And one more before I go for an early sleep: "Latvia"



Previous guesses:
"Finland"
"Iceland"
"Netherlands"
"Portugal"
"Spain"
"Denmark"
"Sweden"

First guess was Latvia.
Second guess was Turkey.
Third guess was Albania.
Fourth guess was Malta.
Fifth guess was Portugal.
Sixth guess was San Marino.
Seventh guess was Montenegro.
Eighth guess was Moldova.
Ninth guess was Liechtenstein.
Tenth guess is Italy.

12th: Macedonia

Others:
Russia, Albania, Malta, Belarus, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Moldavia, Montenegro, Serbia.

And we have a winner.

Please hold on...

And we have a winner.

The 8 countries are:
Malta, San Marino, Monaco, Iceland, Macedonia, Montenego, Albania and Moldova.

DracoMagister was the first to guess 4 of them by his 9th try, (post #118). Congrats!

Please choose your prize, a GOG game either made by a European developer, or that takes place in Europe, (below 10$ please). Reply here or PM me.

(I double checked and it seems DracoMagister is the first to get them right. If I made a mistake and missed someone, let me know and they'll get the prize too).

Thanks all for participating, sorry about the mix-up with the rules at the beginning.

I did actually do some sightseeing in most countries I visited. For a few days. Sometimes a day or two only, especially if it was a small country. Other times it was a week or more. Many of them I visited several times to see different places.

But you are right, there are some of them that I just "passed through". These are:
_Bulgaria: passed through 4 times during Syria-Poland travels.
_Liechtenstein (though I'm not really sure there is more to do there than pass through).
_And finally, to my shame, the 3 Benelux countries: Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Not only did I "only pass through", it was also by night. So the only thing I really visited in them was a few petrol stations on a highway; hardly a visit that does these countries justice (that said, the highway system there is impressive).

I did a lot of traveling while a student. Some of it hitchhiking during summer. It was then that the Europe Before 30 project seemed very doable. Heck, at the rate I was going it seemed I could do the whole friggin world by 30. Of course pretty soon reality hit me, my lovely college years were over, I started work and very quickly learned the meaning of limited vacation. :( My traveling time took a nasty hit.
However, last year I quit my job and started working as a freelancer. So I'm on flexible time again. And I can just take my laptop and work while traveling. So things are looking pretty good again :)

Well, missed it by a few mins. But that's called life, I wasn't supposed to sleep that long in the morning. :D

Congrats to {TheLuckyPerson==DracoMagister} and thanks, as previously mentioned, to {TheGiveawayPerson==ZFR}. :)

Thank you very much. But I'd like you to clarify one thing as I think you made a mistake in one hint.

You said: "Hint 0: Two countries were already given in the description. Read carefully."
And the only ones that could have been valid were Russia, Malta and Turkey. But only Malta is in the 8. ¿? I sopose is a mistake.

Anyway, thanks again for the giveaway. I'll choose Unepic, which is from a spanish developer and fits in the price.

My hint system was supposed to be not for the answers, but for countries I already visited so as to make selection smaller. The two I meant were Norway and Andorra.

But I do see that I didn't really specify it so it could have been very confusing.
Sheeeesh. Really sorry to all those who went to guess Russia and Turkey based on those Hint 0. I really shouldn't write those giveaways that late after a tiring day.

The others were as follows:
Hint 0: Norway and Andorra.
Hint 1: Ireland
Hint 2: Poland (with a big possibility of Turkey, though technically there is a way around it)
Hint 3: Ukraine, Russia
Hint 4: Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia
Hint 5: Sweden, Denmark, UK, Greece

PM with game code for Unepic sent.

OMG you haven't visited ICELAND?!?!?! That is like the #1 place in all of the EU/the world to visit! And you're RIGHT THERE! GOGOGO!!! Thanks for the giveaway! Fun!

Well, first of all, congrats to the winner!
I really had fun, especially with the hint solving (never even heard of Nimis and Arx before). I did choose Turkey against better judgment, because that hint threw me off a little, but overall I wasn't too far off :)

As for travelling, I like the feeling of kind of being "submerged" in another culture, but that does take some time. So, for me it's rather fewer places, longer time spent in a country.
That being said, it must be quite a rush to go on a longer trip where you get to see lots of places, I just haven't tried. I always liked The Amazing Race. Even though you probably don't get to really see anything of the places you visit, it just sounds like such an adventure to me :)
Anyways, from the countries you haven't visited, I've only been to Iceland, but it really is a great place. Many experiences to be had, depending on what you're looking for.

Yes! That sounds about perfect...
Unfortunately, in my line of work that kind of travel will be pretty much impossible. Well, you gotta adjust to circumstances, there's other things I'm planning.
Started last year with a friend on a "pilgrimage" of sorts - you know, along the road that leads to Santiago de Compostela? In stages, of course. If we put our minds (and feet) to it we might get to France this year. Gotta get your kicks while you still can ;)

Best of luck. All people who I know did this enjoyed it. Have fun.

Thanks! We will. It has been great so far. Well, apart from the pain, but I guess that's not to be avoided.

Thanks again for a generous and informative giveaway ZFR so more +rep to you and congrats to the winner. :)