Most of us often complain about how our hectic work schedule deprives us of the pleasure of travelling. Some of us are too caught up in the web of our sedentary lifestyles that we barely wish to move out of the comfort zone. And when we do get time, we take a short trip to somewhere and get done with it. Or if it’s a long trip, we plan months ahead, do some overtime at work to compensate, and then pack our bags to travel. But not this guy right here…
Meet Gunnar Garfors. He is the envy of every traveller because he is the first person in the world to have travelled to all 198 countries and that too before his 40th birthday!
He achieved this feat in 2013, when he was just 37!
Garfors was successful in balancing work with pleasure as he managed to combine his globetrotting love with his job! He managed to keep his job at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation throughout his travels.
“I guess having visited every country as a hobby traveller shows that you don’t have to quit your job and set up a travel blog to see and experience the world. You just need to plan a bit, yet dare to be impulsive – almost a contradiction.”
Here are some more snippets from his travels:
Chilling out at the Machu Picchu, Peru
Atop the Mount Klubbviktind, near the Skjomen fjord, Norway
Receiving a marriage proposal from a girl named Neda, in Iran; which he peacefully declined
At the Paro Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan
Trying out a burqa in Afghanistan
Doing a hand stand in the sand at the Keleti Beach in Tonga
At St. Kitts and Nevis, North America
Riding a scooter in Tonga, Oceania
Snorkelling In Malta
In Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Chilling in Taiwan
A camel getting a little too close for comfort in Uzbekistan
Boat riding in Kerala, India
Garfors even reached ‘The Door To Hell’ in the middle of a desert in Turkmenistan, where gas has been burning inside the crater since 1971, when a gas drilling operation went haywire
Floating in the Dead Sea, Israel
Engaging in the eye-contact game with a sphinx, Egypt
From being stuck in Antarctica to calling for help, he did it all!
His journey was capped off at Cape Verde, just off the northwest coast of Africa
He finally made it after numerous car rides, flights and train journeys!
Travel logistics that went into another record breaking feat, where he and his two friends travelled to 19 European countries in a single day!
He has even documented his travels in a book titled, “198: How I Ran Out Of Countries” which is available in both Norwegian and English. Hats off, sir!
Read more about how he achieved this feat, here.
