A man who visited every country in the world without boarding a plane (2023) | Hacker News Reader

A man who visited every country in the world without boarding a plane (2023)

theguardian.com

139 pointsthunderbong61 comments

A great place to mention Karl Bushby whom is on his way from Punta Arenas, southern Chile to his home in the UK since Nov 1998 by mostly hiking. He crossed the Darien Gap, the Bering sea walking on ice / glaciers / swimming, as well as swimming the Caspian sea. In Mongolia he trained to work with camels Had a lot of issues of course with Russia due to crossing the Bering sea, and maybe the war, as well as covid lockdown in countries, limited days issued for visas etc. And he just left Turkey and entered Europe! so the only major challenge is swimming the channel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bushby

Haha, what a small world. He stayed with me in Spain, back in the good old days of Couchsurfing.

Not sure if I feel honoured or guilty by being able to set his plans back a day or 2 by introducing him to the local nightlife...

Ah, the good old days of Couchsurfing. So many good memories from 2009, all the way up to 2015, for me.

Back in the days I hosted a lady who also had been to ~190 countries. I miss the old world internet and community.

His book just came out:

https://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Journey-incredible-through... (not an affiliate link)

And there's a documentary apparently coming out soon.

I followed his journey live on https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/ and it was a weird mix of inspirational and very sad. He was clearly struggling with severe depression towards the end of it, but he could not bring himself to stop, so there he was, squatting in a filthy boat for weeks on end with cockroaches crawling over his toothbrush, while he waited for the country's sole oceangoing cargo ship to be repaired so he could get the hell out of there.

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/489-most-definitely-possib...

Sad that it is only available as a Kindle Edition, not a paperback.

I have a paperback version on amazon.fr so it actually exists ; not sure why it's not offered on the .com

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1472149777/

Thanks. It is noted as "This title will be released on April 23, 2026." on Amazon.de which explains the long delay on Amazon.fr. However the hardback version looks available now. EDIT: well it is not yet published on paper.

I'm struck by his quotes. They sound like basic advice. "People are generally good, few people want to hurt you" etc. Normally people say this without thinking but with him it's backed up by so much experience. It's hard to share experience. I remember seeing a man whose son was murdered in a shooting. He kept trying to describe his pain, using simple, profound language. I felt sorry for him because of course few people in the audience could relate to him. So his words kind of went in one ear and out the other, at least for me. It's hard to know how deeply truthful something is unless you've lived it. I imagine that this guy in the article may feel very lonely sometimes. Plus it's hard to be "post adventure" etc. Olympic athletes and astronauts etc always talk about how hard it is to be on the other side of the mountain. "What now?"

An article from last month in the Guardian:

I visited every country in the world without flying. Here are eight things I learned

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/21/i-visit...

Wow, that waterfall is majestic.

I miss reading Blogs. Old school, detailed blogs written in a plain and simple language. It's easy to follow and almost be invested in the journey.

How many hours did he spend being interviewed for visas etc?

Some countries I cross off my 'worth visiting' list simply because they have a Byzantine and expensive visa process which is going to use at least a week of time and effort to navigate whilst I was only planning to visit the place for a week in the first place!

And some countries have a 'not allowed if you've ever been to this other country' rule, making it very hard to visit them all.

He's Danish.

Danes have visa-free entry to 189/195 countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index

So I guess that he had to do about 6 visa interviews.

Thanks for that link, but Denmark's "189" seems to be out of 227 ("all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database"), while 195 is the number of "states recognised by the UN".

According to that list Saudi Arabia is one of the 189 countries. Saudi is a nightmare to get into, even as a Dane.

It's been very easy for the last few years. They've opened up the borders significantly. Lots of tourists go there.

Seems to have been just before covid - certainly wasn't when he did his trip though

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/259-saudi-s-in-audi-s-and-...

As an Indian, this was also my immediate thought but then I read the About section, I figured it was easy/ier for him. The not allowed if visited another place rule must have been easier to circumvent with some planning.

> And some countries have a 'not allowed if you've ever been to this other country' rule, making it very hard to visit them all.

In Holland this was a valid reason to request two passports, like if you frequently travel to both Israel and Egypt. They are mutually exclusive.

Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty. But eg Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran etc don't allow Israeli stamps in visitors' passports.

Israel doesn't stamp your passport, you get a small paper insert that they stamp instead. Problem is more the other way around, if you have stamps from Iran they won't let you into the country in Israel

there are two ways around it: either you keep two passports if you have to travel to both, or you wait until your passport expires until you visit the other country

Or you 'lose it' and get a new one, no need to wait for expiration.

The problem is more they ask 'have you ever been to X', and if you say yes, they deny you entry, and if you say no they could imprison you for years.

And it's easy to find out which countries a person has been to, because passenger lists on planes are pretty much public knowledge so it would be an easy lie to detect.

> because passenger lists on planes are pretty much public knowledge so it would be an easy lie to detect.

Not a problem for this guy

Maybe they'd be willing to make an exception for someone doing this, especially if he'd already completed a lot of the journey and so had some credibility built up.

They stopped stamping at Tel Aviv airport many years ago, but last time I went to Gaza they were still stamping.

No idea about now.

Some countries (Syria etc) will not only not let you in with an Israeli stamp, but also any sign of visiting Israel - money, snacks, etc.

The main problem nowadays though is the US - they won't let you in without a Visa if you've been to places like Iraq or Libya since 2011. A colleague went to Syria a couple of months ago, I asked "are you happy you'll never be eligible for an esta again". It's fine for now as work will pay for a US visa, but in 20 years time when he's retired?

> The main problem nowadays though is the US - they won't let you in without a Visa if you've been to places like Iraq or Libya since 2011. A colleague went to Syria a couple of months ago, I asked "are you happy you'll never be eligible for an esta again". It's fine for now as work will pay for a US visa, but in 20 years time when he's retired?

That's a fair bit of hypocrisy considering how many of their own soldiers they sent to Iraq.

I don't think I'll ever visit the US again though. So I wouldn't care about an ESTA. It's turning into a conservative religious place. I avoid those, like all of the middle east.

I'm trying to get an X in my passport so the US will simply deny me entrance. That way I can just say no to work if they want to send me there for a meeting or a tradeshow. I'm kinda genderqueer anyway (though not full non-binary) so that would be a good match. And if the US ever gets a sane government again I'm sure they will reverse this stuff right back.

Unfortunately my own government is also turning radical right conservative so they are making this harder :(

>And if the US ever gets a sane government again I'm sure they will reverse this stuff right back.

Reverse it? This was Obama's idea.

The Iraq/North Korea/Syria/Iran/Sudan/Libya/Somalia/Yemen bit was. The banning transgender passports wasn't.

The same is in Norway. I new few people from oil industry there that got 2 passports to be able to travel to China and Taiwan.

There are literally planes between China and Taiwan. Travel to one does not prevent travel to another.

Graham Hughes did that years ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Hughes

"Then came his eureka moment: “I discovered that no one had ever gone to every country in the world completely without flying [in one unbroken trip].” (A British man, Graham Hughes, has set foot in every country without flying, but took two breaks from the journey for personal reasons.)"

> without boarding a plane

Speedrunning tip for future contenders: Be born inside a plane

Or have one built around you.

I followed Thor's journey over the years. Great dude and a incredible achivement. Imagine planning for 4 years but hanging on for 10! He also had bad luck being stuck during covid.

Planning for a shorter trip but running into trouble that stretches it to 10 years seems like almost the ideal outcome.

The full Odysseus experience. Minus starting it with ten other years away at war, I guess.

Presumably including North Korea? (Due to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44033310 currently on the front page.)

The article said all 195 UN countries, so yes.

Yes, it's #176 on his list of countries:

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/journey

He had a longer blog entry for North Korea, but I like how the FAQ summarized it as "DPRK is a far more normal country than what we are lead to believe".

The rest of the FAQ is great reading as well:

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/more/faq

> Propaganda. Isn’t that just telling people what you want them to believe? If so then there’s plenty of it to go around. In the USA the republicans have one story and the democrats have another. DPRK has its version of the events which unfolded throughout and after the Korean War. Is propaganda being spread in DPRK? Yes...I’m sure it is. However I have quickly come to believe that there is far more propaganda being spread outside of DPRK about the country than within it. When I enter a country today I do that with the experience of visiting and analyzing 175 other countries. I’ve been observing DPRK and what I have seen are just people being people. You can’t interact with the people. They are clearly not interested or maybe they are afraid to interact with foreigners. There could be consequences I imagine? DPRK is not a country which promotes individual freedom.

You don’t say…

I think the GP is meant to say that it is somehow a functioning country (contrary to what clueless westerners believe), but that doesn't mean that it is [EDIT: was "isn't"] in the good state. Just that the belief is too strong to be true.

Added 2025-05-20T08:40: I realized what happened, double negations ruined the comment. I'm very much aware that DPRK has serious human rights problem and economic issues (after all, I am South Korean), and it also makes use of a western curiosity for business, but they are often exaggerated to the completely impossible extent.

They recently held the Olympics, yes they are a functioning country. Or are westerners too clueless to make that connection?

A functioning country is the bare minimum requirement. The recount of experience here does not mean that somehow the country isn’t horribly repressed and poverty-stricken.

You are definitely confusing North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) from each other.

You are very correct.

> They recently held the Olympics, yes they are a functioning country. Or are westerners too clueless to make that connection?

It's not those westerners who are clueless...

NK capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyongyang

SK county where Olympics were held: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyeongchang_County

How can you stay 24+ hours in Vatican City as a tourist? Are there hotels there? It seems there is https://www.residenzapaolovi.com/en/, but it's not within the Vatican.

he slept on the ground. https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/blog/205-how-to-spend-24-hrs-in...

the offended tone is quite bizarre

I found it more factual than offended.

What sort of hacker can’t stay awake for 24+ hours?

How much of a motion sickness one would normally experience on giant cargo ships? Do they also toss and turn in storms like small boats?

The first person in the world?

This was done back in Victorian times by an Englishman using nothing more than a visiting card and a letter of credit from his bank.

I have been led to believe that it is:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133405977-an-overland-jo...

which arguably should be contrasted with:

https://goodreads.com/book/show/5144131-a-woman-s-journey-ro...

The history of circumnavigations (esp. solo), and the books about it are an interesting set:

- sailing (solo): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/881902.Sailing_Alone_aro...

- bicycle (solo): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/301255.Around_the_World_... (all the more remarkable since it was a penny farthing rather than the essentially contemporary "safety bicycle" invented shortly after his departure

Those are in the public domain, and I recommend them highly as a view of what the world was once like, and how people are still much the same.

Been meaning to read newer accounts, but still need to track down copies and decide which are worth reading:

- amphibious landing vehicle (husband and wife): https://goodreads.com/book/show/17208213-half-safe

- walking (solo): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/436398.Letters_From_Stev...

- human power (solo): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5215427

- air (military unit): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23167711-first-flight-ar...

- submarine (submerged, military vessel): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1018686.Around_the_World...

and of course, one would presumably include the obvious records of Magellan and arguably the _H.M.S. Beagle_ and Darwin.

(obviously, this is something of an interest of mine, having been delighted by: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54479.Around_the_World_i... when I was younger)

2023

Every country according to which governing body or society?

Apparently those 195 recognized by the UN as well as countries like Taiwan. 203 in total according to the article.

Top Scandinavian hipster. Still better than going berserk after alcohol and drugs in Prague, Barcelona, or Ibiza.

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