Thor Pedersen stands on the dock at the Port of Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark.Photo:JAMES BROOKS/AFP via Getty
JAMES BROOKS/AFP via Getty
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.
“HOME!!! 😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰😍🇩🇰,” Pedersen wrote in anInstagrampost on Wednesday. “Thanks for your unwavering support, making me the 1st person to visit every country in the world completely without flying!”
Thor Pedersen, Danish Man Completes Mission to Visit Every Country on Earth Without Using a Plane.Thor Pedersen/Instagram
Thor Pedersen/Instagram
“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.
“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 titledOnce Upon A Saga.
“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 Indiareported.
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.
source: people.com
