An aspiring teenage filmmaker on a mission to become the youngest and fastest person to visit every country in the world said she has met female Buddhist monks and even a baby gorilla on her travels.
Sophia Lee, 19, a content creator from Alaska, first fell in love with travelling after visiting Costa Rica, aged 14, and has been “exploring new destinations” ever since.
On her 18th birthday, she decided she wanted to try to break the Guinness World Records for the youngest and fastest person to visit every country (195) in the world, and she put her plan into motion.
Since then, she has visited 130 countries and counting – with more than 100 of them solo – and she is hoping to finish the challenge in August this year to break the two records.
Sophia has experienced many challenges but said the best parts have included watching the Northern Lights in Iceland, floating above the Serengeti in a hot air balloon at sunrise and seeing gorillas in Uganda.
Along with attempting to break the records, she has partnered with UN Women to raise 1 million US dollars in support of women’s empowerment worldwide.
She told PA Real Life: “With media and social media these days, there’s a story of fear and divisiveness, and I think there is truth in that.
“But I think the world is filled with so much beauty and love and kindness, and it’s not something we see enough online.
“The more you travel, the more you realise… that humanity connects us across borders and countries.”
Growing up, Sophia lived next to her grandparents – retired Peace Corps volunteers who spent many years in places like Zambia, Kenya, India and Jamaica doing community development.
She said they told her “inspiring” stories and taught her the importance of giving back, but with her severe social anxiety as a young teenager, she found it difficult to “step out of (her) comfort zone”.
It was not until her first international trip to Costa Rica, aged 14, where she studied yoga and meditation, that she started to build her confidence.
“That really shaped my love of travel from an early age, and then after that point, I just became excited about visiting more countries and learning about different places around the world,” she said.
Over the following years, as she continued to travel, Sophia developed a passion for advocacy – and she said it started when she met a Maasai tribe teenager in Tanzania.
“I met a girl who was my same exact age, she was 16, and she was in a child marriage,” Sophia explained.
“She’d just been married to this guy from a different community, and it was something like three cows or four cows that her father had sold her for.
“Seeing her there, with no resources to get help, and she was in an abusive situation… it made me realise the privilege I come from.
“So at that point, I decided that I wanted to dedicate my charity work towards women’s empowerment and girls’ education.”
At 17, Sophia visited a remote region of the Indian Himalayas where she spoke to female Buddhist monks – and she said this was “eye-opening”.
She said these women have faced deep-rooted cultural challenges and gender discrimination in silence for generations, and she heard “heartbreaking accounts” of nuns who had committed suicide after being raped by monks in their monastery.
She said: “It motivated me to start taking action, even in small ways, by sharing their stories and capturing the videos of them answering questions about what they felt needed to change in their community and the environment they’re in.”
On Sophia’s 18th birthday, she decided she wanted to officially try to break the Guinness World Records for being the youngest and fastest person to visit every country in the world, including the North and South Pole.
The record for the youngest person to travel to all sovereign countries overall is currently held by Lexie Alford, from the USA, who was 21 years and 177 days old when she arrived in her final 195th country, Mozambique, in October 2019.
Meanwhile, Taylor Demonbreun, also from the USA, holds the record for the fastest time to visit all sovereign countries overall, completing the challenge in one year and 189 days.
Sophia said Guinness World Records guidelines now say you must visit 193 UN Member States, plus the Vatican and the State of Palestine, and applicants must be 16 and over.
Having started at 18, excluding a break due to family matters, Sophia is on track to complete the challenge around two months after her 20th birthday and is hoping to finish it in one year and 182 days.
“By the end of this month, I’ll have wrapped up the last couple of Asian countries and Pacific countries I have to visit, and then I’ll be spending June in Africa and the Middle East,” she said.
Sophia had to submit a rough itinerary to Guinness World Records before she set off and managed to secure sponsorship to help fund the challenge.
For each country she visits, she has to submit two written statements and receipts, along with a timestamped photo and video evidence, and she has a GPS tracker which measures her movements.
She said she has learned to be “flexible with (her) planning” but obtaining visas has been the “most challenging” aspect.
Speaking about some of the best parts, however, she said: “I was in Uganda recently, and I got to see the mountain gorillas there.
“I was just lying there and one of the babies came up to me and gently pulled my hair, and it was just a really magical experience.”
Sophia said solo travelling as a young woman can be challenging but she always prioritises her safety and even provides personalised trip guides on the Steller travel planning app to help others.
While her journey will hopefully break the two records, she said she has launched a JustGiving page in partnership with UN Women to raise 1 million US dollars, and her fundraising efforts will officially begin after May 17, her 20th birthday.
She hopes she can make a difference through film-making by sharing people’s stories from around the world.
“I want to show people what’s possible for a young woman to achieve and, while doing it, I want to help other young women around the world have the resources and opportunities to go after their dreams,” she said.
“Those experiences around the world where I met young women who were facing these challenges… really motivated me to take action and to help bring these opportunities to other girls and other communities around the world.”
To donate or find out more, visit Sophia’s fundraising page here: www.justgiving.com/page/sophialee.
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