Rock, Paper, Swords — the historical action and adventure podcast — welcomes explorer Thor Pedersen, author of The Impossible Journey.
In October 2013, 34-year-old Dane Thor Pedersen left home with one absurd rule: reach every country on Earth without ever boarding a plane. No flights, no shortcuts — just cargo ships, buses and trains, through 203 countries. What he thought would take four years took almost ten, including a two-year pandemic lockdown in Hong Kong with nine countries still to go. Along the way he crossed deserts under armed escort, talked his way through hundreds of checkpoints in Central Africa, served as a Red Cross Goodwill Ambassador, got engaged on the summit of Mount Kenya, and got married not once but three times (online, in Vanuatu, and finally at a Danish town hall) just to make the paperwork stick. In May 2023 he set foot in the Maldives and completed his mission — the only person in history to reach every country on Earth without flying — a journey he now tells in full in his memoir, The Impossible Journey: 10 Years. 203 Countries. No Flights.
In this episode, Thor talks to Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill about:
The email from his father that started the whole obsession
Why Central Africa "nearly broke his back" — corruption, checkpoints, and the surreal bureaucracy of getting a single visa
Surviving the West African Ebola outbreak while travelling through the region
How he financed a decade on the road — corporate sponsorship, crowdfunding, skipped meals, and a very unexpected job at a Danish seafarers' mission in Hong Kong
Getting stuck in Hong Kong for two years during COVID-19, with the finish line agonisingly close
The love story that ran alongside the adventure, including a proposal on Mount Kenya
Turning a ten-year odyssey into a book: the "hero's journey" structure, what he left out, and the reader reactions that stuck with him
The documentary film years in the making, and the small taste of it currently on BBC iPlayer
Why he's not chasing "most travelled person" status, and what a possible second book — this time about hope — might look like
Also in this episode: Matthew and Justin catch up on summer writing projects, the perils of a multi-author historical anthology (the Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066), a debate about AI-generated book covers, and the $2 million debut novel deal that collapsed over AI authorship questions.
About Thor Pedersen: Thor Pedersen (also known as Torbjørn C. Pedersen) is a Danish adventurer and the only person in history to have visited every country in the world without flying — a continuous, unbroken journey completed over nearly a decade. He served as a Red Cross Goodwill Ambassador throughout the project, "Once Upon a Saga," and is now a speaker and author. His memoir, The Impossible Journey, is out now in English and German, with a companion documentary film in the works. Learn more at thorpedersen.dk.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Thor Pedersen's website: thorpedersen.dk
The Impossible Journey (book): Amazon UK
BBC documentary feature: BBC iPlayer (search "The Impossible Journey")
Counting Countries podcast, hosted by Ric Gazarian (mentioned by Thor)
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