Europeans are so lucky to have so many countries so clouse to them.

I think I've been to about 30 US states and the District of Columbia, lived in 3 of them (California, Nevada and Florida), lived on Guam 3 times (US Territory) and been to Puerto Rico (another territory).

Traveled to Mexico, England, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, Austria, Germany (both West and East as it was at that time), Sweden and Norway.

When I was 10, I spent three days in Vancouver, BC (so I've been to Canada), and twice I crossed into a border town in Mexico (on the Texas and Arizona borders), neither time spending more than a single day.

But I lived in Texas from 1970 to 1974!

Does that count?

Quoting m.cellophane:

Quote:
Quoting VibroCount:

Quote:
But I lived in Texas from 1970 to 1974!

Does that count?

Yes. 

Good.

It was nearly as "special" as Mississippi.

Africa:
Morocco (coming up in 2010: Egypt)

Asia:
Thailand (coming up in 2010: Israel)

Europe:
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Lichtenstein
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Slovenia (at the time of my visit: Yugoslavia)
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom

North America:
Canada (Alberta, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec)
Belize
Bermuda
Dominican Republic
Cuba
United States of America (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas)
Mexico

South America:
Argentina
Chile
Uruguay

Comments: These are places I've properly visited. Drive-throughs on road trips aren't counted. Underlined countries are countries I've lived in.

Quoting Jericko1:

Quote:
Europeans are so lucky to have so many countries so clouse to them.

I don't know if we're lucky but it's true that we can easily go to another country.

Funny (true) story: first time my wife was in Belgium with me, we were staying with my parents living in Belgium, at 6 km from the French border. So we went to visit the north of France and when we crossed the border by car, I told her: "We're in France, now, honey". Now, you have to keep in mind she's Japanese and as such was used to living on an island. Going abroad for her means to step into an airplane (which is why one of the Japanese words for 'abroad' is 'kaigai', literally meaning 'overseas').

Anyway, the amazement could literally be read on her face that we crossed the border this easily. Especially since the EU, there are no custom offices or checkpoints anymore so it looked just like a normal straight road. For kicks, I stopped the car and let her cross back and forward between the two countries by foot. She was so amazed that after we got back home, she immediately emailed her experience to her friends and family. Even up to this day, she still talks about what an amazing first experience that was for her.

It was also hard to make her understand the concept of 'no-man's land'. There's a small stroke of land between the two borders that is neither France nor Belgium. In Japan, matters are simple: there's Japan, a group of islands and the sea is the natural border. They don't have no-man's lands there. Making her understand that there was a tiny piece of land that didn't belong to any country was another moment of amazement for her.

@Taro:
If you'd like your wife to REALLY experience what "borderless" means, you ought to visit the Belgian enclave of Baarle-Hertog which is surrounded by Dutch territory. Actually it's a series of enclaves (24 of them), and it's completely intertwined with its Dutch counterpart municipality of Baarle-Nassau. Some Belgian enclaves even have Dutch enclaves inside of them...

Over there, the houses carry small flags next to their house numbers, just so you know which country you're in. In some cases (don't know if that's still true, as some border corrections have been made), the border used to run right through houses, so you could have couples sleeping in different countries whilst sharing the same bed. An old story is about a café with two bars inside, one on Belgian territory and one on Dutch. Until a few decades ago, strong liquor could not be sold in Belgian bars. In this particular café the result was that if you wanted something strong, you had to go over to the bar on the Dutch side to order it.

The village has:
2 mayors
2 town halls
2 municipality councils
2 churches
2 fire brigades
2 fire stations
2 post offices
2 telephone networks
2 electricity networks
2 sporting grounds
2 pharmacies
2 industrial areas
2 tax systems

BUT also has:
1 waterworks (Dutch)
1 waste water system (Dutch-Belgian)
1 library (Dutch-Belgian)
1 TV cable network (Belgian)
1 gas network (Dutch)
1 community center (Dutch-Belgian)

More on this amazing village can be found here.

I recall going there with some Polish friends at the time Poland was still under communist rule. They were completely flabbergasted...

Born in Germany, live in the US. I changed planes in Ireland on the way.