A blind and deaf globetrotter who had a kidney removed is determined he will visit every country in the world.
Tony Giles has come a long way from his hometown of Western-super-Mare in North Somerset.
Since starting travelling properly at the age of 21, the now 44-year-old has visited all 50 US states and 128 of the 193 countries on the UN's official list.
While an increasingly large number of people have now made it to every country, Tony is likely to be the only legally blind and deaf person to complete the list.
What is even more remarkable about his travels is that he does the vast majority alone, staying on locals' sofas and getting by without a smartphone.
He gets around in countries such as Armenia - where he found English speakers hard to come by - with a large amount of enthusiasm and lots of hand gestures.
Speaking to the Mirror from Norfolk Island in Australia, Tony's passion for travelling and love of adventure is clear.
"I have met lots of interesting people along the way," he said.
"I went to Pakistan for five weeks in March and everyone was treating me like family. The entire trip cost me about 800 quid.
"I stayed with a guy called Zuhaib who lived in Hyderabad for five days. That got extended to eight. Him and his brothers looked after me, took me about on a motorbike.
"His parents took me to their farm where I tried to milk a cow. But no milk was coming out. Nothing was happening."
Tony first got a taste for far flung places as a child when his father would tell him of his adventures in the merchant navy, which included travelling across Australia on a steam train.
For the first three years of his life Tony couldn't open his eyes due to a medical condition, and was only able to see black and white outlines when he eventually did.
Since the age of 12 he's been unable to see any outlines - only abstract light - and has been deaf since the age of five.
Despite this, his father's tales, encouraging teachers and regular trips home by himself from boarding school in Coventry left Tony far from afraid of heading out into the world.
Now he travels full time, thanks to his dad's pension passed on to him posthumously and speaking fees.
"I travel cheaply and I like to use couch surfing," Tony said.
"I've been couch surfing since 2008. I must have done it in 40 countries now. If not that, then I use hostels. I have also camped in Africa."
Tony began his travelling in English speaking countries such as Australia, where he "turned up" without a plan, relying on the friendliness of other travellers to help him forge a route.
He knew the outline of the country having used tactile maps at school and the location of cities thanks to the coverage of Ashes tours on Test Match Special.
"I would just turn up and go," he explained.
"I can't pick up a guide book and I don't book much, so you never know what is going to happen.
"Sometimes buses break down and catch fire. That was in 2004. I was in Zimbabwe. If a bus caught fire in England, everyone would get off and wait for another one.
"On this bus there were 40 people in a 25 seater with live chickens. It caught fire so we all piled off, let the engine cool down for 30 minutes and then got back on again."
Tony prefers not to rely on technology on his travels, using an old-school phone without any maps capability that will last longer in terms of battery in parts of the world where electricity is hard to come by.
When it comes to his favourite spots, New Zealand is top of the pile due to the friendliness of the people.
The UK is among the best when it comes to the ease of travelling around for a blind person and the way urban design is thought out with disabilities in mind.
"We have some of the best infrastructure, but New York is probably the easiest city to get around if you're blind as it's on a grid system, you go just in straight lines," he added.
"I found Armenia very difficult when I first went there in 2010. There wasn't much English, as well as a lack of infrastructure and tourists.
"I tried to get a bus to go to this monastery. I was trying to make numbers with my fingers for the bus numbers, but I ended up on bus 52 rather than 72. I just went round and round the city."
The place which had the biggest impact on Tony is Thailand, which delivered a huge sensory hit as soon as he touched down.
"The first time I went to Bangkok, it hit all my senses," Tony, who now travels a lot with his girlfriend who is also blind, said.
"Bang. It was everything. The heat. The intensity. The smog. The chaos of everything all at once.
"Going to Papua New Guinea was also amazing. It was completely off the beaten track. I was taken to a monastery and stayed with some nuns."
Tony is often asked to deliver motivational speeches about his travelling, and also talk to other blind people about how they can start their own global journeys.
He tells them to pick somewhere nearby, in their own country if they're starting out, to do plenty of research, and to take a spare cane and hearing aid with them.
As for his future plans, Tony is determined that he will visit every country on offer.
"I will get to all of them, that is my goal in life," Tony, who has to return to the UK for treatment on his transplanted kidney every three months, said.
"I will go to the non-official ones as well. I will keep travelling until I die."
Tony chronicles his travels on his website which can be found here.
