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Two friends of mine and I recently visted 22 US states in 24 hours – a world record. It took a little bit of low flying as well as some high flying, and inspired us to make a little bit of a tribute to Cannonball Run 2, and its intro in particular. Watch them both. The world record was sponsored by ComeOn, a betting company. The stunt doubled as “the world’s fastest book promotion tour” of “198: How I Ran Out of Countries“. The original below. What we outrageously ripped off starts around 00:43. We couldn’t quite match the car nor the women, though. But sometimes you just have to use what is commonly available. At least we beat the film when it came to the modified speed limit.

Lily Evans studies International Economics in the US, but traveling is her hidden obsession. She never seizes to tell the world about experiences on the road. Evans prefers backpacking for more genuine experiences, and as a bonus, the dollar lasts longer. Evans was born in 1987. She lives in Florida, USA. – I realized my love for the mother nature and humans from the moment my family chose a mountainous area to enjoy our holiday. I like travel backpack style because of saving and comfortable, she says. Evans is the founder of SkyWeFly, where she together with her associates blog about photographs, stories and travel tips that will help you make a great journey. – I hope to bring my passion to more people via SkyWeFly. Get in touch with Lily Evans.

I visited every country in the world, and picked one photo from each and every one of them. 198 photos, in other words. You can see them all here, listed alphabetically per continent. #picture198countries It all started as a competition on my Instagram profile, tagged with #picture198countries. I asked people to guess which country each photograph was from, and accumulated almost 4,000 answers and over 21,000 likes. Thanks for taking part! Most of the photos were snapped by myself or by someone using my camera. Quite a few have also been photographed by others, in which case they should be credited (if I have forgotten, please let me know). I didn’t plan to visit every country in the world until 2008, when I had been to about 85 countries, so the quality of the cameras I brought along has been rather questionable – and more often than not limited to mobile cameras. Some photos were also lost due to questionable storing strategies. And I am finally not much of a photographer, but this is what I’ve got. At least you will get a glimpse of every country in the world through these 198 photos (plus 2 bonus pictures from Antarctica). That’s a bloody good start, and will hopefully trigger your wanderlust as well.It might even inspire you to take part in The Country Challenge. Scroll down, or enter the photo gallery by clicking on one of the photos and click your way through. In either way, here you go. This is probably the first place where you can find a photo from every country all in one internet article. Some sort of a claim to fame, at last. And if that doesn’t do it for you, feel free to check out my book “198: How I Ran Out of Countries” where I allegedly have deftly woven my experiences into a story that takes the reader on an emotive ride and establishes a connection with me and my quest (yeah, this was written by marketing people and is taken from the back cover of the book). Expect outrageous tales grouped in original themes, complete with own chapters for every country, it also says. Europe (47 countries) There are 47 countries in Europe. Two of them, Russia and Turkey, are also in Asia. I count Russia as European as Moscow, the capital and biggest city is located there. Most of Turkey is located in Asia, but the biggest city by far is primarily located in Europe, and I therefore count Turkey as European. Cyprus is geographically near Asia, but it is culturally relatively European and a member of the EU. I count Cyprus as European. ​ Africa (55 countries) There are 55 countries in Africa. No other continents can match that number. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Asia (47 countries) You will find 47 countries in Asia too. Note that I count Russia and Turkey as European, see above. MALDIVES: Oh, the colours.​ ​ ​ Oceania (14 countries) There are 14 countries in Oceania. This is the smallest continent in terms of land area, but the island nations stretch across a vast area of the Pacific Ocean. ​ North America (23 countries) There are 23 countries on this particular continent. Not only the US of A, contrary to popular belief. ​ South America (12 countries) There are only 12 countries in South America. That makes it the continent with the fewest countries. ​ Antarctica (0 countries) The only uninhabited continent does naturally come with any countries. But it certainly deserves a visit. And a photo. Let’s call it a bonus. #onephotofromeverycountry #198countries #earthpics #everycountryintheworld #198photos #photosfromeverycountry #photosfromallcountries #globalpics

I don’t like being called a travel expert, despite having visited every country on Earth, all 198 of them. Because travelling is something personal, something that is experienced from within. It will help define you and your understanding of the world and I can never teach you how you should travel. But I can tell you why I find it a purely magical thing. And I mean the entire experience, including the journey from A to B by bike, train, plane, bus and taxi. Let me not forget in train station and airport either. I do of course enjoy exploring my destinations, snapping shots of indescribable sceneries, meeting colourful locals, tasting their foods and politely nipping to their not-so-tasty homemade brew, but what is travelling without the journey? Gruelling or not, it is what creates your expectations, what ignites your fantasy of what your next port of call looks like and what triggers your questions of the fun that await on the other side. Only the journey itself leaves you alone to prepare or to digest, without disturbing impressions that vividly paint themselves on your mind. The sterile presence of an all too familiar airplane seat lets your thoughts wander and exhilarate in preparation for the unknown fireworks that are awaiting to explode in an ever nearer distance. Transportation is the catalyst of adventure. Of course, I do not loathe walking in streets with odd names, either. Because you never really know what awaits you around the corner. And that, my friend, is what boosts creativity. That address you cannot find, the salesman who doesn’t accept your credit cards, the overbooked hotel or the sudden hailstorm and freeze. Your mind needs to find a way. And it isn’t like home. Consider creativity boosted. Just one thing. Smile. A smile will open more doors than any universal key. Be humble, open, forgiving – and please, please, please – leave any arrogance at home. You are on someone else’s turf. Respect their ways, ponder over them and ask questions. Just let yourself enjoy. Cultures are different, joyfully so. How boring, how non-inspirational wouldn’t travelling be if everyone, everywhere were like you? Originally written for The West Australian, a newspaper.

Bookings are down in cities damaged by terrorist attacks. Naturally so, at first thought. But let not terrorists stop us from roaming this world, seeking experiences and learning to know, understand and appreciate other cultures. Because travel generates a mutual understanding like no other method known to mankind. In between individuals, cultures, nations, religions and faiths. I truly believe that this world will be a better place if more people travel, interact with each other and are open to thoughts different to their own. That can only lead to more respect, more friendship and more mutual smiles. You are not alone in having been put off travelling by the countless terrorist attacks in way too many countries, in 2015 alone. But, think twice. That you stop to travel is precisely what these terrorist want. It will damage businesses and economies as well as reduce interactions between people. Terror groups don’t want understanding or cooperation between countries, beliefs or cultures. They want you to develop a fear for the unknown, for the people that speak a different language, have a different skin colour, dress differently or that pray to a different god than you. Why? Because it is only fear, not understanding, that can undermine the efforts of making this world a better place. A place where everyone is welcome, regardless of background. How many times have you seen a smiling terrorist? I do not mean the evil smiles caused by years of brainwashing from people who took advantage of someone who felt left out. I do not mean the vicious smiles from someone that actually believe they are conforming to a religion, a religion which interpretation of is non-existant. And I certainly do not mean poisonous smiles triggered by the feeling of a few seconds of power over innocent people through the barrel of a gun or the trigger of a bomb. I mean real smiles, welcoming ones. Smiles that invite to collaboration across every imaginable border. Disarming smiles that show that the recipent has nothing to fear, but the possible butterflies sometimes caused by new friendships. Real smiles mean real happiness, something terrorists will never be able to enjoy or feel. They are too busy trying to impose hatred on others through their closed minds. Let us not allow them such. Merely enabling them to close our minds by accepting their desire of fear make us terrorists of ourselves. But we won’t let them. Our open minds will prevail. Curiosity that can only be triggered through travelling will help us do that. Go, go, go. Travel with a smile, and let us together make the world a melting pot of all our different cultures. Terrorists want isolation, not cooperation and an exhange of ideas, viewpoints and laughs. Laughs I have seen while travelling through countries and cities far too often prone to terror. Real laughs and real smiles welcoming this strange backpack carrying blue-eyed vagabond from the north. I have only experienced one act of terrorism. In Karachi, Pakistan where a bomb went off and killed 30 people and injured many more. It had gone off during a Shi’ite procession commemorating the Day of Ashura, the holiest of days for followers of Shi’a Islam. Thirty people had been killed and hundreds more had been injured by the bomb blast in Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road. But I refused to run to the safety of my hotel or to get a ticket to the first plane out of there. I defied it the best way I could, like every person I encountered. I continued my walk around town, I found a restaurant, talked to other guests and discussed with them what had just happened. Before I continued walking. And more so the day thereafter. Until I was stopped by no less than fourteen police officers. Twelve of them were sitting on the back of a police lorry. One of the officers inside the truck was clearly the boss. “What are you doing here?” The police boss screwed the formalities and went straight on to demand an answer. “I am just walking to town, sir.” I figured politeness wouldn’t hurt. “No, you are not. Not anymore. You cannot walk here. It is dangerous for a white kid like you! Where are you going? You will take a taxi!” Forced out of normality, by well-meaning police. But no terrorist were, directly or indirectly, to force me into changing my ways; I later escaped from the taxi. Most Pakistani taxis don’t come with child locks. Before I continued on what I had started: Travelling and exploring Pakistan the way I had always intended. So should you. And while you are at it, try out The Country Challenge. It is on. And stronger than ever before. Travelling keeps us mixing, it initiates communication between people who would otherwise never have met. Most of the people who died in Paris, Beirut, Mogadishu, N’Djamena, Ankara, over Sinai or in too many locations to mention in Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine and Israel were locals. Terrorism doesn’t discriminate. It takes out those unfortunate enough to be too near twisted, forced, fooled or indoctrinated minds. You can never know where it will hit next. There is hence no logic in letting fear stop you from living your life, following your dreams and exploring the world. Let’s keep travelling, as a token against terrorism. Only a common platform of the world and the people around us can stop terrorism. Friendships enable such a platform. Friendships across borders. Not bombs and bullets. #travelagainstterror

Dream on. Many countries have more cities with over one million inhabitants than the US of A. The second biggest country of North America only has…care to guess? The US only has 10 cities with a million people or more. Can you name them? This is a great party quiz. You can find the answer here. China has 4 times the number of people, but 14 times the number of million-cities! Yeah, 138 of them, most of which you never even knew existed. Or what about Pizhou, Heze or Zunyi? They all have more people than Miami, San Francisco and Boston. China is in the lead, by far, with its 138 cities. That is more than the next eight countries on the list, combined. But which other countries do also beat or equal the US? Seven. Do note that I have primarily used Wikipedia for the figures, and that how a city is calculated may vary from country to country. All figures are furthermore unfortunately not from the same year, but they should give you a good idea. So, finally to the drum roll. The number of cities with over a million inhabitants in various countries follows in the list below. And please excuse me if I have forgotten any countries that should have been here. I’d love to hear from you. 1. China 138 2. India 47 3. Brazil 17 4. Indonesia 14 5. Japan 12 5. Russia 12 7. Nigeria 11 8. Mexico 10 8. USA 10 10. South Korea 9 11. Italy 8 11. Iran 8 11. Taiwan 8 14. Pakistan 7 14. Turkey 7 16. Egypt 6 17. France 5 17. South Africa 5 17. Venezuela 5 17. Vietnam 5 21. Colombia 4 21. Congo 4 21. Germany 4 21. Philippines 4 25. Argentina 3 25. Bangladesh 3 25. Myanmar 3 28. Spain 2 28. UK 2

It may not be your ideal Sunday, but what do you not do to break a travel world record? Together with my friends Øystein Djupvik and Tay-young Pak I decided to try to visit more US states in 24 hours than anyone else before us. And we managed. But why? Well, besides the adrenalin kick, it was also arguably the world’s fastest book promotional trip. My book “198: How I Ran Out of Countries” is now available in English, and some sort of release party was called for. It was obviously a race against the clock, but luckily we experienced a fair amount of tailwind, primarily downhill roads and a tiny bit of luck. In addition to a lot of planning to find the best routes and flights in between. We started off in Maine, clocked 7 states before we flew from Albany, New York to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Another 6 states awaited before we took yet another plane from Dulles International Airport, Virginia to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. The three of us are rather restless, and our outragous attempt to visit more than 19 US States, the former record, in just 24 hours turned out to be quite a thrill. Øystein drove in all states except for in North and South Carolina wehere we took a taxi from Charlotte to South Carolina and back. Tadjik, our Pakistani driver, was quickly let in on the world record attempt, and delivered record breaking speeds in between flights. “All three have trained a lot for this slightly manic trip and aim for celebration. This is of course not really about traveling, this is about smart choices, having fun and pushing any limits but speed limits. We want to live to tell the tale,” Øystein said before we started, and he delivered on his promise. He drove a Dodge Charger, a Chevy Camaro and an Infinity, with accumulated 880 horse power. “We got a bad flight delay midway on the trip, and this threatened to jeopardize the whole record attempt. Fortunately we had prepared ourselves for such situations, and managed to reorganize so we did not lose too much time. But it was a close call,” Øystein admitted a day later. We were then in New York to celebrate the world record. Tay was responsible for cooking and photographing during the slightly frenetic tour. From the backseat of our RecordrunUSA cars, he juggled lobster dishes, oysters, sandwiches and camcorders. And a fair amount of energy drinks. “Good food has been important to keep morale up along the way. We are also obliged to take picture of ourselves in each state for documentations, so I´ve had my hands full. But we could not have completed this enormous task without the support of our sponsor, international betting company comeon.com. They have as much hand in this success as I have,” Tay smiled. And having people bet on how many states we could visit certainly helped motivate us. Especially the guy who put 80USD on us managing only 2 states. He lost his cash rather early. How many states have you visited in a day? You can read more about the world record on the official website, RecordRunUSA.com or find the press release here. Photos from all 22 states below.

You actually want to follow us trying to visit 20 US states in 24 hours? Which is coincidentally probably the fastest book promotional tour in the world. I then recommend you to visit our official site. RecordRunUSA.com has been set up to make it easy for you to follow us during the our world record attempt. On the site you will be able to read about the team members, find some background info, follow our journey on a live GPS powered map or even put money on how many states we will end up visiting in the end or to bet against that we will manage to set a record. The odds have been set by ComeOn!, our excellent sponsor (search for RecordRun to find the odds). Please check out our site. And if you are in a really good mood today, why not also like our Facebook page? There may be the occasional Tweet too, from Tay or myself. Wish us luck. The live map (with a slight delay) can also be found below. RecordRunUSA is anticipated to start on September 20 at 12:30, Central European Time, which is 06:30 in New York.

Well, that is at least what we aim for when we buckle up for yet another World Record attempt in the US of A. The three of us are rather restless, and we will make an outragous attempt to visit more than 19 US States, the current record, in just 24 hours next week. We managed 19 countries in less than 24 hours last year when we beat the current world record by two countries, and experienced press coverage world-wide (see list below the article). Please like us on facebook.com/recordrunUSA. This is a world record attempt in its own right, but it is more. It is also one of the fastest book promotion tours ever, as well as a protest against insane plans to dump 300 million tons of mining waste and chemicals into a pristine fjord. I am anticipating a race against the clock this time around too, to beat the 12 year old record. We need a fair amount of tailwind, primarily downhill roads and a tiny bit of luck to break it, but we hope that our planning will pay off. Øystein Djupvik and Tay-young Pak make up the rest of the team this time around too. “All three have trained a lot for this slightly manic trip and aim for celebration. This is of course not really about traveling, this is about smart choices, having fun and pushing any limits but speed limits. We want to live to tell the tale,” Øystein says. While Tay has been training for the trip in Somalia, Angola, Djibouti and other countries less travelled in Africa. “I am welcoming a slightly more comfortable trip in the US. Then again, who knows with Øystein behind the wheel,” Tay jokes. How many states have you visited in a day? And how many do you think we will manage? You may even bet on it and on which one we will end the mission in on comeon.com. Read more or follow the journey live via a GPS tracker, on recordrunUSA.com. And please like us on facebook.com/recordrunUSA. October 2: Yahoo, Singapore October 1: Heute, Austria October 1: Dan tri, Vietnam September 30: Travelbook, Germany September 29: Mapping Megan, USA September 29: Svet, Serbia September 28: Nguoi Viet, Vietnam September 28: Press Online, Serbia September 28: B92, Serbia September 28: S Media, Serbia September 26: Peru 21, Peru September 26: Direct Matin, France September 26: Newsbeast, Greece September 26: TPortal, Croatia September 26: Kanal A, TV show, Slovenia September 26: Kyiv Post, Ukraine September 25: Taemeer News, India September 25: XJBS, China September 25: wPolityce, Poland September 25: Liechtensteiner Vaterland, Liechtenstein September 25: Times of India, India September 25: The Asian Age, India September 25: Dagbladet, Norway September 24: RTV,Slovenia September 24: Primeira Hora, Brazil September 24: The Atlantic, USA September 24: Thrillist, USA September 24: Deccan Herald, India September 24: Yahoo!, USA September 24: Huffington Post, France September 24: Klix, Bosnia and Hercegovina September 24: L’essentiel, France September 24: News Nation, India September 24: World Journal, USA/China September 24: Adevarul, Romania September 24: Epoch Times, USA/China September 24: Gridam, France September 24: Patras Events, Greece September 24: Gazetta, Greeze September 24: Blitz, Italy September 24: Delmagyar, Hungary September 24: Athens Voice, Greece September 24: Kolkata 24×7, India September 24, Novinky, Czech Republic September 24: Economic Times, India September 24: Origo, Hungary September 24: Business Standard, India September 24: IMLebanon, Lebanon September 24: We Are Holidays, India September 24: Bengali News, India September 24: Aftenposten, Norway September 24: Fædrelandsvennen, Norway September 24: Bergens Tidende, Norway September 24: Adresseavisen, Norway September 24: New Zealand Herald, New Zealand September 24: Triple M, Australia September 23: 1clicknews, USA September 23: Metroxpress, Denmark September 23: Naslovi, Serbia September 23: World News Report, Australia September 23: MBL, Iceland September 23: Suara, Indonesia September 23: TV Net, Latvia September 23: China Times, China September 23: Preshevajone, Macedonia September 23: MA, Hungary September 23: 7sur7, Belgium September 23: Nol, Hungary September 23: Ticinonline, Switzerland September 23: News123, Greece September 23: 20 Minutes, Switzerland September 23: BBC News, Indonesia/UK September 23: Antenna, Greece September 23: Diacaf, Romania September 23: Citinews, Vietnam September 23: Wall Street, Romania September 23: Corriere, Italy September 23: Omaha Sun Times, USA September 23: NLD, Vietnam September 23: De Morgen, Belgium September 23: The Scan Post, Luxembourg September 23: Ghana Nation, Ghana September 23: HLN, Belgium September 23: CBS Radio (KRLD), Texas, USA September 23: Perth Now, Australia September 23: AD, the Netherlands September 23: Georgia Newsday, Georgia September 23: Traveling, the Netherlands September 23: Daily Mail, UK September 23: Jyllands-Posten, Denmark September 23: Podroze, Poland September 23: BBC World, World Update, UK September 23: News.com, Australia September 23: Elu24, Estonia September 23: iefimerida, Greece September 23: De Redactie, Belgium September 23: Nitimen radio show, NRK, Norway September 23: Resdrömmen, Sweden September 23: Denik, Czech Republic September 22: The Telegraph, UK September 22: NRK Super, Norway September 22: The Local, Norway September 21: VG, Norway September 21: Firda, Norway September 21: ABC Nyheter, Norway September 21: Huffington Post, USA September 19: VG, Norway

Øystein Djupvik, Tay-young Pak and myself are at it again. We aim at breaking another travel world record. Watch this space on September 10 to find out what, exactly. For inspiration, feel free to check our last world record.

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For the next 7 months or so I will post a photo from a new country every day. To be the first to see them, please follow me on Instagram (where I am @Garfors). I will not tell you which country they are from, that is up to you to guess, sometimes a little hint will be added. And please feel free to share your own photos from that particular country too, using #picture198countries. I would love to see many more shots than the 198 I will contribute with. You guess by adding a comment to the photo via Instagram. The first 21 to correctly guess the right country 10 times will get a free copy of my book “198: How I Ran Out of Countries*” in the mail (or electronically, if you prefer). Or you can find out where to buy it here. I will reveal which country each and every photo is from, a day after it has been posted. Most photos have been snapped by myself, I will otherwise credit the photographer. And I might appear in some of them, too. And do not forget to enter yourself or others into The Country Challenge. Please check instagram.com/garfors for your daily photo fix, or see one photo from every country here. Why 198 countries?