This 27-Year-Old Is About To Break The Record For Visiting Every Country In The World

There’s a pretty big world out there, and most of us have only scratched the surface. Even if you have a couple of stints backpacking or inter-railing under your belt, it’s likely you still have a long way to go to cover all of the world’s 196 countries.

Not Cassandra De Pecol, though. The 27-year-old has notched up 180 different stamps on her passport so far, and aims to have the final 16 ticked off by the end of the year if everything goes to plan. Cassie has dubbed her challenge Expedition 196, and documented many of her trips on Instagram.

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Nov 22, 2015 at 6:29am PST

Covering every country in the world doesn’t come cheap, of course, and there’s a pretty heavy carbon footprint too. The American, who is currently back in her home state of Connecticut prepping visas for her next trip, reckons her travels have cost her around €180,000 so far, and that she’s boarded 254 flights in total.

She hasn’t footed the whole bill herself, though: she’s been sponsored by various brands along the way and has received much of her travel and accommodation free in exchange for blog and social media content. Plus, she’s helped conservationists by being an official water sample collector in each country.

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Nov 9, 2015 at 12:51am PST

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Cassie said she aims to spend “two to five” days in every country she visits. Her list of remaining countries present a bit of a challenge as they’re spread quite widely across the world – Greenland, Israel and Cameroon are all on the list – but the diversity excites her. “Since school, I’ve had this desire to visit every country in the world, intrigued to learn more about every culture, natural habitat, and religion,” she says.

Here are some travel snapshots from Cassie’s journey so far…

Bhutan

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Jul 6, 2016 at 2:58am PDT

Thailand

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Jun 12, 2016 at 8:45pm PDT

Ecuador

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Apr 21, 2016 at 1:05pm PDT

Kazakhstan

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Feb 22, 2016 at 7:48pm PST

Denmark

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Dec 17, 2015 at 9:37am PST

Cyprus

A photo posted by (@expedition_196) on Dec 14, 2015 at 3:26am PST