When Spanish teacher Brian Asher stepped into North Korea, he became one of the rarest people on earth. The few minutes that Asher spent on the North Korean side of a diplomatic conference room in the DMZ–something he has waited five years to do– was enough for him to say he had visited the country and therefore all officially recognized countries in the world. That is something only about 200 people can say they have done.

But Asher, along with other travel gurus, count Vatican City and Palestine adding up to a total of 195. And Asher has visited every single one, even if only for a day. Or in the case of North Korea for a few minutes.

“We got into that Blue House conference room and I basically ran across the middle of the room and stepped foot in North Korea,” he said. “I was thrilled to get in.”

Asher had been waiting to finish the last two countries on his list, Taiwan and North Korea, for five long years, and as Asher described it, “a long time coming.” 

A Rio graduate, Asher started traveling when he was 20 years old and went to Costa Rica, but really attributes his passion for visiting different countries to his brother, Mark. 

“My brother got me into traveling and it just blew my mind,” Asher said. “It made me excited to wake up in the morning every day especially when I just started traveling.” 

After Asher’s brother died in 2013, when Asher was teaching in Brazil, he lost his direction for a while.

“I came back when he got ill and passed and was depressed and pretty much hopeless for two or three months sitting at home with my sweatpants on and a sweatshirt and no job and no friends and no sports and have been kind of ripped outta my life in Brazil,” he said. “And you got two options. You can kind of feel sorry for yourself or you can go forward and after three months of feeling sorry for myself, the best way I knew to go forward was to try to visit all 50 states. That was our goal together.”

After that Asher started the mission to visit every country in the world, taking advantage of school breaks once he got a teaching credential and started working at Rio and then a one-year sabbatical in 2018, during which he visited over 100 countries. 

“I’ve carried a picture of (my brother) in my wallet and thought of him every single time I got every new country visit,” Asher said.

Now a decade later, after Asher has finished all 195 countries, people are wondering what’s next for the World Hiker. Asher still plans to keep traveling and revisit some of the bigger countries, such as China and India, which he didn’t have much time to see. 

“I want to go with the people I care about to places where there’s experiences that I really [want to] have…if it’s in Peru or Brazil or whatever country, I don’t really care [because] I’ve been to those countries, but having meaningful experiences that are with people I care for, that’s stuff I care about,” Asher said.

In terms of specific places he wanted to revisit, Asher said, “The Himalayas in general. If I had to pick one country, Nepal. There are the best treks in the world where you stay with local families, get to visit monasteries, [and] there’s prayer flags everywhere. That’s my happy zone. If I could be trekking in Nepal tomorrow, I’d be there in a heartbeat.” 

Along with revisiting different countries around the world, Asher also plans on continuing his career in running. Asher is a proud finisher of 65 full marathons which he has run in several countries, including even winning a marathon in Brazil. 

Asher has also gained a love for trail running through some of the world’s most beautiful and rugged places. 

“Now I love the trails more than anything,” he said. “Routes that I create with friends through Yosemite, running rim to rim to rim, about 50 miles across the Grand Canyon and back, running with the Tahu Ma indigenous people in the Copper Canyon (of Mexico) are all some of my favorite runs I’ve done.”

Asher has been teaching at Rio since 2013 and has preached the same values to his students about traveling the whole time. So what’s Asher’s advice?
“Just go.”