In late October, B.C.'s Ron Perrier landed at the Funafuti International Airport.
He got out of the plane, checked in through customs with his carry on bag and left the airport into the capital city of Tuvalu, a small Pacific Island nation of just under 12,000 people. He didn't stay too long, and by the end of the day was on his way back home to Courtenay. While his visit was short, it was quite monumental for the traveller. It was, in some ways, the culmination of an 18-year odyssey.
Ron Perrier was able to finally say that he had visited every country in the world.
"I gave a little 'whoop' and that was about it," Perrier said, shrugging. "There was no party to be had, nobody knew I did it. The 193 thing is a really celebrated issue on (travel website) Nomadmania ... but I still haven't told anybody actually.
"That's part of Aspergers, we don't really care very much about it. Now, I'd kind of like some recognition, especially since I am the most-travelled Canadian. It'd be kind of nice for people to know that I've done it, and live in Courtenay."
While he has left the country again, Perrier was back in Courtenay for a brief window in late October. At a glance, the only evidence of his varied travels is a slight suntan and the tell-tale look of someone who has been outside more often than in. Besides that, he had an easy smile and a decent laugh. The average person would not be able to tell that a day before he had been 8,300 km away from home.
Perrier started his journey 18 years ago. He was able to retire from a surgical practice at 56 and decided to hit the road and see the world. It wasn't long before he found a website for like-minded travellers who are looking to keep track of their journeys.
Nomadmania.com describes itself as "the ultimate hub for passionate travellers eager to explore the world extensively and meaningfully, venturing beyond the ordinary and obvious," and to Perrier, it became a perfect way to combine his love of travel with his singular focus and drive.
Among his achievements are walking 2,000 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago, travelling overland on the Silk Road from Xian, China to Israel, completing 107 dives in places like Palau, Raja Ampats, Komodo and Sipadan, and spending two years driving 200,000 km from Iceland to Azerbaijan. Despite seeing some of the most beautiful places in the world, Perrier very rarely takes photos. He prefers to travel alone, forgoing any tours, resorts, guides, or even souvenirs. Instead, he says that travelling the way he does is much easier when it is done on the cheap, alone and with no itinerary.
"I have Asperger's, and I call it my wonderful gift," he says. "it gives me unbelievable focus and no fear. I can't think of anything that scares me.
"I always travel alone, because not many people like to travel the way I do ... I just travel cheap and close to the ground, and it's just a way better experience."
That's not to say that he is just floating around the world without a care. Many of his destinations are difficult to reach, either — like Tuvalu — they are incredibly remote (Tuvalu has four flights per week, to relatively nearby Fiji) — or they are a bit more dangerous. The list of every country in the world includes places like North Korea, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, each of which is listed on Canada's travel advisory list as "do not travel."
"I do go on tours to places like Sudan and Yemen, you have to go on a tour. There's no choice," he said.
"For Afghanistan, if you go to Canada's travel advisories, it's at a level four. Like 'do not go, you'll lose your travel insurance.' But the problem is that Canada's travel advisories are dated. They're not pertinent to what's on the ground, and they're conservative ... which makes sense because if somebody went there and something happened, it could be a litigious legal issue. I use a Facebook group called 'Every Passport Stamped' where you can get a trip report from somebody who has been there in the past few weeks.
"I've been defrauded at borders, like going from Bulgaria into Turkey. There was a three-man operation where I needed to pay 50 dollars, but I didn't get my pink exit sticker. It was really fun when I tried to exit Turkey, and there was no entrance stamp," he said. "The same thing happened in Afghanistan, I went, and it took me two hours with intelligence officers, permits, money declarations ... I saw him stamp something, but it wasn't my passport. I was detained by the Taliban; they took me to their secret compound and I was blindfolded and interrogated for five hours. It happens."
While it does get tricky to put a number to all of the countries in the world, many people go by the number of nations who are United Nations member states - that's where the number 193 comes from. There are also two UN General Assembly observer states, the Holy See (Vatican) and the State of Palestine. Perrier has been to each of these too. Then there are places like Kosovo and Taiwan, which to many of the people living there are countries, but does that leave space for debated sovereign states like Western Sahara or constituent countries like Faroe Islands, or Aruba? No matter the answer, the debate doesn't matter to Perrier, as he still visits all of the places.
Nomadmania has other lists of destinations as well. Travellers can check off the FIFA countries, or visit all of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, or a list on the site called "DARE" or "Distinctive Alternative Remote Extremes" which are remote areas that don't get a lot of visitors (think Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island on Earth, located in Nunavut). Each of these lists of destinations has rankings where people can also see who is the top traveller on the site per country. For Canada, one name stands above the rest: Ron Perrier.
"This whole numbers thing is kind of an ego game ... It's kind of senseless ... it's all kind of a silly game," he said. However, there must have been something to that silly game, because he did win it.
"It's about the big number. With 192, you're in obscurity. But as soon as you hit 193, you're a hero."
But to Perrier, it's not about the number. As he's said, checking off the list feels "senseless." What he takes away from all of his travelling is the experience, the chance to meet new people, to see the world and to be a part of the beauty in it.
"The most generous people in the world are Chinese," he said, smiling. "You get into circumstances in China, and they're always helping people. And generously too; they're paying for tickets, not accepting money, going out of their way and walking six blocks to help you."
Perrier also acknowledged that luck played a bit of a role in his successes.
"I'm a real believer in luck," he said, acknowledging his privilege as "a white man born in Canada as a baby boomer, how much luckier could you get?"
Perrier is ranked 11th on the "Biggest Travellers" list, and is the number one Canadian on the list. Despite all of this, there are still blank places on Perrier's map. Notably, he has never been to Newfoundland. Though he has gotten his passport stamped in his 193rd country, he's not finished travelling. In fact, Perrier has already left on his next trip and expects to be home by the spring of 2025.
That's the thing about travelling - no matter how many places you go, there's always something new you've never experienced.
More more information on Perrier and his travels, visit ronperrier.net.
