TAMPA, Fla — A Tampa man is set to travel to every country in the world—and he is 35 years old. Nasim Fakhri, from Tampa, said he will be one of around 400 people who have visited every country in the world.
Fakhri will visit Jamaica, the last country on his journey, next week.
Fakhri sat down with ABC Action News reporter Mary O'Connell to talk about everything to do with his world travels, from what foods he likes best to how he has the means to travel around the world at such a young age.
Here is an excerpt of the questions that ABC Action News reporter Mary O'Connell asked.
So talk to me a little bit about how you began this journey to visit every country in the world. What made you want to visit every country in the world?
So I was pretty much brought up on travel because of my background. My mother is originally from Mexico, and my father is from Baghdad, Iraq. So I have relatives all over the place in Iraq, in Mexico, and Spain, in Armenia, and my father, when my parents divorced back in 2002 and my dad moved overseas, my sister and I would visit him twice a year, spend the whole winter break there, and then half of the summer vacation, and he would take us around different places in Europe. He spent many years in Dubai working, so we'd go there a lot to visit him. He was in Southeast Asia for a short time. We went to Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, and all the places down there. So, that was, when I was in, in my teens, and after I started my own business about 15 years ago, I had the time and means to be able to go to many other countries. So the fact that I would visit my dad, and he would take us around different places around 20 years ago, that's what got me started like, the like to like travel, and eventually the more places you go, the more places you want to go. The bucket list never gets shorter. For each place you knock off the bucket list, you add 3 more.
So was there at some point that you were like, you know what, I actually, I love— it sounds like you love to travel— but was there a point where you were like, you know what, I actually want to just visit every country. Let's just knock them off?
Yes. So, at the beginning, it was just to travel to visit places, places that appealed to me that I enjoyed because of the history, culture, and whatnot, but 6 years ago when I hit my 100th country, I was thinking I'm already halfway there. I might as well visit the other half, and the other half turned out to be the hardest ones. All 54 countries in Africa, a lot of the Middle East like Syria, Yemen. To get into Libya, and they weren't issuing tourist visas at the time, I had to lie and say I was going on business and pretend to be an oil consultant to get into Libya four years ago. So, I was a little bit nervous going in the immigration there, but I gave them the phone number of the guy that was supposedly sponsoring my visa, and they let me right through. So that was a bit of a relief.
We went around the newsroom, and we just have so many burning questions for you. So your first, my first question is, what are some of your favorite countries that you visited? I don't know if you've got a top country that's your favorite one that you've ever visited, -- but what are some of your favorites -- at least?
So it's really hard to say which one's my favorite. Even a top 5 is difficult because there's countries that I like because of the nature. There's countries that I like because of the history, because of the great food. I have a top 20, and even then, it was hard to select the top 20, but like some that stand out is Japan. I mean I've been there 4 times, and I would go back in a heartbeat. I would say Mexico, my mom's home country. I've been there like 50 times, but there's still some regions in Mexico that I've not visited yet. Spain, I love Spain.
My dad's wife's family is from Spain, so we would go there a lot 20 years ago, and also there's parts of the Middle East like, you know, very, the Middle East is very misunderstood and very generalized, like yeah there's some parts that could be a little challenging to get into, but there's others that have a lot of history, great food, and very good hospitality. So when you travel, you learn about how, you see the big picture, not only what you see from TV or whatever.
Africa, people generalize it. People think of it as one place, but there's 54 countries there, each of them with their own culture and their own things to see. It's very different each place that you go, and you learn all that when, when you travel.
What were some of the hardest for you to visit?
Well, one of the hardest ones, Eritrea. It took me two months to get the visa. I mailed my passport to the embassy with, you know, a long time before the trip just in case, you know, but you know, a month after, a month and a half, I didn't hear back from them, and then I was getting nervous because it was the week before my trip, and I was actually at a convention for work, and I kept calling them, and they wouldn't answer, and I got my passport with a visa two days before the trip, so that was really cutting it close.
Did you ever at any point while you were doing this, you know, having this journey to visit every country in the world, did you ever think, I don't know if I'm actually going to be able to accomplish this?
I never thought I would ever accomplish this if somebody asked me 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I wasn't really counting countries or going off a list, and even when I hit 100 countries that I'm like it would be great to visit every country in the world, I thought of it as a really ambitious goal, that I didn't really think that it was, it was likely to happen until I had like 30 left, and I'm like wow, I've already done most of the harder ones. I already did Libya. I already did Afghanistan, North Korea, and I said I could do it, and that's when I planned all my trips, and I booked everything, and fortunately, everything went smoothly. Only when I went to one in January, when I went to Israel, I was a little bit afraid if they were going to let me in because of having been to Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and all those, and my father being from Iraq. They did held me for like three hours, and finally I got in, so I was like, oh, that was my last hurdle to get into Israel and also the West Bank, Bethlehem. So I did that this year in January.
You brought up North Korea, and I think that's one of those countries that a lot of people think of like, oh I can't go there, or I'd be maybe apprehensive to go visit North Korea. You have obviously been to North Korea. So, tell me about how did you go there? How did you travel there? What was it like?
So I have dual citizenship. I have a US passport and a Mexican passport, and before COVID, there were tours running on a regular basis that anybody except, you can use any passport except USA, South Korea, and Malaysia to get into North Korea. So I used my Mexican passport, and I went there in October of 2019, and the tour was 4 days. We stayed in Pyongyang. No internet anywhere. The only place with Wi-Fi was the casino in the basement of the hotel where all the tourists stay at, and it was, it was an experience. We got to see the Mass games, the Arirang, that, that was, you know, the most spectacular thing I've seen, and we visited the DMZ on the north side, so that was, it's definitely a strange place. It was really, it was an experience.
Traveling to 197 countries takes time, and it takes money. So how did you accomplish this full time wise and funds-wise wise because it can't be a cheap thing to do.
I studied biomedical science at USF, but I had my side hustle where I would, I would buy and sell rare coins, and my side hustle was going so well during college 15 years ago that it eventually turned into a full-time business. So when I graduated with biomedical science, I ended up doing something completely unrelated to what I, what I studied.
So I would attend big trade shows, conventions all over the country, and so I was able to focus on like the most important conventions and do as much business as I can there, and since 2018 have been traveling for seven months out of the year.
What countries would you say had some of the best food you had?
Some of the best food I had have been Mexico, Japan, Thailand, Middle Eastern food, especially Lebanese food. There's a lot of places with really good food, but those are the ones that really come to my mind when I... Spain also, Spain has really good food.
Somebody in our newsroom wanted to know how long do you have to have been in a country for it to count as you're visiting all 197 countries, if that makes sense. Like if you drove through a country, does that count, or do you have to stay a night a certain amount of nights? -- is there some math to it -- if that makes sense?
Well, you don't really have to stay a night, especially in small countries like Vatican City, where it's impossible to stay a night. San Marino, I did not stay a night because you could visit it in like 4 hours. Then there's other countries where I've been to multiple times where you need at least like you know a couple of weeks, 3 weeks or a month, to really just see the highlights, like Mexico being one of those, India, China. There's so much to see in those countries, but there's no really specific amount of time for it to count as long as you visit something in the country, but the ones that have lots to see that, those are the ones that I like to spend a long time in. Average I'd say like a week, for most African countries, I would do like a week and do different cities. The same with most Middle East countries like Lebanon. I spent a week, Syria I spent a week, the same with Libya. So average like a week if it has a lot of things to see, maybe 2 or 3 weeks or a month or longer or going there multiple times like a week at a time. So it really depends on the country. But yeah, none of my visits were like just stepping over the border, taking the picture. Like some of the people that claim to have been to every country, they just want to go there, take the photos, and then go back. No, I, I wanna actually visit places. I wanna see what there is to see.
When you visit your 197th country next Friday, Jamaica, and you finally accomplish this goal of yours to visit every country in the world, what do you do next?
So I have a bunch of trips lined up. Just because I've been to every country doesn't mean I've been to every territory, every city, every province. There's always going to be more things to see in each country. I'm doing a trip to the Balkans just a few weeks after I visit my final country, Jamaica. I'm going to different little towns that I've not been to. I'm visiting different sites, and then I'm doing another trip to Southeast Asia with my mom and her cousins because I've been there a few times, so I'm gonna be like the guide and show them around. Another goal that comes to my mind is visiting every capital. So there's 25 capitals that I've not been to of all the countries that I've seen. And to my knowledge there's nobody under 40 that's been to every capital, so if I managed to do that in a couple of years, I would hopefully set a record, and that's because there's one capital that right now is impossible to get there, which is Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. It's in an area controlled by the Houthis, so I'm going to try to visit the other ones in the meantime and hopefully that opens up and make that my last one.
Hopefully I'm able to do that and nobody beats me to it. I'm crossing my fingers. I'm not gonna mention that goal to any other competing travelers my age.
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