If you dream of traveling around the world, maybe this story can inspire you in some way. Meet Torbjørn “Thor” Pedersen, the Dane who traveled to 203 countries around the Earth without stepping on a plane.
The journey took 10 years and ended on May 23, when he landed in the Maldives.
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Pedersen's saga began on October 10, 2013. Before he left on his trip, he established some very important rules: 1) stay at least a full 24 hours in each country; 2) spend just US$20 (approximately R$96) per day; and 3) resist the temptation to return to Denmark.
The trip would be narrated in an unpretentious way on the Danish blog and on his social networks. However, he didn't imagine that he would have many things to tell in these digital spaces.
Some setbacks are series-worthy, like waiting four months to get a visa and a rides to Equatorial Guinea, route changes to reach Pakistan and multiple kilometers of Detour.
There was also a severe diagnosis of cerebral malaria in Ghana, crossings through conflict zones, broken ships and very intense storms during the journey from Iceland to Canada.
Torbjørn estimated that it would take him approximately four years to visit all 203 countries, but it appears his calculations were off the mark. This was because he did not take into account all the bureaucracy with documentation, nor did he foresee the occurrence of a pandemic.
When to Covid-19 pandemic broke out across the world, he was in Hong Kong. Due to health rules and border closures, he stayed on the Asian peninsula for two years. There, he needed to obtain a work visa and residence permit.
At this time, he even married his now-wife Le – remotely. But when the borders opened, they met again and got married in person on a beautiful beach in Vanuatu, a country in Oceania.
In all, Torbjørn traveled for 3,576 days, boarded 37 freighters, 158 trains, 351 buses, 219 taxis, 33 boats and 43 rickshaws. In addition, he traveled 359,000 kilometers, the equivalent of nine laps around the Earth.
Upon arriving in Denmark by boat, he reported on his Instagram that he was welcomed by more than 100 people, including friends, family, fans and followers.
Going forward, he doesn't know what he's going to do. “I still haven't processed that this project is over. They say that if you want to incorporate a new habit into your life, you must repeat it for 30 days. I've been doing this [travelling] for over 3,500. So that's who I am now," said the Dane in an interview with CNN.
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.