"Traveling millionaire" chooses the hardest way to conquer the world

In early January, travel blogger Johnny Ward struggled through the snow and ice to reach the top of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest peak. When he reached the top and felt the cold wind blow across his face, Ward felt a sense of relief.

Ward, from Ireland, said he was just "an ordinary man", not a world-class athlete. Therefore, conquering the nearly 4,900m Vinson Range in Antarctica showed the male tourist's "high resilience and determination".

He is one of the few people who have successfully completed the Explorer's Grand Slam challenge, a prestigious title for an explorer and considered the "greatest achievement" in the journey to conquer every place on Earth.

The world's leading professional mountaineering organizations, including the American Alpine Club, The Explorers Club, and the International Mountain Guides mountaineering company, define an Explorer's Grand Slam as one who has reached the highest peaks on all seven continents, including Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro; and the two furthest points on Earth, at the South Pole and the North Pole. This challenge is considered by many to be extremely difficult, and to date, only about 70 people in the world have achieved this title.

Previously, Ward spent 10 years, from 2007 to 2017, visiting 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, the Vatican, and territories such as Palestine, Taiwan, and Kosovo. Currently, there are only about 250 people in the world who have done this. Johnny Ward is even more special because he is in the top 70 people who have completed the Explorer's Grand Slam and in the top 250 people who have set foot in every country in the world.

He has hitchhiked on a cargo ship from Oman to Socotra in Yemen; traveled by road from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa; and traveled from South Korea to Australia by bus and boat.

Ward has always wanted to be free. He initially thought the most liberating thing he could do was "visit every country". Having visited nearly 100 countries, Ward wanted to be the first Irish person to travel around the world and complete the goal.

But once his goal was achieved, Ward began to struggle. He felt lost, unsure of what to do next, and began to eat irregularly, gain weight, and neglect his business. Then he realized the best way to overcome this was to challenge himself again, but with increased difficulty. Ward ran marathons, climbed mountains, and began to enjoy life again. "If you're going to run, do the hardest race in the world. If you're going to climb mountains, do Everest," Ward said. He set his sights on an even more "difficult" challenge - the Explorer's Grand Slam.

Ward says one of the most difficult aspects of the challenge is the money. Everest cost Ward $77,000, and that’s just one of seven peaks he needs to climb. After that, he still needs a large sum of money to get to the North and South Poles.

Luckily, Ward has enough money to make his dream come true thanks to profits from his business, teaching English in Thailand and Korea, working in Australia. In addition, he runs a travel blog that is considered "extremely successful" and this job has made him a millionaire.

Ward isn't sure if what he does is special or important. But he wants to spread positivity to people, help them have more motivation to achieve their goals and find interesting things in life.

“You don’t need to be born into a wealthy family or have the right education. Anyone can achieve their dreams,” Ward said.

Now that he has achieved his goal, he hopes to avoid falling back into his old bad habits. Ward says he is now 40 years old and wants to start a family with children.

Ward is also working hard to help others achieve their travel goals and is launching events to push people out of their comfort zones, including a three-day, 150km ultramarathon in the Sahara Desert in December 2024.

"Everything good comes after suffering. That's what I want to share with everyone," Ward said.