A trip to a country that no longer exists counts for the country that holds that ground today. If you visited Yugoslavia in 1985 and only saw Dubrovnik, you've been to Croatia; if you went to Czechoslovakia and only saw Prague, you've been to the Czech Republic, not Slovakia. The Travelers' Century Club goes one step further and keeps retired destinations like East Germany and Czechoslovakia on a list of their own, which still counts if you went before the club retired them.
The former countries people ask about most
| Former country | Until | Its ground today |
|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union | 1991 | 15 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia and Uzbekistan |
| Yugoslavia | 1991–1992, then 2003 for the rump state | Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 |
| Serbia and Montenegro | 2006 | Serbia and Montenegro, as two countries |
| Czechoslovakia | 31 December 1992 | Czech Republic and Slovakia |
| East Germany and West Germany | 3 October 1990 | Germany |
| North and South Yemen | 1990 | Yemen |
| North and South Vietnam | 1976 | Vietnam |
| Netherlands Antilles | 10 October 2010 | Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) |
Some countries didn't vanish but lost ground. Sudan still exists, but a trip to Juba before 2011 is now a trip to South Sudan; see the world's newest countries. Others only changed their name, like Zaire or Swaziland; those are in countries that changed their names.
How to count it on today's lists
On the UN's 193 and the 250 list, the old country has no entry, so you count each of today's countries whose ground you actually stood on.
- A Soviet tour of Moscow and Leningrad counts as Russia only. If the tour went on to Tallinn and Riga, add Estonia and Latvia.
- A Yugoslav beach holiday on the Dalmatian coast counts as Croatia. A day trip to Mostar adds Bosnia and Herzegovina; Budva adds Montenegro.
- A school trip to West Berlin counts as Germany. So does East Berlin, Dresden or the Baltic coast.
- A cruise to the Netherlands Antilles counts for whichever islands you went ashore on: Curaçao, Sint Maarten or Bonaire each count on the 250 list. On the UN list, they all fall under the Netherlands.
If you can't remember exactly where you went, old photos, letters and postcards usually settle it. A route through Yugoslavia by car could have crossed four of today's countries in a day.
How the Travelers' Century Club counts it
The club keeps a list of retired destinations: places that were once on its list but no longer meet its criteria. They include the German Democratic Republic, Berlin, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands Antilles, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, South Yemen and the Panama Canal Zone, each with the date it was retired.
Under the club's grandfather clause, a retired destination still counts toward the 100 needed to join and toward the 150 and 200 levels, as long as you visited before its retirement date. So a 1988 trip to East Berlin can still earn credit as the German Democratic Republic. The club retired that entry on 2 October 1990, the day before reunification. More on the club's rules in the Travelers' Century Club and its list of 330.
Keeping the old name alive
Many travelers like to keep a short list of the countries they saw before they disappeared. It doesn't change any count, but "I've been to the Soviet Union" is a story few people born after 1985 can tell.
Globestamp keeps that history on its stamps. A visit from before a country's name or borders changed is stamped with the name it had then, and it still counts for today's country. A 1985 photo in Ljubljana makes a Yugoslavia stamp that counts for Slovenia; a 1988 photo in Prague makes a Czechoslovakia stamp that counts for the Czech Republic. Germany before 3 October 1990 becomes East or West Germany by the region you were in, while Berlin stays Germany. It also knows the Soviet Union, Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands Antilles. Where a history is disputed, it keeps today's name.
Old trips often have no location
Most trips to countries that no longer exist were shot on film. A scanned print has no location and carries the date you scanned it. In the Photos app on iPhone you can set a photo's location and change its date and time from its info panel; menus can move between iOS versions. How to add or change a photo's location has the steps. Set the date as well as the place, so the photo sits in the right year.