In 2013, a Danish man named Torbjørn "Thor" Pedersen left home with an unusual goal: to visit every country in the world without ever getting on a plane. According to the ABC, which interviewed Pedersen after his journey ended, he spent almost 10 years crossing oceans and borders by train, bus, boat, and on foot, and working through wars, malaria, gunmen, and endless visa fights along the way. His final stop, after 3,512 days on the road, was the Maldives.
A four-year plan that turned into ten
On October 10, 2013, Pedersen departed from Denmark by train. Pedersen had set three conditions for himself on this trip, named Once Upon A Saga, that included no flights during the journey, not going back home until the journey was completed, and spending at least 24 hours in each country. Pedersen expected to complete the whole journey in four years, but it ended up taking him nine years and seven months. By the end, he had crossed 203 countries and territories in total, going beyond the 195 sovereign states recognized by the United Nations by counting several disputed territories too. Taxis and local transit filled in the gaps between longer legs, and he boarded 37 cargo ships to cross oceans that planes can cover in a few hours. He lived on about $20 a day, funded by his own savings, corporate sponsors and crowdfunding from people following his blog.
