How I Visited Every Country in the World: Jessica Nabongo on Setting Records

If you've been following Women Who Travel over the past two years, chances are you're familiar with Jessica Nabongo. The founder of boutique travel company Jet Black, Nabongo became the first black woman to visit every country in the world in 2019, and throughout her two-and-a-half year journey she's stopped by the studio (and called in from some very inconvenient time zones) to update us on her travels—the good, the challenging, and the downright exhausting. But one thing we haven't been able to chat in-depth with her on is what it takes to become a country counter in the first place. In the second installment of our How I Became series, we sit down with Nabongo to find out what motivated her to take on the odyssey in the first place, how she navigated borders while grappling with issues like passport privilege and carbon emissions, and what she's learned from taking more flights in two years than most people take in a lifetime. Thanks to Jessica for joining us this week. And thanks as always to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing. To keep up with our podcast each week, subscribe to Women Who Travel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And, if you have a minute to spare, leave a review. We’d love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date with our live episodes, meetups, and trips, too.