The numbers are in, and they are extraordinary. 2025 is on track to become the biggest year in history for travellers completing every UN country.

We already have 69 claimed completions so far in 2025 – and counting – while the previous record of 55 new UN Masters was set back in 2023.

This surge is unlike anything NomadMania has witnessed before, a true global travel movement happening in real time.

Let's celebrate people who claimed to complete 193 recently: 

• Ron Bergwerk (US) – finished in Chad
• Gordon Browne (Australia) – finished in Nigeria
• Chun Ho Louis Chong (HK/Singapore) – finished in Sudan
• Glen Dalisay (Philippines/US) – finished in Cabo Verde
• Gert Eriksson (Sweden) – finished in Suriname
• Erik Futtrup (Denmark) – finished in Sudan
• Annie Krefting (Norway) – finished in Haiti
• Alexander Kynev (Russia) – finished in Algeria
• Masatoshi Maeda (Japan) – finished in Chad
• Andrina Ong (US) – finished in Madagascar
• Antti Mykkänen (Finland) – finished in Equatorial Guinea.
• Bartosz Psiuch (Poland) – finished in Ethiopia
• Wee Cheng Tan (Singapore) – finished in Iraq
• Marlon Thompson (Jamaica) and Vitalijs Grincisins becoming the first Latvian man to visit every UN country.

NomadMania Travel Awards Winners

As you may know, two weeks ago we hosted the UN Masters Weekend, an event designed to bring together, under one digital roof, as many people as possible who have visited every country in the world.

Here is a brief event report here and replays of Day 1 and Day 2.

During the show, we also revealed the winners of the Travel Awards. 

They are: 

• Best Content Creator - Kasem Hato 🇯🇴 
• Best Fixer - Baba El Bekay 🇲🇷
• Best Travel Book - Thor Pedersen 🇩🇰
• Biggest NomadMania Friend - Jaime Aleman 🇵🇦 & Lucy Hsu 🇺🇸 
• Biggest LPI Traveller - Pav Mbeda 🇰🇪
• Best NomadMania Envoy - Vassilis Stamatelopoulos 🇬🇷
• Most Purposeful Traveller - Barry Hoffner 🇺🇸
• Best Team NM Member - Mette Ehlers Mikkelsen 🇩🇰
• Against All Odds Traveller - Daniel Riley 🇨🇦🇺🇸 
• Most Intrepid Traveller - Luisa Yu 🇵🇭🇺🇸
• Lifetime Travel Achievement - Arvinder Bahal 🇺🇸🇮🇳 
• Biggest Traveller - Sascha Grabow 🇩🇪 & Joao Paulo Peixoto 🇵🇹

A New Approach to Selecting Winners in 2026

Starting from next year, we will rely more on our internal NomadMania data to select winners in most categories.

For example:

• The Most Intrepid Traveller could be the person who visits the highest number of the least-visited NomadMania regions during the year.

• The Biggest LPI Traveller would be the one who visits the most regions while holding only a Low Passport Index citizenship.

• And so on — you get the idea.

We already have all the systems in place to track this data and to keep the entire platform transparent, enjoyable, and healthily competitive.

Do check out our Statistics Page, which we’ll be expanding soon. 🙂

Of course, some categories will continue to be voted on — for example, Best Travel Book — and we’ll keep a few for internal NomadMania Team decisions as well.

The next NomadMania Awards will be held live at the Extraordinary Travel Festival in Bangkok from 22–25 October 2026. See you there 🙂

[TOUR] Syria: Unexplored East

Around 100 travellers have visited Syria with us since we launched NomadMania Tours. The most recent trip was particularly interesting, taking us to the east of the country — an area that was impossible to reach under the previous regime.

Here is a trip report about that extraordinary journey, all told in the vivid words of our founder Harry Mitsidis.

Our next Syria tour will take place from 20–26 April 2026.

This Syria East tour is more focused on the post-war reality than a typical “classic” circuit. We follow the road from Damascus to the Euphrates, through former ISIS strongholds and Kurdish-run areas, then back via Aleppo, Afrin and the “Dead Cities”.

See the details and join here 🇸🇾

Check out our Online Shop. There's definitely something for you :-)

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