Watching these Games of the XXX Olympiad in London as I have been, it's been pretty easy to overestimate how much of the world I've seen. Every time a medal is won, I'm running through a list in my head and going check, check, check, as I mentally mark off all the countries I have visited.
But then I start thinking of how American television is obviously going to show mostly American competitions. And how the majority of those competitions seem to be won by the same handful of nations over and over again. Which led to me wonder exactly how much of the world's countries I've actually seen.
Turns out... not a lot...
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Not even a quarter of them. Even so, 22% is nothing to sneeze at, and I feel extremely lucky and fortunate that I've been able to see as much as I have. And yet... there's something discouraging about knowing how, in the grand scheme of things, I've made such a small dent in a big world.
To make myself feel better, I went back to the Olympic medal-count winners' list and checked off the countries I've visited for the top ten nations...
Sweet! 70% is totally more like it!
But how about on a list of all the medal-winning countries (so far)?
Hmmm... 27 out of 52 would be 52%... not bad at all. That's putting a pretty good dent in the world!
But, so long as we're making country lists, my favorite would have to be the countries represented by pavilions at Walt Disney World's EPCOT World Showcase...
91%... how awesome is that? Using this list means I've almost seen the entire World (Showcase), and can probably see all the countries in the entire World (Showcase) in my lifetime!
And now we return you to our regularly-scheduled Olympic broadcast.
Unless you're watching on US television, in which case NBC will return you in 12 hours or so.
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Looks like I’m at 7%. I’m two states shy of 50% for the US as well, though I’m discounting at least three states I’ve (been) driven through because I have no specific memories of visiting anything there.
yeah, but i’ve been to more states than you have!
As someone who has visited a mere three other countries (Canada, Mexico & Jamaica) plus a few Caribbean islands which I don’t know how they figure in worldly travel (St. Martin-St. Maarten, Cayman Islands), I vicariously travel the world through your blog. Thanks for contributing such interesting photos and stories for your readers.
I’m wondering how stately you are – as in how many US states have you been to/in? I’ll throw in US territories too since I know you’ve traveled so much and might not answer that unless asked.
22% is still very impressive in my book.
Except for Mexico and Canada, I’ve not been to any other country yet. And I’m almost 50. I best be trying to find a way to travel the world in my 50’s.