23-year-old German sets record for travelling to all 195 countries

After travelling to 195 countries, a 23-year-old German man has claimed the world record for the youngest person to have visited every country across the globe.

Mönchengladbach man sets world travel record

Luca Pferdmenges of Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, now holds the world record for the youngest person to have travelled to all 195 countries across the world. 

After four and a half years of travelling and having filled five passports with stamps, the 23-year-old concluded his odyssey in the Pacific island nation of Palau, before arriving home via Düsseldorf Airport this week.

In late 2020, Pferdmenges had already travelled to 76 countries. But it was on a trip to South Africa during the winter lockdown that he first considered going for the record.

“It was never about ticking off a list,” Pferdmenges said in an interview with Reisereporter, “It was about people and their stories. [...] Now, when I meet someone new, I can say, “I have been to your country”. That’s really special". 

Pferdmenges financed travels via TikTok account

Having dropped out of school at 17, before completing his Abitur, Pferdmenges funded his travels through advertising on his TikTok account, writing e-books about travelling on a shoestring budget, a book on How to Juggle Like a Professional, and teaching at Afghanistan’s only circus school.

Travelling across the world, including to North Korea and war-torn Sudan, the vagabond said that he had only been pickpocketed twice, once in Buenos Aires and once in Düsseldorf Airport.