What do you think of this fact?
A landlocked country has no coastline. That’s nothing special, there are plenty of them, like Switzerland or Austria. A doubly landlocked country, though, is a real rarity. There are exactly 2.
What “doubly” means
A country is doubly landlocked if it has no coastline itself and none of its neighbors do either. To reach the open sea from there, you have to cross at least two national borders.
The two countries this applies to couldn’t be more different: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan.
A tiny one and a big one
Liechtenstein is a small principality in the Alps. It borders only Switzerland and Austria, and neither has a coastline. So getting from Liechtenstein to the Mediterranean or the North Sea takes at least two border crossings. According to Sketchplanations, the route always leads through one of the two neighbors first and then through a third country before you finally hit a coast.
Uzbekistan in Central Asia is much bigger. It borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and none of these neighbors has access to the open sea. Turkmenistan does sit on the Caspian Sea, but despite its name, that isn’t connected to the oceans.
According to WorldAtlas, Uzbekistan has only been in this position since 1991. That’s when it became independent from the Soviet Union, and with it went its access to the sea through other Soviet republics.
Bonus fact: The same thing happens with US states. According to Sketchplanations, ten states are doubly landlocked, and Nebraska is even triply landlocked.
So if someone in Liechtenstein wants a beach holiday, they have to travel a bit further than everyone else. In return, there are mountains everywhere.