After ten years gone, a Danish man who claimed to be the first to visit every country on the globe without flying returned home on Wednesday. Here’s his story.
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- Danish traveller completes mission of visiting every nation
- The man always took public transport
Danish traveller completes mission of visiting every nation
AFP
Torbjorn Pedersen stepped off a Maersk container ship in the Danish port city of Aarhus in late May, after visiting his 203rd and final country, the Maldives.
“I’ve been fantasising about returning home and finishing what I started. That brings us to today. At the same time, I’m concerned about the future,” Pedersen told AFP, calling his return “bittersweet.”
“A lot of things are up in the air and in the unknown, mixed emotions,” he said, expressing his anxieties about resuming his profession and adjusting to daily life.
“Thor” travelled by rail, bus, ferry, and even on foot, beginning on October 10, 2013.
The 44-year-old, who formerly worked in the shipping industry, is the first to accomplish the feat.
He left Micronesia in January 2020 and travelled to Hong Kong, where he was trapped for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
When the borders were reopened, he headed off for the island country of Palau, followed by Oceania and the Pacific islands.
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“Three have visited each country twice. Two have visited every country without coming home. And now someone has done it entirely without flying. What else can I say? Best wishes for the second,” he stated on his site.
The man always took public transport
AFP
The former UN peacekeeper, eager to meet new people, never rented a car, preferring instead to take public transport.
Despite their geographical separation, Thor and his partner have maintained their bond.
She visited him 27 times during her decade of travel. On the tenth occasion, he got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage, but because of the epidemic, they had to marry online.
His wife, Le Gjerum, said she admired his tenacity in finishing the assignment but that she was looking forward to a “daily life together.”
The expedition was inspired by an article his father emailed him.
He was first hesitant, but didn’t want to live with the regret of not completing it; nonetheless, he admitted that he originally expected the trip to take less than half the time.
“I thought it would take a maximum of four years in total, maybe three and a half if I went a little fast.”
Thor, who documented his voyage on social media and via a blog, was also a Red Cross ambassador.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Graham Hughes of the United Kingdom was the first person to round the globe without using a plane, but his expedition included two returns home, which Thor did not.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn