Here's a pub-quiz stumper: how many countries have names beginning with the letter F? The answer is just four, and the letter is one of the sparser entries in the world atlas compared to giants like S (with well over 20 countries) or M.
So who makes the cut? France, Finland, Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia. That last one trips up most people — the Pacific nation is usually just called "Micronesia", and plenty of quizzers argue it shouldn't count since it technically starts with "Federated". Include it and you have four; exclude it and the F club shrinks to a tidy trio.
What's fun is how different the four are as holiday prospects. France barely needs an introduction — the world's most visited country, home to Paris, the Riviera, Alpine ski slopes and some of the planet's most revered food and wine regions. Finland sits at the other climatic extreme: a Nordic nation of nearly 190,000 islands, saunas by the thousand, Lapland's winter darkness and northern lights, and long summer nights around the Midsummer solstice.
Then there's Fiji, the South Pacific archipelago of more than 300 islands, a staple for Australian and New Zealand travellers seeking reef snorkelling, resort islands and famously warm hospitality. And the Federated States of Micronesia — four states spread across the western Pacific — is the obscure one, drawing divers to Chuuk Lagoon's wreck-diving sites and history buffs to Nan Madol, the ancient stone city often dubbed the "Venice of the Pacific".
The quiz, published by Fairfax Media's Traveller, is part of a regular series poking at the alphabet of travel, and it's a good reminder of how unevenly country names distribute across letters. No country starts with W or X (Wales isn't a sovereign state), while letters like A and B are crowded with options.
Why should a traveller care? Partly because it's a neat conversation starter on a long flight, and partly because the F-list happens to contain one underappreciated gem. If your travels have covered France and Fiji but never touched Micronesia, that lagoon full of Second World War wrecks is one of diving's genuine bucket-list experiences — reachable via Guam or Brisbane connections through Palau or Port Moresby. As for Finland, shoulder-season visits in September deliver autumn colours without the midsummer crowds.
Got all four without peeking? Then try the harder follow-up: how many start with the letter Y. (Spoiler: it's one.)
