--- title: 27-Year-Old Now First Woman to Visit Every Country on Earth description: Cassie De Pecol, a 27-year-old traveler from Connecticut, just became the fastest person to visit every country in the world. canonical: https://time.com/4727632/cassie-de-pecol-every-country-first/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-12T21:02:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:45:32.388Z og:title: This 27-Year-Old Became the First Woman to Visit Every Country in the World og:description: She's completing paperwork to be recognized by Guinness World Records og:url: https://time.com/4727632/cassie-de-pecol-every-country-first/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867702b1bfc29ca1/6988bfc50a4a22f76f9cd67c/1701324-expedition196-cassie-de-pecol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 1701324-expedition196-cassie-de-pecol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This 27-Year-Old Became the First Woman to Visit Every Country in the World twitter:description: She's completing paperwork to be recognized by Guinness World Records twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867702b1bfc29ca1/6988bfc50a4a22f76f9cd67c/1701324-expedition196-cassie-de-pecol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This 27-Year-Old Became the First Woman to Visit Every Country in the World > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=ab61f273-17b7-401e-bc9c-e4b99cb183d9&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FIRSTS: Cassie De Pecol [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS: Cassie De Pecol](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b9nWIFgW.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2017-09-14. Cassie De Pecol is the first woman on record to travel to all 196 countries in the world._ by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 12, 2017 9:02 PM UTC by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 12, 2017 9:02 PM UTC Cassie De Pecol, a 27-year-old traveler from Connecticut, just became the fastest person to visit every country in the world. She is also the first woman to visit every sovereign nation. She left for her world tour in July 2015, and on February 2 she visited Yemen, the 196th and final country on her list. Her entire journey around the world took 18 months and 26 days, smashing the previous record of three years and three months. De Pecol is now completing the paperwork to be officially recognized by Guinness World Records. \[compare\_card\] De Pecol completed her whirlwind world tour as an ambassador for the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism. Throughout her trip, De Pecol met with mayors and ministers of tourism, presenting them with the organization’s [“Declaration of Peace.”](http://www.iipt.org/globalsummit/ammandeclaration.html) Throughout her journey, De Pecol boarded over 255 flights, planted trees in over 50 countries and went through five passports. She spent between two and five days in each country. De Pecol told CNN that some of the hardest moments in her journey came when trying to secure visas. “There have been cases when I post on my Facebook, ‘Hi I need help getting into Libya’ or ‘I need help getting into Syria,’ and at that point it’s kind of trusting in the unknown, trusting in people,” [she said](http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/travel/woman-globe-trot-trnd/). In order to fund her journey, De Pecol saved $10,000 in babysitting money. She acquired the rest of her $198,000 budget through sponsors. De Pecol also exchanged promotional coverage for stays at eco-hotels around the world. She also filmed the entire journey and hopes to release her travels as a documentary. Next up, De Pecol plans to visit Antarctica. But before that, she will race in an Olympic Triathlon in San Diego next month, and in June she will teach a course in how to secure funding to travel the world. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] My name is Cassie De Pecol and I was the first woman on record to travel the every country in the world. [ MUSIC ] Since I grew up in such a small town, I was always curious as to what people are really like around the world. I saw people in history making these big changes, and I wanted somehow Make a big change myself, for society, for the world. And I was able to kind of incorporate all of that into the expedition. The trip took a year and a half to plan. First, I had to get the supporters. Then I had to get the nonprofit endorsement. I had have no organization back me. I had no one helping me. I had to do it all on my own. I realized at that point forward, I'm just gonna go all in. If that involves sleeping on floors and train stations and eating bread and sweeping floors in hostels then that's what I had to do. It got hard throughout the expedition, because whenever I went on line, I would only see this negativity and people saying' she's got it easy'. I don't wanna show you the times when I'm hyperventilating in a bathroom stall because I missed my flight, I'm out of money and I'm stuck, and I don't know the language and I'm sleep deprived. I haven't slept in 64 hours. 'I got one hour of sleep last night'. 'I just got off a nine hour flight'. 'Nine and a half Hours of flying so far. Eleven more to go. [ MUSIC ] It made for one pretty tough expedition. But it's the struggle that helps you grow and it helps you succeed. Sometimes, you have to be in this really bad situations to get to the really good ones. [ MUSIC ] My biggest take away was Is how humbling people are. They just want to help you out really, they want to be kind, they want to show you their culture. [ MUSIC ] I kind of carved my own path and I want to encourage others to follow what excites them That's what I did and that's what I hope to kind of inspire others to do as well. 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