This week I’m celebrating my seven-year anniversary of living in London. The festivities don’t stop there, though. I’m also celebrating accomplishing a big goal: traveling to 100 countries! When I touched down in the Seychelles last week, I officially got to country 100, and now I’ve created an interactive map with links to my blog posts about each one.

Traveling to 100 Countries

The Background

After completing my 90 Under 30 Travel Project, in which I visited 90 countries before my 30th birthday, I wanted to visit 10 more to get to 100.

It took just over two-and-a-half years to do so—getting to new countries gets harder once you’ve been to most of the obvious ones (and a lot of the not-so-obvious ones!)—but I finally managed to make it.

Sunset in Panglao

How Many Countries Are There in the World?

When I tell people how many countries I’ve traveled to, they often ask the big question: how many countries are there in the world?

The answer is a bit subjective, with some authorities considering any nation a country (think England), and others sticking to a more conservative definition of a country as a sovereign state with a definite territory recognized as independent.

I have chosen to go by the US State Department definition of a country, or sovereign state, mostly because I did my summer internships in college with them and I trust their judgement.

According to the State Department, there are 195 countries in the world. You can see the list here.

Dolphin in the Philippines

The Big Picture

But rather than obsess over the definition of a country or how many of them I’ve checked off a list, I would prefer to focus on the act of travel itself.

Seeing so much of the world has been a privilege that has given me a broader perspective on my own culture and a greater appreciation for others.

I’ve learned so much, experienced such amazing places, and met so many inspiring people, and for me that’s what travel is really about. The rest is just nerdy details that I like to spend my non-traveling time thinking about!

A Lady in London in Scotland

Future Travels

Now that I’ve traveled to 100 countries, I have to decide what’s next. I secretly hope to visit every country in the world someday, and I’m excited to be over halfway to that goal.

But I think it might take the rest of my life to get there (it’s not exactly easy to get to Sao Tome and Principe!).

On the bright side, that means I will be bringing you stories from all of the amazing corners of the world for many years to come. I hope you enjoy them!

Sea Lion in the Galapagos

The List of 100 Countries I’ve Traveled to

The full list of the 100 countries I’ve visited is below.

I’ve written about almost all of them on the A Lady in London blog, so if you want to read about one in particular, just click on the relevant pin on the map below (if you’re a subscriber and can’t see the map, click here).

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, United States of America, Vatican / Holy See, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and one country that shall remain nameless…

Happy travels!

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Traveling to 100 Countries

60 Comments on Lady Travels to 100 Countries and Makes a Map

  3. 100 countries… That’s an impressive milestone! I’m not sure if I can put down a numerical goal on travelling, I’ll be only limited 5-6 weeks of holidays and I don’t want to put quantity over quality.

    I’ve only discovered this blog so I can’t wait to read the stories you have posted let alone you are yet to post! Do you have a top 5 yet?

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  5. Congrats on 100! I’m not even sure I could name 100…(definitely making that my mission for today.) Looking forward to reading about all your future travels 🙂

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  7. This is awesome! Wow, a hundred, what a nice round number!
    I’m not really counting, I keep getting sucked back to Asia! If I set to travelling nearer my doorstep – Europe – then they would start adding up. So much to see, so little time!

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  14. Congrats on achieving this milestone Julie! I’ve been following your blog for a few years now and have been really inspired by it, looking forward to reading about your future travels 🙂

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  15. This is so great! I’m so happy you’ve reached your goal, and then have kept right on going! Looking forward to reading about some of the harder to reach countries in your future and more about the ones you’ve already been for my future travels. I have a goal to see 100 in my lifetime and thought maybe it was a bit too ambitious but seeing you reach it so young, yeah I can do this too. 🙂

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  17. That is quite an impressive list. Congrats, you have every reason to be very proud of this achievement. But in all your travels, have you ever been refused entry into a country?

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  19. I have followed your 90/30 project. That was really, really great. And I think it’s a noble goal to want to visit every country in the world. I really hope you do and when you post all of it in here, it’s like we’ve traveled in every country too. =>

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  21. Oh wow I love this map — genius! Congrats Julie, that’s so amazing you’re over halfway to visiting every country! I’ve got my work cut out catching up with you =)
    Until then I’ll keep living vicariously through your blog!
    xo

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  23. Hi Julie, great to meet you last night in London and hope you arrived safely in Dublin. This is amazing. I am currently on about 93/94 countries and also aiming to visit 100 – a lot of different countries to you though on the list. I’m guessing the one you don’t mention is Venezuela – I was there too and hated it and don’t want reminded of it. Safe travels and see you around! Jonny

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  26. I’m intrigued by the unnamed country, but what a great list! I’m almost at 70 countries but keep going back to places so it may take a while to catch up with you ;).

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  29. I respect you not mentioning the one country, is there a reason for it? Bad memories? Security reasons? I’m very curious!

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