Aaron posted a map of the states he's been to. I thought this was cool, but I've been to all fifty states (mostly in the back of a station wagon as we were growing up). However, the site also can generate maps of the countries you've been to.

I hadn't actually ever calculated how many countries I've been to. I've visited nineteen countries, as it turns out, all but eight exclusively for work. I expect to add New Zealand and India to the list this year and maybe Italy, again, all for work.

The number is actually less than I thought. I'm pretty sure many of my friends have been to far more countries. I've missed all of South America, the Middle East, and Africa plus huge swaths of Europe and the Pacific. Anyone have a conference you need me to attend in Fiji?

(As a side note, this project highlights the challenges of defining what a country is. Should Taiwan appear separately from China? How do you treat dependent territories? And then there is the problem of disputed borders. Kashmir anyone? I sometimes miss the days from Bookshelf and Encarta when our team dealt with stuff like this. Mostly not though...)

create your own visited countries map