While you’ve definitely heard of the Guinness Book of World Records, you might not know that this famous compilation of world records was created in the 1950s by, yes, the Guinness Brewing Company.
Because all great ideas start over a pint of stout, Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of the Guinness Brewery, conceived of the idea after he got into an argument at a party about the fastest bird-shooting game in Europe. Beaver originally thought a book of world records would not only be a great promotion for Guinness, but would help settle pub arguments before they got physical. Basically, it was an early version of googling.
Fast forward, and there are thousands of world records published in the Guinness Book of World Records — including many focused on extraordinary travel feats. Some are legitimately impressive, and even jaw-dropping, like the fastest time to travel to all seven continents and the longest journey completed barefoot. Others are more bizarre, like the longest birthday ever and the farthest distance skateboarded by a goat.
All, in their way, astound. Here are some of the most mind-blowing Guinness travel records of all time.
(Inspired? You can apply for your own Guinness travel record or attempt to unseat someone else’s achievement.)
Fastest Time to Visit All Sovereign Countries
While it took James Asquith five years to visit all 196 sovereign countries in the world, Cassandra De Pecol made the journey in one year and 193 days in 2017. Her accomplishment afforded her the Guinness World Record for fastest time to accomplish this goal.
De Pecol undertook the mission in order to raise awareness for world peace and show other young women that they, too, can achieve goals generally only attributed to men.
In order to fund her record-breaking trip, Pecol told Guinness World Records that she slept in train stations, couch surfed, worked as a housekeeper at a bed and breakfast in exchange for room and board, and picked up other odd jobs to stay financially solvent.
Fastest Circumnavigation of the World on a Bicycle by a Female
Very few people can boast that they’ve traveled around the world; even fewer can claim to have done it in less than six months by bicycle.
In 2012, Juliana Buhring set a Guinness World Record for fastest circumnavigation of the world on a bicycle by a female when she made the more than 29,000-mile trip in 152 days. Buhring reportedly trained for the trek for eight months, and her adventure was not without roadblocks. She became sick in India, encountered wild dogs in Turkey, fought her way through angry birds in Australia, had almost 30 flat tires, and suffered six broken bike spokes. Additionally, her bike required four complete tire changes and three chain replacements.
Buhring made the journey to raise awareness for the Safe Passage Foundation, which provides assistance to young people living in isolated communities often referred to as cults.
