There are two phrases: "have gone to" : someone went to some place but didn't come back.
"have been to": someone went to some place and come back.
I understand the phrase "have gone to" like this: 1a. I went to the US. 1b. I have gone to the US. With the simple past tense, sentence 1a means the action "went" happened in the past. With the present perfect tense, sentence 1b means the action "have gone" has finished until now. Therefore, the phrase "have gone to" means someone went to some place but didn't come back.
However I have difficulty in understanding the phrase "have been to". I made up two sentences 2a and 2b. I am wondering what does the phrase "be to some place" means like in 2a.
2a. I was to the US.
2b. I have been to the US.