We all probably have a bucket list – mainly a list of travel goals that we want to achieve. While most of us crib about different things that don’t work in our favour to realise those goals, some people always find a way.
Like this travel buff, who has reached every corner of the globe. Lexie Alford is the youngest person ever to travel to all the countries in the world including North Korea and other such extremely inaccessible countries at just 21 years of age.
Traveling to each one of the world’s 196 sovereign nations is an achievement that Alford has been working on since she was a child — though she didn’t know it at the time. Alford grew up in a family that owns a travel agency in California. “Travel has been a part of my life since before I can remember,” says Alford, who describes herself as @LexieLimitless on Instagram. “My parents would take me out of school and place me on independent study for weeks and months at a time every year.”
While she was growing up, Alford says that her family traveled everywhere from the floating villages of Cambodia to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, from Ushuaia at the tip of Argentina to the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. “My parents placed a lot of importance on exposing me to every way of life around the world and that had a very profound impact on the person I am today,” she says. “I’ve always had a curiosity about other people’s ways of life and how they find happiness.”
Alford originally wasn’t trying to break a record; she was just an intrepid traveler. “Honestly, in the beginning, I simply wanted to push the limits of what I thought I could do with my life and see as much of the world as possible in the process,” she says. “It wasn’t until things started getting really challenging that I realized I was inspiring people around me, especially young women. Feeling that support meant that I couldn’t give up when things got tough. I was determined to show everyone that the world isn’t as scary as the media portrays it to be and that there’s kindness everywhere.”
COUNTRIES:
1. Afghanistan – Kabul –
2. Albania – Tirana –
3. Algeria – Algiers –
4. Andorra – Andorra la Vella –
5. Angola – Luanda –
6. Antigua and Barbuda – Saint John’s –
7. Argentina – Buenos Aires –
8. Armenia – Yerevan –
9. Australia – Canberra –
10. Austria – Vienna –
11. Azerbaijan – Baku –
12. The Bahamas – Nassau –
13. Bahrain – Manama –
14. Bangladesh – Dhaka –
15. Barbados – Bridgetown –
16. Belarus – Minsk –
17. Belgium – Brussels –
18. Belize – Belmopan –
19. Benin – Porto-Novo –
20. Bhutan – Thimphu –
21. Bolivia – La Paz (administrative); Sucre (judicial) –
22. Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sarajevo –
23. Botswana – Gaborone –
24. Brazil – Brasilia –
25. Brunei – Bandar Seri Begawan –
26. Bulgaria – Sofia –
27. Burkina Faso – Ouagadougou –
28. Burundi – Bujumbura –
29. Cambodia – Phnom Penh –
30. Cameroon – Yaounde –
31. Canada – Ottawa –
32. Cape Verde – Praia –
33. Central African Republic – Bangui –
34. Chad – N’Djamena –
35. Chile – Santiago –
36. China – Beijing –
37. Colombia – Bogota –
38. Comoros – Moroni –
39. Congo, Republic of the – Brazzaville –
40. Congo,Democratic Republic of the Kinshasa
41. Costa Rica – San Jose –
42. Cote d’Ivoire,Yamoussoukro(official); Abidjan (de facto) –
43. Croatia – Zagreb –
44. Cuba – Havana – 45. Cyprus – Nicosia –
46. Czech Republic – Prague – 47. Denmark – Copenhagen – 48. Djibouti – Djibouti –
49. Dominica – Roseau –
50. Dominican Republic – Santo Domingo –
51. East Timor (Timor-Leste) – Dili –
52. Ecuador – Quito –
53. Egypt – Cairo –
54. El Salvador – San Salvador –
55. Equatorial Guinea – Malabo –
56. Eritrea – Asmara –
57. Estonia – Tallinn –
58. Ethiopia – Addis Ababa –
59. Fiji – Suva –
60. Finland – Helsinki –
61. France – Paris –
62. Gabon – Libreville –
63. The Gambia – Banjul –
64. Georgia – Tbilisi –
65. Germany – Berlin –
66. Ghana – Accra –
67. Greece – Athens –
68. Grenada – Saint George’s –
69. Guatemala – Guatemala City –
70. Guinea – Conakry –
71. Guinea-Bissau – Bissau –
72. Guyana – Georgetown –
73. Haiti – Port-au-Prince –
74. Honduras – Tegucigalpa –
75. Hungary – Budapest –
76. Iceland – Reykjavik –
77. India – New Delhi –
78. Indonesia – Jakarta –
79. Iran – Tehran –
80. Iraq – Baghdad –
81. Ireland – Dublin –
82. Israel – Jerusalem* –
83. Italy – Rome –
84. Jamaica – Kingston –
85. Japan – Tokyo –
86. Jordan – Amman –
87. Kazakhstan – Astana –
88. Kenya – Nairobi –
89. Kiribati – Tarawa Atoll –
90. Korea, North – Pyongyang –
91. Korea, South – Seoul –
92. Kuwait – Kuwait City –
93. Kyrgyzstan – Bishkek –
94. Laos – Vientiane –
95. Latvia – Riga –
96. Lebanon – Beirut –
97. Lesotho – Maseru –
98. Liberia – Monrovia –
99. Libya – Tripoli –
100. Liechtenstein – Vaduz –
101. Lithuania – Vilnius –
102. Luxembourg – Luxembourg –
103. Macedonia – Skopje –
104. Madagascar – Antananarivo –
105. Malawi – Lilongwe –
106. Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur –
107. Maldives – Male –
108. Mali – Bamako –
109. Malta – Valletta –
110. Marshall Islands – Majuro –
111. Mauritania – Nouakchott –
112. Mauritius – Port Louis –
113. Mexico – Mexico City –
114. Micronesia, Federated States of – Palikir –
115. Moldova – Chisinau –
116. Monaco – Monaco –
117. Mongolia – Ulaanbaatar –
118. Montenegro – Podgorica –
119. Morocco – Rabat –
120. Mozambique – Maputo –
121. Myanmar (Burma) – Rangoon (Yangon); Naypyidaw or Nay Pyi Taw (administrative) –
122. Namibia – Windhoek –
123. Nauru – no official capital; government offices in Yaren District –
124. Nepal – Kathmandu –
125. Netherlands – Amsterdam; The Hague (seat of government) –
126. New Zealand – Wellington –
127. Nicaragua – Managua –
128. Niger – Niamey –
129. Nigeria – Abuja –
130. Norway – Oslo –
131. Oman – Muscat –
132. Pakistan – Islamabad –
133. Palau – Melekeok –
134. Panama – Panama City –
135. Papua New Guinea – Port Moresby –
136. Paraguay – Asuncion –
137. Peru – Lima –
138. Philippines – Manila –
139. Poland – Warsaw –
140. Portugal – Lisbon –
141. Qatar – Doha –
142. Romania – Bucharest –
143. Russia – Moscow –
144. Rwanda – Kigali –
145. Saint Kitts and Nevis – Basseterre –
146. Saint Lucia – Castries –
147. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Kingstown –
148. Samoa – Apia –
149. San Marino – San Marino –
150. Sao Tome and Principe – Sao Tome –
151. Saudi Arabia – Riyadh –
152. Senegal – Dakar –
153. Serbia – Belgrade –
154. Seychelles – Victoria –
155. Sierra Leone – Freetown –
156. Singapore – Singapore –
157. Slovakia – Bratislava –
158. Slovenia – Ljubljana –
159. Solomon Islands – Honiara –
160. Somalia – Mogadishu –
161. South Africa – Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judiciary)
162. South Sudan – Juba (Relocating to Ramciel) 163. Spain – Madrid –
164. Sri Lanka – Colombo; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative) – 165. Sudan – Khartoum –
166. Suriname – Paramaribo –
167. Swaziland – Mbabane –
168. Sweden – Stockholm –
169. Switzerland – Bern –
170. Syria – Damascus –
171. Taiwan – Taipei –
172. Tajikistan – Dushanbe –
173. Tanzania – Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (legislative)
174. Thailand – Bangkok –
175. Togo – Lome –
176. Tonga – Nuku’alofa –
177. Trinidad and Tobago – Port-of-Spain –
178. Tunisia – Tunis –
179. Turkey – Ankara –
180. Turkmenistan – Ashgabat –
181. Tuvalu – Vaiaku village, Funafuti province
182. Uganda – Kampala –
183. Ukraine – Kyiv –
184. United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi –
185. United Kingdom – London –
186. United States of America – Washington D.C. 187. Uruguay – Montevideo –
188. Uzbekistan – Tashkent –
189. Vanuatu – Port-Vila –
190. Vatican City (Holy See) – Vatican City –
191. Venezuela – Caracas –
192. Vietnam – Hanoi –
193. Yemen – Sanaa –
194. Zambia – Lusaka –
195. Zimbabwe – Harare –
196. Kosovo – Pristina –
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(Source: Forbes, Wikipedia, Guinness World Records)