Jack Wheeler proudly shows the passport issued in the 1960s, among all the passports he has had over the course of his life. He has brought the documents to prove that he has visited every country in the world.
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“About 20 years ago, my wife asked me how many countries I had been to. It turned out I had been to 140. And she said: ‘Why not visit them all?’” explains Wheeler, an American who lives in Portugal with his wife.
“I turned it into a game. Whenever I went somewhere, I would also visit the most interesting countries nearby,” he tells Euronews. In 2014, on a trip to São Tomé and Príncipe, he completed his list.
Wendy Arbeit reached the same milestone last year, when she managed to enter North Korea. The German, who also holds US citizenship, was part of the first group to enter the country since the start of the pandemic.
“It was incredible. Very safe, very clean,” she says. “It was also very special because I was the first person to enter the country after Covid, the first non-Russian tourist.”
Wendy and Jack met on Saturday in the Azeitão area of Portugal for a Most Traveled People (MTP) gathering, which brought together around 200 people.
From Guinness to MTP
This story began in 2005. At the time, Charles Veley hoped to be recognised as the most travelled person in the world, but the Guinness Book of Records had stopped awarding that title.
So he created Most Traveled People, which he describes as a community of travellers. The MTP platform (source in Portuguese), which has more than 50,000 registered members, allows users to log the trips they have already made and check their position in the ranking of the most travelled.
“We organise tours and we compile rankings. The rankings help motivate people, because they have a list to complete. That’s what happened to me,” he says.
Those who can prove they have been to the 193 countries recognised by the UN become grandmasters. At this gathering in Azeitão, 103 of these grandmasters were present.
But Veley, a Californian who spent 350 days away from home last year, insists that this community is not about ticking off countries. After all, members are also encouraged to visit lesser-known places.
“When people go to a country and only visit the capital, that is not really experiencing the country,” he adds.
Like Veley, many MTP members are Americans, but there are also plenty of Europeans, many of whom come from Germany and Portugal.
Increasingly, there are more and more members from Asia, and the community’s next major gathering will take place in the city of Chengdu, in China, next year.
Arrests, wars and other stories
For members, however, MTP seems above all to be an opportunity to socialise and share experiences. Everyone appears to have a story to tell – some of them rather dramatic and involving particularly unsafe countries.
Nicolas Pasquali names the Central African Republic as the most dangerous country he has visited. But despite “a civil war and areas controlled by the Wagner Group”, the Argentinian managed to cross the country by motorbike and even received help from locals.
Even so, it was in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that he had his biggest fright.
“I ended up in prison in Iraq: I was accused of spying for Italy,” says Nicolas. The situation repeated itself in the DRC, after he was asked for a bribe in exchange for a visa. He has since returned to the country without any problems.
David Langan, an Irishman who managed to visit every country in 2022, goes to a post office in every country. He even managed it in Somalia, the most dangerous country he has visited.
“I would say Mogadishu, in Somalia, is considered dangerous. But, as with everything, you need proper security and to be careful. I felt safe when I was there,” Langan tells Euronews.
An expensive hobby
Within this community they prefer to be called travellers rather than tourists. It is a pastime that requires financial means.
But some point out that travelling has never been so cheap.
“Air fares have come down and there are many ways to get to places. It’s a matter of staying in cheaper hotels or staying in people’s homes,” says David Langan.
This is also Nicolas Pasquali’s strategy: saving on accommodation and transport.
“You do need money, yes. But with 150,000 euros I managed to visit every country,” he explains.
As for Jack Wheeler, his secret seems to be to combine work and travel. For 50 years this American has run a company that organises expeditions and now, at 82, he is still travelling.
“I turned it into my business. People pay me to take them to extraordinary places around the world. That’s how I do it,” he concludes.