Banff

It is a goal of mine to visit all 50 states. To date I am in the mid-30's range, depending upon how you qualify a visit. Here are several questionable scenarios:

1) Suppose someone is on vacation in southern Colorado and they go to the 4 corners monument - placing one hand and one foot in each of the 4 states - do all four states count on the list of states they've been to?

2) Suppose someone is taking a cross country trip, can you count a state that you've driven through but never stopped in? What if they stop for gas?

3) I once got stranded in Kansas City on a flight out west. I had to stay in a hotel near the airport for one night. Does Missouri count as a state I've been to?

4) Other than my hometown airport, I've probably spent more time in the Newark airport than any other airport but I've never been outside the airport itself. Does New Jersey count?

explanation

At least one night in a state, not in an airport.

explanation

Preferably 24 hours in a state.

explanation

But it's up to you to decide how you want to play the game.

It's up to you to decide the quality of your visit.

For me, none of the four examples you gives qualifies as a visit.

hpeabody

A sleep is what I used. I completed my quest in 2005 with Alaska being my 50th

Banff

Ok, so if an overnight qualifies a visit then would my overnight when I got stranded in KC count as a visit to Missouri?

One time I flew into Providence, RI in the morning, bee-lined it to Newport and did the cliff walk, saw the mansions and then drove to Cape Cod for the night. Does that count for a visit to Rhode Island without an overnight or 24 hrs?

What if you took a cruise with a port stop in New Orleans for the day, would that count?

By no means am I questioning anyone's criteria for what constitutes a "visit," honestly, I've just always questioned what I should or should not count.

happytrailstoyou

If I were keeping such records, I would make notes for each state. For example:

California: Two-week road trip, July 2011
Ohio: Changed planes in Cincinnati, September 2009

And so on.

HTTY

WhereAreWe

It's your list, it's up to you how you define visit.

Personally I think doing and seeing something worthwhile counts as a visit, not spending a night. Consider someone who gets a room at the edge of a state, does nothing more than sleep in the room and then leaves the next morning ... vs. someone who drives into the same state in the morning, spends the entire day sightseeing and visiting as many things as possible before continuing on their journey and exiting the state without sleeping overnight. Which of those sounds more like a visit to you?

gail

The rules in our family are quite liberal. One must stand on the ground in a state and breathe real air in that state. There are no minimum times So driving thru a state does not count unless you get out of the car for 5 seconds and take a breath. In fact, my daughter and I went out thru security at Denver airport, breathed in bus-lane air, and then returned back thru security to catch out connecting flight. By our rules, we have now been to Colorado. But our list is "been to" as opposed to "visited" - since those in the fine state of Colorado would surely not characterize the bus lane at the airport as a fair representation of their state.

Works for countries as well - so despite having spent 10 hours at airport in Frankfurt - I have never "been to" Germany.

nytraveler

Since this is an unofficial quest - you are free to define it however you want.

I personally wouldn't count just putting a hand or foot in at a corner - but if you drive around for a couple of hours I would - no need to actually stay there overnight.

And I wouldn't count just landing at an airport, changing planes and taking off again - but it really is up to you.

cd

It's however you want to define YOUR travel. For us, airports don't count and we have to actually do something in the state. Having lunch would count or visiting a museum.

rizzo0904

I have to DO something in the state, not necessarily spend the night. Our boys spent a day in Delaware, went to the Children's Museum, had a nice lunch, walked along the river. I say they've been to Delaware.

Banff

As I've thought back over my life, I realized I have had quite a few questionable "visits" to different states. Perhaps my mid - 30's count is a bit too liberal. I guess I was thinking . . . "boots on the ground" counts.

* I was a counselor one summer at a camp on the border of two states. One of the other counselor's lived just over the border and I stayed at his place one Saturday night.

* During college I went home one weekend w/ a dorm friend who lived near the border of two states. That night we crossed the state line to go to another college bar . . .came back several hours later.

* Attended a wedding on the Florabama border. Stayed in a hotel on the bama side for one night. When you think of the vastness of Alabama, I literally just stayed right on the edge of the stateline.

Lateagain

A guy we met in Arizona was 'doing' the 50 states and he said one had to have a meal, take a bus ride and visit a washroom to qualify it as a visit.

Cranachin

Personally, I don't count a state as "been in" unless I have set foot on the ground in it. So I have two states that are airport-only and one more that is a ride-through only (and just one county at that). If I had been driving I probably would have stopped and gotten out! But I do count those 3 states a "transited".

Of course you have BEEN IN (you were physically present in) all the states that you reference above. Did you VISIT them? Depends on what you want to call a visit—that's entirely up to you. In my book, staying overnight counts, as does doing business.

As for HOW MUCH of a state you have to see—you could fly into a city for a meeting, spend a week there, eat at restaurants, go to attractions, and then fly out without ever leaving that city. Have you visited that state? Of course! Doesn't matter that it's just one city.

On the other hand, for COUNTRIES to count for me, I have to actually ENTER the country. There's one country that I have only landed in—didn't even get off the plane—so of course it doesn't count (except as "transited"). I have changed planes in 2 airports (and bought things in both) but not actually gone through immigration and customs. To me, they don't count as "been to" either because I never actually "entered" them (in the legal sense). If I'd had time, I would have gotten the passport stamps, though. And in fact, I did just that in South Korea one time (went through immigration at Incheon and took a bus ride around the island it's on, getting off at one place to look around a bit before going back to the airport). Since then I have actually spent real time in Korea, though.

PaulRabe

For my wife and I, we had a simple criterion before we made claim to "all fifty states": we not only had to spend the night sleeping together in a state, but we had do something MORE than just sleep. We got to number 50 on July 11 of last year, just after our 29th anniversary.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pr77x/8...in/photostream

spirobulldog

I only count a state if I actually do something in that State. Just driving 20 miles through a state, landing at an airport, etc doesn't exactly count, in my book.

lcuy

There was a club of people who count how many states/countries they've been in. Their rules are that you have to stand in the state or country and it doesn't count unless you are off airport/rail/port property.

lcuy

Sorry, I can't remember the name of the club...

Katzgar

your game, your rules