Katherine Sidnell
After spending the last decade visiting every country on earth, two women have shared which countries have the friendliest people.
Australian Rachel Davey and Slovakian Martina Sebova had visited over 100 nations separately, before meeting in Europe in 2008.
As the pair grew close, they began to document their travels on a blog, Very Hungry Nomads.
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Shortly after this, they embarked on a journey that would see them visit the remaining 88 countries recognised by the UN.
Setting out from Melbourne in 2018, the now-couple have toured most of the Middle East, Western Europe and central Africa.
Despite being able to encounter so many different cultures, Martina says there are some nations that just stand out among the rest.
"The people in Sudan and Iran were some of the friendliest people that we have encountered," she explained.
"And most people would assume those countries are really dangerous based on the image [we see]."
Martina also added that Eritrea, a small nation on the east coast of Africa, was also special to her and Rachel
Despite the beautiful pictures and smiling faces, it hasn’t been easy for the couple.
Currently, over 70 countries in the world still criminalize LGBTQIA+ people, meaning that Rachel and Martina would have to hide their relationship.
"We were visiting a lot of countries where even the concept of a same-sex couple doesn't exist," Martina said.
"And we didn't really want to put our personal safety at risk at any stage."
However, the experienced travellers stated that it had ‘never been a big issue’, with the couple deciding to not disclose their relationship status.
“We never tried to cover it," she added.
This wasn’t the only issue the couple had to overcome, with some conservative nations declining their visas simply because they were women.
However, they haven’t let this hamper their love of travel.
"I think it would terrify me if I had to start visiting every country and I'd been to like 10…I don't really think that that's even viable,” she argued, advising others that they need to be ‘well travelled’ before embarking on a similar trip.
Since then, the couple have also travelled to North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan and Pakistan while using almost every conceivable form of transport.
This included a gruelling 38-hour bus ride during their tour of Africa.
However, the seasoned travellers still encounter some issues while trekking across the globe.
"Rach gets lost in the hotel,” quipped Martina, who also works as a tour guide.
"I always say it's a miracle that she made it through every country. We make a great team."