Blog
Essays, guides, and geography deep-dives
Long-form writing from the team behind My Travel Maps — honest explainers about how the world is counted, practical guides to planning trips, and the occasional data post about where people actually travel.
Travel tracking
The complete list of all 195 countries, organized by region
The actual list. All 195 countries, grouped by continent, with capitals, quick notes on the tricky ones, and a no-nonsense ranking of the easiest and hardest to visit.
Travel tracking
Countries that no longer exist: Yugoslavia, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and what to do about them
You visited Czechoslovakia in 1989. You backpacked through Yugoslavia in 1985. The countries are gone, but the trips happened — here is the rule travelers actually use to mark them on a map.
Data and research
How many countries has the average person visited? The honest answer, with data
Most rough numbers floating around the internet are made up. Here is what the actual surveys say, broken down by country, age, and income — plus the brutal truth about what the global average looks like.
Trip planning
From 50 to 100 countries: the strategic playbook for serious travelers
Hitting 50 was easy. The next 50 are different. Here is the regional-cluster strategy, the visa-stacking tricks, and the budget reality for the second half of the 195-country list.
Trip planning
The 10 hardest countries to visit in 2026 (and how to actually get into them)
Turkmenistan, North Korea, Eritrea, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic. The countries everyone leaves until the end of their list — and the actual procedures for the ones still possible.
Travel tracking
How to share your travel map on Instagram (and everywhere else)
Download your map as a clean PNG, crop it, post it. Here is the exact workflow, plus the captions and hashtags that actually get engagement.
Travel tracking
Digital travel map vs. scratch map: which is better?
The wall scratch map is iconic. But is it actually the best way to track your travels in 2026? We compare the two formats on every dimension that matters.
Travel tracking
How to use My Travel Maps: a beginner's guide
A step-by-step walkthrough of every tool on mytravelmaps.org — the world map, the countries map, the US states map, the city pins, and the road trip planner.
Geography explained
How many countries are there in the world? 193, 195, or 197?
The honest answer depends on who you ask. We break down the four common counts — and explain which one travelers actually use.
Geography explained
The 7 continents explained: what belongs to each
Is it 5 continents, 6, or 7? It depends where you learned geography. Here's how the different models work — and which countries fall into each one.
Geography explained
Disputed countries: how travelers count Kosovo, Taiwan, and Palestine
Three partially-recognized states, three very different histories, and one practical question every traveler eventually asks: do I count them on my map?
Geography explained
Schengen vs. EU vs. Europe: the three Europes explained
Travelers constantly mix them up. The EU is politics, Schengen is borders, and Europe is a continent — and they overlap in surprising ways.
Travel tracking
What counts as "visiting" a country? The traveler's rulebook
An airport transit, a cruise port stop, a taxi from the terminal into town — at what point do you get to say you've visited a country? We walk through every rule travelers use.