Danish traveler Thor is known as the first person to travel around the world without booking a single flight.
In early 2013, Torbjorn C. Pedersen, aka Thor, from Denmark, set out on a journey that would "change his life forever." Quitting his stable job, Thor decided to pack up and plan a trip around the world alone, without his wife. He said that before 2013, he had never heard of anyone traveling around the world without flying. So he came up with the "bold" idea of traveling to countries by any means except airplanes.
The first photo Thor took was in a port in Denmark at the beginning of his journey around the world.
Thor’s original plan was to spend a week in each country and complete the trip in 2017. Due to a number of factors, including visa delays and the unexpected pandemic, he finally completed his decade-long journey in May. In 10 years, the Dane has traveled through 203 countries, 7 continents, and more than 360,000 kilometers. Thor’s final destination is the Maldives, from where he plans to take a cruise back to Denmark.
"I use all means of transport such as ships, trains, trucks, buses... when traveling between countries. In reality, this is not easy. On my trip to Brazil, I had to travel on a bus for 54 hours straight. Two days in Congo and sitting on a truck with a few companions, we had to stop at midnight because we were afraid of being robbed along the way," Thor recounted.
Thor's average stay in each country was 17 days. His shortest trip was 24 hours in the Vatican and his longest was 27 days aboard a container ship from Hong Kong to Australia.
In 10 years, Thor has taken 351 buses, 158 trains, traveled on 43 tuk tuks, 37 container ships, 33 boats, 9 trucks, 3 yachts, 2 cruise ships, and a yacht. He has also traveled by motorbike, horse-drawn carriage, and even a police car.
The trip was largely funded by an energy company, costing Thor about $20 a day.
Recalling the first days of deciding to leave, Thor "had to struggle mentally" with the responsibility of taking care of his elderly parents and his feelings for his girlfriend he had only known for a year.
"Before I left, my parents were worried that my career was still unfinished, but they were still happy to respect my final decision. Now I have completed my life goals, but what I regret most is not spending more time with my parents in their final years," Thor expressed.
Thor considers himself "lucky" to have received support from his girlfriend, who is now his wife. Over the past 10 years, the couple have met 27 times in Sudan, Australia and Hong Kong. Thor shared that every time his wife visited him, he felt "heartbroken" and "fell into deep thought when seeing her off at the airport".
"I'm going back to my wife. Denmark is my home and that's where I belong," Thor said.
Thor's journey home is expected to take more than a month, and he has no plans to return to his previous job. Instead, Thor plans to write a book about his memorable adventure.
Bich Phuong
According to Euronews, Daily Mail
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