One of the few to have visited every country in the world

Published on BBC News on May 25, 2015.

Albert Podell was an editor for Playboy and other men’s adventure magazines in the 1960s. He commissioned travel stories from others until one day, he decided to embark on an expedition himself, and he’s never looked back. Fifty years later he is one of the few who can say they’ve visited every country in the world.

For Podell, it began on a car trip, which at the time broke the record for the longest route around the world. Visiting all the world’s countries wasn’t easy: war, revolution and the break-up of the Soviet Union were all sizeable obstacles that extended his mission.

Now he’s written a book, Around the World in Fifty Years, about his exploits, from eating live monkey brain in Hong Kong to parking his land rover in the middle of a minefield in Morocco.

He shares with us his tips on travel.