A Man Left His Life Behind To Visit Every Country In The World — Without Using A Plane
Torbjørn “Thor” Pedersen had built quite a life for himself. He had a good job, a loving partner, and a new home. But then he decided to leave it all behind to embark on an extraordinary adventure. Thor wanted to travel to every nation around the globe without jumping on a single airplane. But the epic trip took much longer than planned...
Meeting Thor
A resident of Copenhagen, Denmark, Thor has been drawn to adventure for much of his life. As a kid, he frequently constructed woodland shelters under the guise of his icon — a certain Indiana Jones.
And Thor retained that wonder as he got older, too, dreaming of ways to make his own mark on the world. Yet deep down, he felt those aspirations couldn’t become a reality.
“Everything had been done”
Why? Well, Thor went into more detail about that during an interview with The Guardian in August 2023. He explained, “I was born at least 100 years too late.
“I had a profound feeling that everything had been done. The great adventures took place in the past. It was all over.” So, with that in mind, he seemingly moved on.
Quite the résumé
Following his stint at business school, Thor spent some time in the army before taking on a U.N. peacekeeping job. The role took him to Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Then, he bagged a position in the logistics sector.
This job allowed Thor to travel to various nations across the globe. He might not have been an adventurer, but you couldn’t say he was living a boring life!
Good times?
So, that brings us to 2013. By that point, Thor was in his mid-30s and still working in the logistics and shipping business. As for his personal life, he was a few months into a romance with a woman named Le, while also purchasing a new apartment in Copenhagen.
Everything appeared to be going smoothly — until a fateful moment involving Thor’s father.