea itself is certainly an inspiring and great one, I personally could never see myself doing this. Travelling to a lot of places throughout the world? Fuck yes, visiting every country/territory on Earth? No.

When I travel somewhere, I want to learn something about the place and the culture - but this is only possible by spending a certain amount of time there. I don't get people like Chris Guillebeau (author of "The $100 Startup"), he traveled to 193 countries before he reached age 35. Assuming he started when he was 20, he can only have spent ~28 days in each country, provided he never spent more time in another one, which of course he did. In Eritrea, he didn't even leave the airport. What's the point of having a bucket list of countries if you're only spending a few days in it anyway? Not my cup of tea.

There's also some places I don't need to visit in my life, be it extremely remote ones as the Pitcairn Islands, also costing a fortune to get to, or Luxembourg (if I happen to be close to it on my way to another place - fine, but just for the sake of going there? No thanks). Rather spend more time in an intriguing country you like and want to learn more about - my two cents.

[Off The Reservation]

One day in a new country is better than never visiting. While I also agree with you I still admire these top MTP guys this is a monumental achievement perhaps never done in the history of mankind. It certainly could not have been done before the airplane was invented.

[zatara]

(12-06-2015 05:25 PM)offthereservation Wrote:  

One day in a new country is better than never visiting. While I also agree with you I still admire these top MTP guys this is a monumental achievement perhaps never done in the history of mankind. It certainly could not have been done before the airplane was invented.

You'd be surprised. Before the rise of nationalism, and the consolidation of nation-states in the C19th, Europe was a patchwork of tiny countries. This is what the region that is now modern Germany looked like in 1789:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...789_EN.png

At any given point in the 18th century in the Holy Roman Empire alone there were 300 odd states. That doesn't even begin to account for the rest of Europe, or the wider world. Anyone who spent a life traveling; whether as a diplomat, soldier, mercenary, merchant or otherwise, could easily have visited hundreds of countries in a lifetime. Relatively easily visiting more than the total number of countries that exist and are visit-able in 2015 (196).

Personally, I agree completely with Quaestum. I've also never gotten the point in amassing numbers for the sake of numbers like that. Far better to have spent a week each in 50 different countries, than a day each in 150 different countries. Traveling is about the life experiences you accrue; not the passport stamps you get.

[glugger]

(12-06-2015 01:21 AM)Quaestum Wrote:  

There's also some places I don't need to visit in my life, be it extremely remote ones as the Pitcairn Islands, also costing a fortune to get to, or Luxembourg (if I happen to be close to it on my way to another place - fine, but just for the sake of going there? No thanks). Rather spend more time in an intriguing country you like and want to learn more about - my two cents.

If you're going through Western Europe, It's definitely worth it to check out Luxembourg City at least. It would take a day or two to travel through ( or longer depending on your travel style), but it was a city that I enjoyed visiting.

[Off The Reservation]

(12-07-2015 07:41 AM)glugger Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:21 AM)Quaestum Wrote:  

There's also some places I don't need to visit in my life, be it extremely remote ones as the Pitcairn Islands, also costing a fortune to get to, or Luxembourg (if I happen to be close to it on my way to another place - fine, but just for the sake of going there? No thanks). Rather spend more time in an intriguing country you like and want to learn more about - my two cents.

If you're going through Western Europe, It's definitely worth it to check out Luxembourg City at least. It would take a day or two to travel through ( or longer depending on your travel style), but it was a city that I enjoyed visiting.

Spent a weekend in Lux. Fun and interesting place, with a neat club zone full of girls visiting from Belgium if you are into that sort of thing...

[Off The Reservation]

Update on MTP
Top guy is down to 25 places remaining.

http://mosttraveledpeople.com

[Off The Reservation]

(11-12-2016 06:35 PM)Off The Reservation Wrote:  

Update on MTP
Top guy is down to 25 places remaining.

http://mosttraveledpeople.com

Now 23

[atlant]

Never got the point of this, just like has been said. I'd rather spend quality time in 10 countries than rush through 50. Not to mention skipping all the shitholes. Same philosophy for women actually.

It's easy to skip your way through hundreds of countries, but in my experience it's the guys who've invested serious time in another place who have the most interesting stories to tell.

[Sidney Crosby]

If I'm travelling I want to spend at least a week in the city unless I'm just in transit. Going to places just so you can say you've been there seems pretty autistic.

[Papi Rico]

@Sidney Crosby

Your travel criterion is fine. Mine is similar with some extra conditions. But why are you so concerned with what others are doing?

I also have financial and fitness goals. Let's say I want to make a mil and attain 12.5% body fat. Taking my standards, should I now label as autistic anyone who wishes to be worth over a mil or have sub 12.5% BF? Why do they want all that surplus cash? Why do they want to be so ripped? Guess what, I don't have the answers, because I'm only focused on myself.

The moment your self-development goal ceases being a purely internal struggle, is the moment you should reexamine and revise it.

Sure, I can become a millionaire by facilitating corrupt payments. Sure, I can visit every country in the world by stepping across borders (as @Atlant suggests). But those actions are inconsistent with why I set my goals in the first place.

Travel-wise I'm at 100+ UN members, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I'm convinced that there are too many rewarding experiences out there.

[Off The Reservation]

(03-06-2018 09:55 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

@Sidney Crosby

Your travel criterion is fine. Mine is similar with some extra conditions. But why are you so concerned with what others are doing?

I also have financial and fitness goals. Let's say I want to make a mil and attain 12.5% body fat. Taking my standards, should I now label as autistic anyone who wishes to be worth over a mil or have sub 12.5% BF? Why do they want all that surplus cash? Why do they want to be so ripped? Guess what, I don't have the answers, because I'm only focused on myself.

The moment your self-development goal ceases being a purely internal struggle, is the moment you should reexamine and revise it.

Sure, I can become a millionaire by facilitating corrupt payments. Sure, I can visit every country in the world by stepping across borders (as @Atlant suggests). But those actions are inconsistent with why I set my goals in the first place.

Travel-wise I'm at 100+ UN members, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I'm convinced that there are too many rewarding experiences out there.

Excellent reply. I have found that "criticisms" of travelers who visit many places are always done by those who haven't been to those or to many places. It's just envy when it boils down.

I had two conferences in Dubai last year with 3 days free in between. I bought a ticket to Oman. I saw the Sultan's place from the outside, walked and sat at the marvelous corniche, heard an organ recital at the Muscat Opera house, talked to people, shopped for sandals, ate street food, explored Al Qurum, walked on the beach, and strolled the muttrah.

Now I was only there for a couple of days. But I have been there, and you critics haven't. I have seen it with my own eyes while you critics decry that that is somehow not the real intense or deep travel that you (in your imagination) would do.

Yes I have the stamp, and no, you don't. So your dismissal of this is pointless because you confuse fact with value.

What a great line, Papi. Rewarding experiences. Oman which was a quick visit was a truly rewarding experience - which I am happy to share with fellow travelers whose minds are open to see and know the world. I don't wish I skipped it because I didn't have a week minimum.

Both Atlat and SC have arbitrary criteria "quality 10 vs rush 50" or "at least a week" which - if that works for you great! But don't come here to piss on the achievements of great men who have seen the world and have had experiences you are not sitting in a place to judge.

You both should update your travel count on the usercp page btw.

[Sidney Crosby]

So there is value to travelling in a place like Johnston Atoll? A small 1 square mile island in the middle of nowhere, it is on those peoples lists.....

I'm not jealous at all.

OTR - It's cool that you were able to visit Oman, but would you go to Johnston Atoll so you could check it off a list?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll

[Shimmy]

There are millions of people on the planet who do not even leave their own country, while they might miss out on stuff from visiting a country for a few days they are seeing more of the world than 99.9% of people and I admire them for that. Most people on this forum go to countries for 1 month plus and see less than some people who go to countries for 2 or 3 days because they just go out and get drunk and bang chicks. Nothing wrong with that at all, different people have different preferences/goals.

[Papi Rico]

(03-06-2018 12:45 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

So there is value to travelling in a place like Johnston Atoll?

Here's my take:

Yes, there's value to the extent I've told myself I would do it. That then forces me to take action and prove to myself that I'm physically capable of visiting this obscure place.

Again, look around you. There are all kinds of pursuits. Is there value in collecting notches? video games? Instagram followers? To me, no; to another, that may be his life purpose.

In any event, I think Johnston Atoll would make for a great trip. 99% of the world's population may have no interest in visiting JA and I accept that.

How would you get there? How would you acquire an entry visa? Where would you stay? How would you go about photographing the PGM-17 Thor missile? Planning and then executing such a trip sounds a lot more interesting to me than buying a tour to Barcelona so you can go see some sights someone else told you to see.

Where do you draw the line - better yet, is it your line to draw?

[Pointer]

I think travelling should be more about building long lasting memories rather than filling up a checklist. Everybody nowadays seems to be travelling for the sole purpose of attention whoring. They're on the phone 24/7 taking pictures of everything. They don't interact with anybody, too shy to even ask a stranger or a fellow traveler for a picture. Their travel companion is a phone at the end of a selfie stick. Did your dog take a shit next to the Eiffel tower ? Post it on Facebook, show the world what you had for breakfast this morning, pretend you're not a sad anti-social snowflake by posing next to the fucking statues.
The worst I've seen are the Chinese groups. They're like cattle, dropped off next to some attraction, pushing everybody around in their quest for that "amazing" picture taken with an ipad, then pushed back into the bus and onward to the next destination. By the time you wake up from your hangover, they're on the plane back home.

[Papi Rico]

(03-06-2018 08:02 PM)Pointer Wrote:  

I think travelling should be more about building long lasting memories rather than filling up a checklist.

Why should these two be mutually exclusive, or even somehow opposed?

The first is the end (the memories), the second can be the means to that end (composing/completing a roadmap or checklist).

Deciding that every country/territory is fair game is the ultimate commitment to creating long-lasting memories through travel.

Alas, we live in an age of SJW-financed travel blogs, social media whoring, and scratch-off maps. So I can see why you and many others are quick to discount "checklist travel" as an end in itself. But dig deep into some of the profiles of the MTP personalities, and you'll find that many are admirable, likely red-pilled dudes way ahead of the curve. Many started tracking their travels long before social media or even cell phones.

Barring extreme thrill-seeking, I do think that ego/desire for bragging rights kicks in after about 150+ countries. What else would drive a rational man to voluntarily visit Mogadishu or Kabul? Though with sufficient planning and private security, you could make these destinations safer than a night out in Colombia with Linux & Scotian

[Off The Reservation]

(03-06-2018 12:45 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

So there is value to travelling in a place like Johnston Atoll? A small 1 square mile island in the middle of nowhere, it is on those peoples lists.....

I'm not jealous at all.

OTR - It's cool that you were able to visit Oman, but would you go to Johnston Atoll so you could check it off a list?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll

Yes I would go. No not for a list, I would just go because I haven't been and maybe there is something there I can learn or that would be of interest.

I have a lot of respect for the top TCC and MTP travelers, and I think they are noteworthy and worth attention. Personally I won't be going for any MTP records - its an accident of my work and interest in travel that I am in the top 100 for my age group and I have no intention in competing. For TCC I may be able to join later this year or next, as I am now at 80 on their list and have quite a bit of upcoming oddball travel. "Joining" TCC - and doing so in my 40s - will be "enough" for me. I will continue to travel and my volume will increase in a "form follows function" manner, meaning I have some need or desire to go there beyond checkmarks.

Now to be fair, if I am near a place and have an opportunity, I WILL NOT PASS IT UP. It is the same as that hot girl you have a choice to speak to or not. Don't live life with regrets.

Again, I suggest that the "quality" travelers here and the detractors update your lists on RVF, it shows many of you have only been two places.

(03-06-2018 08:02 PM)Pointer Wrote:  

I think travelling should be more about building long lasting memories rather than filling up a checklist. Everybody nowadays seems to be travelling for the sole purpose of attention whoring. They're on the phone 24/7 taking pictures of everything. They don't interact with anybody, too shy to even ask a stranger or a fellow traveler for a picture. Their travel companion is a phone at the end of a selfie stick. Did your dog take a shit next to the Eiffel tower ? Post it on Facebook, show the world what you had for breakfast this morning, pretend you're not a sad anti-social snowflake by posing next to the fucking statues.
The worst I've seen are the Chinese groups. They're like cattle, dropped off next to some attraction, pushing everybody around in their quest for that "amazing" picture taken with an ipad, then pushed back into the bus and onward to the next destination. By the time you wake up from your hangover, they're on the plane back home.

The more those Chinese travel for selfies, the more someone like me has multi thousand euro lunches in places they could never find - so pls let them be.

[Seadog]

(03-06-2018 09:55 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

@Sidney Crosby

Your travel criterion is fine. Mine is similar with some extra conditions. But why are you so concerned with what others are doing?

I also have financial and fitness goals. Let's say I want to make a mil and attain 12.5% body fat. Taking my standards, should I now label as autistic anyone who wishes to be worth over a mil or have sub 12.5% BF? Why do they want all that surplus cash? Why do they want to be so ripped?

Being ripped makes you more attractive and healthier. having money opens up options, provides security, and means you don't have to work.

These are all fine pursuits. However making it akin to that sort of "check list travelling" would be like being obese, getting a stomach staple, hitting your 12.5% for a day, then getting rid of it and binging back up to 30% bf, or maybe putting your and several friends home up as collateral so that you can borrow a million dollars cash from the bank, snap a few pics, then return it. Then posting the requisite "ripped millionaire" pic to facebook.

What's the point of all that effort and work for the mere fleeting state of having been there for one instant? You were never healthily and sustainability in shape or rich despite having the markers of it.

I travelled with a friend once to Paris. He was doing a post-university backpacking trip. I'd already been there, but his whole thing was basically park on the outskirts, take a train in, see the Eiffel Tower, a handful of other prominent sites, spend a grand total of 5 hours there literally running between sites to spend 10 minutes at each.

Supposedly he was there to see Paris, but the whole point of his endeavor was to spend as little time in Paris as humanly possible.

That sounds pretty autistic to me, moreso now with 10 years of hindsight.

It's almost like the causality is backwards. A great traveller has been to 100 countries. So OK, if I step across 100 borders for 5 minutes each, I'll be a great traveller.

That's the key difference and why it's so autistic. Do these people actually like travelling, or care about health and wealth, or just the attention whoring for the status attached to the label of being whatever?

[_Cicero]

Interesting discussion.

I like the lists, and count both countries and flags. I agree with the substance of what the doubters are saying -- I long ago decided it wouldn't be a central life goal of mine to visit every country in the world, for precisely the reason that this would likely mean spending superficial time in a country, and neglecting interesting regions of countries b/c I'd already been. I wouldn't bang a 5 to pick up a new flag, at least not sober, and I wouldn't just go to a country for 2 hours to say I've been there. Lastly, I have other life goals besides travel and game, and getting flags and countries conflicts with those goals.

But!, -- Any guy who's visited 100 countries and has 50 flags would probably be someone worth hanging out with. Some of those countries they might have just spent a day or two in, and sure, they might have run up 20 of those flags living in London or NYC, but more likely than not, that's going to be someone worth talking to, and worth being friends with. Probably just a handful of men on earth can lay claim to that -- such as Naughty Nomad. The 50/25 club is also impressive -- something probably not more than one in 10,000 men achieve.

Someone should start a 100/50 (100 countries, 50 flags) and a 50/25 club.

Back in the day there was a flag tracker website, but someone shut it down.

The other metric I proposed which never caught on was # of total flags vs. flags captured "In country". A flag captured in NYC is still a flag, but banging a Turkish girl in NYC is not nearly as cool as laying siege to Istanbul yourself. Thus, we'd really need the 100/75/50 club (countries/flags/flags in country). You could add a 4th stat, notches, to make it a 250/100/75/50 club.

[glugger]

(03-06-2018 12:15 AM)Off The Reservation Wrote:  

(11-12-2016 06:35 PM)Off The Reservation Wrote:  

Update on MTP
Top guy is down to 25 places remaining.

http://mosttraveledpeople.com

Now 23

Of the last 23, only one has a local population besides scientists and soldiers.

I don't think anyone is going to get much more than that.

[Off The Reservation]

(03-11-2018 02:08 PM)glugger Wrote:  

(03-06-2018 12:15 AM)Off The Reservation Wrote:  

(11-12-2016 06:35 PM)Off The Reservation Wrote:  

Update on MTP
Top guy is down to 25 places remaining.

http://mosttraveledpeople.com

Now 23

Of the last 23, only one has a local population besides scientists and soldiers.

I don't think anyone is going to get much more than that.

At this point he needs to buy his own research vessel and crew it and just go...

[Off The Reservation]

MTP new site

https://mtp.travel

[Tikimalore]

wrong thread

[Australia Sucks]

In my opinion travel is something you should do for enjoyment. Its not an achievement as such. If you enjoy spending 6 moths per country in 20 different countries, great. If you travel to 150 countries because you enjoy it fine. If you travel to 150 countries primarily for the purpose of bragging rights that is a little silly. If people want to travel a lot that is fine, but other people celebrating it as if they have achieved something meaningful is a bit unnecessary.