A man left his wife at home and visited every country in the world in an unbroken 10-year journey without flying.
Thor Pedersen, 44, has always had a “passion for adventure” and decided to embark on the adventure when his dad told him about people who had visited every country.
Thor realised no one had done it without flying – so set himself the challenge of visiting all 203 countries, without taking a plane and on a budget of €20 a day.
On October 10, 2013, at 10am Thor left his native Denmark on what he thought would be a four-year escapade – leaving his now wife, Le, 40, a doctor, behind.
Thor’s journey ended up taking nine years, nine months and 16 days, but he completed it in May 2023 – and arrived back in Copenhagen, Denmark, last month.
He spent $72,000 over the last decade and took 351 buses, 158 trains, 219 taxis and 40 shipping containers – as well a horse and carriage and sailboats.
During the decade long mission Thor and Le kept in touch online - and she has been able to visit him just 27 times.
Thor, who previously worked in shipping and logistics, said the last decade was like “being in a coma”.
He said: “I have essentially been a nomad for a decade.
“It’s a bit like being in a coma.
“My life is upside down.
“This has come at a cost.
“I’m working on myself mentally.
“My mind is taking a lot longer to return home."
Thor had only been with Le for a year when he decided to embark on his mission – but they decided to stay together in a long-distance relationship.
He said: "In January 2013 my dad emailed me a link to the people who had been to every country in the world.
“The more digging I did the I saw none of the 200 at that point had done it completely without flying.
“That intrigued me.
“I just couldn’t leave the idea.
“I thought it would take four years – I was quite wrong.”
He set off from Denmark to Germany in October 2013 and went through Western central Europe, then along to the Nordic countries before travelling through all of America.
From there he went to the Caribbean, Western Hemisphere, to Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
Thor was stuck in Hong Kong for two years when the pandemic broke out and got himself a job helping people stuck on Danish cruise ships so he could stay.
He managed to marry Le online so she could come and stay with him.
If he had been forced to go home, it would have meant a failed attempt.
He said: “I was down to the last nine countries. How do you give up?”
Speaking of Le, he said: “She’s been amazing.
“I don’t think I would have pulled through it all without her.”
When restrictions lifted, he travelled to the pacific and Indian ocean and finished his final county – the Maldives - on May 23, 2023.
Thor needed 10 passports on his journey to complete it and funded the trip with sponsorships, savings, loans and crowdfunding.
He travelled an overall distance of 382,083km.
He said: “It equalled the distance of the moon.
“This was an education beyond anything else.
Thor Pedersen, 44, has always had a “passion for adventure” and decided to embark on the adventure when his dad told him about people who had visited every country.
Thor realised no one had done it without flying – so set himself the challenge of visiting all 203 countries, without taking a plane and on a budget of €20 a day.
On October 10, 2013, at 10am Thor left his native Denmark on what he thought would be a four-year escapade – leaving his now wife, Le, 40, a doctor, behind.
Thor’s journey ended up taking nine years, nine months and 16 days, but he completed it in May 2023 – and arrived back in Copenhagen, Denmark, last month.
He spent $72,000 over the last decade and took 351 buses, 158 trains, 219 taxis and 40 shipping containers – as well a horse and carriage and sailboats.
During the decade long mission Thor and Le kept in touch online - and she has been able to visit him just 27 times.
Thor, who previously worked in shipping and logistics, said the last decade was like “being in a coma”.
He said: “I have essentially been a nomad for a decade.
“It’s a bit like being in a coma.
“My life is upside down.
“This has come at a cost.
“I’m working on myself mentally.
“My mind is taking a lot longer to return home."
Thor had only been with Le for a year when he decided to embark on his mission – but they decided to stay together in a long-distance relationship.
He said: "In January 2013 my dad emailed me a link to the people who had been to every country in the world.
“The more digging I did the I saw none of the 200 at that point had done it completely without flying.
“That intrigued me.
“I just couldn’t leave the idea.
“I thought it would take four years – I was quite wrong.”
He set off from Denmark to Germany in October 2013 and went through Western central Europe, then along to the Nordic countries before travelling through all of America.
From there he went to the Caribbean, Western Hemisphere, to Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
Thor was stuck in Hong Kong for two years when the pandemic broke out and got himself a job helping people stuck on Danish cruise ships so he could stay.
He managed to marry Le online so she could come and stay with him.
If he had been forced to go home, it would have meant a failed attempt.
He said: “I was down to the last nine countries. How do you give up?”
Speaking of Le, he said: “She’s been amazing.
“I don’t think I would have pulled through it all without her.”
When restrictions lifted, he travelled to the pacific and Indian ocean and finished his final county – the Maldives - on May 23, 2023.
Thor needed 10 passports on his journey to complete it and funded the trip with sponsorships, savings, loans and crowdfunding.
He travelled an overall distance of 382,083km.
He said: “It equalled the distance of the moon.
“This was an education beyond anything else.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So, we're coming really close to nine years within this project.
00:25 That's definitely something that weighs heavily on me.
00:28 It shouldn't have taken more than four years according to the plan.
00:32 I thought I might even be able to do it in three and a half if I went fast.
00:42 It's really heavily on me, this project, really.
00:47 I work a lot.
00:48 I generally work somewhere between 50 and 70 hours a week.
00:53 It seems like I may be able to join a ship to Vanuatu around October 16th.
01:03 Okay, welcome to the peak of Devu Peak.
01:10 It's a mountain here in Fiji on the island of Taweuni.
01:15 We are at about 1,195 meters.
01:20 I'm very happy to say that we have clocked all the island nations within the Pacific
01:27 completely without flying.
01:29 And I managed to go to all nine islands within the great nation of Tuvalu.
01:36 So that was quite something.
01:38 And I feel better because Tuvalu was logistically a very hard country to get to without flying
01:46 and also to get away from.
01:50 And I feel better because while the pandemic still is not over, it is easing up and it
01:57 is getting easier to get on board container ships and certainly to get inside countries.
02:05 And I can see my path home.
02:07 Hello there.
02:08 I guess I forgot to tell you all that we did it.
02:14 That was every country in the world in one unbroken journey all without flying.
02:20 So that's a little bit of world history for you there because that has never been accomplished
02:26 before.
02:27 It took 3,512 days of unbroken travel to reach 203 countries.
02:35 What?
02:36 203?
02:37 But there aren't that many countries in the United Nations.
02:39 That's right.
02:40 The United Nations counts about 193 and they have two observer states.
02:45 So the United Nations will bring it up to 195.
02:48 But hey, the Olympics typically has 206 countries competing.
02:54 So what's that all about?
02:55 Yeah, people they really don't agree on how many countries there are in the world and
02:58 that's a different story for another time.
03:00 But greetings from Maldives, the last country in the world.
03:05 Thanks for all your support guys.