Thursday, 17 February 2011

40 countries safe to visit without a Big Mac™

Staying in Vietnam, I noticed there are no McDonald's™, Burger King's or Starbucks here.
A small compensation for the fanatics is that they do however have KFC, Pizzahut and Lotteria (a Japanese McDonald's™).
The map below shows countries which have McDonald's™:


Based on this map, I wondered which countries in the world would be safe to visit and still defy the global village image of the golden arches. Moreover in some countries visiting a McDonald's™ can be dangerous for your health too, because they form an easy and attractive target for terrorists. When I visited Hurghada, Egypt in 2005, just after a large terrorist attack took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, McDonald's™ became the most heavily guarded place in the city. Below is a list of MacAttack-free countries, simply because they have none. The numbers at the right indicates whether the country as a whole is currently safe to visit, purely based on my own judgement from a more or less conservative point of view.

1.Afghanistan
2.Albania1
3.Algeria
4.Andorra2
5.Angola
6.Antigua & Barbuda3
7.Armenia4
8.Belize
9.Benin
10.Bhutan5
11.Bolivia6
12.Bosnia & Herzegovina7
13.Burkina Faso
14.Burma
15.Burundi
16.Cambodia8
17.Cameroon
18.Cape Verde9
19.Central African Republic
20.Chad
21.Comoros10
22.Congo #1
23.Congo #2
24.Djibouti
25.East Timor
26.Equatorial Guinea
27.Eritrea
28.Ethiopia11
29.Gabon
30.The Gambia12
31.Ghana13
32.Guinea
33.Guinea-Bissau
34.Haiti
35.Iran
36.Iraq
37.Ivory Coast
38.Kazakhstan14
39.Kenya15
40.Kiribati16
41.Korea (North)
42.Kyrgyzstan
43.Laos17
44.Lesotho
45.Liberia
46.Libya
47.Madagascar18
48.Malawi
49.Maldives19
50.Mali
51.Marshal Islands20
52.Mauritania
53.Micronesia21
54.Moldova22
55.Mongolia23
56.Mozambique
57.Namibia
58.Nauru24
59.Nepal25
60.Niger
61.Nigeria
62.Palau26
63.Papua New Guinea
64.Rwanda
65.Saint Kitts & Nevis27
66.Saint Lucia28
67.Saint Vincent & The Grenadines29
68.Sao Tome & Principia30
69.Senegal
70.Seychelles31
71.Sierra Leon
72.Solomon Islands32
73.Somalia
74.Sudan
75.Waziland
76.Tajikistan
77.Tanzania
78.Togo
79.Tonga33
80.Tunisia
81.Turkmenistan
82.Tuvalu34
83.Uganda
84.Uzbekistan
85.Vanuatu35
86.Vatican City36
87.Vietnam37
88.Zambia
Furthermore the following countries
were not mentioned in the original list.
89.Bermuda38
90.Iceland39
91.Cuba40
92.South Sudan
93.Antarctica


Okay, the last one is a continent not a country, but when identifying a total of 193 sovereign nations as recognised by the UN, adding South Sudan as country no. 194, it means McDonald's™ currently has outlets in 101 countries.
So for the very adventurous few, there are 93 territories for you to boldy go where no Ronald has gone before.
And for the more conservative people under us, 40 countries promise you a safe destination to enjoy a Mac-free holiday.
By the way Greenland, belonging to Denmark is not regarded a sovereign nation, but a huge space to safely explore without taking a McBreakfast™ first.
Do I hate McDonald's™? Not at all! At younger age they often helped me to survive in several expensive cities, like Tokyo, Milan and Zürich.

Sources: Yahoo, Wikipedia

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