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In 2013, Torbjørn Pedersen (known to his friends as “Thor”) was 34 years old, living in Copenhagen, and doing quite well within his chosen career of shipping and logistics. He had a comfortable life, had just purchased an apartment, and had recently started dating a woman he really liked. Looking back, he says there wasn't much in the cards that would suggest he would completely change course and set off on an adventure into the world, but that’s in fact precisely what was about to happen.
Thor traveling in Ethiopia in 2016
Thor always had a bit of an adventurous streak, running marathons and competing against himself to improve his time, going on long hikes, and even once completing an 8-day kayak trip around one of the larger islands in his home country of Denmark, just to see if he could do it. But now it was time for the greatest challenge of them all: he decided to do something that no one had ever done before and travel to every country in the world without flying, in a single, unbroken journey.
Given that there are nearly 200 countries, he knew this would be difficult and time-consuming, but it turned out to be even harder than he expected.
Thor in North Korea in 2019
“This world is not made for travel without flying,” he told me, noting that it’s extremely difficult to reach many places without an airplane. “There are some stretches if you fly across, you're fine. You go from one airport to the other. If you take the road, you have to pass through 25 or 30 checkpoints. And each checkpoint might set you back.”
“The real problem,” he added, “is when you need to go to island nations and there are no ferries, then you're just out of options. Because you need to work out what are your alternatives? Are there cruise ships? Are there any merchant vessels? Is there a family or is someone out on an adventure? Do they have a sailboat? Are they heading in your direction? Do they want to help you? You know, that's a big question.”
Thor walking across the border from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan
Plus, Thor encountered all sorts of unforseen dangers, from being held at gunpoint several times to having his taxi driver doze off while traveling in West Africa to suffering a life-threatening bout with cerbral malaria.
On the latest episode of Far From Home, Thor Pedersen tells the story of his journey and reflects back on what it all means, a decade later.
Thor stuck in Hong Kong in 2020 during the pandemic (photo credit: Pavel Toropov)
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(banner photo of Thor riding a train in Sri Lanka courtesy of Mike Douglas)