'I Was Certain I Would Die': Man Who Visited Every Country Without Flying Arrives In UAE

2026-01-28 11:16:46

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Thor Pedersen traveled to 203 countries in a span of nine years, nine months and 16 days

PUBLISHED: Thu 29 Jan 2026, 8:15 AM

By:
Nasreen Abdulla

When Thor Pedersen arrived in the UAE for the Emirates Literature Festival, he brought with him not just a passport stamped by every country on Earth, but a story that transcends all boundaries and saw him stare into the face of death more than once.

The Danish adventurer and author is the first person in history to visit every country in the world without flying. What he once thought would take four years ended up consuming nine years, nine months and 16 days. During this time, he had guns pointed at him, was helped by complete strangers, married his girlfriend-turned-fiance three times, suffered from cerebral malaria, travelled on ships that later sank- two with loss of life and earned a wealth of experience.“I had fantastic experiences,” he said.“What I say is that I filled my heart but I scarred my soul. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.”

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There were many points where he was close to giving up and going home, especially when he was nine countries away from reaching his goal and the whole world was shut down by the global pandemic. This left him stranded in Hong Kong for over two years- a place he was supposed to stay for just four days.

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“I was certain I would die”

For Thor, the most terrifying experience of his travel came in Central Africa when armed, intoxicated men pulled him out of a car at a checkpoint in the middle of the night.

“I hadn't been eating or sleeping well and I was recovering from malaria,” he recalled.“My long-distance relationship was falling apart and I had lost financial backing for the project. I was really tired and I was in the car with a driver with no one else in the middle of the night coming towards the border with Congo and where there's suddenly a checkpoint.”

When Thor's driver slowed down, three uniformed men pulled him out at gunpoint.“From the moment they saw that I was not a local person, I could see the hate coming out of one of the men's eyes,” he said.“There was so much negative hateful emotion.”

In that moment he fully accepted that he was going to die right there.“I could not see any scenario where I could escape and I was just waiting to hear the rifle take my life, but fortunately after a very long night I managed to leave the situation peacefully.”

Even though he survived, the memory haunts him till today.

“She said yes to me four times”

When Thor was setting out on his journey, he bid goodbye to his girlfriend, Le, hoping to be back in four years. Two years into his project they almost broke up.

“We almost broke up but we saved our relationship and she came out to visit me more frequently,” he said.“Eventually we got engaged on top of Mount Kenya.”

It was while he was locked down in Hong Kong during the pandemic that the couple decided to get married.“I had not seen her for a year and a half and the solution to that was to get married online,” he said.“She was in Denmark and I was in Hong Kong. Friends and family joined the online call and we got married. We were not even on the same day because of the time difference but it was doable and so we did it.”

After this, Le was able to secure the paperwork for Hong Kong and quarantined for three weeks before she was finally able to join Thor. However, Denmark refused to accept the marriage. So the couple got married a second time at the island nation Vanuatu. When Denmark still refused to accept that wedding, the couple got married a third time at the country's city hall.“This woman has said yes to me four times,” Thor chuckled.“First at the engagement and then at the three weddings.”

In December 2024, the couple welcomed their first child.“That,” he said,“was the greatest ending I could have hoped for.”

How it began

Thor's historic adventure began with a simple email that his father sent.“It was about people who had been to every country in the world,” he recalled.“I didn't even know that was a thing. At the time around 200 people had done it. Now it is closer to 500.”

What struck him most was that no one had done it without flying.“For some reason, that felt incredibly important to me back then,” he said. On October 10, 2013, he set off- naïve, by his own admission- promising his girlfriend he would be gone no more than four years.

During his travels, he managed on a shoestring budget of an average of $20- approximately Dh74- per day to cover his transportation, accommodation, meals and visas. The money came from three sources- sponsorships, his own savings and donations and crowdfunding campaigns.

He had several memorable incidents during his trip too. He shared one.“There was this woman Maria in Poland,” he said.“This within the first few months of my project. It was winter and I'm standing on the street not knowing where to go. She opens her door, takes me in, cooks for me in the middle of the night and gives me a bed to sleep. The next morning fixes breakfast for me and then she takes me in her car to the bus terminal and shows me the bus that will take me to the next country. All this just out of kindness and no expectations.”

Coming to Dubai

While in Dubai for the Emirates Literature Festival, he said it made him nostalgic about the time when he came here during his project.“I had come here after a hard time in Central Africa and Dubai finally began to make things happen for me,” he said.“I got a visa for Yemen and as well as Saudi Arabia. I had been trying for my Saudi visa for seven months- this was a time when the tourist visa was not a thing. But Dubai made it happen for me. So I love this city.”

Despite his project having ended, Thor still loves to travel and explore. While he was here, he went on a trip around the country.“This time, I managed to visit one of the emirates that I hadn't managed to get to last time,” he said.“I also visited an exclave of Sharjah inside Oman. That was very cool too.”

Now, he wants to translate his love for the country and the region into something more.“I want to translate my book into Arabic,” he said.“It is now available in English and German. In Germany, it was a best seller and has already sold over 10,000 copies. I am looking for the right partner to translate my book into Arabic as well.”