10 Years, 203 Nations, Zero Airplanes

To equal Torbjorn Pedersen's feat of traveling, you could start today and expect to wrap up sometime around 2033. The 44-year-old from Copenhagen managed to travel to all of the world's countries without once using an airplane, reports Euronews. Pedersen is now in the midst of a grueling coda: talking to countless media outlets around the world about his remarkable feat. Some samples:

• First to last: Pederson set out in October 2013, traveling first from Denmark to Germany by train, per the Washington Post. He figured his journey would take four years. Instead, he didn't reach his final country, the Maldives (via container ship), until earlier this year. ABC of Australia notes that the UN recognizes 195 nations, but Pedersen added unrecognized places and puts his total at 203. He says he spent a minimum of 24 hours in each nation.

• Why? "The inspiration came from finding out that it had never been done before," he tells NPR. "And I pretty much feel like I grew up in a world where everything had been done—North Pole, South Pole, the highest mountains, the deepest seas. And it was just there for the taking."
• Hurdles: Almost too many to recount. Being treated for malaria in Ghana, being held at gunpoint in an African jungle, watching buses being shot at in South Sudan, traveling in war-torn nations such as Syria, getting stuck for two years in Hong Kong (where he obtained a work visa) because of the pandemic, and lots and lots of red tape related to visas. Equatorial Guinea, for example, is "one of the world's most difficult countries to access," notes CNN, and it nearly foiled him. "After four months and many failed attempts, Pedersen finally acquired a visa. Even though land borders were closed at the time, he was able to cross thanks to a serendipitous encounter with a stranger who worked in Equatorial Guinea and offered him a ride."
• Bright spots: "I cannot remember a country I've gotten to where I did not receive some sort of kindness or support from people," Pedersen tells the Australian network. He tells NPR one of his favorite moments came in the US, where he watched a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. Also: Pedersen's girlfriend visited him 26 times over his travels, and they married during his Hong Kong delay.
• Film: People notes a documentary is in the works called Once Upon a Saga.

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