Torbjørn C. "Thor" Pedersen (born 19 December, 1978) is a Danish traveller and adventurer known for the ''Once Upon a Saga'' project: a journey to visit every country in the world without the use of air travel. The project has lasted for over eight years, and Pedersen had, , visited 201 of the planned 203 nations.

Early life

Torbjørn Cederlöf Pedersen was born in Kerteminde, Denmark, to Torben Pedersen (Danish) and Ylva Cederlöf (Finnish). The family moved to Vancouver, Canada, then to Toronto, Canada, and after that to New Jersey, USA over a period of six years, before returning to Denmark in 1984 where he spent his childhood growing up in Kerteminde and Bryrup before entering business school at Silkeborg Handelsskole, Silkeborg. Pedersen graduated as a merchant student in 1998 and was drafted to the military later the same year, serving as a royal life guard at the royal palaces throughout Denmark. He was later a UN soldier for half a year in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Following an education in shipping and logistic the Dane worked several years abroad in Libya, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United States and other countries. When travelling abroad, Torbjørn is nicknamed Thor.

Once Upon a Saga

In 2013, Pedersen began planning a project which aimed at visiting every country in the world in a single unbroken journey explicitly without the use of air transport. Graham Hughes holds the world record of fastest visiting all countries by public surface transport, according to

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. Hughes was however permitted to fly home to Britain twice during his journey, as long as he returned to the same airport in order to continue his journey. To visit every country in the world, in one single journey, without catching a single flight is something that has never been done before.Leve, And
"Torbjorn Pedersen: the man on a mission to visit every country in the world, without taking a single flight"
''The National'', Abu Dhabi, 7 September 2019. Through the project Pedersen intends to reach every country without flying, while promoting every country and the world in a positive way. On 10 October, 2013 at 10:10am (10/10,10:10) ''Once Upon a Saga'' began at Dybbøl Mølle in Southern Denmark. Soon after Pedersen crossed into Germany by train and had, in January 2020, reached 193 of the intended 203 countries on all six inhabited continents without returning home. He was originally expected to complete the project and return to Denmark again in 2020 after visiting his last country, the Maldives, in October 2020. However, , he has been stuck in Hong Kong for several months due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The long journey has earned Pedersen media coverage in more than 100 countries so far."Danish globetrotter finds Bruneians ‘absolute sweethearts’"
''Borneo Bulletin'', Bandar Seri Begawan, 20 July 2019. "ONLY NINETEEN MORE THOR!"
''Kuwait Bazaar'', Kuwait, 1 July 2019. "He journeys across the world without flying for the Red Cross"
''The New Paper'', Singapore, 21 June 2019. "His name is Thor and he’s travelling around the world without flying"
''Condé Nast Traveler India'', Mumbai, 2 February 2019.
''GNN TV'', Islamabad, 28 December 2018. "Around the world without planes"
''Oman Daily Observer'', Singapore, 14 September 2018. Notable outlets that have covered Pedersens quest between 2013 and 2020 include VICE, BBC, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, Forbes, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, News.com.au, The National and ABC.Darmadi, Mal
"Thor visits Nauru on global tour"
''ABC'', Melbourne, 7 September 2019.

References

External links

Once Upon a Saga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Torbjorn C. 1978 births Living people Travelers People from Kerteminde