264 And Counting
Being just a little bit addicted to making lists, we have kept a note of every city, town and village outside of Great Britain where we have stayed since we started travelling together in 2011. Not a list of everywhere we’ve visited, that would be too long a list, but a list of every place where we have stayed overnight for at least one night. One night, though, is enough to qualify.
The number currently stands at 264 at the end of the year, so we’ll be hoping to push it beyond 300 during 2024. Putting the 264 into alphabetical order, the list runs from Acton (California) to Zermatt, in Switzerland, and includes at least one place beginning with each letter of the alphabet. The most common starting letter is, perhaps unsurprisingly, “S”, with 30, though personally I find it surprising that the number starting with “K” is as high as 21, yet there are only 2 beginning with “R” – Riga and Rome.
The only starting letters with just a single entry are “J” (Juara), “Q” (Quepos), “U” (Udzungwa), “X” (Xlendi) and “Y” (Yucca Valley). The longest place name, with 27 letters including spaces, is Santo Domingo de la Calzada, though it only beats San Cristobal de las Casas by 1. The shortest place names have just 3 letters, and there are 5 of them – Bol, Fes, Hue, Kas and Kep. The longest single word place name has 12 letters, with Kanchanaburi, Thessaloniki and Villahermosa taking joint honours.
Alphabetical lists are all very well until you’re presented with somewhere which goes by two different names: we opted for Ho Chi Minh City rather than Saigon, going down the official route, but Villajoyosa aka La Vila Joyosa presented a different problem, as did those places in Cyprus bearing both Turkish and Greek names which are radically different. Girne is also Kyrenia and Lefkosa is the Turkish name for Nicosia – we went for the Turkish option in both cases given that we were in that part of the country.
None of this is of any use to anyone, and is I’m sure of very limited interest, but it does give us an excuse to throw out a few memorable photographs of just a few of those 264 places.
34 Comments
restlessjo
I’m not big on numbers, Phil, but I can’t fault those photos.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Jo
Miriam
Love this! Such amazing photos. Must admit I love my lists too. And journaling. In the caravan I keep a notebook of every place and campsite we’ve been to.
Phil & Michaela
These things have to be done, if only to provide memory joggers!
Monkey's Tale
It’s a good list. I’m still jealous of the weather you had in La Fortuna 🙂 Maggie
Phil & Michaela
We were very lucky, both there and in Monteverde.
Helen Devries
What a good excuse for such wonderful photographs
Phil & Michaela
Ta!
Annie Berger
Au contraire, Phil and Michaela, I loved the list and all its permutations, 3-letter names, longest names, names by another culture, etc. Oh, and the photos weren’t half-bad, either – always love a retrospective like this!
Phil & Michaela
A lady after my own heart then, Annie. I love all that stuff…apart from being fun in their own right, these lists create memories anyhow 😊
Lookoom
It’s not just the numbers, but the texts and stories that go so well with your beautiful photos throughout your travels. I hope to see more of you in 2024.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you my friend
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Fantastic photos. I keep track through my photos but I should probably make a list some time as it would be interesting to do a count. Cheers.
Phil & Michaela
Well I like words and numbers, they’re kind of my things, so such lists are just part of my way. They are good ways to trigger travel memories in any case 😊
Heyjude
I love lists and numbers! You could easily do an A to Z around the world. I would struggle with several letters. My much more limited aim is to have spent at least one night in every county in England. I think I have been through most, but not stayed over.
Your Quepos sunset is stunning BTW.
Phil & Michaela
As it happens Jude, the original idea for this post was to do 26 daily posts through January, one for each letter, but then we decided it would probably get too repetitive and so limited it to the one quick post. I used to travel a lot through work so I’ve definitely stayed in many different counties – I may have to have a tot up! But then…traditional pre-‘74 counties or the newer counties which have been redrawn several times? It may get too complicated!
Toonsarah
This is one list I’ve never kept but I’m tempted to try to compile one some time when I have a quiet afternoon to spare! I’m pretty sure I won’t have an X however 😆 And yes, what a great excuse to share some super travel shots! I especially love the Thai sunset, the pelican in Puerto Escondido and that last shot of you two in Wadi Musa 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Cheers Sarah
Travels Through My Lens
Life isn’t complete without lists. Beautiful photos!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you
grandmisadventures
264 is a pretty amazing number of many amazing places that you have visited. I love that you are fellow list makers 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Lists rock!
Alison
That would have taken a while to compile! Astonishing look back though with great photos to remind you of fantastic travels
Phil & Michaela
Well I started compiling it several years ago fairly early in our travels so it’s just been a case of updating as we go along, so not too much of an effort really!
Alison
A great idea, I’ll have to look at doing that also
Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle
This is wonderful! You should post the entire list! 😝 would love to see it. Or at least, favourite for each letter of the alphabet
Phil & Michaela
We nearly did that – it was going to be one post a day for 26 days but then we decided it would probably become too repetitive. Maybe we should have done it that way!
leightontravels
Ha, what a fun project and the kind of thing I used to play around with some years ago. In fact, it’s made me wonder where along the way my penchant for list-making faded away. You’ve compiled a great list of shots here, though I think Pamukkale might be my favourite.
Phil & Michaela
Still addicted to lists, me. I hold my mother responsible!
wetanddustyroads
Wow, what an interesting list! At least there’s one or two where we’ve been (like Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Xlendi). It’s an impressive list Phil (and I really enjoyed your pictures too). We look forward to your 300+ list of this year!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Corna x
WanderingCanadians
That’s an impressive number (and some beautiful captures). Here’s to hoping you hit 300 this year!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you ☺️
Kelly MacKay
Awesome