At the young age of only 23, William has made his way to over three quarters of the world’s countries!
NOTICE: Please be advised that many in the travel community have alleged that William is really Jesse Gordon. He has been accused of defrauding members of the travel community by setting up trips, accepting deposits, and then canceling the trip without providing refunds. To hear a podcast with these alleged activities from other travelers, please listen here.
William began traveling at a young age with his family, including a 6 week cruise from the UK through Australia via the Suez Canal. He took his first independent trip to Scotland via train. He has only 39 countries until he visits every country in the world. William has also created a list of approximately 12,000 places in the world. He plans and hopes to visit these places over his lifetime. William also has a penchant to visit some of the most remote corners of the globe including the Russian Arctic and Tristan da Cunha.
More about William Baekeland:
- Born in: United Kingdom
- Passports from: Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom
- Favorite Travel Book: I like historic accounts of colonial expeditions. One which ones to mind is Richard Burton’s ‘Wanderings in West Africa from Liverpool to Fernando Po’. Good luck finding a copy, it took me a few years.
- Favorite travel film: I’m not so into movies, but perhaps I’d say Titanic.
- Favorite travel site: None in particular, I rarely use any.
- Must carry: A Caran d’Ache writing pen. The shortest pencil is better than the longest memory.
- Favorite food: With food, I am far too particular to reasonably attempt answering this question. Simplicity is an overlooked culinary virtue nowadays, though.
- Favorite drink: Gin and Tonic
- Favorite Airline: No commercial airline jumps out as being a favorite. Timetable is paramount, so is a good route map.
- Favorite Hotel: Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu.
About Counting Countries
Counting Countries is the only podcast to bring you the stories from the dedicated few who’ve spent their lives on the singular quest of traveling to every country in the world. Less people have traveled to every country in the world than have been to outer space.
Theme music for this podcast is Demeter’s Dance, written, performed, and provided by Mundi.
About GlobalGaz
Ric Gazarian is the host of Counting Countries. He is the author of three books: Hit The Road: India, 7000 KM To Go, and Photos From Chernobyl. He is the producer of two travel documentaries: Hit The Road: India and Hit The Road: Cambodia.
Ric is also on his own quest to visit every country in the world. You can see where he has traveled so far and keep up with his journey at GlobalGaz.com
How Many Countries Are There?
Well… that depends on who you ask!
- The United Nations states that there are 193 member states.
- The British Foreign and Commonwealth office states that there are 225 countries and territories.
- The Century Club states that there are 325 sovereign nations, territories, enclaves, and islands.
- The Most Traveled Person states that there are 875 unique parts of the world.
- The Best Traveled states that there are 1281 unique places in the world.
- Me? My goal is the 193 countries that are recognized by the UN, but I am sure I will visit some other places along the way.
Disclaimer: I will earn a fee if you order from Amazon/Agoda.
Photos From Chernobyl
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Is this for real? Would love to hear more info…
Is the interview real? Yes. Is the information real? Several people in the travel community have alleged that William is really named Jesse Simon Gordon and has been taking financial advantage of people in the community.
Read about the alleged fraud at http://mailchi.mp/69fce52f17fc/fraudissue-1333801 – the last section
[…] His appearance on Counting Countries […]
I am one of the victims who have paid deposit for the expedition to Antarctica at end 2019. I have tried to find William since October without success. What can I do? Shall I report the case to the police as I am in London at the moment.
Sorry not my expertise. I would consult an attorney. In addition, Harry Mitsidis has spoken with many people who lost money, so you might want to speak with him.
[…] he was interviewed by travel writer Ric Gazarian on Counting Countries, Baekeland said he grew up in a family of explorers. "We went on safaris quite a lot, we went […]
[…] he was interviewed by travel writer Ric Gazarian on Counting Countries, Baekeland said he grew up in a family of explorers. “We went on safaris quite a lot, we went […]
[…] name. It sounded fake. He claimed to be Irish, yet spoke like a posh English person on his media interview with Ric on Counting Countries. His name doesn’t sound remotely Irish or […]
You can kind of tell he’s a liar. He ends each answer with these weird pauses with which the interviewer is taken by surprise that the answer is over. He tells no detailed stories, it’s always just “yes, I went to here and I went here and here and here and I’m rich…” He’s a complete tw@t to say the least.
I don’t think you can kind of tell he’s a liar, far from it. He really has a very typical style and pattern of speech of the really higher class Brits. I suspect the truth of it all is somewhere in the middle of what is publicly known. There is probably some exaggeration in this interview, though, but a lot of it also seems to be completely true. The weird pauses at the end are just typical of British upper class twits. He may not have been as rich as he claimed or as people thought, but this kid definitely seems to have come from the periphery of upper class brits, probably extended family and he’s holding onto their coattails and exposed to them hence the very top end post british accent., listen to it, cant be fake or made up for this length like some claimed in the book. He’s Obviously a very weird kid and seems reclusive and not wanting to give details about his life in public. Makes the whole story even harder to piece together…! What does he do now?
Hi … there is a lot of mystery here and difficult to know what is 100% true and what is not.
One thing to note, that is not his real accent, he was brought up in Birmingham.
I have one friend, author, Dave Seminara who keeps in touch with him, but he cant judge the veracity of William’s statements of his current status.
[…] myöhemmin William päätyi haastateltavaksi myös Counting Countries -sivustoa ylläpitävän Ric Gazarianin podcastiin, jossa hän kertoi miten hän lapsuudessaan kävi perheensä kanssa safareilla, Itä-Afrikassa, […]
[…] travelers and began to organize challenging trips for them. In fact, I interviewed him for this podcast. Some of these trips took place, others didn’t, and refunds were […]