ENG1010 English for Effective Communication

The Man visiting every country in the world without flying is on the

home stretch, and looking forward to reaching journey’s end

Kate Whitehead
FEB 18, 2020

Six years into his epic journey, Torbjørn “Thor” Pedersen is in Hong Kong, Guess the meaning?
waiting for a ship to Palau. His challenge: to visit every country in the ___________________________
_________________________
world without flying. It is no mean feat. About 200 people have visited
every country in the world, 562 people have visited space, but as of yet no Guess the meaning?
_________________________
5 one has visited every country without flying.

Answer these questions after

With 194 countries under his belt and only another nine to go, Pedersen
finish reading.
hopes to complete his mission this year. He left his native Denmark in
October 2013, long before carbon offsetting was on the agenda.
What does “it” refer to?
“When I left home there was no ‘flight shame’. I’m happy that my carbon ___________________________
1 footprint is tiny, but that’s not the reason I left home. The reason was ___________________________
_________________________
0 because it’s not been done before. I wanted to push the envelope,” says
Pedersen, who has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the Danish Red Cross Guess the meaning?
___________________________
since the start of his venture.
_________________________

(“Flight shame” is a recent phrase coined in Sweden to express the feeling Suggest possible alternatives.
of climate guilt associated with air travel, and has led to an increase in use ___________________________
1 of alternatives.) ___________________________

5
Pedersen has certainly pushed the envelope with this challenge, not least
because he set three limitations at the start: no flying, not even using a hot-
air balloon; he must be in a country for 24 hours; and no returning home
until he has visited every country (or quits).

2 “When I created these cardinal rules, I wasn’t aware how they would make
0 this project almost impossible,” says Pedersen.
What is Pedersen’s home country?
___________________________
For example, many countries request that a person be in their home country _________________________
when they apply for a visa. And visiting a country for less than 24 hours,
which sometimes does not require a visa, is out as well given his 24-hour-
plus rule. It has meant regularly calling on his now vast network of
contacts for support.
 ENG1010 English for Effective Communication
2
5 British adventurer Graham David Hughes, who holds the world record for Guess why he is called a stickler?
visiting nearly every country in the world without flying – which he did ___________________________
over four years, finishing in January 2013 – wasn’t such a stickler. He did ___________________________

his mission piecemeal and allowed himself to fly home to get visas. But
What does this refer to?
Pedersen wants to do it the hard way.
___________________________
_________________________
3 Born in Denmark to Scandinavian parents, Pedersen spent his early years
0 in North America and returned to the country of his birth for his education. The paragraph is about:
___________________________
It helps that, after completing military service in Denmark, Pedersen
___________________________
worked in shipping and logistics for 12 years. So far, he calculates that he _________________________
has taken about 400 buses, 300 trains and 25 cargo ships.

“I do have a logistical mindset – we all become a product of what we do in

3 life. I calculated the easiest navigational solution for this region. While
5 that’s all good on paper, the reality is different: there are often typhoons
and other delays,” he says. What is the function of this line?
___________________________
Take his current situation. His last stop was Micronesia and he wanted to _________________________

get to Palau, which is 2,600km (1,400 nautical miles) away. However, there
were no ships going from Micronesia to Palau, so he had to take a ship
4 8,500km to Hong Kong and then wait for another one to take him 8,500km
0 to Palau.

Add to this the fact that the ship to Palau will go Saipan, and US
immigration dictates that everyone on the ship must have a US visa, even if
you’re not getting off the ship.

4 “I’ve been to all the US-blacklisted countries, like Afghanistan, Yemen,

5 Sudan, North Korea. That makes it so much harder to get a US visa,” says
Pedersen.
Possible synonym?
___________________________
There have been other setbacks along the way – he got cerebral malaria in
central Africa and spent months recovering his strength. His grandmother
died and he could not return home for the funeral.

5 He posts about the good times as well as the bad on his “Once Upon a
0 Saga” social media accounts, and has a significant following. He responds
to those who write to him and has become e-pals with many. A woman
whose life was turned upside down by the death of someone close to her
said following his journey inspired her to keep going.
 ENG1010 English for Effective Communication

“She told me that my attitude, that I always find a way forward, helped her
5 continue going to work to feed her children,” says Pedersen.
5
He says he has been bowled over by the kindness and generosity of people
in Hong Kong. When he left a small gift in a taxi, the driver, to whom he
had been chatting about his journey, tracked him down to return it.

Being on the road all the time can be lonely, especially given he doesn’t
6 know exactly when his journey will be over. Friends back home have
0 helped boost his morale when he feels low, and he speaks to his fiancée,
Le, in Denmark daily. A medical doctor, she is completing her PhD and has

visited him 22 times during the course of his trip.

“I left home when I was 34, now I’m 41. When I get back, I plan to sleep
Possible synonym?
for a month, then get married and start a family. I want to be a motivational
___________________________
6 speaker and share my experiences and learning from this project,” says
5 Pedersen.

From Palau, he will visit Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, New Zealand,
Australia, Sri Lanka and The Maldives. You can follow Pedersen at
onceuponasaga.dk

What does this mean?

7
___________________________
0 ___________________________

7
5

Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3089023/coronavirus-outbreak-europe-reopens-many-borders-not-americans-or

Words that occur all the time in this text:

ENG1010 English for Effective Communication
Before you read:
1. Take a guess about what you will learn from this article.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Be prepared to do the following as you read:
a. Highlight unfamiliar words
b. Underline referencing words (e.g. this, that, it, they, we, which, that)
c. Write down synonyms next to newly-learned words

Understanding the article:

1. How long has Pedersen been traveling?
________________________________________________________________________
2. Identify THREE obstacles faced by Pedersen along his trip.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. How do lexicographers decide what words to include in the OED?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Reflection:
1. How many countries are there in the world?
2. Is Cantonese a “pure language” (line 58)? Why?
________________________________________________________________________
3. With regard to “…the myth that there is any such thing as the ‘English language’…” (lines
67-68), what do you think Orman mean?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. “The authority and legitimacy of language comes from its users.” (lines 37-38) What does
Professor Wee mean?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. How do we make Hong Kong English legitimate?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6. With “add oil” added to OED, should we encourage students to use it in their writing or
speaking? Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________