After a long time of touring, each individually and collectively, Rachel Davey and Martina Sebova had every visited greater than 100 of the 195 UN-recognized nations and territories on the globe.
The pair, who met throughout an overland tour of Europe in 2008, had been having espresso collectively in Melbourne, Australia, once they first mentioned the prospect of visiting the 88 or so remaining nations on their lists.
They rapidly determined to spend the following two years doing simply that collectively.
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Whereas the considered touring to so many new locations in a comparatively brief time was considerably daunting, Sebova says having greater than half of the nations on the planet already ticked off their listing made issues quite a bit simpler.
“I believe it could terrify me if I needed to begin visiting each nation and I would been to, like, 10,” the journey blogger advised CNN Journey.
“I do not actually suppose that that is even viable. It is advisable be effectively traveled (earlier than doing one thing like this).”
The excited pair then started planning for his or her huge journey, saving as a lot cash as they may to fund the journey, with the goal of spending about 5 to seven days in every nation.
Journey quest
Earlier than setting off in 2018, Davey and Sebova, who had been collectively for a few decade by this time, determined they might not reveal they had been a pair and easily journey as mates.
“It was very pure,” Sebova says, explaining that they had been making use of for visas in some conservative nations and didn’t need to threat being denied entry.
“We had been visiting lots of nations the place even the idea of a same-sex couple does not exist. And we did not actually need to put our private security in danger at any stage.”
Based on the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA,) same-sex relationships are criminalized in about 70 nations.
Davey and Sebova say performing as if they had been merely greatest mates “wasn’t actually a lot of a change” and folks typically assumed they had been sisters.
“It was by no means an enormous difficulty,” Davey mentioned. “We by no means tried to cowl it. We simply did not (inform anybody).”
The pair, who doc their travels on their web site Very Hungry Nomadstried to go to the remaining nations in geographical order the place doable and opted to journey overland as a lot as they may.
The primary new nation they visited was North Korea and so they went on to journey to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan and Pakistan.
In 2019, they spent six months touring throughout Central Africa and say the grueling bus journeys took a toll on them after some time.
“We did, like, 38 hours on buses, generally simply altering autos, attempting to get from A to B,” Sebova mentioned.
Nomadic life-style
The pair say a few of their greatest experiences had been in locations they had been extra cautious of previous to visiting.
“The individuals in Sudan and Iran had been a few of the friendliest individuals we now have encountered,” Sebova mentioned.
“And most of the people would assume these nations are actually harmful primarily based on the picture (we see).”
Eritrea, a small nation primarily based in East Africa, and the Caribbean island of Dominica had been among the many different standout nations they visited.
Based on Sebova, the truth that they had been single ladies of their late 30s, and with no youngsters, proved to be considerably controversial in a few of the nations they visited.
“There are cultural variations with simply being a girl and touring with no man,” she explains. “We had been denied a few visas simply primarily based on that.”
Though lots of their mates had chosen to place their financial savings into mortgages and/or companies through the years, Davey and Sebova, who describe themselves as nomads, say they’re “completely satisfied to spend it on journey and fear about that later”.
Davey holds an Australian passport, whereas Sebova has a Slovakian passport, which sometimes triggered points when it got here to making use of for visas.
“Typically it was like, ‘You may get one right here, (however I can not) which threw a spanner in there,” explains Davey. “Nevertheless it labored out.”
After years of touring collectively, the pair are effectively conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, and every takes accountability for various duties through the journey.
They clarify Sebova is extra naturally organized and focuses on ensuring their day runs as easily as doable, whereas Davey is “extra flippant” and fewer expert in terms of navigation.
“Rach will get misplaced within the lodge,” jokes Sebova, who additionally works as a tour information. “I at all times say it is a miracle that she made it by means of each nation. We make a fantastic staff.”
Pandemic delay
That they had been on the highway for about two years, and had been simply 10 nations away from attaining their objective, when the pandemic hit.
The pair, who had been in London on the time, selected to fly to Australia and needed to put the rest of the journey on maintain because of the border restrictions in place.
Nonetheless, they continued to journey, opting to purchase a camper van and drive across the nation collectively “with the borders of Australia closing behind us”.
“We ended up doing the large lap of Australia in 18 months and spent lots of time in Queensland and Western Australia, which was superb, as a result of we could not depart the nation,” Davey mentioned. “We lived in our camper van and it was heaps of enjoyable.”
When journey restrictions had been lifted for Australians in 2022, they needed to then wait till the borders reopened within the remaining locations on the listing, which included a few of the Pacific Islands.
This proved to be significantly irritating, significantly as lots of their friends had been touring extensively now that the world had reopened, whereas they had been patiently ready for a couple of nations to raise restrictions.
“We began this journey pondering that we might end this large quest in our 30s,” Sebova mentioned.
“Then we tipped into our 40s through the pandemic and we had been sitting in a van, not proudly owning something, nonetheless ready.”
They had been in a position to journey to the North African nation of Libya the place border restrictions had additionally been lifted, however needed to wait for much longer for his or her closing locations, Kiribati and Samoa, each within the Pacific Islands, to reopen.
Kiribati lastly lifted restrictions for worldwide vacationers in August 2022, and the pair flew in a couple of weeks later.
Problem accomplished
They reached Samoa, the ultimate nation on their listing, on November 19, 2022 and say it took some time for it to sink in that they’d lastly achieved their objective.
“(Samoa) was simply the proper vacation spot to complete,” Sebova mentioned.
“I had this second after I was standing in entrance of a map of the world and pondering ‘Oh my god, we now have been to each nation on this map’.”
The pair celebrated the large milestone with a pal, who had flown out to the tiny island nation, positioned midway between Hawaii and New Zealand, to fulfill them.
Once they returned to Australia in late 2022 having visited each nation on the planet, they started receiving higher media curiosity and folks beginning to ask questions on their relationship.
“They checked out our feed and naturally noticed a pair, one thing that different individuals simply do not see,” Sebova mentioned, explaining they had been completely satisfied to substantiate they had been in a relationship as soon as they’d reached their goal.
“We had followers on social media who had been like, ‘Oh my god, I at all times thought that you simply had been a pair, however you by no means mentioned something’.”
Davey and Sebova confused that, apart from the problem of security, they wished to maintain the dialogue round their journey centered on the truth that they had been two ladies taking over such a large problem – noting that once they initially appeared into the few hundred vacationers who had been to each nation on the planet, the listing was comparatively male-dominated.
“You see so few ladies on this a part of journey, which is extra adventurous,” Sebova mentioned. “So we had been attempting to alter that, in addition to encourage different ladies by displaying that (the world) isn’t such a scary place.”
Now they’ve lastly achieved their objective, Davey and Sebova say they don’t have any plans to calm down and can proceed to stay a nomadic life-style for so long as doable.
They’re at present planning a visit to Thailand and hope to go to Indonesia later within the yr.
“We have at all times lived within the second,” says Davey. “(Being on the transfer) makes us each completely satisfied now. So that is what we’ll do. I do not plan too far forward. We by no means have.”
