Niall emailed me to say that following his recent trip to Ireland for tax reasons, he’s now on 31 countries visited. I’m on 30, and while our competition has generally been close, I think it’s the first time he’s nosed in front. So naturally I am upset.
I do have the Faroes in June and then of course I’m still hoping to hit the mullet trail in the autumn, so that should give me at least six new countries that I can think of (I wonder if the Falklands count? They have their own stamps, after all…).
However, Niall is part of the Faroes trip too, and I fear that he will maintain his advantage due to his continuing travels for work: he was in Mauritania recently (and wrote an engaging account of the trip), is off to Malaysia soon, and will no doubt have clocked up more new countries before I even manage to set foot in my first mullet in September.
Maybe you can hope that the United States will become disunited by mid-year, so as to aid you in your counting venture. Unlikely, but not impossible (especially with the current government).
The Falkland Islands – aren’t they part of Argentina?
The Islas Malvinas, Maggs.
And I don’t want to drag up your whole “what is a country?” debate again, but I wouldn’t think that the Faroes would count as anything other than Denmark.
Yeah, the Faroes counts as Denmark, just as Scotland counts as the UK, and Kosovo still counts as Serbia.
Malaysia is very nice, so far, and definitely makes a refreshing change. That’s no. 32, Varwell, so you’d better get a move on. Remember, it’s quantity, not quality.