Curated by Seanna Pratt
Traveling the entire world may seem like a lofty goal for most, but 35-year-old Graham Hughes made it his reality. However, traveling the world wasn’t enough for him, so he set a goal that would later land him in the Guinness Book of World Records. Over about a four-year period, Hughes successfully visited every sovereign nation in the world without flying. He took buses, trains, boats, taxis, and his own two feet to get him to the goal, and he did this alone and on a “shoestring budget.” In this TEDx talk, Hughes tells about the obstacles and triumphs of his journey, and shares with us interesting stories about the people he met along the way. At the beginning of his talk, he says that his intentions were “not just to set a Guinness World Record, not just to raise money for charity, not just to encourage people to go traveling; but also to prove that it could be done. To prove the world is a lot more open than you realize.”
ABOUT THE WRITER
Seanna Pratt is currently a Biology student at the State University of New York at Oneonta. Despite the scientific nature of her degree, writing is one of her true passions in life. She is a staff writer at Germ, an online magazine geared towards women of all ages, and is co-editor in chief of a nutrition and fitness webpage at her college. Her plans for after college have changed more times than she can count, but currently she hopes to pursue a graduate degree in journalism to really delve into the depths of this art form. Apart from writing, you will often find her binge watching her latest Netflix obsession, or spending way too much time at coffee shops. She hopes to someday make travel a part of her career and experience all the world has to offer.
Young Hiker via Shutterstock
