South Florida woman becomes youngest person to travel to every country in the world

Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Imagine visiting every country by yourself, and then traveling the globe in an electric car!

One South Florida woman has done just that breaking two world records.

Lexie Alford, better known to her millions of followers in social media as LexieLimitless, is a travel enthusiast whose love for exploring started many years ago.

“I started traveling when I was really young because my mom actually started her own travel agency when she was 19, so I grew up with very adventurous parents. And by the time I turned 18, I had been to about 70 countries or so,” she said.

At the age of 18, she decided to backpack. And just two months into her gap year, she came up with the crazy idea “to travel to every country in the world, and it took about 3.5 years to make that dream a reality.”

In 2016 she set off, capturing every new place, new sight, and experience on camera.

“For me one of the most rewarding parts of travel is getting as far off the beaten path as you possibly can. So everywhere I go, I try to connect with locals to hear different stories and see different ways of life,” Alford explained.

She would share her knowledge and travels on social media, while attempting to become the youngest person ever to travel to every country in the world.

At 21 years old, she had been to 197 countries and gained her first world record.

“I just really wanted to see what was possible for myself, if I could challenge myself and push myself enough to accomplish something that had never been done before by someone my age,” she said.

TRAVEL BY ELECTRIC CAR

In September of 2023, she partnered with Ford Motor Company to try and get another world record, this time for being the first person to travel around the globe in an electric vehicle.

“I had never driven an electric car before and my question and so many other people’s question is what happens when you run out of chargers and I definitely found a lot of answers to those questions,” she explains.

Having to get crafty at times with where to charge, she spent 200 days, traveled across six continents and through 27 countries, and drove close to 19,000 miles.

“It’s always very difficult spending such an extended period of time away from friends and family and missing birthdays is always really tough. I was gone for 200 days. It was quite a long expedition, and I also faced a lot of health issues,” she said.

She explained that when she gets stressed or overwhelmed, that compromises her immune system and might get sick.

"I was throwing up outside of the Taj Mahal for example. But it also can make it really challenging on the logistics, since I was the only person driving the car, the knock-on effect of if I miss a day, two, three days of driving, then it changes the entire schedule of all the continents down the line.”

She and Ford were inspired by another trailblazer, Aloha Wanderwell, who back in the 1920’s was the first woman to ever drive around the world in a car, and she did it in a Ford Model T.

"So, it was our idea to reinvent her original journey and almost pay homage to this incredible female explorer that most people have never heard of.”

On March 26, 2024, in France, at the age of 25, Lexie got her second world record.

“It’s crazy when you set out on a goal, and you almost have tunnel vision of trying to work as hard as you can just to make it. In this circumstance, a physical end of crossing a finish line, and for me it was so emotional to cross that line and see my friends and family cheering me on.”

Here achievements even caught the eye of Mayor Francis Suarez, who awarded Lexie a key to the City of Miami.

Well- her second world record attempt was made into a documentary series you can now find on YouTube, called ‘Charge Around the Globe’.

You can find Lexie and all her travels at @lexielimitless on Youtube, Instagram and TikTok.