Featured Image Credit: Instagram/onceuponasaga
Topics: Travel, ITV, World News
James Moorhouse
A man who has visited every single country in the world has named the one he disliked the most.
Considering the sheer number of countries which the government suggest avoiding at all costs, it seems remarkable that more and more people are able to visit every single one.
Danish globe-trotter Thor Pedersen set off on the journey of a lifetime back in 2013 before completing his mammoth challenge more than 10 years later, when he visited the Maldives in 2023.
Most impressively, he managed this epic journey without flying once, travelling in 37 container ships, 158 trains, 351 buses, 219 taxis, 33 boats and 43 rickshaws across nearly 4,000 days of travel.
Thor was only due to pass through Hong Kong on a transit journey but ended up spending two years there after the coronavirus pandemic broke out during his journey.
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But, with only nine countries left to visit, the Danish national wasn't going to give up there. He managed to chalk off the final nine, becoming the first in history to visit every single one without bothering with an airport, which is probably smart given how many problems you can run into while flying.
According to Thor, Tuvalu is the 'worst county in the world.'
The British Commonwealth island in Oceania is extremely vulnerable to global warming and is extremely remote, so it may not be long until we are saying Toodle-oo to Tuvalu.
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He told UNILAD: "I do give Tuvalu a hard time. The reason for that is not because the people weren't nice, because they were, it's beautiful and there's lots of good, but I just struggle with all the money that's sent to Tuvalu to keep that running as a country.
"What is Tuvalu doing for the world? Just relocate these people to wherever they want to go, but stop sending money. Plus Tuvalu is going to be under the ocean in 70 years, 100 years, something within that.
"So if we start building factories so there's work for them, and build a nice hospital so they can get treated there, and really invest in Tuvalu, then it's all going to be underwater in the future anyway.
"I tend to think that's the worst country in the world."
Despite being hugely popular with Catholics across the world, Thor wasn't a big fan of Vatican City.
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The independent city-state, which lies in the centre of Rome, recently welcomed Pope Leo XIV as its new head of state but for those just passing by, there isn't much on offer.
Thor added: "There's a country that I do think is a terrible country, which is the Vatican. So, it's not about religion, it's about what's going on. No children are born there, you can't book a room for the night, there's no restaurants, and they tell you to leave of an evening and come back the next day.
"It's the only country in the world where they would go like, 'Oh yeah, time's up, we're closed. It's 11, come back tomorrow'. Rubbish country."
Although I assume that Thor was joking when he named the UK as his favourite during an interview with This Morning, other travellers have been more honest about their favourites.
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One man suggested Samoa, another island in Oceania, as his personal 'paradise', while another claims that the Philippines has everything you could want.