Jessica Nabongo – I have been traveling all over the world.

(CNN) – A.D. On October 6, 2019, as the plane landed in the Seychelles, Ugandan-American travel influencer Jessica Nabongo looked out the window and prepared herself for the big event.

Not only will she be a member of an honorary club made up of very few people who have traveled to every country in the world, but she will be the first black woman to do so.

Nabongo was with her friends and family on the last flight of 28 with her friends.

It has flown more than 450 flights and more than a million miles, but it has flown to 195 countries recognized by the United Nations.

The experience was exhausting – Nabongo has flown more than 170 flights in a year, and says she is about to stop on several occasions.

She told CNN Travel: “There have been many times when he has been shocked and asked, ‘My God, is this going to cause public downfall?’ I was saying.

Epic test

Named for its popular blog, it covers her record-breaking journey, focusing on 100 of the 195 countries she has visited.

“I am a geography nerd,” Nabongo said in her decision to pass the exam.

“In 2017, I made the decision I wanted to make on my 35th birthday,” she told CNN Travel.

So is she able to meet her deadline?

“I shot my birthday in five months,” Nabongo said. He passed [away] It was two days after my 19th birthday, so it was nice to be able to bring him to the herd this way.

According to Nabongo, who was born in Detroit, one of the key reasons she was forced to write “catch me if you can” is because few of the 400 or more travelers are expected to visit each. A country in the world.

“We’re used to seeing the world through white glasses,” says Nabongo, who uses her own photos in the book. “And this is different. As we are in the world, as very different people, there are some unique things in our experiences.

“But also, just how I see humanity, I see a big difference in my respect for human beings.”

In a June 14 book, Nabongo touched on her experiences as a black woman, emphasizing the importance of such representation.

Creating space

“It’s about normalizing our existence, because yes, even in 2022, I’m often the only black person on 300 planes,” she wrote.

“I can’t travel for days and I can’t see anyone at the end of the color spectrum. My mission is to create space. S *** t to shake. To say, we are here and we are.”

It is responsible for representing non-tourist destinations to oppose preconceived notions.

“This is very important to me,” she said openly. “Use my platform to tell stories about places that many people can never go to and to put those places in a more positive way than we can see.

“I’ve found a lot of beauty in many places that people probably didn’t expect.”

These places include Afghanistan, where she entered the Hazrat Ali Mosque, known as the North Masjid Sharif, Pakistan, the Blue Mosque for street food, and Iran and Iran, the ancient city of Yazd.

When Nabongo first traveled extensively, social media was certainly around, but it was not as influential as it is today.

“When I was in Maui [Hawaii]I found this really amazing forest, ”she says.“ I didn’t do geotag [add the geographic coordinates of the location] Because I know what he can do in that forest.

“As an influencer or influencer, you have to be incredibly careful about how you share. For me, it’s important to make sure the places you visit are protected.”

Influential influence

Nabongo is very clever in the concept of “blind travel”, noting that this is almost impossible in the modern world.

“It’s something I miss especially,” she said.

“When I got to Machu Picchu, ‘Oh, it looks like the pictures,'” she said. “So it was frustrating.

“You think of places like Bali and Morocco, everyone goes to the same destinations and does the same things. And that’s not fun for me.

But there are Yemen, Afghanistan and South Sudan. There are so many places that people don’t think they have any value in tourism, and I had a wonderful time.

“I hope that in my history, discrimination against black and brown countries will decrease,” he said.

During some difficult times along the way, Nabongo began to question whether she could travel to Seychelles, the last country on her list.

But the trip was more than just achieving its goal at the time – she knew it was showing her followers places they would never expect to visit.

On her way to Mali, in West Africa, on her vacation, she was told by some local people that she should continue.

“One of the men is not for you, it’s for us,” she said. “That was a really big change. Because as my audience grew and people were emailing me and sending me a DM, I realized that the journey was getting bigger than I was. Those people helped me get to the bottom line.”

Nabongo said obtaining a US passport gives other travelers unpaid rights, adding that she has been able to travel to more than 40 countries in Uganda.

Secret weapon

“Obtaining a US and Ugandan passport has really benefited me,” she said. Because it is very difficult for Americans to go to Iran.

“This was my secret weapon. If I only had a US passport, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Her success, along with other travelers like her, has inspired others to try to travel to all parts of the world, but she wants to point out that this particular goal is not for everyone.

Nabongo stressed that before embarking on such a mission, travelers should ask why they want to take this test: “Because that is the motivation that will get you to the finish line.

She hopes her story inspires others to follow their dreams, no matter what.

“I don’t think everyone wants to go to every country in the world,” she said. But I want people to know that they have everything they need to do in life.

“And if I go wild in every country in the world, I think everyone’s dream can come true.”

Global Network

In “Catch Me If You Can”, Nabongo shares stories of strangers who were especially kind to her during her trip, including a tour guide, including Maha, a tour guide in Jordan.

“I definitely have friends from all over the world,” she said.

“It was great.” “On my WhatsApp, there could be talks in 20 countries at any time.

“Of course, people always start out as strangers. But if you are open to him, you can quickly make friends and in some cases, even family.

“For me, home is not a matter of people. I think that’s why I feel so close to people when I travel. Because if you want, I’m building small houses around the world.”

She found the process of visiting all countries in the world horrible, but Nabongo said it was more difficult to “get down” than to write “catch me if you can”.

But she said that since the beginning of the epidemic, she has noticed a change in the behavior of others, especially while traveling, and hopes that the book will encourage more kindness in the world.

“It was all about love and kindness, and then it went crazy,” she says. “Now you see people fighting on planes and you look like savages.

“So, sadly, I think the first eclipse of love and humanity we experienced in the first four to six months is gone.”

Nabongo says that this situation sometimes made her feel discouraged.

However, she is encouraged by her own human experience and continues to seek beauty in the world wherever she goes.

And now that you have visited all over the world, Nabongo’s love for travel is growing stronger.

At the time of writing, she was going to make another trip to Senegal, which she described as her “happy place” and finally set another goal. Visit every state in the US.

“I have six left,” she said, before declaring that she was in no hurry, and that she would complete this special task, “when I reached it.”