Mike Spencer Bown

{{short description|Canadian traveler|bot=PearBOT 5}}

Mike Spencer Bown (born {{circa|1969}}) is a Canadian traveler who extensively visited numerous locations backpacking over a span of 23 years, and was said to have been the first tourist to Mogadishu in many years.{{cite news | url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5im2jwahdq7x08XZEr7K_l4lkZv4w?docId=CNG.287f99cf53380cfffea81f8d5de03ae0.31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215021938/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5im2jwahdq7x08XZEr7K_l4lkZv4w?docId=CNG.287f99cf53380cfffea81f8d5de03ae0.31 | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 15, 2010 | title=Mogadishu's 'first tourist' puzzles immigration officials | work=Google News | date=2010-12-10 | agency=AFP | accessdate=2013-11-27 | author=Abdinur, Mustafa Haji}}{{cite news |last=Platt|first=Michael|date=2013-10-02|title=Calgary man Mike Spencer Bown becomes world's most travelled after finishing 23-year odyssey|url=http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/02/calgary-man-mike-spencer-bown-becomes-worlds-most-travelled-after-finishing-23-year-odyssey|newspaper=Toronto Sun|accessdate=2013-11-12}} He is a resident of Calgary, Alberta and has traveled for 30 years in over 195 countries.[https://nomadmania.com/unmasters/ "The Best Travelled - UN Master List"], The Best Travelled Retrieved 21 February 2016 Until recently he has been unwilling to put an exact number on the number of countries visited out of a keenness to avoid arguments about whether some of them are independent nations.{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/19/237684930/190-plus-nations-in-23-years-for-worlds-most-traveled-man |title=190-Plus Nations In 23 Years For World's 'Most Traveled' Man |date=19 October 2013 |first=Mark |last=Memmott |publisher=NPR |accessdate=2017-08-07}} In 2020 he had to stop travelling and return to Canada when all of the international borders closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Citation|title=The Stewart Mackenzie Indaba #2 Mike Spencer Bown|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REqxQgprOwE|language=en|access-date=2020-06-13}}

Bown has written a book about his travels, "The World's Most Travelled Man: A Twenty-Three-Year Odyssey to and through Every Country on the Planet" published by Douglas & McIntyre in October 2018.{{cite web |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |url=http://www.douglas-mcintyre.com/book/the-worlds-most-travelled-man |title=The World's Most Travelled Man |accessdate=2017-08-07}}{{Cite book|last=Bown, Mike Spencer.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/980684612|title=The world's most travelled man : a twenty-three-year odyssey to and through every country on the planet|date=2017|publisher=Douglas & McIntyre|isbn=1-77162-142-7|location=Madeira Park, BC|oclc=980684612}}