Man Who Traveled 198 Countries Shortlisted 12 Best Countries Everyone Should Visit

Travelling is perhaps one of the most common hobbies in the world. People love to visit places and keep exploring their own country and many other countries in the world.

However, it depends on people’s spending capacity to travel wherever they can and often end up exploring many places in the process. Everyone travels to unknown destinations according to wishes. Some need to fulfill their need for adventure, some want their dose of extreme junkie and then some just want to visit a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and just enjoy the calmness.

Gunnar Garfors, a Norwegian travelled the world, in literal sense, visiting 198 countries in just five years and created the record of the youngest person to visit every country in the world at just 38 years of age. He then decided to write a book about his experiences and shared a list of 12 shortlisted countries that everyone must visit for others.

Gunnar Garfors - The man who traveled an astonishing 198 countries

Gunnar Garfors is a Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) employee who was fed up with his monotonous life. He loved his job at NRK, but he wanted to travel the world and made it happen thanks to an arrangement between his company and his journey started in 2008.

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Biography of Gunnar Garfors

Gunnar Garfors is president of the International DMB Advancement Group and was the CEO of Norwegian Mobile TV Corporation from 2008 to 2013. Norwegian Mobile TV Corporation was the first company to launch mobile TV services via DMB in 2009.

He is oldest of the seven children and was born in Hammerfest in Norway. He has lived in places like Dublin, Falmouth, Copenhagen, Taipei, and Oslo. He holds Bachelor of Arts from Falmouth College of Arts in Britain and Master of Management from Norwegian School of Management.

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His book- 198: How I Ran Out Of Countries

His book 198: How I Ran Out Of Countries was published in 2014 by Norwegian publisher Samlaget. Gunnar also had articles in publications in Afghanistan, Germany, the UK, the USA, and Brazil. In the book, he has diarized his visits to all the nations he visited. He started out in 2008 and ended in 2014, at the age of 37 years and 344 days old, making him the youngest to do so.

In the book, he has shortlisted 12 countries that one must visit during their lifetimes amongst the 198 he has visited and we have brought you facts why you should follow Gunnar’s advice.

Image Source: garfors.com

1Romania

Gunnar has fascinations for castles and mountain ranges and Romania fulfilled all of those for him. Also the fact that Bram Stoker got his inspiration from Vlad Dracula or Vlad III, a ruler of Wallachia in the 1400s; makes Romania interesting for people to visit.

Apart from Gunnar’s recommendations, there are 8 beautiful Churches in Moldovia, Danube Delta, Monastery of Horezu and many more tourist attractions. People can hike and ski in the mountains of Prahova Valley, experience the cultures of cities like Bucharest, Sibiu, Timisoara, Arad and Targu Mures.

Gunnar says about Romania, “Transylvania, best known for its castles, mountains, and of course, Dracula will stun you. Not to forget the parties in the capital Bucharest.”

Image Source: www.nationalgeographic.com

2Madagascar

The best country on the Gunnar’s list is Madagascar. It is an island country in the Indian Ocean, near the coast of East Africa. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. One can enjoy animals like aye-aye and lemurs, famous from the animated movie series Madagascar in real life.

Madagascar, being an island country is a haven for water sports fans and is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations. Gunnar requests one to try out the cuisines of the capital city of Antananarivo and says the wildlife and coastline will leave you will unforgettable memories.

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