Madness in the making, aiming for another world record

Gunnar Garfors (left, Øystein Djupvik and Tay-young Pak at Oslo Airport the day before the day.
Photo can be used free of charge, please credit garfors.com. 

Four friends managed to visit 17 countries in 24 hours in 2012. Can the record be beaten?
I have no idea, but I'll try. It's going to be a long and hectic Thursday.

I have even somehow managed to convince two friends to take part in what is essentially a slightly manic project. Neither Øystein Djupvik from my hometown Naustdal nor Tay-young Pak from Oslo are strangers to creative madness, and they are certainly up for the task. Supported by petrol hungry cars, unmentionable amounts of caffein, a bit of sugar and some very loud music. Bios at the bottom.

The start? Somewhere in Europe at 00:00:01 on May 8, coincidentally exactly one year after I visited my country number 198, and completed seeing every country in the world. And less than two months after being accepted by Guinness World Records for visiting five continents in one day.

Some of my friends call me restless. Driving on the Autobahn doesn't exactly help. No speed limit. 

We managed 17 countries in 24 hours, which is the record. No one has in other words been to more countries than us. Kind of cool!

The maps below tell you were we drove. There are two maps as we flew from Milano to Dubrovnik. We tweeted from the trip, using #recordrun. We are @garfors, @oysteindjupvik, @taysadventures.

Tweets about "#recordrun"

Øystein Djupvik lives in Naustdal in Norway with Lee-Heidi Lauritzen and their two children. The 40 year old is a part of the management team of Transferd, a logistics company. He is also a local politician and enjoys sports fishing. Djupvik works against planned dumping of 300 million tons of waste mixed with chemicals, planned to be done by a mining company in the fjord he lives next to. 

Tay-young Pak is on a mission to visit every country of the world and to engage in extreme activities while at it. Please follow him on taysbucketlist.com. He has worked years as a consultant within business and management. Pak is 41 years old and from a Korean family. He was still born in Iceland and has lived most of his life in Oslo. 

Gunnar Garfors is the youngest hobby traveller to have visited all 198 countries of the world. The 38 year old has six younger siblings and is from Naustdal . Garfors currently lives in Oslo, works with DAB digital radio for NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) and writes a book on all his travels. The book is due to be published in Norwegian by Samlaget in September. 

Countdown Clock from Counting Down To. Map and tracking by Endomondo.

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