Visiting a new country can be a major undertaking. There's plenty of planning involved, from travel arrangements and finding somewhere to stay to getting to grips with the food, currency, language, and cultural "do's and don'ts." So can you imagine visiting every country on Earth, and doing so in record time? That's just what Anderson Dias did, visiting all 195 sovereign countries in just 543 days between 2018 and 2019.
Anderson Dias was just 26 years old when he broke the record for visiting every country on Earth in the fastest time. Originally from Brazil, his love of travel developed while enrolled at a school in Ireland learning the English language. After returning home, he opened a mobile phone repair shop, but became restless and decided he wanted to travel the world. He sold his business and everything he owned and began his journey without even a well-developed plan in mind. In fact, Dias didn’t even have enough money to cover the trip when he started.
Dias largely funded his travels by creating content online. He increased his Instagram following and was able to partner with several brands. Spending up to 10 days in some countries and as little as one day in others, he faced challenges ranging from dealing with complicated visa restrictions to getting attacked and robbed, yet he did not let fear stop him from completing his goal. Fortunately, Dias was able to achieve that goal in November 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic brought international travel to an abrupt halt. Now back in Brazil, he hopes to use his social media platform to demonstrate that travel is not just for the rich, and that even seemingly impossible goals are never out of reach.
Globetrotters:
- Taylor Demonbreun held the previous world record for fastest time visiting every country on Earth. Anderson Dias broke her record by 11 days.
- During his journey around the world, Dias gained a following of 1.1 million people on social media.
- Dias said that his trip highlight was seeing gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, though the country he would most like to return to is Afghanistan. Despite the turbulent political situation, Dias was amazed by the breathtaking scenery and the friendliness of the people he encountered there.
- In 2014, Graham Hughes made history when he became the first person to visit every country on Earth without any air travel. Lexie Alford, then 21, became the youngest person to visit every country in the world in 2019. That same year, Jessica Nabongo made history when she became the first black woman to accomplish the feat.