Try to work out which five countries you’ve spent most time in. It may be trickier than you think…
A surprisingly difficult question
The other day, I was posed what I thought was an easy question: “Which five countries have you spent the most time in?”
Giving an answer turned out to be far from easy. That’s because it’s not “what are your five favourite countries?” or “which five countries have you visited the most?”
Working out the amount of time spent in a country is a lot harder.
The country I’ve spent most time in
Working out the country I’ve spent most time in is easy. It’s the UK, where I’ve lived for most of my life.
Second place is easy too. I lived in Australia for just under five years, and have visited multiple times since for two or three weeks at a time.
After that, the task gets a lot, lot harder.
The European country I’ve spent most time in
There are several European countries that are contenders. I’ve visited cities such as Prague in Czechia, Innsbruck, Vienna and Salzburg in Austria and Brussels in Belgium on several occasions.
These visits have been a mixture of leisure trips, and work trips researching city guides.
The common theme, however, is that I don’t think I’ve spent more than four consecutive days in any of them.
Italy vs Germany
Then there are the European countries where I’ve made several visits, and visited several cities.
I’ve travelled around Italy, visiting cities such as Treviso, Trieste, Vicenza and Padua that don’t often make it onto the tourist itineraries.
The same applies for Germany. I’ve spent most time in Berlin, but done a couple of days here in the likes of Trier, Bonn, Dortmund and Leipzig.
Given the trips have been longer and covered more cities, I’ve probably spent more time in Italy and Germany than Czechia, Austria or Belgium.
Time spent in Spain
The other European country I’ve travelled like this is Spain, heading to the likes of Salamanca, Toledo and Valladolid as well as hotspots in Andalucia like Malaga, Cordoba, Almeria and Granada.
What tips the balance in favour of Spain is that I’ve spent one or two week-long holidays there as well. That includes time spent on the Costas and Tenerife as a child, plus fly-and-flop holidays in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with my own children.
Of the European countries other than the UK, therefore, I’ve almost certainly spent the most time in Spain.
Time spent in the rest of the world
However, there’s the rest of the world to consider, too. I think there are three contenders here – New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
I visited New Zealand a few times while living in Australia. I’ve also been back as round-the-world trips since, covering most of the North Island and South Island. Crucially, most of these trips were a couple of weeks long.
I think that puts it ahead of South Africa, which I’ve made four long-ish trips of between ten days and three weeks.
Time spent in the United States
It doesn’t, however, put it ahead of the United States, which I started late on. My first US visit was to Los Angeles in 2007 – I stopped there for a few days on the way to Rarotonga and didn’t particularly enjoy it.
However, I have been back a lot since, and to some cities such as Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston, multiple times.
Importantly for the purposes of this question, I’ve also done a fair few lengthier road trip holidays in the US. These include road-tripping around Florida to the Florida Keys, an epic drive from Las Vegas to Seattle through Utah and Wyoming, plus loops through Arizona and New Mexico and drives across the rust belt through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
The countries I’ve spent most time in
I’m not 100% certain about this, but having done the working out, I can have a best guess. I think the five countries I’ve spent the most time in are:
- The UK
- Australia
- Spain
- The USA
- New Zealand
What’s your top five? Join in under the replies to my Bluesky post.
