youngest person to visit every country in europe

Around the world by 21: The woman who has visited all 195 countries by a record-breaking age

It was back in October 2017 when Lexie Alford knew she needed to do everything in her power to break a Guinness World Records title.

It wasn’t just any record – a traveler her whole life with her parents, Lexie wanted to learn as much about the world as she could during a young and capable age.

Two years, 195 countries and hundreds of passports stamps later, the vibrant explorer is now the world’s youngest person to travel to all sovereign countries (overall) and (female) - at the stark age of 21 years 177 days.

All sovereign countries:  The guidelines say you must visit 195 countries - the 193 UN Member States as of December 2018, the Vatican and Chinese Taipei

Many who know Lexie might say that her record was inevitable – coming from a traveling family, her mother began her very own travel business at a young age, and always took Lexie with her on all of her travels.

By the time she was only 18 years old, she had already visited 70 countries, inspiring her to conquer the rest of the world.

"Once I knew which countries I had left, I broke down the world into regions. I started in Central America then went down through South America. I then traveled to the countries in Europe that I had never been to before," she explained.

"Continuing forward, I traveled from Timor Leste to Mongolia and basically all the countries in between during a huge, beautiful trip through Asia. Things started getting more difficult because I went to an area of the world that I had never been to before: The South Pacific island nations."

Incredibly passionate about traveling, Lexie underwent the tedious processes of getting visas and planning her routes.

Knowing the tiresome but amazing journey that lay ahead of her, she most looked forward to the different cultures she would be exposed to and the unique sites she would get exposure to.

"There were so many different countries I loved for different reasons but one country that stood out to me was Pakistan. Since the country is still developing infrastructure for tourism, the locals haven’t become jaded towards foreigners and were incredibly friendly and excited to share their culture with me."

But no record-breaking journey as intense as this would come without its own set of challenges; aside from racing against the clock she also endured hours on planes, experienced extreme food poisoning and other adversities.

“There was never a specific moment where I felt like I wanted to give up completely but there were some periods that were more difficult than others. When traveling solo through the South Pacific island nations I experienced intense loneliness and traveling through West Africa was extremely stressful because of visa requirements, lack of infrastructure and also having an unfortunate encounter with malaria."

Despite these conditions, Lexie never failed to lose hope. Stopping home periodically to rest and be with family, she reached her final destination of Mozambique on 4 October 2019.

"I learned so much about the world during my travels but one of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing that despite coming from very different environments and growing up with different values and economic situations. 

"I experienced nothing but love and kindness from the people I encountered in each and every country. If anything, the world would be so boring if everything was the same everywhere. I believe it’s our differences that make discovering new cultures such a beautiful experience."

Lexie thanks her mother most of all for all of her support and motivation throughout this trek around the world.

She now has plans to create an online travel hack course for those to learn from her experiences, and plans to release a book later in 2020 about the life lessons that she gained along the way.

"We live on such a big, beautiful planet and I’m looking forward to finding more fun and creative ways to involve my audience and inspire them to get out of their comfort zone and see the world."

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Rio visited EVERY COUNTRY in Europe and told us about his adventures!

Have you ever travelled to another country? 🌎

When Rio Matsuoka from California, United States, turned 18, he knew he wanted to travel the world more than anything.

So he decided to embark on a fantastic journey around Europe – and break a world record in the process!

Now, he is the world’s youngest person to visit every country in Europe at the age of 18 years and 101 days . 🤯

“It was a real coincidence that I decided to attempt this world record,” Rio explains. “I was telling my family that I would like to travel to Europe after I graduated high school and […] I remembered that someone had beaten the world record for youngest person to visit every country in the world.

"I realized I could do something similar with Europe!”

And that’s exactly what he did. 💪

Rio loves having new experiences, meeting new people and experiencing the unique culture of each country.

He travelled alone during the entire trip, which he planned all by himself - but he did make lots of friends along the way! 

“I made so many amazing lifelong friends that I hope to see again someday.” ❤️

In fact, he even made a dog friend when visiting Moldova!

“I think my favourite experience throughout this whole trip has been hiking around the cliff monasteries in northern Moldova with a dog. […] When I was up there, one of the dogs from the village I was staying at decided to tag along with me on my hike.

"We ended up hiking around and exploring the caves for 4 hours together. It was such an amazing time, I almost wish it never ended!” 

So, you are probably wondering… what was Rio’s favourite country of all?

The answer will surprise you.

“If I had to choose one it would be Sark. […] Sark is a tiny island between England and France in a group of islands called the Channel Islands. The population […] is about 300 people.

"There are no cars allowed so people get around the island by tractor or bike. The nature is beautiful and the island is famous for its night sky. 

"The people are very friendly and it really feels like one big welcoming community. It was such a relaxing and unique experience!”

🔎Have you ever heard of Sark?

It is a tiny independent island that is part of the Channel Islands, and has its own set of laws.

Lastly, we asked Rio what he learned from this experience and what advice he would give to all the young people who share his love for travelling.

“I learned a lot about myself and what I enjoy doing as well as became more aware of the real world. […] Immerse yourself into different cultures and try to understand the experiences and lives of people in different parts of the world!”

Today, Rio is in Ukraine working as a volunteer and, in the near future, he will be saving money to… break more records !

Welcome to the Guinness World Records family, Rio. 🥳

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California Teenager Becomes Youngest Person In World To Break Travel Record

By Logan DeLoye

April 6, 2023

At 18-years-old, California native Rio Matsuoka is officially the youngest person in the world to travel to every single country in Europe! According to Guiness World Records , it took him 100 days from the very first day he turned 18 to explore every country, starting in Iceland and ending in Malta. Matsuoka told his family before he graduated high school that he wanted to travel to Europe, but did not leave in pursuit of breaking a record.

“It was a real coincidence that I decided to attempt this world record. I was telling my family that I would like to travel to Europe after I graduated high school and, while doing some research, I remembered that someone had beaten the world record for youngest person to visit every country in the world. I realized I could do something similar with Europe and found out I had the opportunity to.”

The avid traveler did not travel entirely alone. He met a dog in Northern Moldova during a hike and the friendship stuck for awhile !

“We ended up hiking around and exploring the caves for 4 hours together. It was such an amazing time, I almost wish it never ended. I think it was also very therapeutic for me, as I needed some time away from the large cities and I missed my dog at home.” Of all the places that he visited, Matsuoka told Guinness World Records that the small island of Sark between England and France was his favorite.

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California 18-year-old becomes youngest to visit every European country

• 02 Mar - 08 Mar, 2024
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A California teenager celebrated his 18th year by becoming the world's youngest person to visit every country in Europe. Rio Matsuoka started his European tour on his 18th birthday in Iceland and finished 101 days and 44 countries later in Malta, Guinness World Records announced. "It was a real coincidence that I decided to attempt this world record," Matsuoka told GWR. "I was telling my family that I would like to travel to Europe after I graduated high school and, while doing some research, I remembered that someone had beaten the world record for youngest person to visit every country in the world." "I realized I could do something similar with Europe and found out I had the opportunity to," he said. Matsuoka said he used trains to reach most Western Europe countries, and buses to visit Eastern European nations. He said he only took planes a couple of times, to visit Britain and Russia. Matsuoka, who is now working as a volunteer for multiple nonprofits in Ukraine, said he plans to take on more world records in the future.

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20-year-old aims to become youngest person to visit every country in the world.

This 20-year-old man is attempting to become the world's youngest person to visit EVERY country on earth having visited 102 -- in just two years.

Professional juggler Luca Pferdmenges has decided to visit every country in the world in the next three-and-a-half years, making him the youngest person ever to do this.

Breaking a world record wouldn’t be a first for Luca, he has already broken eight, but this would be the first time he’s ever broken one not related to juggling.

Luca, from Mönchengladbach, Germany, said: “I did some research and I found that I could become the youngest man to ever visit every country in the world.

"I am an absolute geography, politics and language nerd and I have focussed on that mission for around two years.

"I love learning about countries and culture, but I also really enjoy practicing my language skills in other countries.”

Luca is partly funding the incredibly ambitious trip himself by juggling and makes between $400 and $1,000 per show.

He also makes money through social media where he has more than 2.5 million followers.

Luca said: "Most of the time, I am on quite a tight budget. When I started travelling, I maybe had 1,000 euros in my bank account.

"The total cost of travelling to every country will probably add up to around $100,000 in total, so about 500$ per country."

"Most of that money is usually spent on flights and accommodation."

Footage of his adventures show him in front of breath-taking sights in Petra, Jordan, having tea in Karachi, Pakistan, and juggling in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Some of his favourite moments included a trip in the rainforest in Dominica, where he spent three days with an indigenous Kalinago family.

He also travelled to the snowy mountains of Kazakhstan, went on wildlife Safaris in Africa, and took a 28-hour crowded train in Pakistan.

Luca added: “I have visited 102 out of 195 countries so far, all of Europe, most of South America, about half of Asia and very little of Africa.

“This year, I will finish the Americas and the Middle East. I also plan to visit quite a lot of West and Central Africa this year.

"My favourite countries include Portugal, Israel, Brazil, Mexico, Estonia, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.”

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Interview with Lee Abbamonte: The Youngest American to Visit Every Country

I first met Lee a couple of years ago when he stumbled on my blog, bought my blogging course , and fired off crazy emails to me. Since then, we’ve become friends ( he is the guy taking the selfie when my United flight had to make an emergency landing ). Today, I want to share his story as Lee is the youngest American to visit every country in the world — and he has had his fair share of adventures along the way!

How did you get into traveling? You worked in finance before, right? Yes, I worked in finance out of college for eight years. My objective was to make a lot of money on Wall Street, but a funny thing happened along the way. I studied abroad my junior year in college. This was the first time I ever left the United States . I went to London , and it completely changed my life. It was easily the best decision I ever made. It changed my view on the world and on my life goals in general.

So with that experience in my back pocket, I always knew I wanted to travel more. But like everyone, I needed to make money to fund the travel I wanted, so I got a proper Wall Street job, worked really hard, and did pretty well. Wall Street was a means to an end.

So, working in travel wasn’t always your goal? Right. Aside from making money in finance and other businesses I am/was involved with, the goal was just to travel for fun and enjoy my life to the fullest. Working in travel just sort of happened.

I had written a few stories over the years for various travel websites just for fun. I started my blog back in 2006 to basically keep friends and family updated on what I was up to. Without ever thinking I would do travel-related things full-time, it just kind of evolved as I started doing more and more things in different facets of business, travel, and media.

How did you go about leaving Wall Street for travel? Back in the summer of 2008, I simply resigned my position at a major Wall Street firm. Ironically, it happened right before the major collapse of several major firms, so it made me look smart, but it was pure coincidence.

Your “claim to fame” is that you are the youngest American to travel to every country. Was that the original goal or at some point were you like, “Hey, I’ve been to 100. What’s a 100 more!” During my time abroad in college, I traveled to 15 countries in Europe . During school breaks and immediately after graduation, I took three other long backpacking trips around Asia, the Middle East, and Europe again. At that point, I realized I had visited some 50 countries. Knowing I would be working a ton, my goal was to visit 100 countries by the time I was 30. For whatever reason, I thought that sounded cool. I ended up achieving that goal at about 25.

Back in 2006, I got an email from a friend that there was actually a record of the youngest to visit every country in the world. I basically assessed how long I had to beat the record and where I had to go, and figured I’d give it a go. Even if I didn’t get the record, it’d still be fun and I’d get to see the whole world. Turns out it was a great decision, and I have done so much around the world.

What made you decide to pursue this goal? Did you leave your job to do it? To be honest, the challenge of actually doing it made me decide to pursue the goal. It is not easy, obviously, but at that point in my life and in travel, I figured it was now or never, because I was more than halfway there already. I am also very competitive and goal-oriented. Not to mention, I thought it was pretty cool!

I didn’t specifically leave my job to pursue the goal. I left the job because I had had it with corporate life at that time in my life, and I needed a break after eight years.

Did you hit that record? At what age did you get to every country in the world? Yes, I became the youngest American to visit every country in 2011 when I was 32 after safely visiting Libya. Technically, because of the addition of South Sudan as a sovereign nation, I am the youngest person to visit every country in the world. However, it is a bit of a grey area, and there is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape that goes into that title claim with the world-record powers that be, so for now, I go with the “youngest American” title, which I think is still pretty cool!

Depending on where you look, there are 25-50 people alive and 90 people total known or believed to have been to every country. I know just about all of them.

Do you ever picture yourself settling down? I think I am settled down — although some people will have another definition of settled down. I own a great apartment in New York City , have great friends and family, and really am pretty happy. I can basically do whatever I want and work from anywhere. Every day is exciting because I never know what will happen.

I love waking up every morning, checking my emails, and seeing what’s on the agenda for the day, week, month, etc. I look at it like I’m playing with house money because this was never my intention.

You were in Libya when they were overthrowing Gaddafi. Tell us about that! Libya was the last country I needed to visit to complete visiting every country in the world. I was originally supposed to go during March 2011, but the revolution had started and there was a no-fly zone, so I had no chance of getting in. So as the rebels took over as the Arab Spring continued, I kept an eye on things. I got word that eastern Libya was completely controlled by the rebels and that the remote eastern border with Egypt was open — sort of.

I also heard that since there was no government in place that they had dropped the visa restrictions and that it may be possible to get in through that border. So without really thinking about it, I flew to Cairo and then on to a small coastal town called Mersa Mutra, which is about 250 miles from the Libyan border.

I had no idea what I was going to do from Mersa Mutra. On the plane I noticed an educated-looking man wearing a suit and a rebel flag lapel pin. I asked if he spoke English and when he did I asked if he could help me translate to arrange a taxi or car to the border; I was willing to pay whatever it took.

It turned out this man was a Libyan dissident who was returning to Libya for the first time in 40 years. He also happened to work for the United Nations and had a UN passport. He told me that he would give me a ride all the way to Tubruk, Libya, in his brother’s minivan and obviously help me through the border process. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and was obviously grateful.

Not only did he do just that but he also gave me a place to stay in Tubruk, dinner with his family — whom he had not seen in 40 years — and transportation with his friend all the way back to Cairo — which is a 12-hour drive — a few days later. He refused to take a dime. It was unbelievable how nice their family was to me, and I am forever indebted.

There was also a small matter of getting caught at the border in a firefight between some Chinese smugglers and the Libyan rebels. We all had to duck and fire the car in reverse in order to not get shot. That was pretty scary, and after three hours we made it through!

What travel advice would you give to someone who has never traveled before? My advice to someone who has never traveled before would be to go to Europe. Buy a Eurail pass and hit the major cities. Get to feel comfortable and see how cool it is to experience a different country, language, food, culture, etc., each time you make a move — all so close together. That should whet their appetite to travel to less-developed nations.

Also, the well-trodden routes of Southeast Asia and Australia work too, but I think the history of Europe will hit home a little harder, as they’ll get more than just partying on the backpacker circuit.

You’re a sports guy. Where was your most memorable sports experience in the world? Sports are my passion. Playing or watching; it doesn’t matter — I like them all. I am fortunate to have been to just about every major sporting event in the world, like the Superbowl, Olympics, Champions league, World Cup, Rugby World Cup, etc. I plan a lot of my trips around sporting events. It’s difficult to pick just one, but I will say the 2001 World Series.

This was the World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks that took place six weeks after September 11th. I am a die-hard, lifelong Yankees fan, a New Yorker, and I also worked in the World Trade Center, so emotions ran very high. The middle three games of that series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx were amazing, exciting, and emotional. The Yankees won all three games in a dramatic late-inning fashion. They went on to lose the series in seven games, but that didn’t matter. Being a part of that series in New York is something I will never forget.

Traveling so much as an American, did your friends have a hard time understanding your lifestyle? I am fortunate to have very good groups of friends, many of whom love to travel and have traveled a lot with me. The ones that don’t travel just know it’s a part of me and love reading my stories on my site, but it’s even better hearing the unedited, no-holds-barred stories in person! I always make time for my friends. I go visit them wherever they live, welcome them to New York anytime, and I never miss big events.

If you lose sight of your friends and family, what will you have left?

If you want to read more of Lee’s stories, check out his blog . You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter .  

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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Life lessons from the youngest person to travel to every country | Lexie Alford | TEDxKlagenfurt

Meet the 28-year-old London banker who is the youngest person to travel to all 196 countries

LONDON — He visited all 196 countries by the age of 24, covering most countries within five years. Last year, he received a Guinesss World Record for becoming the youngest person in the world to travel to all sovereign countries.

However, for James Asquith, now 28 and working at Deutsche Bank in London, that was never the plan.

"It was never the purpose to race around and hop into every country to tick it off," he told Business Insider. Instead, he got the idea after he began travelling with his father, a pilot for BMI.

"I thought, 'I want to see more,' and eventually decided I wanted to go everywhere," he said.

From an early age, Asquith, who was born in Sussex but has spent most of his life in London, has been saving his money, starting with " hoarding cash and doing little jobs where I could" such as washing neighbourhood cars at age 12 to asking for money instead of presents at birthdays and Christmas.

With "a decent amount of cash saved up" at the age of 18, he took a gap year before starting university to travel to Southeast Asia with friends.

What started as a three month trip sparked an around-the-world tour that lasted five years, leading Asquith to visit Afghanistan during a war and travel by jeep into Somalia.

From getting lucky on the stock market to working in bars and hostels in South America, scroll down to see how Asquith became the youngest person in the world to visit every country.

Meet James Asquith, the 28-year-old London banker who became the youngest person to travel to all 196 countries at the age of 24.

His Instagram account , which he started just over three months ago , already has over 84,000 followers.

Having saved "a decent amount of cash" by the age of 18, Asquith took a gap year to travel with friends before starting university, spurring him to continue travelling around the world.

Thailand sunsets #krabi #beach #island #instatravel #thailand #sunset #nofilter 🌅🇹🇭 A photo posted by James Asquith (@jamesasquithtravel) on Dec 20, 2016 at 12:21am PST Dec 20, 2016 at 12:21am PST

"When it started, I remember going to get our backpacks and the guy in the shop saying, 'Get this one, you'll catch the travel bug and it will be durable.' I thought, 'No, it's just going to be a three-month trip.' Two days after I came back I booked my first solo trip and went to Egypt."

Asquith's Dad was also a pilot working for BMI (British Midland International), meaning he got to tag along to destinations he otherwise may not have visited.

"They went direct to Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kazakhstan – places that were pretty expensive to get to and that I'd normally never have gone to," he said. 

"I started going away with my Dad when I could, or even without him, on these weird route networks. I thought, 'I want to see more,' and eventually thought, 'Now I want to go everywhere.'"

He managed to continue traveling during his time at The London School of Economics, where he studied a BSc in Economics.

"Initially I was living with my parents, so I saved money on rent there," he said. "I worked three jobs at one point, and I started up a student events business in my second year which turned out to be lucrative — that's what made it happen."

Some of his most memorable trips include visiting Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Syria.

"Syria was lovely when I went in 2011," he said. "I stayed in the Sheraton in Damascus and it was a completely different place back then. So many places have changed massively — I went to Kurdistan in north Iraq, which from what I hear in the press is now an awful place, but my photos of it are beautiful."

Some of his loneliest days were spent in Africa, which he says he has "fond, strange memories" of.

"It was probably the loneliest place — I broke up with an ex-girlfriend the day before I went there, and I went for four month by myself. I didn't speak a word of English for about the first two months — there was a large aspect of solitude and a lot of self-reflection."

He tried to spend a least a day or a night in every country.

"There were obviously some that I spent less time in — I went to Afghanistan during a war — but some I spent months in. I got a flavour of every country."

However, finding the funding to keep up his hobby wasn't always easy, so when the financial crisis hit, Asquith took his chances on the stock market.

"I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but I bought a few stocks from UK banks when they were on their knees and I got really lucky," he said. "I managed to make a fair amount of money from that and basically spent it all traveling."

He also become obsessed with finding deals.

"A lot of people write articles about how you can trick the system — I wouldn't read too much into that, just keep looking for deals all the time," he said. "The first thing I do is search on Skyscanner 'London to Everywhere.'"

He added that it's important to "be smart on FX moves" and stay on top of what currencies have depreciated.

He also suggests signing up to airline emails to take advantage of their sales. "They obviously use their cheapest, super-discounted seats to promote their sales, and there are very few tickets that are at the price that they advertise, but they do have tickets at those prices."

Becoming familiar with different, cheaper airlines also helped him reach his goal.

Always an exciting view #flying #florida #travel #777 ✈️ A photo posted by James Asquith (@jamesasquithtravel) on Dec 3, 2016 at 3:23am PST Dec 3, 2016 at 3:23am PST

"Older legacy airlines from Europe and the US are, in my opinion, way behind the curve of the Middle Eastern three," he said. "The Asian airlines and the Middle Eastern airlines are absolutely spot on. 

"European budget airlines work for sure, but Asian budget airlines are amazing. Air Asia got me just about everywhere for so little."

"A lot of people assume I had rich parents who gave me money," he said, adding that this was never the case.

"My parents helped me as much as they could in various ways, but I certainly didn't get any handouts. It obviously helps when you get financial help with the airfare, but a lot of the places I went for five months or something like that and was on a shoestring to get by."

"I worked in bars and hostels when I was in South America so I got food, drink, and accommodation for free — when you're backpacking, there's not really much else you're spending money on."

After university, he started working for HSBC in London. It was during this time that he visited his last country, Micronesia.

"I probably took about six different trips that were four or five months in length," he said. "I was 18 when it started, and finished when I was 24 and some amount of days."

On setting foot into his final country, he said: "It was a really weird feeling — I felt quite empty. I always joked that I would have a mid-life crisis at a young age, but it almost felt like that."

One of his friends put together a video on his story in 2014, which began to receive attention.

"It got quite big quite quickly," he said. "I got a lot of weird requests like, 'Come and DJ on our radio station in Sydney,' or 'Come on the 'The One Show.' That was certainly not for me."

RecordSetter, which Asquith calls the second most recognised after Guinness, even officially recognised his achievement, although it took a few years for him to hear back from Guinness.

The long vetting process involved providing visas, passports, tickets, witness statements, photos of himself in every country, and even returning to a lot of the countries he had already visited to beg for stamps in his passport.

"There were times when I went to five countries in a day just for the purposes of getting a stamp," he said, adding, "I didn't have tickets from everywhere. I paid people in a jeep to take me to Somalia — it's not like I was going to turn around and say, 'Can I have a receipt please?'"

Then, last year, he finally received his Guinness World Record.

"I got an email saying 'Congratulations, you've got a Guinness World Record.' It was amazing."

With the record under his belt, he began writing his book, Breaking Borders.

"Everyone can write a travel book and there's lots of travel blogs out there, so I needed it to be official," he said. " I spent pretty much all of last year writing it — I started to do it while I was at work, but I realised it wasn't conducive to sitting in meetings talking about financial markets then coming home to write about the most amazing thing I'll probably ever do in my life."

"So I took loads of trips and basically just got in the mindset of writing while I was on them — I spent three and a half weeks in the South Pacific just sitting on the beach writing."

As far as choosing a favourite country, Asquith says the US stands out because of its diversity, and is also the country he has travelled to the most.

"If Europe was a country, it would be Europe because of the difference between Spain, Italy, Scandinavia... it's massively diverse, but it's the same from New York to Texas, Las Vegas, Alaska, and Hawaii. I think I've been to 29 states."

Next, Asquith says he would like to visit the North and South Pole, and has a trip to Puerto Rico planned within the next few months.

"I want to do something more extreme now, some sort of crazy marathon or something," he said. "I'm not going to be in a sail boat going across the Atlantic any time soon, but something a bit more edgy I guess."

"I'm an expert on very few places," he said, "but I still get really excited."

"There are going to be so many other places that amaze me. There's so much more to see."

• Main content

How Gen Z Travels

By CNT Editors

Writing about an entire generation, in pretty much any context, is tricky territory. After all, how do you accurately portray a group of people born across some two decades without unfairly—and inaccurately—generalizing them? (For the last time, millennials are not broke because they spent too much on avocado toast.) But when a new generation begins to enter the workforce and find their purchasing power, it makes sense that we'd want to get to know them and figure out, well, what's next.

For Gen Z, the world has never felt smaller or more accessible. They are the first generation of smartphone natives. Born after 1995 and before the mid-2000s, they have no memory of life before the internet, and most of their decisions are sparked, shaped, and chronicled through the lens of social media. But 24-hour access to a glowing screen has also gifted them with an acute global awareness. A tap or a swipe of an iPhone means they can be talking to a peer on a different continent one minute, and then live-streaming their evening from Times Square or virtually swimming with sharks the next. Sure, an inherent dependence on the internet might not always be a good thing, but when less and less of the world is unknown, it gets harder and harder to fear it.

It's that global awareness—and sense of curiosity—that inspired us to look into the relationship between Gen Z and travel. For her piece on how social media is dictating the way Gen Zers travel, Allie Jones talked to influencers in their late teens and early twenties about what they look for in their trips (authentic experiences and shareable memories), while Alex Postman penned an essay reflecting on everything she's learned from traveling with her Gen Z kids (near-impossible to distract from their screens, but sharply thoughtful when you do). Louis Cheslaw, meanwhile, has dived into why Gen Z will be the greenest travelers ever, Katherine LaGrave reports on the latest study abroad trends, and Shauna Beni sat down with 21-year-old Alexi Alford (or @lexielimitless ) to find out what it's like to become the youngest person to visit every country in the world.

"I'm certain Gen Z is more worldly than any previous one," writes Postman in her essay. And that, we think, is something to get excited about. —Lale Arikoglu

Gen Z Might Just Be The Most Impossible-to-Please Generation of Travelers

And that's a good thing.

Gen Z Are Starting to Travel—And Instagram and YouTube Determine Where They Go

"Social media plays into, not only travel, but almost every aspect of life.”

Where to Find Grown-ish's Yara Shahidi on Vacation

From bagel shops in SoHo to beaches along France's Normandy coast.

Gen Z is set to make up 40 percent of consumer spending by 2020.

Peer-to-peer reviews hold the most sway over trip planning.

In the 2016-2017, 325,339 students from the U.S. studied abroad.

Sustainable travel beats high-priced luxury.

For Gen Z, Study Abroad Is About Way More Than Drinking Through Europe

With a greater global awareness than generations before them, college students want to effect change as they travel.

This Gen Zer Just Became the Youngest Person to Travel to Every Country

Alexis Alford—or Lexie Limitless as she's known on Instagram—has set the record at just 21 years old.

Gen Z Are Pressuring the Travel Industry in All the Right Ways

But is the industry ready to meet their needs?

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