Travelling 198 countries without flying, Thor’s voyage reaches Samoa

By Talaia Mika

APIA, SAMOA – 23 AUGUST 2022: A Danish world traveller, who is on a game-changing adventure travelling the world completely without flying and in the cheapest way possible, has landed in Samoa as the 198^th destination in his 203 countries itinerary.

Torbjørn C Pederson (Thor) arrived at the Apia wharf yesterday morning on a Swire Shipping container vessel after being rejected entrance to Tonga as sea arrivals to the Kingdom are not permitted until October.

Thor is the legendary character in his “Once Upon a Saga” adventure project and has already travelled 197 countries in eight years and seven months.

In his first few hours spent in Samoan waters and still on the vessel, Pederson praised Samoa as one of the top two countries with the most convenient and easiest authorized border access after being granted authorization from the government and a passage granted to land at the Apia wharf.

Thor (with hat) with the Swire Shipping vessel crew upon arrival in Apia yesterday morning.

Now staying with a Samoan family, Pederson’s first impression of Samoa was the hospitality of people, “everyone’s always smiling” he said.

He is not sure how long he will stay in Samoa but listed on his mission of places in Samoa to visit are Mount Silisili, the Blow holes, beaches and hopefully learn about the culture.

What’s unique about Pederson’s saga is that this is the first time someone has travelled the world only by sea and with the Covid-19 pandemic throwing ‘monkey wrench’ to his original game plan, “makes it more interesting.”

Pederson departed Denmark on 10 October 2013 with his voyage duration set at 3 to 4 years at the maximum. He left a job in the Shipping & Logistics industry and his family and wife behind after discovering that nobody has ever visited every country in the world without flying.

His saga is guided by the motto, “A stranger is a friend you’ve never met before.”

After experiencing several deviations along the way, such as being stranded in Lebanon for 102 days and Hong Kong for 2 years, one important message Pederson wishes to portray to the world is to uphold your belief in that inspiration to fight for something that you believe in.

“On a personal level, it has been horrible, I could’ve been home more than a year ago but for the project it has been very good,” he added.

“People praised how I held on for two straight years being stranded in Hong Kong and I could’ve gone home any time I wanted but I didn’t, I stuck with what I believe in and that’s part of motivating people.”

Thor’s Once Upon a Saga journey route.

Pederson has 5 more countries to visit including Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Sri Lanka and finally the Maldives before ending his saga with an exclusive final message to tell the world.

One key purpose of Pederson’s world adventure is to promote positivity from and about each country he visits. He hopes to turn the world’s attention from negative news encouraged through the media which he believes has mentally dominated the world, and to look towards the positive side of things and life.

He is driving this through his “Once Upon a Saga” project that has already reached thousands of social media followers since the project started in almost nine years ago.

He will be having a proper closing for the project when he reaches all 203 countries by writing a book about his world voyage including ‘that final message’ he will reveal when the whole adventure is completed.