Lexie Alford, a 21-year-old American, believes she is the youngest person to travel to every country in the world.
Alford is currently waiting for Guinness World Records to verify her application for ‘Youngest Person to Travel to Every Sovereign Nation’, with sources claiming the famous record-keeping organisation has over 10,000 pieces of evidence at their disposal to help decide whether she’s got the record.
James Asquith from the UK is the current record-holder, who had been around the world by the age of 24, in 2013.
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Alford got an early start in the world of jet-setting through travels with her parents, who own a travel agency in the small Californian town where she grew up.
Many people are curious about how this young woman managed to do it all – and how she funded her travels.
Alford, who goes by ‘Lexie Limitless’ on her blog and Instagram, supports herself through blogging, photography and working at her family-owned travel agency.
She’s been working to travel all over since she was a teenager, long before she set her sights on breaking the world record. Apart from being very thrifty (travel miles, discount-hunting, cheap accommodation and marketing) and doing lots of research ahead of her travels, Lexie stresses keeping her costs and spending low. She lives at home where she doesn’t pay rent, doesn’t have a car and has no student debts to pay.
Sacrifice, however, is a big part of how she gets around – she’s had to compromise on relationships, quality time and certain lifestyle comforts and experiences in order to achieve her personal travel goals.
What next? At the moment she is taking a break from jet-setting, and will be focusing on her personal development, health and writing a book about her travels.
Here are a few fabulous Insta posts from her travels – sorry, we couldn’t include a picture from each of the 196 countries:
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Featured image: Lexie Limitless
