If you ever been delayed in an airport or stuck in traffic then you know how difficult the simple task of getting from A to B is. That point was made even more clear when the coronavirus pandemic hit – getting from A to B became impossible for many. If there was no coronavirus though, how many countries could you visit in let’s say a week? Some countries in Europe and Asia are pretty close together so if you planned it right you could probably see quite a few. Recently three men decided a week was too easy and tried to break the record for most countries visited in a 24 hour period.
The mammoth task took 24 hours to complete but probably a lot more planning and financial backing beforehand. The three men are from Norway and wisely chose not to start there. They decided they would start their trip in Greece and only had three rules they had to play by.
The rules stated that they must physically step foot in each country. So no waiting on the airplane. Rule number two said they must complete all visits with a consecutive period of 24 hours. The final rule stated they must take media evidence in each country. The boys managed to comply with each rule.
They started in Greece and rented a car. They drove straight over the border to Bulgaria and then Macedonia. In one hour they had hit three countries, they were doing well. The next borders were so close though and they had to drive for two and a half hours to reach Kosovo by 3 am. From there they took a flight to Serbia. It was 5:38 am already. While they had seen three countries in one hour they had now managed a total of five in five and a half hours.
The boys picked up the pace and reached Croatia at 6.45, Bosnia at 7.30, and then had a long drive to Slovenia, arriving at 9.25. There are a number of countries close to Slovenia so they were able to cross the border to Austria at 9:59. It was another long drive and they passed the halfway mark just before they reach Hungary at 12:10. With just over half the hours gone they had reached ten countries. Their aim was to complete 20 by the end of the period. They quickly made it to Slovakia at 12:22 and the Czech Republic by 12:57. They then flew to Germany and arrived at 16:12. This was a smart move as it brought them to the other side of Germany where they would have the chance to pass through a large number of countries quickly, but time was ticking down.
They made it to the Netherlands by 16:58 and then Belgium by 17:30. They had to drive for over one hour to reach Luxembourg but then only took ten minutes to reach France. It was a 2.5 hour drive from France to Switzerland and they finally arrived at 21:36. They had covered 18 countries and looked set to be able to get two more in before the clock struck 12.
It was a real-life Cinderella story and the boys managed to reach Liechtenstein at 23:37. The men had 27 minutes to reach Italy but the weather became so bad that they couldn’t complete the journey.
The boys had to settle for 19 countries in 24 hours and in doing so set a new record. This is surely a challenge that others will relish to try as depending on where you try it in the world you have a great opportunity to beat it.