Have you thought of sailing through the world, never having set foot on an airplane? Quite a daunting task right? Well, Thor, a goodwill ambassador of Danish Red Cross is just doing that. He is conquering one country at a time – all without flying. So, far he has traveled 168 countries like this and it’s still counting.
Conde Nast Traveller writer Andrea Pinto has done a wonderful article on him. Here’s an excerpt from that article.
About Thor
Torbjørn C. Pedersen, (“just call me Thor”) left Denmark on 10 October 2013 after giving up a 12-year career in shipping and logistics. And he hasn’t been home since. His mission is to visit every country in the world, without taking a single flight. He has three cardinal rules: he cannot, at any point, take a flight anywhere; he must spend a minimum of 24 hours in each country; and he cannot go back home until the very end of his journey.
But why?
“It was an innocent email from my father with a link to a news article which put the idea in my head. When I learned that nobody in history had ever visited every country in the world without flying, I was intrigued. When I realized that it could be done I only had to make up my mind and get out the door.”
How is he covering it all?
Thor uses every mode of transportation possible except planes. He’s taken an Uber to the Wagah border, sat in a small, open boat with two strangers to get from Venezuela to Trinidad, crossed stormy seas on container boats, taken dingy trains across Africa and long bus journeys through India.
“I’m on a very small budget. So, I go with the shittiest of the shittiest,” Thor says cheerfully of his US$20 (Rs1400) per day budget. “It covers food, accommodation, visas, and transportation.” For some people, US$20 is a fortune. They survive with entire families on much less than that. I figure if they can do it, so can I.”
Thor is a goodwill ambassador for the Danish Red Cross and a part of his mission includes promoting the work of the Red Cross wherever he goes. Thor receives no financial backing from the Red Cross but was sponsored by a shipping company, Ross Offshore until April 2016. After that, he sold personal belongings (including his boat), borrowed money, received sponsorships and benefited from a crowdfunding campaign that generated $20,752 (Rs15 lakh).
Cutting Down Costs
To cut down on costs, Thor survives by couch surfing, staying with friends and living in cheap hostels. As his journey has got him a decent social media following, Thor also gets the occasional invite to a five-star hotel or an invitation to the home of one of his Instagram followers. “Money has come from very random places,” Thor says. “In Delhi, I met a guy who has been following my journey on social media. When he left, he gave me Rs26,000 and said that he would give me more if he had it!”
Is language a barrier?
Not really, says Thor, who speaks Danish, English, German and a little Spanish, French and Arabic. He’s relied on a lot of using arms, legs and drawings to get by. “I was in Russia trying to buy tickets once and the lady behind the counter didn’t speak a word of English. So, I had to draw buses and trains on a piece of paper.”
India, the journey, and great relationship advice
India is the 168th country that Thor has visited so far. “I got into India through Pakistan. I wanted to see the Wagah border so I took an Uber and then walked across the border into India. It’s the most impressive border I’ve seen in the world, it’s like walking through the Colosseum in Rome.”
Thor mentions that his fiancé came to visit him in Amritsar for New Year’s. Naturally, I did a double take. How does a man who’s been on the road for the past five years have a fiancé?! “Five years ago, when I told my girlfriend that I was going to travel around the world without taking any flights, she could have reacted in two ways. She could have point blank said, ‘It’s me or your stupid project’. Or she could have told me that she would support me.” Luckily for Thor, she chose the latter, and has come to visit him 19 times since he first set off from Denmark. “We brought in the New Year watching Harry Potter and playing drinking games. Every time someone says Harry Potter, you eat cake. When they cast a spell, you drink!”
Thor and his fiance, after he proposed to her on top of Mount Kenya. Relationship goals?
One Thing Same All Over The World
Thor’s journey has taken him from Denmark, across Europe, America, Africa, through the Middle East and then to Asia where he is currently making his way from India to Nepal. But there’s one thing, Thor says, that he’s found in common across the world. “Mothers,” he says. “When someone has children, their entire world revolves around them. They want a better life for their child than the one they had. I know it’s been true for 168 countries, I’d be very surprised to see it’s not true in the remaining 35.”
pack up and go home?
“I have been tired for five years,” says Thor. “But one of the things that motivates me on this journey is the impact I have. Am I changing the way people think about the world? Are they learning about different countries? There are so many countries that are negatively highlighted in the media. You only see the bombs and the poverty. I show people countries in a new light.” How has he been able to carry on so far without giving up? “There’s a Finish term called ‘sisu’, which I believe I’ve inherited from my mother’s side of the family. It means a stubbornness beyond anything. When you have ‘sisu’, nothing can stop you from achieving what you’ve decided to do.”
The ugly side of travel…
…is not something most people like to talk about. But for Thor it’s all part of the journey. “I was taking a train in Africa and it was the kind where they tell you to sleep hugging your bag. There were wooden planks holding up the windows and the light switch was just two live wires that you had to press together and hope you don’t die. I was sitting in the dark and I began to feel like the wall in front of me was moving. I switched on my flashlight and discovered that the entire wall was covered with cockroaches.”
Favourite souvenirs?
Thor collects a memento from one country and passes it on to the next. It could be a rock, a newspaper or even currency. “I’m also doing a series called Eyes of the World, where I take a picture of someone’s eyes in every country.”
You may say I’m a dreamer…
But Thor is definitely not the only one. After three hours of talking to him, I knew I never wanted to travel the world without flying, but I had tremendous respect for this man who was doing it. I turned over the business card that he gave me and on the back were the words, “A stranger is a friend you’ve never met before“. For a man who’s travelled 2,43,000km and counting, there’s no saying how many friends he’s made on the way. He ends our conversation by saying, “What if there were ferries to every island in the world? What if there were no wars and no armed conflicts and you could cross every border and you didn’t need any visas? What would the challenge be? You could go anywhere! Anyone who set their mind to it, could do it.” I suppose all you need is a little sisu!
Follow Thor’s journey here
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Source: Conde Nast Traveller
