Do layovers count as having visited a country?

>>2795444 (OP)
American here. I flew into Costa Rica about ten years ago, and it was late, and my Spanish is that of a toddler, and I had a connection to Nicaragua, but I started to go through immigration, even though I didn't have to, and I, and the customs agent was all confused, finally, he just waved me on through the exit without stamping my passport, so, I was just wandering around San Jose illegally at two in the morning for a few hours until I had to catch my flight to Managua.

No.

>>2795447
I love the latin american wave through. Happened every time I got on the bus in mexico because their dumb card thing was dumb. then I went to spain and thought the guy was waving me through on the bus there and got a severe reality check.

>>2795449
Damn, I was going to tell people I visited OP's mom.

>>2795444 (OP)
Most people will say no, if you’re just staying in the airport rather than actually going into the “real” country and, y’know, doing something there.

Personally, I don’t care. If you want to say you’ve been to a country even when you’ve just stayed airside, go right ahead. And many airports are strange and local-flavored enough that even a few hours in a lounge can actually offer a skewed glimpse of things that are unique to the country.

In my head, I guess I don’t feel like I’ve been to a place unless I’ve at least left the airport. But I have no problem saying that my first visit to Korea was just a three-hour guided tour I booked to kill time during a long layover. I visited a temple, a fish market, and a restaurant. I was definitely in Korea while I did these things, which were local Korean things, so I would definitely count it if I were going to bother counting countries.

The people that get pissed off by this aren’t in charge of your life, and it’s a waste of time to attempt to appease them.

>>2795447
I had a similar unofficial/illegal layover in El Salvador once. Daytime, though.

>>2795545
>and it’s a waste of time to attempt to appease them.
That’s the entire point of posting here though

Only if you officially entered the country. Meaning you went through immigration and got a stamp.

>>2795444 (OP)
My rules:
>If you don't stay for at least 48h in a country, you haven't been there (this rule doesn't apply to microstates)
>If you visited only an oversea/DOM-TOM/etc. territory, you cannot grab you visited its whole country, only the territory (e.g. I visited Gilbraltar, but I haven't been in UK)
>You can only put a day-trip in your autistic territory map if the rule #1 was obeyed.

>>2795576
Why 48 hrs? I spent 24 hrs in London what would another 24 have changed?

No, and that's coming from someone who spent 11 hours in Qatar. I wish it counted for something, but I was stuck in the airport the whole time.

>>2795601
Those are anon's personal arbitrary rules, don't read into it too much. You can play Pokemon without Nuzlocke rules.

That said, he never actually mentioned having to leave the airport or getting checked in by border/customs/immigration agents. I wonder if he would count a country as visited if you stayed in an airport for at least 48 hours. Spending 48 hours in an airport is absolutely retarded, but it's not impossible.

>>2795447
u can walk to gibraltar from spain and ask them to stamp your passport

If I have a 7 hour layover, should I go through immigration and check out the city? Never flown internationally before and have a trip coming up soon.

>>2795654
Depends on your level of patience. Immigration/first couple hours somewhere can often be the worst part about a country.

>>2795656
How long does it usually take to get through immigration?

>>2795654
>If I have a 7 hour layover, should I go through immigration and check out the city? Never flown internationally before and have a trip coming up soon

Depends a little on where your layover is—some airports are surprisingly far from town, or unusually slow to get through on your way back in. If getting into the city and back is going to wind up eating four of your seven hours, you may not find a rushed little visit worth it.

But in most places that’s at least enough time to have a meal and a look around. I probably would.

Oh, unless it’s going to be the middle of the night. That’s a drag in a lot of places. I’ve done a couple of overnight layovers, including in some relatively lively places like Hong Kong, and seldom had very much fun. The small hours can also make getting back to the airport slower. Nowadays I’d usually rather just find a place to take an airside nap.

>>2795657
Depends on the country. It can be completely dead at 5 in the morning and be behind less than a hundred people and it still takes an hour to get through Korea's. Or it can be Thailand and be behind a 1000 people and get through in 15 minutes. Also, it's not just immigration, it's the first 10 miles surrounding the airport. Hell, it can be the entire capital city that makes a place shit, but the boondocks are filled with great people.

>>2795444 (OP)
No. You have to go to the city center and walk around.
>>2795576
>at least 48 hours
Wtf no. If I take a daytrip to Bruges from Amsterdam and return in the evening, I can definitely say I've been to Belgium

I had a 12hr layover in Kuala Lumpor so I explored the city for that time and I claim that I visited Malaysia. But if I ever told anyone I went I would explain I was there for 12 hours only and they can make up their mind. I’ve also had a 12hr stopover (didn’t leave airport) in Tokyo and that most certainly does not count.

I have also been in Madrid for 24 hrs and I say I went to Spain but it doesn’t really count, you know in your mind if you don’t think it’s valid so just own up to it who cares it’s not a competition. There are other countries I have explored like fuck though.

>>2795444 (OP)
short answer is no.
But there are levels. Like I had a 12 hour stop over in Hong Kong from London, but never left the airport. Arrived while it was dark and as the airport is a long way from the city, didn't even see anything out the windows. Left going south to Sydney so the opposite direction of the city itself and didn't really see anything other than a few islands. I was part of a uni sports trip and so didn't have a choice of being able to leave the airport which being on my own I would have, even if only able to spend a few hours in the city and would have counted as visiting it if I did.

But on the other hand, I had an even shorter stop over in Oman of 4 hrs, and while I also dont count it as visiting the country as I didn't leave the airport too, I have a stronger sense of 'visiting it' as I flew in from India, flying in the middle of the day with a great view of the whole country from the wild cliffs and bays of the eastern part, though the desert and then hugging the coast to muscat and even seeing the downtown of old Muscat with the royal palace in full view. It was a surprisingly small airport, but visually everyone in it was arabic/Muslin or African, so it felt like being in a totally different environment than I had ever been in at that point in my life. Then left mid afternoon over long stretches of Oman desert towards Abu Dhabi. So while neither of these things I 'count' as visiting, I have a greater sense or feel of one experience than the other.

>>2795444 (OP)
No OP, a layover doesnt count as visiting the country. But why does it even matter? You're not one of those faggots who says shit like "i've been to 24 countries, how many have you been to?". Please tell me you dont engage in those types on conversations...

>>2795545
>>2795658
>airside
la di da fkn faggot. Just say airport like every other normal cunt

>>2795793
>la di da fkn faggot. Just say airport like every other normal cunt
I did say airport, a bunch of times. I was using airside specifically to distinguish the part of the airport that’s past security, like the normal, well-traveled heterosexual cunt that I am. But I apologize for having triggered you.

>>2795799
apology accepted. Just don't do it again.

also who tf goes past immigration and customs just to hang out in the check-in area of the airport. anything to do at the airport is "airside" as you'd say.

I spent a few hours in downtown Atlanta waiting for the bus, 1 AM to 4 AM or something like that. Walked half a block out of the bus station, saw trash everywhere and some really sketchy characters lurking around on poorly lit streets, then returned to the safety of the waiting room.

Does that count as visiting Atlanta? I'd say "no", because I didn't see more than a glimpse of the city.
>>2795669
You can count a country visited as long as your feet have trodden on its soil - even if it was in some generic soulless suburb outside the airport.

>>2795806
Most, or at least many, airport hotels are outside security. I’ve gone through immigration just to sleep in a real bed more than a few times, although only on nighttime 12hr+ layovers.

And smokers go through immigration and security just to light up outside terminals all the time, even on short layovers, because airports all over the world are gradually getting rid of indoor “smoking lounges.” I don’t smoke anymore, but I started noticing their absence in places that used to have them before I quit.

>>2795822
if youre on a layover and go through immigration/customs and leave the airport, can you just walk back in and go straight to your boarding gate? or do you have to pass some checks again?

>>2795810
>You can count a country visited as long as your feet have trodden on its soil
No

>>2795837
>if youre on a layover and go through immigration/customs and leave the airport, can you just walk back in and go straight to your boarding gate? or do you have to pass some checks again?

Depends on the country and the itinerary. You’ll always have to go through security again, obviously. But some countries have exit immigration checks, and some do not, or have them for some routes but not others. For example, in Europe, flights between Schengen-area countries don’t have immigration checks on either end, but on a flight from, say, Frankfurt to a layover in Amsterdam, then connecting to a flight to the UK or US or anywhere else outside of Schengen will mean you have to pass through an exit immigration line at Schiphol.

So you will either have to stand in just the one line (for security) or in two (for security and immigration).

>>2795558
>Only if you officially entered the country. Meaning you went through immigration and got a stamp.
What an absolutely retarded standard.

So if I don't go through immigration and stay at the airport I didn't visit but if I do go through immigration and stay in the airport I did visit?

And what about the countries I don't need to go through immigration or get a visa stamp for?

>>2795845
But I should say that in most airports, exit immigration is usually pretty streamlined. If you do have to get stamped out, it’s almost always just a quick stop on your way to your gate.

There are some glaring exceptions—the transfer process to get out of Schengen on a connection in Charles de Gaulle in Paris is incomprehensibly slow and annoying. But they also have weirdly slow security, and surly, incompetent employees and decaying terminal facilities, so that airport just sucks in general. And if you ever find yourself connecting in Dublin to a USA-bound flight, you’ll have to go through both Irish exit immigration and US entry immigration and customs before you fly; Ireland and Canada are the only places I’ve personally seen US immigration and customs in international airports, but they may have others. It’s okay, in that you don’t have to go through US immigration when you land (it’s like walking off of a domestic flight), but it takes forever on the departure end.

>>2795846
>So if I don't go through immigration and stay at the airport I didn't visit but if I do go through immigration and stay in the airport I did visit?
are you jewish? because who tf analyses a simple fkn statement like that?

listen faggot, if you exit immigration, get a stamp blah blah, for only a cigarette or to stay at the Holiday Inn Airport Express and go back straight to the hotel in the morning, then no, you didn't visit the country. Visiting countries is not a box ticking exercise. Youre not one of those faggots, are you?

>>2795444 (OP)
To have qualified as "Visited" a country you need to meet the following requirements:
- Walked the streets of a small town
- Talked to locals
- Gone out to at least 3 different local restaurants/pubs, no chains/fast food
- Seen at least 15% of the country/state total area

>>2795888
I’m assuming you’re just messing around here, but if you do in fact adhere to this specific list of arbitrary autistic criteria in real life (and, honestly, right now I hope you really do), I have many questions. As you’re almost certainly never coming back to answer them, I’ll just leave two:

1) How do you calculate the area you’ve visited? GPS tracking yourself and making exact mathematical calculations after the fact? Or do you plot out the necessary area you need to cover ahead of time, and plan your journey accordingly? I mean, if you’re just estimating off the top of your head, you’ll never be able to be really sure whether you’ve officially “visited” a place or not. I don’t know how you could live with the uncertainty.

2) Is there a separate category for places you’ve been, but where you haven’t met all of the necessary requirements in full? For example, if you’ve only seen 12% of a place’s total area, you clearly have not “visited” it, but does that equate to never having been there at all, or is it something else, inferior to visiting but still recognizing the incomplete effort?

Thank you for your attention.

>>2795888
>To have qualified as "Visited" a country you need to meet the following requirements:
>- Walked the streets of a small town
Singapore is unvisitable, which is why it's marked as a freebie in the map thread.

>>2795933
>1) How do you calculate the area you’ve visited? GPS tracking yourself and making exact mathematical calculations after the fact? Or do you plot out the necessary area you need to cover ahead of time, and plan your journey accordingly? I mean, if you’re just estimating off the top of your head, you’ll never be able to be really sure whether you’ve officially “visited” a place or not. I don’t know how you could live with the uncertainty.
I base it off counties I've been in, or the equivalent when traveling abroad where counties aren't a thing. In places where these "counties" are giant (like Wyoming for example) I base it off road coverage i've been on

>2) Is there a separate category for places you’ve been, but where you haven’t met all of the necessary requirements in full? For example, if you’ve only seen 12% of a place’s total area, you clearly have not “visited” it, but does that equate to never having been there at all, or is it something else, inferior to visiting but still recognizing the incomplete effort?
Yes, I keep track of such things not only to mark something as "visited" but to also know where i've yet to go in said country or state. Even when someone asks me if i've been somewhere i'll usually quantify where in that country or state i've been (unless i've literally gone all over it).

If you have to lie when people ask what you did while you were in the country, then no, it doesn't count

>>2795935
>Yes, I keep track of such things not only to mark something as "visited" but to also know where i've yet to go in said country or state. Even when someone asks me if i've been somewhere i'll usually quantify where in that country or state i've been (unless i've literally gone all over it).

And how do you conceptualize or categorize those places you’ve been but not (or not yet) succeeded in “visiting” according to your rules? Just places you’ve been? Passed through? Is the distinction important? Do all the places you go need to be visited, or are have you been places where you were content with less?

>>2795978
Depends what is there physically. I take photos of everywhere i've been and after my trips i'll assign those photos to locations to give myself a memory of what was also there, seen, done. In towns this could be a local attraction, park, pub/popular place to eat, or locals i talked with (that allowed a photo of course). When I'm driving in rural areas it's usually hikes (if possible) or road side pictures, animals, what is physically out there. Sometimes if there's physically nothing I just drive through and if it comes up in conversation I make it aware that there is in fact nothing besides a drive (usually because private land or just literally nothing you can access/do)

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Who died for our sins and rose from the dead to give us the free gift of eternal life. He also promises to heal your body. You can ask Jesus for His gifts.

>>2795444 (OP)
No.

i have a 7h layover in shanghai soon, even if i go through customs and enter the country i still wouldnt tell people ive been to china
if asked what countries ive been to, id mention china of course, but id mention that it was a layover and that i didnt see or do much

>>2795967
>If you have to lie when people ask what you did while you were in the country, then no, it doesn't count
Very interesting.

If you have to lie, it doesn't count. The opposite being if you're unashamedly truthful, it does count.
>layover in Heathrow
>"Yeah, I totally visited England."
>"Cool! What did you do there?"
>"Sat on a bench for a few hours."

If you have to lie, it doesn't count.
>spent several months mongering in Thailand
>"Hey Anon, welcome back. Where have you been?"
>"Ummm...nowhere"
>or "I went to Thailand to, uhh, volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary, yeah, that's what I did."

>>2795444 (OP)
No

Please do not steal Real Traveller® valor

>>2795444 (OP)
I had a layover in Paris, about 7 hours. That is just enough time to see the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, the Arc, eat some food, use the transit, shop a bit. Obviously I don't think I've explored the entire city, but I definitely consider it as visiting the country. I got an experience out of it, I honestly kind of love long layovers if it means I can explore the city just enough (6+ hours). Did the same thing with Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London, would go back to all 4 but yes it wouldn't be completely new to me. Side note, when I landed in the Charles whatever airport, it was 90% big fat african mothers with 3-5 lil kids each, like it was unbelievable, I dont even remember seeing anyone else, terrible airport btw. I went in 2021.

>>2797108
Also ofc if you dont leave the airport it shouldnt count. Like why the fuck would that count? You visited 1 building thats basically copy pasted in every country

>>2797108
>the Charles whatever airport, it was 90% big fat african mothers with 3-5 lil kids each
Charles de Gaulle Airport is named after French WWII leader Charles de Gaulle.

>>2795857
It's only logical to stay close to the airport on a short visit. Today I checked out of my hotel and 20 minutes later was through the immigration autogate, past security and sitting at my departure gate. Because it was a long layover and not a separate flight, I already had my boarding pass; no need to go through the check-in shitshow again. No stressing over taxis or rideshares or traffic jams.
>>2796916
>If you don't get laid, you didn't visit the country!
What I do on a 15 hour layover is absolutely no different from what I do every day on a two month trip. Of course it's a country visit.

Would I have visited Sharjah longer? The honest answer, no - for the simple reason that the city is very short on hotels. The few hotels that do exist are expensive. Funnily, the airport hotel (half a km from SHJ) was one of the cheapest at only $37 USD per night, despite having zero competition.

The UAE also puts the lie to a lot of /pol/ talk, becaus here you can see how assorted browns, blacks and mystery meats can live in a prosperous, orderly and harmonious society.