Does "Airport Only" Count As a Visit?

If you change planes in Atlanta, but never leave the airport, can you say that have you been to Georgia?

For people who keep track of how many states they’ve been in, it’s a legitimate question. Based on my own, admittedly unscientific, polling, the answer is “no.” Unless, one leaves the airport, it cannot be said that one has been in a particular place. Most would argue that it is impossible to get to know a place from within the confines of an airport. You’re not seeing the sites or meeting the local people or eating any of the local food. I would agree that those arguments have merit.

At the same time, though, I wonder how much time a person must spend in a place in order to be able to say that one has met the local people and appreciated the local food? Certainly, on an overnight visit or even in a stay lasting three days one only begins to scratch the surface in most places.

The counterpoint to those believe that airport-only visits don’t count is this: when one lands and deplanes in a place, one has set foot in that place. The passenger is subject to the laws of that place, pays the taxes of that place, even uses the currency of that place. Even with an airport-only visit, one truly has been within the borders of the place, and isn’t that what we’re counting?

There are several states on my list of states visited that I have not fully explored. For example, although I have been in Mississippi a few times, I have only been in the panhandle of that state, and I have never spent the night there. How can it be said that I have explored the sites of Mississippi when I have not been more than ten miles away from the Gulf of Mexico? How much different is this, really, than it would be if my only Mississippi visit was a change of planes in Jackson?

Similarly, I have been to Wisconsin only because I made a deliberate effort to drive up to the state line from Great Lakes Naval Center in Illinois. I have not been to Milwaukee, nor Green Bay, nor Madison, nor Wisconsin Dells. I merely crossed the state line, took a couple selfies, and returned to Illinois.

On the other hand, Massachusetts is a state that I have been in only by virtue of having changed planes in Boston. In keeping with traditional biases, I don’t count Massachusetts among the 36 states I have been in, even though I probably spent more time in Massachusetts on that layover in Boston than I did on my “visit” to Wisconsin, which I do count.

My real-time States and Provinces List is maintained here.

My thirty-six states, as of the time of this writing. I highlighted Massachusetts in a different color because I don’t count it among my 36 – even though I did change planes in Boston, once.

Elsewhere on this blog, I also keep track of the number of countries I have visited. As of the time of this writing, that number is 32, but again, some “visits” were deeper than others. There are no airport-only visits on my list of countries, but a number of them are countries that I visited as a port stop on a cruise. A few others, especially the micro-countries in Europe, made the list because I made a special effort to go out of my way to visit them on a day trip. San Marino and Liechtenstein both fall into this category.

As my effort to address some of these ambiguities, I added additional data points to my countries list: Have I spent at least one night in the country and have I been to the capital of the country? These provide additional context about my visits and allow me alternatives in how I count countries.

Link to: Countries List

How about you? Do you count states or countries? Is an airport visit enough for you to count it? What are your criteria? I’d love to hear from you.

PS: I count oceans, too — I have put my feet into three out of four.

Happy Travels!

Daniel Stober
February 3, 2020