This 21-Year-Old Becomes The Youngest Person To Visit Every Country

Alexis hails from a small town called Nevada City in California and said that she's been traveling since she can remember, as her family started a traveling agency 30 years ago. It's been a long way but Alford officially broke the Guinness World Record for the Youngest Person to Travel to Every Country by over 3 years. She says she started off by selecting regions to cross countries off her list. "I started off simple, going to all the countries in Europe, then Central and South America, South East Asia etc. then progressed into the more difficult areas to navigate like Africa and the Middle East," she elaborated.

According to Lexie, her travels are completely self-funded and she's never had a full sponsorship except for a few brand deals and campaigns along the way. She mentions how she always knew she'd take time off to travel so she started saving up money at the age of 12, picking up any job she could get her hands on. "The amount I saved kept me going for the first year-and-a-half of my travels," Alexis explains. The rest of her trips were covered by money she earned by working as a travel consultant in her family’s agency as well as a photographer/blogger.

"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," she elaborates on the process. To save up as much money as possible, Alford mentions that she tries to keep her monthly overhead as low as possible by living at home with her parents. "I don’t have a car payment or student debt, and I don’t spend my money on unnecessary material possessions," she adds.

As for her biggest challenges, Alford contributes those to her travels to West and Central Africa because the numerous countries in the regions required visas. "There's also not a lot of practical info about traveling to those places on the Internet so figuring it all out on my own through social networking was very challenging," she explains.

Now that she's broken the world record, Lexie plans to take some time off to recharge. "After finally completing this massive life goal, I’ll be taking the next few months to nourish my physical and mental health as I finish writing my book about this adventure and continue to make plans for the future," Alford concludes.