An American man who set a world record by visiting every country on Earth says he was briefly detained in four countries on suspicion of espionage.
“There were a lot of times where I feared for my life,” Indy Nelson said in an interview recently published on the Guinness World Records website. “There were definitely a few times where I thought I wasn’t going to make it out of the country. But by the fourth time, I was like, ‘Oh no, it doesn’t matter.'”
The Hayward, California, native told Guinness World Records that the countries he suspected he might be spying for were Iran, Russia, Libya and Papua New Guinea. He told the organization, known for maintaining a database of more than 40,000 records, those countries held him for about 24 hours combined before deciding he wasn’t involved in espionage and releasing him.
Nelson said he got the idea to visit every country on Earth during a spring break trip to North Korea, an unusual beach getaway destination for many American college students. After graduating, he took out an $80,000 loan and set off on the trip.
Since then, Nelson has flown on 170 airlines, most of which occurred during an 18-month round-the-world trip he began in 2017 at age 22. Guinness World Records confirmed on July 14 that Nelson’s total number of airline flights broke the previous record of 156 set by Ryuji Furusho between 1996 and 2014.
Perhaps the most notable thing about Nelson’s 500 flights while attempting Furusho’s record is that he claims only two of them were canceled — and on both occasions, he was able to stay in a hotel for free while waiting for the rebooked flight, he told Guinness World Records.
Nelson said the higher completion rate is due to prioritizing morning departures, which are less likely to be canceled or delayed, and that turbulence was the worst in-flight experience he’s ever experienced on a plane.
In Nelson’s opinion, the best airlines are Emirates and Qatar Airways, but in an interview with Guinness he also said, “All the Middle Eastern airlines are great.”
Nelson said Cambodia’s culture and “super friendly” local people made it his favorite country he has visited, explaining that despite efforts to avoid conflict zones, he had to pass through many war-torn areas.
He added that the Comoros archipelago, a group of tiny islands off the southeast coast of Africa, was a country he didn’t want to visit because he had encountered “not very friendly” people – quite a departure from the reception he had received in Iran, Russia, Libya and Papua New Guinea.
Nelson said he had no intention of breaking Furusho’s record for most airline flights, and only realized he had broken the record after he returned home.
Nelson told Guinness he’s putting his travels on hold for now to focus on founding a telecommunications startup focused on bringing mobile data to underserved areas, citing his travels around the world as what inspired him to pursue the opportunity.
He also offered advice to aspiring world travelers: “Just do it.”
“Do it while you’re young. Get out of your comfort zone. It will change your foundation, it will change you, it will change the way you see the world.”
