A backpacker has become the first person to travel around the world twice - now, he's challenged himself to travel the Antarctic circle. <br /><br />Gunnar Garfors, 48, has travelled to every single country around the world - including war-torn areas like Eritrea and North Korea. <br /><br />He says his highlights include going snorkeling in the Marshall Islands, seeing lions in Botswana and eating sushi for breakfast in Tokyo. <br /><br />He used his job as a broadcast journalist to fund his initial challenge from 2008 to 2013, sacrificing family life, a car and a comfortable home in order to visit different countries. <br /><br />Then, in 2018, he challenged himself to do it all over again. <br /><br />Gunnar, a journalist from Oslo, said: “Becoming the first person to travel the world twice has been humbling... there are just too many incredible places and experiences in the world. <br /><br />“I just became competitive with myself - the more I travelled, the more I wanted to travel.<br /><br />“I couldn’t quit my job - so I did it using my holidays, weekends and long weekends.<br /><br />“I’d fly out somewhere on the Tuesday after work, fly back into Oslo on Sunday night and go to work Monday morning.” <br /><br />Gunnar says he was always fascinated by travelling when he was little - his dad, Reidar, now 83, was a cruise ship doctor in the 1970s and sailed around the world for a living. <br /><br />He’d record cassette tapes for Gunnar and his six siblings, talking all about the different countries he’d visit - like Brunei, Canada and the Philippines. <br /><br />He said: “I always wanted to travel when I was a small kid. Our dad was a doctor on a cruise ship. <br /><br />“He sailed the Pacific - and went to Philippines, Canada, Brunei and Malaysia. <br /><br />“We couldn’t read - so he’d send us cassette tapes instead of letters. He told us these incredible stories from distant countries - it was very inspiring.”<br /><br />At the age of 29, Gunnar set himself a challenge to travel to seven countries with the suffix “-stan” - Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. <br /><br />He started in October 2004, and completed it in October 2009 - which was when he decided to travel to every country around the world. <br /><br />Gunnar said: “I didn’t have a plan, I just wanted another go at travelling to different countries. <br /><br />“I was very curious - I wanted to see new places, meet locals and have new experiences. I’d been invited to two weddings in India - and planned to go to China with friends. <br /><br />“The trouble is, when I started visiting more countries, I began to keep count. <br /><br />“And once you start keeping count, you have to finish.” <br /><br />The challenge became Gunnar’s top priority - and he had to sacrifice a lot to complete it.<br /><br />He couldn't see his family at weekends, he couldn’t afford a car, "fancy" clothes or a nice home. <br /><br />But he didn't feel he had to sacrifice his dating life - often taking ex-girlfriends on his travels. <br /><br />In the space of five years, Gunnar visited 198 countries - including North Korea, Cape Verde and Yemen.
