'Traveling to 200 Countries Without Taking a Single Flight'... A 3,576-Day World Tour

Danish Man Pedersen Ends 10-Year Journey
Hitches Rides on Container Ships, Trains, Trucks
Battled Malaria Near Death, Also Trapped by COVID-19

The experience of a Danish man who successfully traveled to over 200 countries worldwide over 10 years without ever taking a plane has become a hot topic.

US CNN reported the story of Tolbjorn Pedersen (44), a Dane who began his world journey on October 10, 2013. Pedersen arrived at the port of Aarhus on the east coast of Denmark on the 26th of last month, concluding his 10-year world trip. His final destination was the Maldives.

For 10 years, Pedersen never took a single flight. Instead, he used ground and sea transportation such as taxis, buses, ride-sharing services, and ferries. Thanks to his experience working in a logistics company, most of his travel was smooth, but he also faced difficulties in places where civilian transportation routes were not open. Whenever that happened, Pedersen collaborated with various freight companies or used cargo ships carrying containers.

Using cargo ships was reported to be particularly challenging. Pedersen recalled to the media, "I couldn’t just suddenly show up at a container ship and say I wanted to board," adding, "I had to get prior approval from the shipowner company, and this process required a lot of time and patience."

Torbjørn Pedersen [Image source=YouTube]

When Pedersen first planned his world trip, it was expected to take a total of 4 years to visit 203 countries. However, the journey ended up being much longer than initially anticipated.

Guinea, located on the equator, took 4 months just to obtain a visa. For risky travel areas such as Syria, Iran, Nauru, and Angola, even attempting to get a visa was difficult. Eventually, with the help of the International Red Cross, he obtained an Iranian visa in 3 weeks, and it took about 3 months to get a Syrian visa.

Obtaining a Chinese visa was also complicated, and the route from Mongolia to Pakistan was arduous. To set foot in Pakistan, Pedersen had to detour a staggering 12,000 km through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

During his travels, he also battled illness and encountered natural disasters. He suffered cerebral malaria in Ghana and was near death, and while crossing the Atlantic from Iceland to Canada, he faced a storm.

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, countries closed their borders, causing him great hardship. At that time, Pedersen had only 9 countries left to visit but was stranded in Hong Kong.

Reflecting on the situation, Pedersen told CNN, "It was the worst and the best time of my life," adding, "It was a really tough period deciding whether to give up on this project or not."

During the trip, Pedersen received assistance from the International Red Cross. Pedersen is also in charge of Red Cross publicity.
[Image source=Pedersen official website]

He continued, "I also had to ask myself how much of my life I was willing to dedicate to this project," adding, "But during my time in Hong Kong, I formed many special connections."

After many trials and tribulations, he completed a total of 3,576 days of travel and safely returned to Denmark. Throughout his journey, he traveled on 37 container ships, 158 trains, 351 buses, 219 taxis, 33 boats, and 43 rickshaws. The total distance traveled was 358,800 km, roughly equivalent to walking around the Earth 9 times.

Through this journey, Pedersen said, "I set out with the motto that a stranger is a friend I have never met before, and I realized several times that this statement is true."

He emphasized repeatedly, "During my travels, I stayed in the homes of many strangers and safely passed through numerous countries including conflict zones and virus outbreak areas. This proves either that I am the luckiest person on Earth or that the world is a much better place than people see through the news."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.