This is going to be my last post on this topic. PROMISE!

A few days ago I revisited the argument on the country counting criteria, and wrote about Lee Abbamonte, who is trying to be the youngest world-most-traveled person. Lee read my post and commented that as long as you are at peace with what you did in whatever country you’re visiting to qualify it as “countable”, then it does count. There are no travel gods who will strike down upon you with a thunderbolt if you cheat. Quoting him:

I have been to certain places for just a few hours and count them but I have always done something worthwhile in the country. Some countries are very small, Luxembourg, Andorra, Swaziland, etc. There is no need to spend a night if you don?t wish to but I believe that just counting countries is not enough, you need to get the most out of your experience in each place and the criteria is up to you. Nobody is checking over your shoulder to see if you?ve done enough to count a place as a visit but you need to be happy with yourself and your visit.

Right on man. You don’t have to spend the night or get drunk. Its all about the “cultural interaction”¹, what kind of cultural interaction is totally up to your creative self.

1. Suggested by Mike during a heated discussion on the subject involving him, Jason, and yours truly. [↩]