Danish Man Claims He Visited Every Country on Earth Without Using a Plane

Thor Pedersen, 44, says "the project was a resounding SUCCESS”

Torbjørn C. Pedersen — also known as Thor — has achieved what many would consider impossible: he claims he visited every country in the world without flying, according to multiple outlets.

Pedersen, 44, embarked on his journey in October 2013 and expected the trek would take four years, according to ABC News. Nearly 10 years later, he arrived at the Maldives on Tuesday – his 203rd and final country — by ship, the outlet reported. His adventure took 3,512 days in total.

“HOME!!! 😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰,” Pedersen wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “Thanks for your unwavering support, making me the 1st person to visit every country in the world completely without flying!”

“The project was a resounding SUCCESS when we reached the final country, the Maldives ❤️🇲🇻,” he continued. “Today marks its COMPLETION as I return to Denmark ❤️🇩🇰”

“More than a hundred people showed up to welcome me home on this historic day. Family, friends, fans, followers ❤️❤️❤️❤️,” he wrote, adding: “A live band played 'When the saints come marching home' 🎶🎺”

The Danish traveler, who detailed the adventure on his blog, "Once Upon a Saga," wrote that the experience was “intense” and “demanding.” He also reportedly needed 10 passports for his journey and he limited his spending to $20 a day.

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“A decade is a long time,” Pedersen wrote. “Fortunately, it has also been rewarding. There is a very dark side to the accomplishment as well. Very dark. A side which few are aware of and which most have been shielded from. Over the years I have opened up for frustrations, disappointments, danger and hardship. But the full scope is not known to even my close friends or family.”

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Pedersen said a filmmaker from Canada, who he referred to as “a stranger turned friend,” is working on a documentary chronicling his adventure titled Once Upon A Saga.

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“It has been his job to learn everything he possibly could about the accomplishment,” Pedersen wrote. “And he has done that job well…He has tens of hours of interview material with me. He has sifted through all of my video and all of my photos. He follows the Saga’s social media closely, and he has been to Denmark where he interviewed friends and family."

In early 2020, Pedersen became stranded in Hong Kong – where he stayed for several months — due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Business Insider India reported.

“I thought I solved this by ‘simply’ getting on another ship within the next few days to Taiwan and waiting there for my ship to Palau,” Pedersen wrote on Twitter. “That would offer more than 14 days and I wouldn’t be coming from HKG. But Taiwan has now implemented similar rules regarding the virus.”

But Pedersen persisted and said everywhere he went, he could not "remember a country I've gotten to where I did not receive some sort of kindness or support from people,” per ABC News. "In a way, this has just been a huge sociological experiment and a success at that,” he said, per the outlet.

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