Airports count, if you set foot off the plane. Drive-thrus don’t count unless you actually get out of the car and set foot in the state. Like some others, upon reflection I have actually visited every stae I have flown to. The only ones I’ve missed are Hawaii and Mississippi.
Saying I’ve met Bill Clinton doesn’t mean that I have had dinner with him and discussed his hopes, dreams, or fears.
Saying I’ve visited (insert state name) doesn’t mean that I have spent much time there.
But I should not imply that having met Bill Clinton nor visited 48 states means that I’m good friends with Bill nor that I’m familiar with all of those states.
In that manner, the airport counts.
On that basis, I have not visited Hawaii, though I’ve been on a plane at Honolulu Airport. (The plane from the US to Australia stopped there to emergency repairs to the plane’s toilets, and no one left the plane while the repairs were done).
Presumably fly-overs don’t count either, so I haven’t been to Indonesia or Ireland. But I have been to Japan, twice, even if it was just the terminal at Osaka Airport.
I don’t personally count them, though I do mentally note them as X states plus Y states- airport only. Utah and Minnesota would be the only ones not counting for me on that basis. To count as a state, I believe you must:
Leave the airport or car AND do one or more of the following:
- Stay overnight
- Eat
- Utilize a restroom
You can’t pee in the airport, go outside, then go back through security and count the state. You need to leave the airport property.
I don’t say that I’ve been there unless I can answer the followup question of “What’s it like?”
Does not count.
My wife and I have a competition of number of who has been in the most number of countries. Airports do not count, because airports are generic and do not carry any sense of place.
Like most of the mid-west, and Newark. 
It doesn’t count to me, because, as said above, you haven’t really experienced anything there. I’ve technically been to Toronto, but only the airport. Hel, I barely consider myself as having been to Italy, Germany and France (We went to Switzerland to vist my aunt, took side tips to all three, but spent little time in any of them. I did have a croissant in Italy, a milkshake in France, and a glass of Pepsi in Germany though)
I don’t understand this “airports don’t count” bit.
What it is about airports that make them a distinct part of a state? It’s not like some sort of embassy/territory thing (at least as people commonly misbelieve it).
So what if they are generic? What does that have to do with anything?
So if you drive thru a state, only stopping to get out at a McDonalds (as generic as you can get), then people shouldn’t be counting that, right?
How about a Stuckeys?
Why in the world are airports singled out from all other places in state as magically not counting?
Yep.
Personally, I’d be more inclined to count a layover more than when we drove across the Hoover Dam, meaning we’ve “been to” Arizona.
They don’t count because they are too easy. Geez, your plane landed. Big deal. You didn’t do anything, so they don’t count.
I’ve spent more time at O’Hare waiting for a plane than I have “doing something” in some other states, so airports count.
I disagree.
You gotta get off the airport property. For example, I’ve been through Taipei several times, but I haven’t been to Taipei, because all I did was sit in the airport while they refueled. And there are very few places more boring than Taipei airport at 0230.
Same with the states. I’ve been through Tennessee, New Jersey and a bunch of other states, but I haven’t been to them. Georgia was on that list until recently. I finally got to spend some time in Atlanta, so now I can say I’ve been to Georgia.
I’m really curious where on a scale such as this people would believe they had “been to” a state or country:
- Lived there for at least a month
- Visited a relative or friend who lived there
- Spent the night in a hotel or motel there
- Ate a meal in a restaurant or diner there
- Rode a train or boat through the countryside there
- Drove or rode in a car on roads there
- Set foot on the ground outside a terminal, depot, bus station
- Flew over it in a plane
The order of these activities may be insufficient to grade them in your own perception, but where do you draw the line?
I will go with #6 although a lower number is obviously better. That is actually a pretty good idea. People always talk about I have BEEN to 38 states or some crap. That isn’t good enough. We need a US Geographic and Cultural Exposure Index to replace that stuff that people cheat at and replace it with a hard score. It can be kind of like your list but the points need to run the other way (e.g. an airport visit in a new state adds a .5 while a month-long tour adds 10 points).
That way we can easily compare with each other. Someone can ask, “Shagnasty, how much of the US have you seen?” and I can reply 212. “That’s cool” you say, “I am only at 192 but I am making progress because I was only a 146 this time last year.”
Well, if you drive through, you’ll at least get a sense of what a given state is like. In airports, however, it’s gonna be the same experience wherever you go, maybe with a deep dish pizza place in Chicago or sourdough snacks in SFO.
It depends on what we are really asking, if asked what states I have visited then no, the airport does not count. Nor would drive-throughs, or even stopping for gas or fast food, etc. If the question is what states have I been to, then yes, airports count.
BTW, what age do you have to have been to get to count a state? If you are say four months old when you visit a state, does that count?
Excellent point. As a baby I was moved around army bases while my dad was in the service before going to Germany in WWII. There are many photos of me in various states, crossing the line or in front of some identifying landmark. I believe there are at least four states that I have never returned to since I’ve been old enough to remember it. I tend to count those states in the sense that my body (if not my mind) was in those states at one time in my lifetime. I realize it’s a push, but that’s the way I see the issue.
IMHO, you have to remember having been there.