After almost a decade of travel, the Dane Thorbjorn "Thor" Pedersen became the first person to visit every country in the world without traveling by plane, says "ABC".

The 44-year-old adventurer began his ambitious project "Once Upon a Saga" in October 2013, and assumed it would last about four years.

He recently arrived in his last country, the 203rd in a row – the Maldives and thus marked the end of his adventure, which lasted for 3.512 days.

"In a way, this was a great and successful social experiment. "I can't remember any country where I didn't receive some form of kindness or support from the people," he says.

The international organization United Nations currently has 192 member states, but Pedersen included some other "disputed" destinations in his route.

He spent at least 24 hours in each country, traveling by foot, car, bus, train or ship, including 37 container ships.

"At one point, boarding a container ship was like boarding a city bus," he says, laughing.

Pedersen says that while others have traveled the world by plane or stopped to return home and then continue their journey, he is the first person to travel the world in one long, non-stop trip without taking a plane.

"I am proud that I never gave up." I am proud that I was able to prove the strength that was expected of me," says the adventurer.

He stayed in Hong Kong the longest - two whole years, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Then, for the first time, he thought of giving up on the project.

"That was before we got the vaccines, we didn't know how things were going to play out and we didn't know how dangerous it was going to be for us," Pedersen recalled.

While his plans were on hiatus, he married his longtime girlfriend Lee, who visited him 26 times during the project.

Although he started the trip with great enthusiasm, he ended it "tired, especially mentally".

"Although I felt a lot of pain and disappointments, I learned many things, experienced many beautiful things and great experiences," shared the adventurer.

After spending some time in the Maldives, Pedersen is now returning to his native Denmark. Also, no plane.

"When I return home, I will dedicate myself to my family and friends. I will also take a deep breath, as it will be my first breath of Danish air in a long, long time. "And who knows, maybe it's not too late to start a family with my wife," he said.

For the past four years, Pedersen has been working on his feature-length documentary and plans to publish a book of his travel experiences.