Ever wondered what it takes to be the world’s most traveled woman? Or what it’s like to visit every country in the world? What about every country and every territory?!

This mighty achievement is something that few people have ever done – and even fewer women. But Audrey Walsworth has.

Having visited all 193 UN recognized countries, and all 327 Travelers Century Club (TCC) territories (only 3 women in the world can make the claim of having completed the TCC list), at 86 years old Audrey is the world’s most well traveled woman.

This is her story!

Meet Audrey, The World’s Most Well Traveled Woman

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The World’s Most Traveled People

Three websites track the world’s most well traveled people – Travelers Century Club, Most Traveled People (MTP), and NomadMania. The last two are free to join and make the rankings available to all members, whereas The Travelers Century Club is a private membership club with annual fees.

These websites jointly list less than 250 people who have visited all United Nations member countries and of these, only 30 are women.

The list is even shorter when looking at the number of people who have completed the TCC list of countries and territories; just 24, only 3 of whom are women.

While The Travelers Century Club was founded in 1954, traveling to every country is a relatively new “sport”. Back in the 1990’s very few people had been to every country in the world, and the TCC list was yet to be completed by anyone.

With the rise in social media, groups exclusively devoted to the topic such as Every Passport Stamp, and podcasts such as Counting Countries have sprung up to connect individuals with the same objective and help make their journey to the least visited countries faster and easier.

Other Record Breakers

Rach and Marty are on their way to becoming the first Australian and Slovakian women to visit every country. 

In recent years, completing the list has become much more achievable and record-breakers have made headlines for being the first, fastest or youngest, of a specific nationality, gender, ethnicity or race.

But despite the recent interest and growth in popularity, the privileged club of “country counters” is still relatively small, and mostly male, just like the list of historic world explorers.

In an attempt to change the demographics, Facebook groups such as Solo Female Travelers are inspiring more women to travel to every country by giving them the tools and inspiration to do it safer, longer and better.

At Solo Female Travelers we regularly interview women who have unique stories to tell to show that traveling solo is possible and does not have to be an exclusively male club.

With inspirational stories such as that of Kerry, writer, podcaster and activist who travels blind, Rach and Marty, bloggers at Very Hungry Nomads on their way to becoming the first Australian and Slovakian women to visit every country and Audrey’s, the world of travel records might just become a little bit more equal.

My co-founder Mar Pages sat down for a full 70 minute interview with Audrey about her incredible achievement, and to reminisce over 50 years worth of travel stories!

Watch Full 70 Minute Interview With Audrey

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This story first appeared on Solo Female Travelers – love this video? Subscribe to us on YouTube for more interviews with inspiring women! And don’t forget to Join our Facebook Group!