Country bagging

Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

---

Europe

	Andrew			Matthew			Richard
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
Vatican City
Europe Total	39 countries 32 overnights 30 capitals			32 countries 25 overnights 28 capitals			39 countries 29 overnights 33 capitals

Asia

	Andrew			Matthew			Richard
Brunei
Cambodia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Jordan
Laos
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
North Korea
Philippines
Qatar
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
Vietnam
Asia Total	11 countries 9 overnights 8 capitals			20 countries 18 overnights 16 capitals			3 countries 2 overnights 2 capitals

Rest of the World

	Andrew			Matthew			Richard
Antigua & Barbuda
Australia
Canada
Dominica
Gambia
Morocco
New Zealand
Samoa
Tonga
United States
Rest of World total	3 countries 2 overnights 1 capitals			6 countries 6 overnights 3 capitals			5 countries 3 overnights 3 capitals

Overall

	Andrew			Matthew			Richard
Overall total	53 countries 43 overnights 39 capitals			58 countries 49 overnights 47 capitals			47 countries 34 overnights 38 capitals

---

Key

• have set foot on or passed through country on land-based transport
• have stayed within the country for a continuous 24 hour period
• have set foot in or passed through capital on land-based transport

---

Infrequently asked questions

Can I count England, Scotland, Wales, Hong Kong, Easter Island (...) separately?

No. Dependencies, territories, subdivisions etc are counted as part of their "parent" countries, for example Hong Kong to China, Wales to United Kingdom and Easter Island to Chile.

What about former countries, like East Germany or Czechoslavakia?

We use current boundaries, so if you visited Bratislava in 1981, this currently counts as a bag of Slovakia. If you visited both East and West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, you now only get the single bag of Germany.

Does it count if I'm just changing planes at an airport?

Provided you get off the plane, yes.

But that's unfair and illogical! You haven't seen a country properly if you just see the airport.

Nobody claimed this game was fair or logical.

---

Latest activity

• December 2011: Andy bags  Jordan and  Amman (photos)
• July 2011: Richard bags  Canada and  Ottawa (photos)
• July 2011:  South Sudan declares independence from Sudan
• May 2011: Matt  sleeps in Taiwan and bags  Taipei (photos), bags  Bangkok (photos)
• March 2011: Matt bags  Samoa and  Apia (photos)
• February 2011: Matt bags  New Zealand and  Wellington (photos) (photos),  Tonga and  Nuku'alofa (photos)
• January 2011: Matt bags  Australia (photos)

• October 2010: Matt bags  Hanoi (photos)
• May 2010: Andy  sleeps in Hungary

• December 2009: Andy bags  Hanoi. Matt bags  Romania and  Bucharest (photos)
• November 2009: Andy bags  Vientiane and  Cambodia,  Phnom Penh and  Vietnam. (photos)
• October 2009: Andy bags  United Arab Emirates,  Malaysia and  Kuala Lumpur,  Thailand and  Bangkok,  Myanmar (Burma) and  Laos. (photos)
• June 2009: Andy bags  Iceland and  Reykjavik (photos)
• April 2009: Andy bags  Andorra and  Andorra La Vella (photos)
• March 2009: Andy bags  Morocco (photos)
• January 2009: Andy bags  Gambia (photos). Matt bags  Brunei and  Bandar Seri Begawan (photos).

• December 2008: Richard bags  Liechtenstein and  Vaduz,  Slovakia and  Bratislava,  Hungary and  Budapest (photos)
• November 2008: Matt controversially bags  Taiwan (Republic of China) (photos)
• August 2008: Matt bags  South Korea and  Seoul (photos)
• July 2008: Andy bags  Cyprus and  Nicosia (photos). His visit to  Northern Cyprus is not recognised at the present time.
• April 2008: Matt bags  Vientiane (photos),  Cambodia and  Phnom Penh (photos)  Vietnam (photos),  Singapore and  Singapore (photos). Richard bags  Sarajevo (photos).
• March 2008: Matt  sleeps in Malaysia (photos) and bags  Thailand (photos),  Myanmar (Burma) (photos) and  Laos (photos)
• February 2008: Andy bags  Poland (photos)

• November 2007:  Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
• October 2007: Matt bags  Canada
• September 2007: Richard and Andy bag  Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Montenegro and  Albania and  sleep in Croatia.
• August 2007: Matt bags  North Korea and  Pyongyang
• July 2007: Matt bags  Qatar and  Doha
• May 2007: Richard bags  Latvia and  Riga,  Estonia and  Tallinn, Finland and  Helsinki
• April 2007: Richard bags  Poland and  Warsaw,  Lithuania and  Vilnius
• March 2007: Matt bags  Japan
• February 2007: Andy bags  Estonia and  Tallinn,  Latvia and  Riga,  Lithuania and  Vilnius

• December 2006: Matt bags  United States
• October 2006: Andy bags  Malta and  Valletta.
• September 2006: Richard bags  UAE,  China and  Beijing.
• July 2006: Matt bags  Philippines and  Manila
• June 2006: Serbia and Montenegro dissolves. Previous visits are now counted as Serbia
• April 2006: Richard bags  Andorra and  Andorra de Vella,  Monaco and  Monaco-Ville,
   San Marino and  San Marino

• November 2005: Matt  sleeps in Poland, bags  Hungary and  Budapest
• October 2005: Matt bags  Beijing,  Mongolia,  Ulan Batur,  Russia and  Moscow.
• September 2005: Matt bags  Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia,  Indonesia and  China.
• August 2005: Andy bags  India and  Delhi, Richard bags  India and  Delhi, Matt bags  UAE,
   Sri Lanka and  Colombo.
• June 2005: Andy  sleeps in Slovakia
• January 2005: Matt bags Delhi.

• September 2004: Matt bags India.
• August/September 2004: Richard bags Roseau, Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda
• July 2004: Andy bags Finland
• July 2004: Matt bags Turkey and Bulgaria, Andy bags Bulgaria, Richard bags  Turkey.

---

Maps

A "hexagonal visualisation" of this page is also available. Each country is represented by a hexagon of equal size: here are the maps for Andrew, Matthew and Richard and our combined map.

You can also link here to create your own map using an URL of the following form. name should be a URL-escaped name, and countries should be a comma-separated list of uppercase ISO country codes.

http://www.mattmayer.com/fun/countries/map/?name=Your%20name&countries=GB,IE,AU

---

Links

Other country-baggers (who may use rather looser definitions of 'country' can be found here and here. If you're a country-bagger and would like a link to your website, do feel free to contact me.