The Travelers' Century Club is a club for people who have visited at least 100 of the destinations on its own list, which had 330 entries as of January 2022. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1954. Its list is longer than the UN's 193 because it counts some islands, regions and territories separately, and its rule for a visit is generous: even a port of call or a plane fuel stop counts, as long as you get off and set foot in the territory.
How the club decides what's on the list
The club publishes its criteria on its Territory Status page. In short:
- Sovereign states count, and so do places run separately as a colony, protectorate or trust territory.
- Island groups count on their own if they're at least 200 miles (about 320 km) from the mainland of the country that runs them. Closer island groups need more than 100,000 people and their own state, province or department.
- Pieces of a country cut off by foreign land or water, or lying on another continent, can count separately if more than 100,000 people live there.
- Parts of a federation that are a republic, emirate or kingdom in their own right count separately.
- Disputed areas with a historically independent identity count separately.
- Empty places don't count, with one exception: the political divisions of Antarctica.
The 330, region by region
The club groups its list into twelve regions:
| Region | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Europe & Mediterranean | 68 |
| Africa | 55 |
| Asia | 52 |
| Pacific Ocean | 40 |
| Caribbean | 31 |
| Middle East | 21 |
| Indian Ocean | 15 |
| South America | 14 |
| Atlantic Ocean | 14 |
| Central America | 7 |
| Antarctica | 7 |
| North America | 6 |
The full list of 330 on this site shows every entry and the country or territory it belongs to.
Where the club splits a country
This is where a club count pulls ahead of a UN count. Some examples from the current list:
- United States: the contiguous states, Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands.
- United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- United Arab Emirates: all seven emirates, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Umm Al Quwain.
- Spain: mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and Ceuta and Melilla.
- Italy: the mainland, Sardinia and Sicily.
- Saint Kitts and Nevis: St. Kitts and Nevis count as two.
- Russia, Turkey and Egypt: each split at the edge of a continent, such as Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia. See transcontinental countries.
- Antarctica: seven entries, one for each national claim.
The list also includes places that aren't on most others, such as Abkhazia, Transnistria, Somaliland and Tibet, under its rule for disputed areas. Their place on the list follows the club's counting rule; this page takes no side on their status.
What counts as a visit
The club's wording: a visit counts "even if only a port-of-call, or a plane fuel stop", provided you disembark and set foot in the territory. There's no minimum stay and no need for a passport stamp. That makes cruises especially productive (see does a cruise stop count) and puts the club at the generous end of the layover debate.
Membership runs mainly on the honor system, but the club says it may ask for proof of a visit, so it's worth keeping dated photos, boarding passes or stamps.
Joining, and the levels after 100
- Full membership needs 100 or more destinations from the list. You apply by listing the ones you've visited.
- Provisional membership is open from 75 destinations. Provisional members can attend club meetings and get the club's newsletter, The Centurian.
- Higher levels follow. The club refers to 150 and 200 levels, and members' pins are updated as their counts grow.
When a destination is retired
Borders change, and the club retires entries that no longer meet its criteria. Its retired list includes the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Berlin, the Netherlands Antilles, North and South Vietnam and the Panama Canal Zone. Under its grandfather clause, a retired destination still counts toward 100 and the 150 and 200 levels, as long as you visited before the date it was retired. More on this in countries that no longer exist.
Keeping a club count
A club count is hard to keep by hand because one trip can touch several entries: a week in the UAE might be two emirates or five. A practical method:
- Start from your UN or 250 count.
- For each country, check whether the club splits it, and which parts you were in.
- Add the places only the club lists, like island groups you sailed to.
The free country checklist lets you tick off places list by list. Globestamp can count by the club's 330 too (a Pro feature), from the same stamps it makes from your photos.