User:Philip Ellison/sandbox

Horst Gruber, 73, an actively engaged former petrol station owner and entrepreneur, has for over thirty years pursued his life’s ambition of becoming one of Europe’s most travelled men, seeking in fact to the visit each of the 193 nations of the world.

Gruber began his journey across the globe with his earliest travels in 1982. Impressed by his initial encounters bridging cultures, he set out in 1988 on a determined 99-day motorcycle ride, a trip that took him from Austria all the way to Cape Town, South Africa. This odyssey under his belt, the way forward for Gruber was decided: he set his sights on a lifetime that would take him to every nation under the Sun.

Well-known in his home country Austria as a veteran “extreme traveler” Gruber has now, as of July 2014, travelled to 191 states and nations. With his friendly open spirit and genuine “wanderlust” his peregrinations have achieved high praise in local media, attention that has only grown as he gets ever closer to his goal.

Now but two countries short of his “193 (lands) by 80 (years)” goal, Gruber is now making plans to reach his final two destinations, Eritrea and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At present, plans are well in hand for a visit to Eritrea in the Fall months of 2014. With the expectation that the Eritrean trip will be achieved as a penultimate destination, Gruber is now well-positioned to cap his life-long journey with a genuinely crowning achievement, pursuing a carefully conceived itinerary comprising cultural and commercial landmarks demonstrating the diversity and hospitality of KSA. According to Gruber, a visit to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will supply the “crowning moment” for a man who will then have seen it all!

See press article: http://www.noen.at/nachrichten/lokales/aktuell/lilienfeld/Gruber-Ab-nach-Afrika;art2315,492904