- Luisa Yu visited all 193 member states of the United Nations.
- Yu told BI that he spent 50 years traveling to countries around the world.
- Yu said she worked two jobs at a hospital and worked as a part-time travel agent to earn money for her travels.
Luisa Yu is an accomplished woman. The 79-year-old has skydived in Dubai, climbed cliffs in Angola and stargazed atop a volcano in Vanuatu.
And in November, Yu visited Serbia, completing a 50-year mission to visit every country in the world. But Yu told Business Insider over the phone that it wasn't easy, as he had to work two or three jobs to finance the trip.
“It was a little difficult. It was a lot of work. I had to drive from one hospital to another to make ends meet. But I was young at the time, in my 30s, so I was able to do it,” Yu said. , talked about his career in the hospital. Medical field.
Start with $300 in your pocket
Yu was born in the Philippines in 1945 and moved to St. Louis for an exchange program when he was 23 years old. After graduating, Yu found a job as a medical technician and began traveling around the United States in his free time, hopping on and off Greyhound buses, and in three years he visited 45 states, he said. .
“I first traveled as a backpacker, and when I first arrived in the United States, I only had $300 in my pocket,” Yu said.
“I couldn't afford a hotel, so I took a late bus to sleep. In the morning, I was in a different state, went to the bathroom, cleaned my face, and started sightseeing. ” she added.
In the 1970s, Yu began dreaming of traveling abroad. She took another job at a hospital and began working part-time as a travel agent to save up for her travels.
As time passed and her job increased, the obstacles to her travel dreams changed. Now I don't have enough vacation time to travel as much as I want.
“It took 50 years to complete. It wasn't easy because I worked in a hospital, where you have 24-hour, seven-day rotations and you don't have your own time or schedule,” Yu said. .
“I was also a single mother, so I had to work and take care of my daughter. Every time I took a vacation, I had to arrange for someone to take care of my daughter.” she added.
Establishment of a travel agency
Yu said working 16-hour shifts at the hospital and earning a small commission as a travel agent ultimately led to burnout. She founded her travel agency in the late 1970s.
But when the Gulf War began in 1990, Yu said his business suffered and he sold it. He turned out to be kismet.
Yu said he invested the proceeds from the sale of his agency in several properties in Miami. In the end, it paid off, Yu said.
“I worked hard and saved money, so I thought that one day I would quit my job and do what I love. I learned a lot about being alone and being independent,” Yu said. Told.
In recent years, Yu has spent most of his time visiting far-flung places around the world, camping with the Mundari people in South Sudan and relaxing on the white sand beaches of the South Pacific island of Kiribati, he said. Ta.
And although it took Yu a long time to visit every UN member state, she said the journey was worth it.
“It was amazing and a huge accomplishment. Age is just a number,” Yu said.
“I lived my life without fear,” she added.
According to the travel site Nomadmania, Yu was one of 51 travelers on record to have achieved the goal of visiting every member state of the United Nations in 2023. This year is said to be the year in history when more people achieved this feat than any other year in history.
Yu spent half a century traveling to every United Nations member state, and several people in recent years have accomplished the same feat before they turned 30. In December, a 26-year-old Singaporean completed a trip to all 193 United Nations member countries in five years. And in 2017, a 27-year-old from Connecticut accomplished the same feat in just 18 months.
