Remember Ranbir Kapoor’s super popular dialogue from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani where Bunny tells Naina, “Main udna chaha hoon, daudna chahta hoon, girna bhi chahta hoon bas rukna nahi chahta?” (Bunny was talking about his dreams of becoming a travel photographer here).
A 21-year-old woman from America has turned Bunny’s dream into reality for herself (atleast that’s what she claims) and how!!!
Travel has been a part and parcel of Lexie Alford’s life since before she can even remember. Today, she has redefined travel goals for youngsters!
The girl with the travel bug from California has claimed to be the youngest person to travel each and every sovereign nation in the world map. Officially, the Guinness World Record is still held by 24-year-old James Asquith, who achieved his record-breaking moment in 2013.
Born to parents who run a travel agency, Alford had already covered 72 countries at the age of 18. “The very first time I thought about breaking the world record was in October 2016 in my home, California,” Alford told Forbes. “I graduated from high school two years early and had gotten an associate’s degree from a local college. I was ready to start my gap year when I dropped the idea of going back to school and began to pursue the record full-time.”
Alford was earlier just an intrepid traveler but as she noticed that she is inspiring the young woman around her she decided to get on a mission to travel the world and break the world record.
“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.”
Alford was always curious to learn about different people’s way of life. “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. I’ve always had a curiosity about other people’s ways of life and how they find happiness.”
The traveler says that she never took to official funding to support her travel and bore all her expenses single-handedly. “I always knew I wanted to take time off to travel so I’ve been working every job I could find and saving since I was 12-years-old,” says Alford.
She cut her extra expenses and gave up on unnecessary materialistic possessions to help her dreams come true. “I do a lot of research in advance to find the best deals, utilize points and miles for my flights, stay in cheap accommodation like hostels or create content for hotels in exchange for accommodation,” says Alford.
“I’ve also made sure to keep my monthly overhead as low as possible by living at home with my parents, I don’t have a car payment or student debt and I don’t spend my money on unnecessary material possessions,” she adds.
Talking about visiting the countries that are often tagged as unsafe and dangerous for tourists, Alford says, “The countries that have such a bad reputation that people don’t dare to go are the places that spark my curiosity. I experienced so much more kindness and natural beauty in places like Pakistan and Venezuela than I ever found in typical tourist destinations.”
“Going somewhere with no expectations and being absolutely blown away by what you find there has been the most fulfilling part of this project,” she adds. Out of all the countries that she visited, North Korea and African nations have been the most difficult ones to get through she mentions.
After her successful record-breaking world tour, Alford plans to write a book on her splendid experiences of travel in different countries. She will soon begin her very first TEDx talk to spread her story and experiences to more and more people.
Traveling to different places, connecting with people, getting acquainted with new cultures certainly sounds exciting! Lexie Alford is certainly an inspiration for adventurous souls.
You Go Girl!!