Why the traveller aiming for a Guinness World Record by visiting every country without flying is ‘beyond excited’ to be nearing home after 10 years

When Torbjørn ‘Thor’ Pedersen began his unique journey, he didn’t know it would take a decade and put his life in danger, but the Dane says he has no regrets

On the final leg, he talks about tourism’s sustainable future and why he can’t wait to return to Copenhagen and his wife, who he may marry for the third time

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Sustainable tourist Torbjørn “Thor” Pedersen in Hong Kong, where he was stuck for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dane is reflecting on what being abroad for 10 years has taught him as his journey to 203 countries without flying nears its end. Photo: Pavel Toropov

Published: 6:15pm, 25 Jul 2023Updated: 7:50pm, 25 Jul 2023

On Wednesday, July 26, given a calm sea and a following wind, the 214,000-tonne container ship MV Milan Maersk is due to dock at Aarhus, on the east coast of Denmark.

Hurtling down the gangplank as he returns home will be Torbjørn “Thor” Pedersen, who has achieved the remarkable feat of visiting all 203 countries – both official and less so – in the world without boarding a single aircraft, having set off on his unique odyssey in October 2013.

It’s been a long 10 years, two of them spent in Hong Kong, where Pedersen was marooned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This 44-year-old Dane’s epic, dubbed by him as “Once Upon A Saga”, has not been without other hiccups – visa hassles in Africa, mistakenly wandering into the dodgiest part of Panama City, riding out tempestuous storms at sea – but it has left him with a greater understanding of the world and an even greater affection for humanity.

Pedersen (centre) aboard the MV Milan Maersk as he and the container ship’s crew make their way to Aarhus on the east coast of Denmark. Photo: Torbjørn Pedersen

“In the eyes of the public I have become an accomplished man worthy of attention,” says Pedersen, speaking from the Milan Maersk, which he boarded in Tanjung Pelepas, in southern Malaysia, on June 23.