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A British traveller who visited the world's 201 countries without flying has officially been awarded a Guinness World Record.

It took Graham Hughes nearly four years to cover 160,000 miles in 1,426 days - and he filmed a selfie video every step of the way.

The 33-year-old from Liverpool used buses, taxis, trains and his own two feet to become the first person in the world to carry out the trip.

Scroll down for videos...

Official certificate: Graham Hughes celebrates setting the record for the fastest man to visit 201 countries without flying

Record: Hughes' trip around the world has been edited into four short minutes - starting with Brazil

Long way round: His mission began in South America, taking in Guyana along the way

Officially first to visit EVERY COUNTRY in the world without...

After a year of deliberation and examination, for which officials had to check through 1,000,000 GPS data points, 10,000 photos, 400 hours of video and 192 passport pages, Guinness World Records has finally validated the records.

And Hughes was presented with a certificate announcing him as setting the record for the 'fastest time to visit all countries by public surface transport' - taking four years and 31 days.

In a video on YouTube, Hughes, who visited 197 UN member states and 20 that are not, said: 'I've just been given my world record certificate. I've had to wait 14 months for my record to be accredited.

'But here it is. So we've brought my friends and family who helped me along the way to help me celebrate the fact I am, and always will be, the first person to visit every country in the world without flying.'

A whistlestop visit to Guinea-Bissau happened on his way from The Gambia to Senegal, where he made it through four African countries in one day

The Liverpudlian adventurer filmed himself in front of the sign marking the Zimbabwean border

The 1,426-day journey started in Uruguay and ended with its 201st nation, South Sudan

Hughes filmed his travels, which he carried out on a shoestring budget of just £65 a week, for a documentary after setting off from his hometown on New Year's Day 2009.

By December 2012, he crossed the border into the newly-created South Sudan and cracked open the champagne to celebrate completing his mission.

Hughes edited days of footage into a whirlwind tour of the globe, taking in one nation every second.

The video sees him posing in the sunshine of South America and the Caribbean, wrapped up warm in Canada, and even pretending to be under arrest by locals in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.

Despite going off the typical backpacker's trail for much of his trip, Hughes still found time to fit in a wonder of the world by visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt

In Bangladesh, Hughes proved he was really there by holding up local currency

Without planes, some of the nations were harder to reach than others - but not the ones you might expect.

Hughes said it was easier to get into North Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan than it was to reach remote islands such as Nauru in the South Pacific, the Maldives and the Seychelles.

It took seven attempts to get into the Seychelles because of the threat from Somali pirates.

He mainly crossed the seas by hitching lifts with cargo ships but struck lucky on the way to the Dominican Republic when a cruise ship let him come aboard.

Hughes also shows himself receiving a warm welcome in the Pacific island nation Vanuatu

The end! South Sudan didn't exist as a country when Graham Hughes set off in January 2009, but he crossed its border in December last year and toasted the end of his challenge

His favourite place was Palau, an island state in the Western Pacific.

Marco Frigatti, Senior Vice President, Records Management Team, Guinness World Records, said: 'I can't remember a more absorbing record to verify in recent years, it took a lot of effort and time to authenticate. 

'Graham's achievement is astonishing, though, and it's a pleasure to recognise his new Guinness World Records title.'

GRAHAM'S GLOBAL TOUR

Graham Hughes visited 201 nations, including the 193 members of the United Nations, Taiwan, Vatican City, Palestine, Kosovo, Western Sahara and the four home nations of the United Kingdom.

Territories are marked with a 'T' before the number.

The countries are listed in the order they appear in the video, not in the order he visited.

Graham Hughes' adventures were even turned into a National Geographic documentary

SOUTH AMERICA

001 Brazil
002 Uruguay
003 Argentina
004 Paraguay
005 Bolivia
006 Chile
007 Peru
008 Ecuador
009 Colombia
010 Venezuela
011 Guyana
012 Suriname

THE CARIBBEAN

013 Trinidad & Tobago
014 Grenada
015 St. Vincent & The Grenadines
016 Barbados
017 St. Lucia
T01 Martinique
018 Dominica
019 St. Kitts & Nevis
020 Antigua & Barbuda
T02 St. Martin/Sint Maarten
T03 British Virgin Islands
T04 US Virgin Islands
021 Dominican Republic
022 Haiti
023 Jamaica

CENTRAL & NORTH AMERICA

024 Mexico
025 Guatemala
026 El Salvador
027 Nicaragua
028 Honduras
029 Costa Rica
030 Panama
031 Belize
032 The United States of America
033 The Bahamas
034 Cuba
035 Canada

Not every stop needed his fedora for shade from the sun, as seen here among the rocky landscapes in Canada

EUROPE

036 Iceland T05 The Faroe Islands 037 The Netherlands 038 Belgium 039 France 040 England 041 Wales 042 Ireland 043 Northern Ireland 044 Scotland 045 Luxembourg 046 Germany 047 Denmark 048 Sweden 049 Norway 050 Finland 051 Estonia 052 Russia 053 Latvia 054 Lithuania 055 Belarus 056 Poland 057 The Czech Republic 058 Slovakia 059 Hungary

060 Romania 061 Moldova 062 Ukraine 063 Bulgaria 064 Greece 065 Macedonia 066 Kosovo 067 Montenegro 068 Serbia 069 Albania 070 Croatia 071 Bosnia & Herzegovina 072 Slovenia 073 Austria 074 Liechtenstein 075 Switzerland 076 Italy 077 Vatican City 078 Malta 079 Tunisia (Africa) 080 San Marino 081 Monaco 082 Andorra 083 Spain 084 Portugal

AFRICA

085 Morocco 086 Western Sahara 087 Mauritania 088 Senegal 089 Cape Verde 090 The Gambia 091 Guinea-Bissau 092 Mali 093 Guinea 094 Sierra Leone 095 Liberia 096 Côte D'Ivoire 097 Ghana 098 Togo 099 Benin 100 Burkina Faso 101 Niger 102 Nigeria 103 Cameroon 104 Chad 105 Central African Republic 106 Equatorial Guinea 107 Gabon 108 Saõ Tomé & Principé

109 Congo 110 Democratic Republic of Congo 111 Angola 112 Namibia 113 South Africa 114 Botswana 115 Lesotho 116 Swaziland 117 Mozambique 118 Zimbabwe 119 Malawi 120 Zambia 121 Tanzania 122 Comoros 123 Madagascar T06 Reunion 124 Mauritius 125 Rwanda 126 Burundi 127 Uganda 128 Kenya 129 Ethiopia 130 Djibouti 131 Somalia

The four-minute video gives a small taste of Graham Hughes' global adventure, including a quick look at Lebanon

MIDDLE EAST & ASIA

132 Saudi Arabia 133 Egypt (Africa) 134 Sudan (Africa) 135 Jordan 136 Palestine 137 Israel 138 Syria 139 Lebanon 140 Turkey 141 Iraq 142 Cyprus (Europe) 143 Libya (Africa) 144 Algeria (Africa) 145 Georgia 146 Armenia 147 Azerbaijan 148 Kazakhstan 149 Uzbekistan 150 Kyrgyzstan 151 Tajikistan 152 Turkmenistan 153 Afghanistan 154 Iran 155 Kuwait 156 Bahrain 157 Qatar 158 United Arab Emirates

159 Oman 160 Yemen 161 Eritrea (Africa) 162 Pakistan 163 India 164 Bangladesh 165 Bhutan 166 Nepal T07 Tibet 167 China 168 Mongolia 169 South Korea 170 North Korea 171 Japan 172 Taiwan 173 Vietnam 174 Cambodia 175 Thailand 176 Laos 177 Burma 178 Malaysia 179 Singapore 180 Indonesia 181 Brunei 182 The Philippines 183 East Timor

The Seychelles, on the Oceania leg on the tour, took seven attempts to enter because of fears over Somali pirates

OCEANIA

184 Papua New Guinea
185 Solomon Islands
186 Australia
T08 New Caledonia
187 Vanuatu
188 Fiji
189 Tuvalu T09 Wallis
T10 Futuna
190 Kiribati
191 Marshall Islands
192 Samoa
T11 American Samoa
193 Tonga
194 New Zealand
195 Nauru
T12 Northern Mariana Islands
T13 Guam
196 Micronesia
197 Palau
T14 Hong Kong
T15 Macau

THE FINAL FRONTIERS

198 Sri Lanka
199 The Maldives
200 The Seychelles
201 South Sudan