World traveler has visited 172 countries

February 13, 2009 11:28 AM

Think you've been places? Retired scientist Galen Frysinger has visted 172 countries and 91 dependencies. His photos have been linked in quite a few comments on MeFi, but near as I can tell... never the subject of a post.
posted by ecorrocio (8 comments total)

Visiting his web site is like traveling back in time, HTML-wise.

But yeah, this guy would be the one to sit next to at a dinner party. He's been to The motherfucking Gambia.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:34 AM on February 13

Also: Charles Valey
posted by nitsuj at 11:34 AM on February 13

I swear there is a picture of my dad on his Iran page. It was often my dad's job back in 1964 to take various American Embassy VIP visitors around to the sites and I would just bet that it really is him in one of those shots. Freaky, especially considering how much this guy hates to wear clothes.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:26 PM on February 13

He would be an interesting guy to talk to. The web page is pretty 1990's looking, but I had no problem navigating it, pretty straightforward.

Modestly following in his figurative footsteps, I have been to and photographed 75 of North Carolina's 100 counties.
posted by marxchivist at 1:52 PM on February 13

This is about 20 minutes from where I lived in rural Japan, way off the beaten track.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:45 PM on February 13

Yes, but how many countries has he *danced* in?
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:33 PM on February 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

Personally responsible for 0.0003 degrees of global warming.
posted by stbalbach at 6:30 PM on February 13

I read a book called "Race For The World" by an Irishman named John Todd a few years ago. He claimed to be the first person to visit every country in the world:
- 2,576 flights
- 513 different airlines
- 329 countries
- 2 million miles!

He pulled off much of his "country list" by running his own travel agency and leading tours for people who "collect countries." The book was a fun read, especially when describes accounts of getting to "off limits" places like the island of Diego Garcia (currently a military base.)

The book can be found on Amazon, and worth it if you like adventure/travel stories.
posted by metacurious at 9:04 PM on February 13 [1 favorite has favorites]