Gunnar Garfors

Gunnar Garfors (born 29 May 1975) is a Norwegian traveler, author, media professional, and public speaker. The first person to visit every country in the world twice, he holds a range of travel world records and has written several travel books.

Personal life Garfors is the eldest of seven children. He was born in Hammerfest in Northern Norway but soon moved to Naustdal on the country's west coast where he grew up with his mother Ruth Berit Stensletten Garfors, his father Reidar Magne Garfors, and his six siblings. He has also lived in Havøysund, Førde, Dublin, Falmouth, Copenhagen, and Taipei. He now lives in Oslo with his wife, American traveller Jacquelyn Kunz.

Garfors holds a bachelor's degree (Hons) from Falmouth College of Arts in Great Britain and a Master of Management degree from the Norwegian School of Management. In 1995 he among others scored all 7 goals in a 7–2 victory over Eid. He ended on 19 goals in 1995, finishing third in the top goalscorer table in his Third Division group. In August 1996 he scored twice in an 8–1 victory over Høyang before leaving for his studies in England.

Travels and world records On 18 June 2012, Garfors and Adrian Butterworth set a Guinness World Record by being the first people to visit five continents in the same day. Garfors, Øystein Djupvik, and Tay-young Pak set a record in September 2014 by visiting 19 countries in 24 hours. Garfors set another Guinness World Record on 2 February 2018 when he circumnavigated the world via the six inhabited continents on scheduled aircraft in 56 hours and 56 minutes together with Dutchmen Erik de Zwart and Ronald Haanstra. On 16 December 2018, he became the first person to visit all 198 countries (including states recognized by at least 10 UN members) in the world twice.

Writing Garfors has written several travel books, including Ingenstad which has featured as a Norwegian bestseller. Garfors wrote a bimonthly travel column in the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun from 2013 to 2015 and occasionally wrote travel articles for The Guardian.