Stupid Question for my Ego
 

OK, lots of travellers talk about how many countries they have been to. Some even introduce themselves like "Hi, my name is Steve and I've done 37 countries and 4 continents". (You know who you are!) Here is my question for our friends from the UK. I have been to England and Wales. Does that count as two countries or have I only been to one ie. United Kingdom. :confused1: Besides upping my country count by 1, this could settle an argument I'm having with my son (who just returned from SE Asia (proud father of a traveller!!)). :scooter:

Sorry mate, you've only been to one country. Most people don't take Wales seriously.

Don't listen to the English propaganda! You have been to two countries!

Matt :)

Neither England nor Wales is a country .
But the United Kingdom IS a country .

But try telling that to them !
I've lived in both ,one is wetter than the other but it's hard to tell sometimes .

Have I stirred the pot? :oops2: Maybe we need a poll!

Scotland is allowed to call itself whatever it wants ,just so long as it keeps distilling scotch whisky .

If Wales counts as a country, then Scotland and Northern Ireland count as well (that's upped my score by 3)


Bill H




'05 F650GSPD
'00 Domi
'87 RMX250
'03 Honda Civic
'95 Fiat cinquecento
'98 Mountain Bike
'85 Skateboard
Hoop 'n Stick (age unknown)
Roller Skates
wellingtons (2 pairs)
Pogo Stick
'74 David Brown 995
Why do people
list everything with
Wheels that they
Have ever owned at
the end of their posts?

I'd offer you a drink or coffee, but that wouldn't be realistic, would it?
I've not looked through fashion magazines in quite a while.
Who are these people causing your ego to be unstable?
Did this happen early on, or is it something recent?

You could always choose the answer that makes you feel the best.....?

A pogo stick doesn't have wheels .

Why ?
 

I don't know why people list everything with wheels that they have ever owned but I post the bikes I own now at the end of my post to show where my interest is in biking. This is a site about bike travelling isn't it ?
By the way, if you want to know what bikes I ever owned, look at my website. The list is to long for a signature.

I am interested what bikes other people ride so other people may want to know what bike(s) I ride.
I'm not interested in what kind of underwear the wear or if they have a skateboard or bicycle.

here's a test!
 

Go into a pub in a dark alley in glasgow, late at night and try convince everyone thay they are english.
let me know your findings.
I am sure the same applies for Wales.
But seriously..
if it has its own flag...then count it. I even count Lesotho??

One nation, one flag
 

Thats a lot of politics coming out of the cupboards - right place for it here?! If so, here goes:-

Anyway, they are definitely all separate countries with their own national sports teams (Scotland even has a cricket team nowadays), flags, national days, specific emblems on the coinage and parliaments/assemblies (except the English who do not have their own); but when it comes to taxes, the biggest population have to subsidise the smaller nations.

The UK is something else: only time will tell!!

Dave

It's adding up ....
 

Brilliant !

I've been doing some serious international traveling, and didn't know it!

Let's see .... Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, and North Carolina in the US and Stockholms län in Sweden. That's 7 flags or seven "countries"!

Actually, I'm only half joking. As everyone knows, most US states are large enough in land, population, and economy to be considered "nations". Of course, the culture doesn't vary that much, although the barbeque can ....

I figure we should just count "nations" as areas with fully autonomous governments. So, Taiwan counts, even though it's not a member of the U.N., but I'm not sure about South Ossetia or other areas that are "de facto" independent or in open revolt.

in olimpics there is only Great Britain

in football, there are Englang, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

but if you move to biking, i think that

there is only two wheels and one world. it does not matter where you go, importing thing is to be gone!!!

cheers

A country is not defined by whether or not it has it's own parliament, football team, flag or whatever. Did Poland cease to be a country in 1939?

A country is defined by it's people. If they say "we are a country" and believe it to be true, then they are a country.

Matt :)

I'll drink to that! It seems that the farther you go east the worse the barbeque gets. The first (and only) time I ate Eastern Carolina "barbeque" I thought the meat had spoiled!

I thought the UK was run by the EU these days .

Hmm...trying to keep this on thread/relevant to bikes
 

Not sure about that Matt: one mans terrorist is the next guys freedom fighter would be one consequence.
A question for anyone down the local pub on a Saturday night is:- Which country are you prepared to die for?

Anyway, I should have added "language" to that last list of mine!! Welsh, Gaelic etc etc. How about Corsica, Brittainy (anyone seen the flag for Cornwall, UK which has the same colours as the Brittainy version?), Basque country or Catalunya - I have seen many flags of these "countries" (more or less by Matts definition) on the panniers of touring bikes and in those regions you may find the regional flag flying in preference to the national flag of the relevant country.
Take another look at McGregor: makes his money in the capital of the UK but flies a Scottish Saltire as his preference on the road.

I suppose I am saying that the "trappings" of countries are relevant, symbolic and of importance.

I had an interesting conversation with a guy a few years ago; he had duel fluency in English and German from his upbringing. So I asked him which language he thinks in - as such, doesn't matter what the answer was (in fact English) but that is where his allegence lies, although he was serving with the German armed forces at the time with an oath of allegience to that country I would imagine.

Finally, the best single demonstration of national unity I have personally experienced was on 1st July 1998 when "Oh Canada" was sung in the streets of BC (and I guess a lot more places there) - all very spontaneous and natural as far as I could tell, but you won't see that in the "UK".

Hanging up my political boots now; as I say, I've tried to keep a biking theme!

Dave

All you have to do now is pick one. The proper England.

I have the Catalan flag on my left side pannier box (because I lived there, and speak the language a little).. but believe it or not, one of my Catalan friends called me a "Nazi" for having the Spanish flag on the other box! you just can't win. :confused2:

Wow, what a discussion! To simplify your answer to the original question, I would divide the UK into countries; after all, you said it was an argument with your son and it was for your ego--you may or may not be embellishing, but hey, it sounds better the more you have visited....

When I was sailing from SA to OZ I met a guy who had been sailing for about 4 years, as he was retired. I asked him if he was sailing around the world. He got quite annoyed and said "NO! I am sailing around in the world!"
I think he hit the nail on the head.
To all those bikers on the road today who gave me the nod...Cheers!

The ego thing was meant to be humorous. I don't really have much of an ego. I lost that when I got married. :rofl: I am just a lowly third grade teacher that enjoys the two months I get off every year by travelling. I understand how the Scots feel about their "country", after all I am originally from Texas!!:cowboy:

in olimpics there is only Great Britain

in football, there are Englang, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
By OZhanu

I presume what you were supposed to say was
in football there is England, Scotland, NORTHERN Ireland and Wales

Ireland (the republic that is) as we all know is a separate country entirely from the United Kingdom ( and we even have our own Olymic team).
Sorry if it sounds bitchy Ozhanu but Irish people (from the republic and approx 44% in the North) generally take a very dim view of being linked to United Kingdom,,,
But for what its worth i reckon Kurt I would definately call Wales Scotland and Northen Ireland separate countries.
Barra

Hey John
 

I see from your map there is Wessex, Sussex, Essex.
What happened to No ssex?
Yip.. I would have left too!

I found that map online and at first I thought it was one of Terry Gilliam's, but it was from a historical site.

Well, that answers that question!! Thanks!

What's the prize?
 

I'll go with that, so I think I can include an extra three for Brandenburg, Bavaria and the Palatinate (not sure how many I passed through in getting to them though) and what about the United provinces of the Netherlands? I think I've visited most of them too. Then there are the Italian states, and Swiss cantons. If you are keeping score to claim something you would probably be best advised to use an accepted list such as the UN or perhaps the CIA world factbook. If they list it as a country you can claim it, otherwise not.

One Motorcycle
One car
Two bicycles
and a high mileage pair of walking boots (feet being the original, and still the best means of transport)

proud to be welsh
 

i'm welsh and we think we're a different country. the english cant play rugby! i carry welsh and french signs on my bike. Fiere d'etre gallois!

Ask a Welshman if they consider Wales to be a separate country, what do you think they'd say? I reckon it is, as is Scotland - they have their own individual identity.Having grown up on the Cumbrian side of the Scottish border, it's a different place...:mchappy:

"New" countries are growing
 

Mark,
My guess is your tongue was firmly in cheek with that list of potential nation states (but you can't tell, Germany is a relative newcomer to the club of single combined states, so maybe you have something there by naming Bavaria et al). Here's one that may join the growing number of nations in this world of ours; just as an example of somewhere to be visited and another flag for someone to stick on the side of the panniers (turn left in Turkey on the way to Iran!)

South Ossetia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anyone who has visited Belgium has probably experienced the differences between the Flems and the Walloons, so there are two more flags to collect!

The examples are endless it seems.

Which Welsh identity ?
North Walean , Valley's Welsh ,South Pembs Welsh ,Welsh Borders - they are all different !

Then there is the other South Ossett .part of the Kingdom of Deira .
Ossett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Traditional clothing is worn ,aka flat cap and it is customary to bring Woodbines as a gift for the locals .
In former times their local religion involved the worship of Geoff Boycott .

ok here's one. what if you visited a country and it was called one name and then you went back years later and the name has changed. Is that one country or two to add to the list.?
and as for the previous statement that england can't play rugby, what was the latest score again...er 62-5 i think. not bad for a team that can't play eh?

Refer to Peter Forwood's blog
 

As he has been on the road sooo long I haven't checked this, but didn't Peter Forwood (see blogs) return to (I think) Herzogovina after it divided from Bosnia, so he could claim it as a new country, even though he'd visited the same places pre-division?

Kernow
 

Come to Cornwall, eat a pasty, add one to your list!

I think I solved my problem by placing the English and Welsh flags next to my flag of Quebec which also considers itself to be a different country! :confused1:

Errr, England ARE the current World Champions - although that's going to change very soon, and it's MOST unlikely that it's going to be the Welsh to change that (wrt the last match/mauling! [what was the scoreline again...?)
:rofl:.Sorry, but that quote was just too juicy to pass up!

Lots of people confusing cultural identity with political identity here.

12-10
 

:offtopic: For the benefit of those English and Australian travelers who missed the score, can I be the first to give this thread a bump? :D

Stephan

Ah yes, that will be the semi-final I believe!!

Cornwall is special
 

It was independant in the early 1800's being a major centre of engineering at that time having had free trade with Europe and Mediteranean countries for over 2000 years. Somehow it got assimilatedinto teh uk recently, even though it was never part of the roman empire (unlike England) due to its importance as the only supplier of tin to make bronze. There is no actual official inclusion of it into teh UK. It had its own language ( same as welsh and beton), currency and parliment(Stannary parlimant) which was for teh first time declared subject to British rule during Thatchers poll tax revolt.
You will find virtually every coastal country in Europe and the Mediteranean has a word for Cornwall, like the other countries. Not so the counties.

That's another flag to put on the panniers then; a white "vertical" cross on a black background.
I can't see the UK giving them independence though; not while there is a Scotsman as Prime Minister!