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The travel bug has well and truly got hold of 53-year-old Ukranian Konstantin Liorek.
Recently he completed his goal of visiting all 193 UN member countries – the final one was Samoa. After that, he was briefly in Manly to stay with Ukranian friends Katia Shanti and Kyrylo Kucherov.
Konstantin travelled widely at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s; he already had 120 countries under his belt when, in 2005, he met a Swedish man who had been to every country in the world.
Although at the time, it was difficult because of visa requirements on a Ukranian passport, Konstantin was inspired and set himself the challenge of visiting all the UN countries.
“Until then, I travelled because I love it, but once I had the goal, I started to plan.”
The process has seen him fill up 21 passports.
However, for Konstantin, it is not a matter of ticking off place after place from a list. He describes his adventures as “a deep dive” into each country’s culture, history, flavours and people. He speaks seven languages well, and can say ‘cheers’ in 56.
“Visiting Paris is not France,” he says. “I visit all the regions, as they are all unique.”
This includes all but five of the United States and 70 percent of Australia.
His first overseas trip was to the UK in 1991. This also meant that when he left home, it was part of the Soviet Union, but he returned to an independent Ukraine.
Konstantin’s work in sales, marketing and business development took him to the Middle East and former Soviet Union, but now he works online, giving him the ultimate flexibility.
Of all the places he has been, Konstantin says North Korea is near the top of his list of favourites.
“It’s unique – like travelling back to the 1950s,” he says. “There’s no internet, credit cards, Coke or McDonalds. You have a guide who is also a police officer, so it’s very restricted with not many foreigners. Very interesting and completely different.”
How he travels depends on the country, and his circumstances, but he has backpacked, stayed in luxury hotels, been in remote areas in 4WD vehicles and on cruises – sometimes solo and sometimes with family, friends or a group.
Catching up with old friends – like the family in Manly – and making new ones, is also high on his agenda. He enjoys sharing his stories online via photos and video.
Along the way, his achievement of visiting 50 countries in one-and-a-half years was recognised in the Ukranian National Book of Records.
Konstantin says he is also working his way through another list, “collecting” territories which are not fully independent, such as American Samoa or Greenland. They will take him to 269 countries.
“That will be a cherry on the cake,” he says. “But I already have the cake.”
Home is still Ukraine. He left in October 2021 planning to return six months later, but the Russian invasion prevented that.
“My house and family was in an occupied area. That was one of the toughest days of my life.”
His family is now safe in Germany.
“I will go home as soon as the war has finished. In the meantime, I travel as long as my health, wishes, time and money allows.”
