"I become the first person to travel around the world TWICE - now I'm going round the Antarctic circle"
- 6 months ago
A backpacker has become the first person to travel around the world twice - now, he's challenged himself to travel the Antarctic circle.
Gunnar Garfors, 48, has travelled to every single country around the world - including war-torn areas like Eritrea and North Korea.
He says his highlights include going snorkeling in the Marshall Islands, seeing lions in Botswana and eating sushi for breakfast in Tokyo.
He used his job as a broadcast journalist to fund his initial challenge from 2008 to 2013, sacrificing family life, a car and a comfortable home in order to visit different countries.
Then, in 2018, he challenged himself to do it all over again.
Gunnar, a journalist from Oslo, said: “Becoming the first person to travel the world twice has been humbling... there are just too many incredible places and experiences in the world.
“I just became competitive with myself - the more I travelled, the more I wanted to travel.
“I couldn’t quit my job - so I did it using my holidays, weekends and long weekends.
“I’d fly out somewhere on the Tuesday after work, fly back into Oslo on Sunday night and go to work Monday morning.”
Gunnar says he was always fascinated by travelling when he was little - his dad, Reidar, now 83, was a cruise ship doctor in the 1970s and sailed around the world for a living.
He’d record cassette tapes for Gunnar and his six siblings, talking all about the different countries he’d visit - like Brunei, Canada and the Philippines.
He said: “I always wanted to travel when I was a small kid. Our dad was a doctor on a cruise ship.
“He sailed the Pacific - and went to Philippines, Canada, Brunei and Malaysia.
“We couldn’t read - so he’d send us cassette tapes instead of letters. He told us these incredible stories from distant countries - it was very inspiring.”
At the age of 29, Gunnar set himself a challenge to travel to seven countries with the suffix “-stan” - Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
He started in October 2004, and completed it in October 2009 - which was when he decided to travel to every country around the world.
Gunnar said: “I didn’t have a plan, I just wanted another go at travelling to different countries.
“I was very curious - I wanted to see new places, meet locals and have new experiences. I’d been invited to two weddings in India - and planned to go to China with friends.
“The trouble is, when I started visiting more countries, I began to keep count.
“And once you start keeping count, you have to finish.”
The challenge became Gunnar’s top priority - and he had to sacrifice a lot to complete it.
He couldn't see his family at weekends, he couldn’t afford a car, "fancy" clothes or a nice home.
But he didn't feel he had to sacrifice his dating life - often taking ex-girlfriends on his travels.
In the space of five years, Gunnar visited 198 countries - including North Korea, Cape Verde and Yemen.
Gunnar Garfors, 48, has travelled to every single country around the world - including war-torn areas like Eritrea and North Korea.
He says his highlights include going snorkeling in the Marshall Islands, seeing lions in Botswana and eating sushi for breakfast in Tokyo.
He used his job as a broadcast journalist to fund his initial challenge from 2008 to 2013, sacrificing family life, a car and a comfortable home in order to visit different countries.
Then, in 2018, he challenged himself to do it all over again.
Gunnar, a journalist from Oslo, said: “Becoming the first person to travel the world twice has been humbling... there are just too many incredible places and experiences in the world.
“I just became competitive with myself - the more I travelled, the more I wanted to travel.
“I couldn’t quit my job - so I did it using my holidays, weekends and long weekends.
“I’d fly out somewhere on the Tuesday after work, fly back into Oslo on Sunday night and go to work Monday morning.”
Gunnar says he was always fascinated by travelling when he was little - his dad, Reidar, now 83, was a cruise ship doctor in the 1970s and sailed around the world for a living.
He’d record cassette tapes for Gunnar and his six siblings, talking all about the different countries he’d visit - like Brunei, Canada and the Philippines.
He said: “I always wanted to travel when I was a small kid. Our dad was a doctor on a cruise ship.
“He sailed the Pacific - and went to Philippines, Canada, Brunei and Malaysia.
“We couldn’t read - so he’d send us cassette tapes instead of letters. He told us these incredible stories from distant countries - it was very inspiring.”
At the age of 29, Gunnar set himself a challenge to travel to seven countries with the suffix “-stan” - Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
He started in October 2004, and completed it in October 2009 - which was when he decided to travel to every country around the world.
Gunnar said: “I didn’t have a plan, I just wanted another go at travelling to different countries.
“I was very curious - I wanted to see new places, meet locals and have new experiences. I’d been invited to two weddings in India - and planned to go to China with friends.
“The trouble is, when I started visiting more countries, I began to keep count.
“And once you start keeping count, you have to finish.”
The challenge became Gunnar’s top priority - and he had to sacrifice a lot to complete it.
He couldn't see his family at weekends, he couldn’t afford a car, "fancy" clothes or a nice home.
But he didn't feel he had to sacrifice his dating life - often taking ex-girlfriends on his travels.
In the space of five years, Gunnar visited 198 countries - including North Korea, Cape Verde and Yemen.