Jørn Bjørn Augestad | |
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Born | November 12, 1989 |
Nationality | Norwegian |
Known for | Visiting all 201 nations in the world |
Jorn Bjorn Augestad is a citizen of Norway whose travel plans triggered widespread comment.[1][2]
Augestad runs a blog called "201 countries" documenting his efforts to visit every country in the world, before he turns thirty years old.[1][2][3] Security experts have described his plans as naive and dangerous, because his plans will include war zones. Augestad, in turn, has described their warnings as exaggerated.
Augestad returned to visit his parents over Christmas in 2018.[4] At that time he told Norwegian reporters he had just seven countries left to visit, before his birthday in March. Those seven countries were Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Cape Verde, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Seychelles.
March 13, 2019 he reached Seychelles,[5] his final country and became then the youngest Norwegian to have visited every country in the World.[6]
As a guest at the TV2 talkshow "God Morgen Norge" he explained that people are good in every country and that he wishes to keep on traveling.[7]
After reaching Kabul, the deadliest place in Afghanistan for civilians, Barr and Augestad stayed with Couchsurfing host Naser Majidi, 27, who works as a technical adviser for a water utility company.
But Norwegian tourist Jorn Bjorn Augestad, who has couchsurfed in Iraq and the Central African Republic, said in Kabul that government warnings exaggerate the dangers. 'They are too careful. You have to be smart about a lot of things, having contact with a local is the best way to stay safe,' says Augestad, who is on a mission to visit every country in the world, including Syria, before his 30th birthday this year. He added, 'This is part of the cultural experience, seeing how people live and hearing people's life story and getting an understanding of the country that you are in.'