Torbjørn C. "Thor" Pedersen (born 19 December, 1978) is a Danish traveller and adventurer known for the ''Once Upon a Saga'' project: a journey to visit every country in the world without the use of air travel. The project began in 2013 and lasted for over nine years, and Pedersen visited all of the planned 203 nations before finally returning to Denmark by ship.
Early life
Torbjørn Cederlöf Pedersen was born in
Kerteminde
Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,128 (1 January 2025).
, Denmark, to Torben Pedersen (Danish) and Ylva Cederlöf (Finnish). The family moved to
Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Me ...
, then to
Toronto, Canada
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, and after that to
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, US over a period of six years. He returned to Denmark in 1984, where he spent his childhood growing up in Kerteminde and Bryrup. He entered business school at Silkeborg Handelsskole,
Silkeborg
Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).Graham Hughes holds the world record of fastest visiting all countries by public surface transport, according to
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
.
On 10 October, 2013 at 10:10am (10/10,10:10) ''Once Upon a Saga'' began at Dybbøl Mølle in Southern Denmark. Soon after that, Pedersen crossed into Germany by train. By January 2020, he had reached 194 of the intended 203 countries on all six inhabited continents without returning home.
He was originally expected to complete the project and return to Denmark again in 2020 after visiting his last country, the Maldives, in October 2020. However, his return to Denmark was delayed by nearly three years due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, during which time he was stuck in Hong Kong for two years.
The long journey has earned Pedersen media coverage in more than 100 countries so far."Danish globetrotter finds Bruneians ‘absolute sweethearts’" ''Borneo Bulletin'', Bandar Seri Begawan, 20 July 2019. "ONLY NINETEEN MORE THOR!" ''Kuwait Bazaar'', Kuwait, 1 July 2019. "He journeys across the world without flying for the Red Cross" ''The New Paper'', Singapore, 21 June 2019. "His name is Thor and he’s travelling around the world without flying" ''Condé Nast Traveler India'', Mumbai, 2 February 2019. ''GNN TV'', Islamabad, 28 December 2018. "Around the world without planes" ''Oman Daily Observer'', Singapore, 14 September 2018.
Notable outlets that have covered Pedersen's quest between 2013 and 2020 include VICE, BBC, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, Forbes, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, News.com.au, The National, and ABC.Darmadi, Mal "Thor visits Nauru on global tour" ''ABC'', Melbourne, 7 September 2019.
He finished his journey on July 26, 2023, by returning to
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
,
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...