Double or nothing – well almost
Apparently, the average Brit has visited Seven countries
I recently saw a report of a survey undertaken for the London City Airport which claimed to have found that the average person in the UK has visited seven countries in their life.
The survey of some 2000 people came up with a number of other interesting facts, such as that almost a third had visited ten or more countries and one person claimed to have collected “an impressive tally” of 42 countries … but the more I thought about it, the more my mind kept returning to that headline statistic: the average Brit has visited seven countries …
Like most people, I suspect, my first reaction on seeing the headline was to wonder how many countries I had notched up … were England, Scotland, and Wales allowed as separate countries or were we only allowed to count the United Kingdom? … Albania, Armenia, Austria, Australia, the Bahamas, Belgium, the Cayman Islands, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Spain, St. Marten, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia, Vatican City …
I make that 34 + the UK = 35 … or 37 if I am allowed to count England, Scotland and Wales separately … and that’s without the other questionable possibilities:
- Presumably Guernsey, Jersey and Sark don’t count … they are not exactly countries … but what about Northern Ireland?;
- just like I can’t claim California, Florida, Maine, and New York separately,
- likewise Noumea and Tahiti … which are technically part of France;
- nor Hong Kong and Macao which are technically administrative regions of China – although they weren’t at the time I visited,
- or St. Thomas in the Caribbean which is administered by the US …
- and I presume that Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia and Montenegro don’t count as separate countries because they were all part of Yugoslavia when I was there …
- and Germany was already reunited by the time I visited so I can’t count both East and West Germany …
- and I won’t try and count Georgia, Indonesia or the UAE where basically the plane just touched down on a stopover and I never even left the plane.
… that may not be quite as “impressive” as 42 and nowhere near the record of collecting a stamp from every country in the world … but, still, I think it’s fairly impressive … and more than seven.
Among the results of the survey, was the observation that, apparently, “overseas travel is no longer seen as a big deal,” according to the Chief Executive Officer of the airport that commissioned the survey, “it’s become almost as normal as catching a train.” Two thirds of the respondents had traveled abroad at least once in the last year, and 20% had managed it twice … and almost 8% had made four or more trips … (although it’s not clear how the sample of 2000 was chosen … but if it was drawn from the general population, that seems quite impressive in itself.)
The reasons cited for their journeys vary and may help to explain why the profile of the airport’s clientele is changing - from being predominantly businessmen hopping over the Channel on business, to people traveling to see friends and relatives, (with almost half of the respondents having relatives living abroad), or going in search of sun or snow, or to celebrate some event, (such as: a birthday or anniversary, for Christmas or New Year, or I presume, for their honeymoon – something like 11% said that they had got engaged abroad!).
The survey suggests that there are also distinct differences in the ages of travelers, the destinations they chose.
Perhaps one of the most surprising statistics to come out of the survey was that 8% of those surveyed said that they had never visited any European capitals – including London!
The implication, it seems to me, is that:
- more people are traveling these days,
- they are traveling more often,
- for more reasons, and
- (although some of the traditional destinations are still drawing the crowds), people are choosing to travel to diverse places …
Now, although we are based in Bishkek and most of work involves making arrangements for trips to Kyrgyzstan, we also work with colleagues based in other Central Asian countries and can offer a variety of itineraries – through the five Stans; along the Silk Road, the Pamir and the Karakoram Highways; through the republics of the former Soviet Union …
As it happens, we offer one tour itinerary that almost doubles the number in that headline statistic … six countries: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan. It was put together in response to a particular request. Although we were responsible for the liaison in setting it up, the services in each separate country were provided by local companies who provided local specialists … with us delivering the Kyrgyz sections.
Needless to say, it’s quite a long tour – 35 days … and as well as the length, it’s a fairly busy and intensive itinerary – and not to everyone’s taste – but it gives a fairly comprehensive view of Central Asia – The five Stans and Eastern China.
Day 1. ASHGABAT (Turkmenistan)
Day 2. ASHGABAT ~ ANAU ~ MARY
Day 3. MARY ~ MERV ~ MARY
Day 4. MARY ~ ASHGABAT ~ DASHOGUZ
Day 5. DASHOGUZ
Day 6. DASHOGUZ – KHIVA (Uzbekistan)
Day 7. KHIVA
Day 8. KHIVA ~ BUKHARA
Day 9. BUKHARA
Day 10. BUKHARA ~ SHAKHRISABZ ~ SAMARKAND
Day 11. SAMARKAND
Day 12. SAMARKAND ~ TASHKENT
Day 13. TASHKENT ~ TERMEZ
Day 14.TERMEZ ~ DUSHANBE (Tajikistan)
Day 15. DUSHANBE
Day 16. DUSHANBE ~ ISKANDAR KOL ~ ISTARAFSHAN
Day 17. ISTARAFSHAN ~ KHOJAND
Day 18. KHOJAND ~ KANIBADAM ~ FERGHANA (Uzbekistan)
Day 19. FERGHANA
Day 20.FERGHANA ~ DUSTLIK BORDER ~ OSH (Kyrgyzstan)
Day 21. OSH ~ SARY-TASH
Day 22. SARY-TASH ~ IRKESTAM PASS ~ KASHGAR (China)
Day 23. KASHGAR
Day 24. KASHGAR
Day 25. KASHGAR ~ TORUGART PASS ~ TASH-RABAT (Kyrgyzstan)
Day 26. TASH-RABAT ~ NARYN
Day 27. NARYN- JETY-OGUZ- KARAKOL
Day 28. KARAKOL
Day 29. KARAKOL- CHOLPON-ATA
Day 30. CHOLPON-ATA~ BISHKEK
Day 31. BISHKEK
Day 32. BISHKEK ~ ALMATY (Kazakhstan)
Day 33. ALMATY
Day 34. ALMATY
Day 35. ALMATY ~AIRPORT
Bishkek