Gunnar Garfors (born 29 May 1975) is a Norwegians traveler, author, media professional, and public speaker. Garfors was 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.[Gonsholt Simen V. "I dag er Gunnars livsverk komplett", Dagens Næringsliv, Oslo, 10 May 2013. ]
Personal life
Garfors is the oldest of seven children. He was born in
Hammerfest in Northern Norway but soon moved to Naustdal Municipality 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
[Garfors, Gunnar. "Gunnar Garfors Biography" , garfors.com, Oslo, 1 January 2013. ] with his wife, Jacqui 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.
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.
[Wong, Hiufu. "How to travel five continents in one day" , CNN, Hong Kong, 29 June 2012. ][Staff writer. "Friends film visit to five continents in one day", BBC, Dorset, 2 July 2012. ] Garfors, Øystein Djupvik, and Tay-young Pak set a record in September 2014 by visiting 19 countries in 24 hours.
[Huggler, Justin. "How a Norwegian trio visited most of Europe in 24 hours", The Telegraph, Berlin, 22 September 2014. ] 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.
[ "Fastest circumnavigation by scheduled flights, visiting six continents (team)", Guinness World Records, London, 2 February 2018. ] 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.
[ "Broken Sleep Books bags English translation of Garfors' Norwegian bestseller Elsewhere", The Bookseller, London, 2023. ] Garfors wrote a bimonthly travel column in the Japanese newspaper
Mainichi Shimbun from 2013 to 2015 and occasionally wrote travel articles for
The Guardian.
[Garfors, Gunnar. Mainichi Weekly, pages 8–9. Japan, 19 April 2014][ "Step aside Denmark. Norway takes world’s happiest nation crown", The Guardian, London, 23 March 2017. ][ "The Guardian: Gunnar Garfors", Google, Oslo, 3 January 2020. ]
Bibliography
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198: Mi reise til alle verdas land, Samlaget, Norway (2014)
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Ete fysst, Selja, Norway (2014)
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198: How I Ran Out of Countries, self-published, USA (2015)
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Ingenstad, Skald, Norway (2019)
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Bortom allfarveg, Skald, Norway (2021)
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198: Como eu conheci todos os países do mundo, self-published, Brazil (2021)
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Bortom allfarveg Vestlandet, Skald, Norway (2022)
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Omakase, Spartacus, Norway (2022)
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Ahol csak a madár jár, Cser Kiadó, Hungary (2023)
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Elsewhere, Broken Sleep Books, UK (2024)
Broadcasting
He worked as an advisor for broadcasting and
new media at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in Oslo from 2000 to 2022, was president of IDAG (the International DMB Advancement Group) from 2010 to 2021 and sat one year as vice president of the mobile expert group of the European Broadcasting Union in 2008 and 2009.
[Doyle James. "Top Gun" , Mobile TV World, London, 4 October 2012. ] In 2004, he was director when NRK launched the first test of live TV to mobile phones.
[Axline, Keith. "Reach out and touch Bono", Wired. USA, 12 February 2005. ]
From 2008 to 2013, Garfors was CEO of Norwegian Mobile TV Corporation.[Valmot, Odd Richard. "Seks kanaler i lomma i dag", Teknisk Ukeblad, Oslo, 15 May 2009. ][Baugerød Stokke, Ole Petter. "Gir nordmenn tv på do" , Computerworld. Oslo, 10 November 2009. ][Børringbo, Klaus. "Klart for mobil-tv i april", Aftenposten. Oslo, 13 January. 2009. ][Weiby, Hans Erik Weiby and Slydal Johansen, Glenn. "Se NRK hvor som helst – på mini-tv", Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Oslo, 15 May 2009. ]
External links
