What’s the Travelers Century Club?

September 25, 2024

Dan Keyport is a new Associate member of Global Travelers. He has visited more than 100 countries and territories and is a member of the Travelers Century Club. Learn what it is and why qualifying might be a worthy travel goal.

Just what you need – One more club. Right?

I first learned of the Travelers Century Club (TCC) in the late 1980s. I worked for a consulting firm in a job that required 100% travel (mostly domestic). One of my well-traveled compatriots told me about a club that had only one requirement to join: visit 100 countries or more.

I had traveled solo in Europe at 15 and circumnavigated the globe as a vagabond after college, so I was already at 39 countries. Sign me up! I set a big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG) to reach the 100-country mark, join the TCC, and attend one of their meetings. I imagined their meetings must be filled with interesting people (spoiler alert—I was right).

If you are an international man of mystery, traveling to 100 countries might be easy. But if you are like me, that much travel is challenging in terms of both time and money. Most people can only dream of doing it, and relatively few have done it.

Raising a family (which is way more important in the big scheme of things) slowed me down in this pursuit. When the kids were small, I might only visit one or two new countries in a year. It wasn’t until the kids were big enough to come with and carry their own stuff that I started to make some good headway towards this goal.

My three adult children argued that the 100^th country was a huge deal, and they wanted to be there with me to help celebrate. In other words, they wanted me to pay for their vacation. We picked Jamaica because (weirdly) I had never made it there, and it was an easy place to coordinate multiple families and a three-year-old grandchild.

We navigated the ever-changing COVID requirements of late 2021 and celebrated the big milestone together. In January 2022, I joined the club, and in March, we went to my first meeting in Los Angeles.

About the Century Travelers Club (TCC)

Bert Hemphill, owner of the luxury travel service provider Hemphill Travel Service, started the TCC in 1954 in Los Angeles. His tour director, Russell Davidson, handled its administration. In 1960, 43 people submitted their qualification list of 100 countries, and the club was off and running.

By 1980, there were 300 members, and today, there are more than (only!) 1,500 scattered worldwide. They have an all-volunteer board, a quarterly newsletter (The Centurian), and twenty-nine local chapters across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. The initiation fee is $100, and annual dues are $75 ($85 outside of the US).

The most common question I hear about traveling to 100 countries is: How many countries are there? My response is that it depends on how you define a country.

Many people consider the 193 United Nations member states a pretty good list. But wait. Is Vatican City a country? Yes (albeit a small one). And while it has Permanent Observer Status, it is not a member of the United Nations. So, 194?

But what about Gaza? Puerto Rico? Soloman Islands? What about the Western Sahara? Hong Kong? Tibet? The British Virgin Islands? US Virgin Islands? Kaliningrad is Russian but not connected to Russia, so what do we make of that? Can you name a single country in the continent of Antarctica? Hint: There aren’t any. But surely it counts for something if you have been there. Taiwan thinks they are a country. We think they are a country. China thinks they aren’t. Who should we believe?

The Travelers’ Century Club® has worked hard to compile an official list of 330 countries, territories, and places. Some of these places are not countries in their own right, but they have been included because they are geographically, ethnically, or politically distinct and are of significant interest as destinations to serious travelers.

And what counts as being there? I once took a river cruise on the Danube River, which meandered in and out of Croatia but didn’t stop. At one point, I looked left and right; both sides of me were Croatian shorelines. Above me was the Croatian sky. Below me was Croatian water. Was I in Croatia?

Unfortunately, no. Even the shortest visit counts – a port-of-call or a fuel stop, but according to the TCC one must disembark from one’s aircraft, ship, or vehicle and set foot in the territory. So, I had to make another European trip to add Croatia to my list. Darn.

OK—Now that we have added Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico to your list, you may be further along than you thought. Perhaps it is time to set a big, hairy, audacious goal. And join another club.