How many countries have you visited outside of the UK?

Bevan Price · 15 Dec 2017

Not been overseas since 1990s - back no longer likes humping heavy luggage day after day. Before then, most trips were with LCGB, seeking steam to travel behind & photograph.

France
Belgium
Holland (these first three usually in transit to some other country)
Germany (West & East*)
Poland*
Hungary*
Austria
Lichtenstein (in transit)
Switzerland
Italy
Yugoslavia* (as it was; the parts now Slovenia & Croatia)
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Ireland.

* - these were communist at the time of the trips.

RailUK Forums

Railsigns · 15 Dec 2017

I've visited 53 countries outside of the UK, not all of which have railways.

TheEdge · 15 Dec 2017

France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, USA, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Cyprus, Spain

Strathclyder · 15 Dec 2017

Have only visited 2 other countries, both on holiday:

Ireland (2006)
U.S (Florida; 2008)

Geez, not all that impressive, is it?

Railsigns · 15 Dec 2017

Strathclyder said:
Have only visited 4 other countries when on holiday, and even then the list is rather meagre, primarily due to financial constraints. Anyhoo...

England (multiple times since 2002, 2015 presently being the last time I've been down)
Ireland (2006)
U.S (Florida; 2008)
Wales (2014)

Neither England nor Wales count, I'm afraid; they're both part of the UK.

Andyjs247 · 15 Dec 2017

Ireland *
France *
Germany *
Italy *
Spain
Netherlands *
Belgium *
Austria *
Hungary
Turkey
Malta
Cyprus
Australia *
Singapore *
Thailand
USA

I have put a * where I have used a train or trains in that particular country.

Strathclyder · 16 Dec 2017

Railsigns said:
Neither England nor Wales count, I'm afraid; they're both part of the UK.

Must have missed that. Original post duly edited. Cheers for pointing it out to me.

fowler9 · 16 Dec 2017

Blimey I missed out Hungary, wouldn't mind but it was a boss country and I caught the train there.

alxndr · 16 Dec 2017

Not particularly well travelled compared to most on here! All, with the exception of Holland, were as a child and didn't involve railways (unless you count a school trip on the Eurostar, where the only thing to see was the coach in a utilitarian tube). Holland was a very recent short trip, and my partner's first experience of travelling outside of the UK.

Belgium
France
Spain
Portugal
Cyprus
Italy
Norway
Iceland
Canada
America
Trinidad & Tobago
Holland

In Holland we only went from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam Centraal, and the only comments I have about that are:

Different coloured seating for the classes on the Intercity worked well.
Multicoloured stripes on the inside of the Intercity didn't work quite so well, I prefer our (largely) less garish interiors.
LCD-screen on the Sprinter is much more helpful than the LED displays in some of our trains.
From the couple of points that were visible from the platform in Amsterdam Centraal there didn't appear to be any stretcher bars or similar (although I suspect there probably is some system to maintain the gauge throughout in use, I didn't have much opportunity to look closely).
Noted that the printed timetables in Amsterdam Centraal also showed platform numbers.
The paper tickets were quite fancy, not needing to be "fed" into the barrier to operate them, although the print quality is generally better on ours.
Lines tended to follow roads quite closely, which I also noticed in Belgium.

Iskra · 16 Dec 2017

France
Spain
Belgium
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Germany
Switzerland
Austria
Italy
Cyprus
Greece
Sweden
Norway
Russia
Iceland
Canada
USA
Bahamas
Ireland
Vatican City

Dutch rail system very good. Frequent trains, that are very cool. Very modern and efficient. Bonus points for using our intercity logo and double-decker trains, friendly staff too who often speak English.

Swedish rail system, again very good. Cool trains, plenty of LHCS, they have their own version of pendelino's. Sleeper services very prone to delays but that's normal. Friendly staff, bonus points for double-decker trains, trains that cross the arctic circle, free coffee/cake/sandwiches if the sleeper trains are late, good staff who speak English. Nice scenery too.

I've only been on the Berlin H-bahn, so can't really judge an entire network on that.

Only one return journey in Switzerland, so again can't judge.

Italy. Generally very good, plenty of LHCS and High-speed services. Quite cheap. Very scenic. Trains can be infrequent away from the big cities. Some trains or stations are dilapidated, vandalised, graffiti-strewn (but clean on the inside) and some parts of the network feel uncared for, but an optimist would call this 'rustic Italian charm.' The staff are hit and miss. Bonus points for the amount of LHCS, comedy value, double-decker trains and trains on ferries.

Norway, I can't judge too much as I did Narvik-Kiruna which is basically a branchline of the Swedish rail system, served by Swedish trains. Excellent scenery though.

pemma · 16 Dec 2017

^ Berlin H-Bahn? Do you not mean the Surburban S-Bahn (red trains) or the Underground U-Bahn (yellow trains)?

Iskra · 16 Dec 2017

I think that speaks volumes about my experience of the DB network

S-Bahn.

flymo · 16 Dec 2017

In no particular order:

Hong Kong (now home)
China
Taiwan
Singapore
Malaysia
Thailand
Indonesia
The Philippines
Australia
New Zealand
United Arab Emirates
Greece
Austria
Switzerland
France
Holland
Belgium
Germany
Lichtenstein
USA

fowler9 · 16 Dec 2017

Anyone else been to South America?

Railsigns · 16 Dec 2017

fowler9 said:
Anyone else been to South America?

I visited Chile in 2009, staying in Santiago and Easter Island.

fowler9 · 16 Dec 2017

Railsigns said:
I visited Chile in 2009, staying in Santiago and Easter Island.

Chile is boss, my cousin lives in Talca. Spent Christmas 2011 in Santiago and New Year in Playa Ritoque up the coast from Valparaiso.

najaB · 16 Dec 2017

alxndr said:
In Holland we only went from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam Centraal, and the only comments I have about that are:
7. Lines tended to follow roads quite closely, which I also noticed in Belgium.

I'm going to guess that the generally flat nature of the Netherlands means that both road and rail can follow straight(ish) lines a lot more than they can in the UK.

Strat-tastic · 18 Dec 2017

France
Holland
Italy (Sicily)
Switzerland (school skiing trip, also caught a train)
America (took the California Zephyr from Denver to San Francisco. Amazing scenery, spent most of the trip in the observation car chatting with fellow passengers (yes, me! Whooda thunk it?). You meet all sorts on a train journey over a day and a half).
Namibia (was going to catch the night train but it didn't turn up so I changed my plans).
South Africa
Kenya
Ethiopia
Gabon (in transit)
Congo (in transit).

Guys you need to get to Africa, it's a wonderful continent

fowler9 · 18 Dec 2017

Strat-tastic said:
France
Holland
Italy (Sicily)
Switzerland (school skiing trip, also caught a train)
America (took the California Zephyr from Denver to San Francisco. Amazing scenery, spent most of the trip in the observation car chatting with fellow passengers (yes, me! Whooda thunk it?). You meet all sorts on a train journey over a day and a half).
Namibia (was going to catch the night train but it didn't turn up so I changed my plans).
South Africa
Kenya
Ethiopia
Gabon (in transit)
Congo (in transit).

Guys you need to get to Africa, it's a wonderful continent

Would love to get to Africa. It's on the to do list.

Lrd · 18 Dec 2017

Belgium*
Bulgaria
Denmark*
Estonia*
France*
Germany*
Iceland#
Ireland*
Norway*
Poland#
Portugal
Romania
Spain
Sweden*
Netherlands*
China*
Malaysia#
UAE#
Canada*
USA*
Australia*

* = Used public transport
# = only been airside when changing planes

Next on my wish list is to visit Iceland/Faroe Islands properly and go back to Australia again as only been to Sydney and loved every minute of it.

fowler9 · 18 Dec 2017

Lrd said:
Next on my wish list is to visit Iceland/Faroe Islands properly and go back to Australia again as only been to Sydney and loved every minute of it.

Sydney is great isn't it, if you have the time and the money next time you are in that part of the world try and get to New Zealand as well. It is also a wonderful place.

Simon11 · 18 Dec 2017

According to my app, I've visited 36 countries and visited 14 states in the USA.

2017 has been a big year with in Europe for me with Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia & Slovenia ticked off with trains where possible! Plus first time to the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee & Wisconsin.

Next year have a visit to Puerto Rico booked and a visit to Iowa planned for the first three months but I'm hoping to get work to fly me to a few states around USA

fowler9 · 18 Dec 2017

Simon11 said:
According to my app, I've visited 36 countries and visited 14 states in the USA.

2017 has been a big year with in Europe for me with Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia & Slovenia ticked off with trains where possible! Plus first time to the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee & Wisconsin.

Next year have a visit to Puerto Rico booked and a visit to Iowa planned for the first three months but I'm hoping to get work to fly me to a few states around USA

Blimey you have done well there. Ha ha. I love ticking off countries and in a sad way I don't think 2018 is going to improve my count. I have my brothers wedding (He is marrying a girl from Colombia but they are getting married in Liverpool) plus I have a mates wedding, I am the best man and the stag do is going to be somewhere I have been before because that is where he wants to go. Impressed with your US tally, I've never been to the US full stop. Am hoping to rectify that soon.

Lrd · 18 Dec 2017

fowler9 said:
Sydney is great isn't it, if you have the time and the money next time you are in that part of the world try and get to New Zealand as well. It is also a wonderful place.

I shall keep that in mind, thanks

Calthrop · 18 Dec 2017

My total of countries is in the lower twenties -- precisely how many, depending on assorted factors / possible criteria. * denotes country visited, but without experiencing rail travel.

Irish Republic

Spain

France

Belgium

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Denmark

Sweden* (destination of a "mini-cruise", Harwich to Goteborg and return: "the sail" rather than "the destination" was the object of the exercise -- about 4 hours spent on Swedish soil)

Germany -- West and East: both sections, both before and after reunification

Austria

Romania

Poland

Ukraine ("just" -- for about an hour, and when Ukraine still a republic of the USSR: Polish State Railways "Poland-to-Poland" "corridor" working, through a small corner of the Ukraine)

Czechoslovakia "when it was still that" -- travelled both in what nowadays Czech Republic, and Slovakia

Yugoslavia "when it was still that" -- essentially, in what now Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia

Zimbabwe

Botswana (brief excursion out of and back into Zimbabwe -- one night in Botswana)

People's Republic of China

India

And one, concerning which I feel doubtful whether it can be counted: on only visit to India, 1993 / 94, flew from and back to Britain by Tajik Air, including (outward flight only) calling at airport of Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan* -- we had no chance to get out of the plane, but it was at least in daylight.

(Hoping to add Hungary to score, early in 2018.)

najaB · 18 Dec 2017

Simon11 said:
Next year have a visit to Puerto Rico booked and a visit to Iowa planned for the first three months but I'm hoping to get work to fly me to a few states around USA

I just managed to get brief visit to California. It's only in-transit but I'll have half a day in Los Angeles because it turned out to be cheaper make my connection at LAX than JFK or ATL.

So it's east coast all the way to west coast to then fly back to the UK, plus I get 'brownie points' for saving the company £400 or so and bag my first A380 flight as well.

fowler9 · 18 Dec 2017

Calthrop said:
Yugoslavia "when it was still that" -- essentially, in what now Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia

You get 5 countries for that, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia. Ha ha.

dcsprior · 18 Dec 2017

JDi said:
How well travelled is everyone on here and also, for those who are, how do the railway systems found overseas differ from ours in the UK?

I don't consider myself very well travelled. I'd never been outside the UK until I was around 18 years old, then in the space of a few years managed to visit quite a few European countries. Not much since then, as my wife doesn't really like flying, but went to France in 2015 (Honeymoon) and India this year (work).

All in all I've been to 9 countries, used a mainline train precisely once, and trams in another couple of countries.

Italy - used a train when we hadn't been planning to, when our party managed to get separated. I can remember that the buying/travelling process seemed very straightforward given we barely spoke a word of Italian, but beyond that I can't give any great insights
Germany - been three times, and used trams one of those times - in Dusseldorf.
Austria - used trams and a funicular in Innsbruck
Republic of Ireland
France
Belgium
Estonia
Bulgaria
India

Plus two other countries where I've changed planes but not left the airport (or, I think, ventured landside)

Netherlands
Czech Republic

Zamracene749 · 19 Dec 2017

Not all that many, but in order of train and tramway heavenliness the ones for me are-

Czech Republic (many many visits)
Germany(many visits)
Poland(many visits)
Romania(4 times)
Hungary(6 times)
Slovakia(3 times)
Austria
Spain
Belgium
Republic of Ireland
Netherlands
France
Tuvalu
(OK, I made that last one up

)

96tommy · 19 Dec 2017

17 different countries for me. My favourite has got to be Norway. Out of the cities I've visited then definitely Cadiz.

Germany
Denmark
Ireland
Finland
Sweden
Norway
France
Italy
Morocco
Spain
Vatican City
Portugal
Estonia
Gibraltar
Lithuania
Latvia
Russia
Switzerland

Travelled on railways in Germany, France, Germany and Italy. Out of them, I prefer Italian railways.

How many countries have you visited outside of the UK?

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