visited or have visited

[moniza]

1. I travel a lot. I visited many countries
2. I travel a lot. I have visited many country.
Which sentence is correct?
Thank you in advance.

[c0da]

not a teacher

I would say both sentences are correct, but I would use the 2. sentence (I travel a lot. I have visited many countries.)because there is no specific time (e.g. yesterday) stated.

[David L.]

Only (2) is correct: "I travel a lot. I have visited many/a lot of countries."

Do you understand:
Why is "1. I travel a lot. I visited many countries." incorrect?

[supada]

Only (2) is correct: "I travel a lot. I have visited many/a lot of countries."

Do you understand:
Why is "1. I travel a lot. I visited many countries." incorrect?

Could you explain the difference for me, please? I assume it is the same case as following sentences;

- I've been in New York 3 times.
- I went to New York 3 times.

Is that correct?

[David L.]

"I travel a lot." is Present tense. It is a fact about my life, and looks backwards in time from NOW, and forward: I have travelled a lot in the past, I do currently, and will in the future.

Rationally, of course - there had to be my very first 'trip' which marks the beginning of all the travelling; and death will curb my wanderlust, mark the end of this.
BUT: if I give you the fact, "Water boils at 100º centigrade", hearing this, you don't wonder about, or are even bothered about, 'when' this happens, past, present, or future. It just does. Similarly, I just 'do travel a lot', and specifically ‘when’ this happens in time is not relevant.
I can depict this as:

...................................NOW............ ............................
...................I..........travel............a..............lot............

If I next say: "I have seen many countries" I can depict this as:

..............................................NOW
.....I have seen many countries......>
Can you see that the Present Perfect tense then looks back from NOW, over all the period of time of 'travelling', up to NOW.

The bald statement, "I saw a lot of countries" is in the Simple Past tense. This fact, then, implies that the activity is complete, finished, done, over, and its now a remote event in my past. I can depict this as:

<..............my life................................NOW........... ..my life.....................>
<..............................(|)................ ......NOW..... .......my life......................>
where (|) is placing this fact as a separate, remote event in my past.
When it follows the first sentence, it conflicts with the perspective and the whole idea that I have continued to travel and see other countries since then, since "(|)", and will continue to do so in the future.

To follow the first sentence with a sentence in the Past tense, I would have to depict it as an 'instance' of my travelling within a whole lifetime of 'travelling':
"Last year/recently, I saw a lot of the countries in the Far East."

[supada]

Thanks a lot, David.

I would have press 'Thanks' 10 times if I could. You depicted very clearly.