Indy Nelson, a man from the San Francisco Bay Area in California, has accomplished the extraordinary feat of visiting every country on Earth, including multiple trips to some places like North Korea. However, his journey wasn’t without challenges. On four separate occasions, he found himself detained and had to prove he wasn’t a spy in Russia, Iran, Libya, and Papua New Guinea.
“But it was all worth it,” said Guinness World Records in a statement, “because he now holds a Guinness World Records title: the most airlines flown on.” Nelson has flown on 170 different airlines, most of them during an 18-month global trip that began in 2017 when he was just 22.
Initially, Nelson had no intention of breaking the previous record of flying on the most airlines, which was 156, set by Ryuji Furusho of Japan between 1996 and 2014. He only realized he had surpassed it after returning to the U.S.
The idea of visiting every country first came to Nelson while he was in North Korea during spring break. After graduating from college, he decided to pursue his dream seriously and took out an $80,000 loan.
Nelson’s travels have taken him from tourist destinations to active war zones. While he tried to avoid conflicts, the unpredictable nature of geopolitics sometimes landed him in dangerous situations. “Things happen in 24, 48 hours. You can’t plan those things out,” he said.
Over the course of his travels, Nelson was detained and interrogated for a total of about 24 hours. “I feared for my life several times,” he admitted. “There were definitely several times that I did not think that I was going to get out of that country. By the fourth time, it was like ‘no big deal anymore.'”
Nelson’s most memorable experience was in Cambodia, where he was captivated by the culture and friendly locals. In contrast, his least favorite destination was Comoros, for similar reasons.
According to his Instagram account, Nelson is the youngest and fastest person to visit 197 countries.
