Unlimited sands from wherever you like!

[Frank]

Hi @ll,

I just ran across an article about the Travellers' Century Club. If you are honored to be member of this unique society or you luckily know somebody who knows somebody who is: please keep it to yourself and draw you own conclusions! For this top-secret information I do not expect anything - but a variety of sands from each of the countries vsited...

[Rudy]

I only reach 57 up until now So I dont qualify

[Frank]

:-( I only reach 57 up until now So I dont qualify

me only 37...! But, are we collecting countries or sands, Rudy?

[Rudy]

That came years later

On my last long trip abroad I took my first sample

[Rudy]

I use to be a sailor / Marine engineer, sounds more than it actualy was, I always had a greasy cloth in my backpocket, they use to call us greasemop as well.
But you never guess wath I was doing most of the time ......................................... cleaning and painting

[Rudy]

What is a country is sometimes a bit fishy. and very disputable.
I did read there rules, and disputable "country's" are ruled in the favor of the traveler.
Turkye is counted as two, Europe and Asia, greece is tree of four, becouse fome provinces are further away than 200 miles from the mainland, Crete and the Dodecanises (Rhodes) are seperate country's, everything not nailed to the mainland USA are seperate country's ETC. ETC.
In my own, the normal way of counting I end up a bit lower.

Country Status
Our Rules Established in 1970

1. Government/Administration: Any geographic area with a sovereign government or separately administered as a colony, protectorate, trusteeship territory, territory or mandate shall be considered as a separate country.

2. Enclaves/Continental Separation: Continental land areas having a common government or administration but which are geographically discontinuous either by reason of being separated by foreign land not under their control, by being located on separate continents, or by being separated by a natural body of water shall be considered as separate countries provided their population exceeds 100,000. Multiple fragments separated by the same foreign country shall only count for one country.

3. Federations: A geographic entity which is a federation of separate geographically definable entitles, each of which is a separate republic/emirate/kingdom in its own right shall be counted as separate countries.

4. Islands/island Groups:

a. An island/island group not separately defined under section I shall be considered a separate country if.

1. It is situated at least 200 miles from the closest continental portion of its administrating country; or
2. Being located within 200 miles, it has a population exceeding 100,000 and is administered as distinctively separate state(s), province(s), or department(s).

b. Island groups that are parts of an island country within the definition of section I shall be considered separate countries if.,

1. They are situated at least 200 miles from the closest portion of the same island country; or
2. Being located within 200 miles, they have a population exceeding 100,000 and are administered as distinctively separate states, provinces, or departments.

5. Disputed Status: Geographically defined areas which have historically had an independent identity and whose current political status is the subject of dispute shall be counted as separate countries.

6. Unpopulated/Unadministered Areas: Any area which is unadministered or has no resident population will not be considered as a separate country, except for the political divisions of the Antartica.

7. Grandfather Clause. An area which is recognized as a country in the past may be retained as a country even if it does not fit any of the above criteria and any country that is deleted from the list will still count for the purposes of having reached the minimum number of countries required for membership or for the 150 or 200 country levels.

[Frank]

Well, in order to attain the goal to travel as much countries as possible - what would you do if you have travelled to all and there's still so much lifetime to be filled with disport: you invent "new countries".
I'm very much tensed what they'll do once too much of their members have collected all countries. Simply quit collecting? Make new definitions? Include extrateresstrial locations (is the Moon one country due to lacking water? ) ?

Despite of this, it'll surely be fun to get in touch with one of them "professional tourists". You can be sure to get stiffed with sand samples from every spot on earth - no matter how remote it might be.

[Rudy]

You can always mail them.