Although I had been to the Republic of Georgia before, in 1977, at that time it was just a Soviet Republic, and not a country.
I visited five Soviet republics: Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, I considered them all to be just one country: The Soviet Union.
Now, if I go back to Russia, I will have visited 78 countries.
In September, 2000, I visited Wales, but that is not a country.
Countries where Sam Sloan ( Mohammad Ismail Sloan ) has been:
I have been to 77 countries of the world. Here is a list of the countries to which I have been. See the footnotes at the bottom of the list:
AE United Arab Emirates
AF Afghanistan
AM Armenia
AR Argentina
AT Austria
AZ Azerbaijan
BD Bangladesh
BE Belgium
BG Bulgaria
BH Bahrain
BM Bermuda
BR Brazil
BS Bahamas
BZ Belize
CA Canada
CH Switzerland
CN China
CO Colombia
CR Costa Rica
CS Czechoslovakia (former)
CU Cuba
CY Cyprus
DE Germany
DK Denmark
DO Dominican Republic
EG Egypt
ES Spain
FI Finland
FR France
GB Great Britain (UK)
GE Georgia
GR Greece
GT Guatemala
GU Guam
HK Hong Kong
HN Honduras
HR Croatia (Hrvatska)
HT Haiti
HU Hungary
ID Indonesia
IE Ireland
IN India
IR Iran
IS Iceland
IT Italy
JM Jamaica
JP Japan
KR Korea (South)
KW Kuwait
LA Laos
LK Sri Lanka
LU Luxembourg
MK Macedonia
MM Myanmar
MO Macau
MX Mexico
MY Malaysia
NI Nicaragua
NL Netherlands
NP Nepal
OM Oman
PA Panama
PH Philippines
PK Pakistan
PL Poland
PR Puerto Rico
PW Palau
PY Paraguay
QA Qatar
RO Romania
RU Russian Federation
SA Saudi Arabia
SE Sweden
SG Singapore
SI Slovenia
SU USSR (former)
SV El Salvador
SY Syria
TH Thailand
TR Turkey
TW Taiwan
UA Ukraine
UK United Kingdom
US United States
VA Vatican City State (Holy See)
YU Yugoslavia
I traveled to the Soviet Union several times. I visited five republics of the Soviet Union. My last visit had been in 1988. I had not been back since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Therefore, according to my count, I visited only one country. However, all five of the republics I visited are listed here, along with the Soviet Union itself. (Deduct 5)
The same holds true of Yugoslavia, which I last visited in 1990. I consider that I visited only one country, but three additional republics of Yugoslavia are listed here, which became countries after the breakup. (Deduct 3)
There is a duplicate listing for the United Kingdom and Great Britain. (Deduct 1)
I have been to both East Germany and West Germany. I count that as two countries, even though they have since become one. (Add 1)
In 1990, I took a boat up the Mekong river into the territory of Laos. I was close enough to touch a branch of a tree but I did not stand on dry land. Previously, I did not count that as a country where I have been. I have now added that to my list, as I was close enough to have been arrested by the police for an illegal border crossing.
Note that I count the Vatican, Macau and Hong Kong as countries, even though they are not really countries.
I count Palau and Belize as places where I have been, even though I merely stopped there on an airplane. I did not get out of the airplane. I also count Syria, Cyprus, Ireland, Kuwait and Cuba. In those cases, I got out of the airplane and was on the ground, but never left the airport. I do not count countries where I flew over but did not land, such as Iraq.
I do not count Guam and Puerto Rico as countries, even though they are on the list. I have been to those places. (Deduct 2)