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Adventurer Gökhan Yıldırım, who has been devoted to traveling the world since the age of 23, has visited 73 countries in two years. Sharing his experiences with his followers through his Youtube channel, the Traveler finally relayed his memories of North Korea, which can be visited with special permission.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.
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ISTANBUL (TR) - Gökhan Yıldırım, 25 years old, who made it a passion to discover new places and cultures, devoted himself to traveling the world by freezing his school at the age of 23. The traveler visited 73 countries, from North Korea to India, Kenya to Tanzania and the end of the world called Patagonia in 2 years with is own means. Yıldırım became one of the first few travelers to visit North Korea, which has been described as the most closed country in the world and can only be entered with special permission. Yıldırım, who has stopped his travels for a while due to the coronavirus, aims to visit 193 countries in the new normal period that will begin with the control of the pandemic.

"North Korea is not a dangerous country as I expected"

Gökhan Yıldırım drew attention with his striking impressions about the 5-day visit to North Korea, which was claimed to be dangerous and can only be entered with special permission, upon the invitation of a follower he met on Instagram. Gezgin shared her experiences in the country where many prejudices have been expressed: “North Korea is reflected in the media as a dangerous country where nuclear tests are carried out, which often comes to the fore with its strict sanctions and aggressive attitudes. After an intensive 6-month, I could get one of the first few Turkish traveler goes with permission from Turkey to North Korea to observe as a whole that these are just rumors and North Korea that it is not a dangerous country. Contrary to popular belief, North Korea was a country where I could travel comfortably without law enforcement, run and play with children in parks and feel safe. The most interesting thing I observed was the intense love and respect of the people of North Korea for their country.”

You don't have to be a billionaire to travel with your own means

Yıldırım, who received a lot of questions about how he traveled with his own means, expressed that his support for this journey was his passion for traveling. The young traveler, “The way to happiness is through listening to the voice in you and chasing your passions. With my passion for traveling, I set out to be in a country I only want to see, regardless of which plane of which flight I will travel to, or under what conditions. In this process, I get support from people in various countries of the world that I met on social media, sometimes I get suggestions, and sometimes I am a guest in their home. So you don't have to be a billionaire to travel with your own means; just have enough courage to pursue your passions.”

Congo, Rwanda and Uganda are next

Due to the social isolation measures taken within the scope of the coronavirus, the traveler is planning to travel to Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in the new normal period that will begin after the pandemic is taken under control. Stating that he will take serious measures for transportation and accommodation in this process, Yıldırım said, “I had to take a break from my greatest passion for a while due to the pandemic. However, as I was going towards normalization step by step, I started to make my preparations for an African trip. In my new adventure, my priority is hygiene. From the transportation vehicles I will use to places to stay, from the routes I will draw, I plan and research everything meticulously from products such as visors, masks and disinfectants. It makes me very excited to discover new normal lives of different countries after the pandemic.”