A man who calls himself the “first Argentine to visit every country in the world,” has ranked the 196 countries he has visited and named the one country that is not worth the stop.

After an incredible eight years of travelling, Nicolás Pasquali, 33, finally fulfilled his dream.

Although the United Nations only recognises 193 countries, he added Palestine, the Vatican and Taiwan to his bucket list.

Pasquali, from Buenos Aires, ticked the last destination off on February 20 when his passport was stamped for entry into North Korea, a process that took over a year of waiting.

“You are only allowed to tour it accompanied by a North Korean government guide,” Pasquali shared about the challenges of reaching one of the most secretive countries with the strictest rules in the world.

Pasquali explained to Infobae that he decided “to include Palestine and the Vatican, and also add Taiwan because it is recognised by 14 member countries of that organisation.” This sets him apart from other Argentines who claim the same record.

Unlike other travellers (who have to work simultaneously to cover their expenses), he has dedicated himself solely to travelling the world without working since 2017.

“I created a coherent budget and calculated how much money I needed to put to work so it would generate a certain monthly return for me to live on,” he explained, who worked at a bank, taught tennis on weekends, drove Uber, sold products online, gave private lessons in finance and macroeconomics, and was a university professor to reach that initial amount.

“I gathered the money I needed when I turned 24 and now live off that,” he explained.

Recalling his time in the last country on his list, North Korea, Pasquali recounted that connection with the outside world is practically non-existent: “There is no Internet; no one has access except for the government. I was completely cut off, although at the border with China I received some messages because I have a Chinese SIM card with VPN,” he noted.

The Argentine had to hire an authorised agency to enter since foreigners cannot travel independently. “You need a sponsor who endorses your visit and guarantees you are not a journalist or someone who could cause problems for the regime. They checked everything about me, from my social media to my travel intentions,” he commented.

The approval process was uncertain and stressful: “I received confirmation on February 15 and had only 72 hours to use the permit. I rushed to Ezeiza airport without telling anyone, bought the ticket right then and flew from Buenos Aires to China to cross the border in time,” he recalled.

Pasquali was part of a group of 12 tourists who, according to his testimony, were the first Westerners to enter North Korea after five years, excluding diplomatic visits.

For Pasquali, control over visitors was incredibly strict: “You can’t move alone; you’re always escorted by two guides ahead and four behind. If you follow the rules, they treat you well; otherwise, you’re dead.”

Yet, it was not North Korea that Pasquali named as the country that was not worth visiting.

That title fell to Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), a southern African country. Pasquali revealed that the country had little to offer travellers compared to other destinations. A tiny kingdom within South Africa, with no access to the sea and rulled by a king who has a wife in each of its 42 villages, Pasquali was struck by the lack of tourism development.

“It’s not a country that has great attractions. There is a safari, but it’s on foot. It’s not like in South Africa, where you go in a car; here you walk among the animals. An elephant might walk past you while you’re going to the supermarket.”

Although he found some interesting particularities in the country’s culture and remarked that it has very strong customs, ‘if you compare it with other countries in the region, it doesn’t have a great added value’, he concluded.

The country that surprised him most, meanwhile, was Syria. “A lot of negative things are said, but the reality is that the people are incredibly hospitable. I was treated spectacularly and they have one of the best cuisines I’ve ever tasted,’ he said.

He also described Sudan as the most dangerous, Turkmenistan as the most exotic, Nigeria as the country with the most poverty and France as the friendliest country, one that he visited an incredible 32 times.