[Music]
who in their right mind would travel
alone to 196 countries when someone
finds out I’ve done something that no
other woman on this planet has done and
broken two Guinness World Records
they usually have a few questions for me
they want to know how I pulled it off
what my experience was like and why I
even did it in the first place today I’m
excited to share with you how it took me
three years to plan and raise money for
the 18-month trip what my experience was
like traveling alone as a woman and I’m
gonna talk about something I’ve never
talked about publicly before the real
reason why I did this expedition so how
did I do it 196 countries sounds easy
enough right
I knew this expedition was going to be a
huge endeavor and the first step was
figuring out all the rules for breaking
a Guinness World Record there are so
many rules both big and small like how I
was only allowed to take scheduled
public transportation to and from each
country I wasn’t allowed to drive a car
while in the Guinness clock and there
were limitations as to how far I could
travel in a taxi I also had to prove
that I’d been in each country which is
harder than you think many countries
throughout Europe and Central America
don’t stamp passport so I had to find
different ways to document everything
I collected photos videos countless
tickets GPS coordinates signed witness
statements credit card bills and even
phone logs next time you go to North
Korea you can forget about bringing your
phone they don’t stamp passports you
can’t use your credit card and kidding
that jung-hoon is not going to give you
an autograph you you can however send a
pre-approved propaganda postcard showing
a fist crushing the Pentagon
and then there was the most challenging
rule of all I wasn’t allowed to spend
more than 14 days in a country this
didn’t seem like a big deal at first but
I wasn’t always able to predict when I’d
received my visas this rule almost ended
my expedition in country number 196
Yemen first the u.s. embassy wouldn’t
let me in
due to high terrorist activity in Yemen
and then the Oman authorities wouldn’t
let me out due to the situation Yemen I
faced a major risk of being stuck on the
mainland of Yemen but after two attempts
of trying to cross the border I watched
in the night as the rusted steel gates
pushed back and I was finally let back
into Oman but then the challenge came
how do I pay for this expedition most
people think that I must be rich or that
I’m just this young blond American girl
leisurely travelling the world not
having to do a single day of work but
they couldn’t be more wrong I didn’t
grow up in a family with a lot of money
in fact I had to put myself through
college and I wasn’t able to finish my
degree because I couldn’t afford it so
with I knew that with this expedition
I’d have to find creative ways with
having to figure out how to fund it I
spent countless hours developing
business plans finding financial backers
vlogging filming an educational
documentary so that I could pay for it
all on my own
remember the time and effort it took you
to plan your last vacation now imagine
doing it 196 times and all on your own
what I thought would take me six months
to plan actually took me three years so
what was it like in four words it was
exhilarating it was exhausting it was
scary and it was eye-opening whether
you’ve been to five countries or a
hundred and fifty you probably have your
own personal unique
related to each place we all have our
own way of traveling and discovering a
culture and it doesn’t matter what you
see or where you go what matters is your
own experience while you’re there some
people think that only spending a week
or an hour in a country doesn’t allow
you enough time to see it but if there’s
one thing I know to be true it’s that
just one brief experience can shape your
whole life it was 11 p.m. on a Saturday
night when I arrived in Cuba after
traveling 12 miles in the taxi I
realized I only had $20 cash on me
Cuba didn’t accept US debit or credit
cards so when I got to the hotel I was
unable to pay the hotel or the taxi
driver I was so ashamed of the mistake
that I’d made I rarely cry but that
night I just sat on the side of the road
and completely broke down the taxi
driver came over to me and said
something like yo tengo tres aha see on
tienda VNL and with my broken Spanish I
understood that to be something like I
have three daughters I’d hate for them
to be in your position you can come stay
with my family for the night
at first I refused but then sheepishly
agreed I didn’t know what his wife would
think of him bringing home a young blond
American girl at midnight but when we
arrived to their little concrete home
she greeted me with a kiss on the cheek
and made the bed for me it wasn’t until
the next morning when I saw her sleeping
on a one-inch thick foam pad on the
kitchen floor with a floral sheet draped
over her she had given me her own bed to
sleep in I had experiences like this
over a hundred and ninety-six times I
have just a taste of what every country
in the world is like which for most
people is unimaginable I know that
non-muslim women can enter Saudi Arabia
alone and without covering their heads I
know that you can swim with whales in
Tonga
and that you can cross the Drake Passage
to Antarctica and 60 mile-per-hour winds
and 30-foot waves only to find
tranquility and penguins on the other
side these experiences will forever
shape my view of the world
but while this expedition was
exhilarating it was also quite
exhausting
I spoke to over 16,000 students on
countless issues
I collected water samples and planted
trees to offset my carbon footprint
I met with mayors and ministers and
filmed an educational documentary and I
used social media as a means to showcase
the beauty of countries around the world
and encourage others to travel in ways
that they never have before but what you
don’t see on Instagram it’s the constant
exhaustion of working 15 hour days or
the raw fear that I felt I was a woman
traveling alone and many countries that
I travel to were either
inaccessible or dangerous or both
imagine arriving to border control at
2:00 in the morning in Mogadishu Somalia
and then getting into an armed vehicle
surrounded by pickup trucks filled with
men with machine guns then imagine
passing through four security gates just
to get to the comp compound and then
them showing you to your room and then
nonchalantly pointing out the safe room
where you go in case you hear an
explosion I wasn’t sure if I’d be able
to tell my family if I’d be coming home
or when and we all knew that it was a
possibility that I wouldn’t make it back
safely but I wouldn’t trade these
experiences for the world they were hard
and scary yes but I discovered the
goodness and people all around the world
because of my expedition I’ve been
featured in tons of new channels around
the world and hundreds of thousands of
newspapers magazines and articles and
when I only have 30 seconds to answer
the why question this is what I tell
them I saw the opportunity to make
history by breaking a speed record I
wanted to break down misconceptions
about women and
as a triathlete I wanted to test my
physical and mental endurance while also
experiencing as much of the world as
possible I wanted to inspire others and
enhance the world we live in and leave a
positive legacy behind and while all of
that is true
this expedition actually started from a
much darker place at the age of 13 I
started feeling like something was off
but I was never able to pinpoint it I
didn’t know why I was having these
negative thoughts or these feelings of
unexplained sadness so I just ignored
them as though they didn’t exist and at
the age of 21 I traveled with my brother
for a month and he began to notice this
unusual pattern of melancholy he
blatantly asked me Cassie are you
depressed I became so defensive
I completely diverted from him and again
just shoved these feelings aside I spent
the next two years running away from my
own truth but those thoughts never seem
to go away and in 2014 I was casted for
a reality TV show called naked and
afraid
the show appears two strangers together
to survive naked in the wilderness for
21 days I’ve never been on TV before and
I saw this as an exciting opportunity to
pull myself up but I was not prepared
for what came next the editing made me
look like a useless villain and worse
viewers agreed I received hundreds of
thousands of hate messages and death
threats and still do to this very day I
didn’t know why so many people hated me
or what I’d done wrong when I just tried
to do my very best I didn’t know what to
do next so I moved out to Los Angeles
and picked up two babysitting jobs
working 85 hours a week just to make
ends meet
eventually I hit rock bottom
and I felt like I had nothing else in me
i sat on the cliffside in Malibu and
wondered if me being alive had any
positive impact on society but then I
asked myself the question if I could do
anything what would it be
travel I still had feelings of
melancholy and unexplained sadness
throughout the expedition but at least I
had a reason to learn how to manage it
or attempt to overcome it but about a
quarter of the way through the
expedition I ran out of money and I
consider quitting and I realized I could
not leave my commitments behind my
commitments to my sponsors to my family
to my supporters to everyone and I had
to finish what I started when you’re at
that very last moment and everything
around you is caving in what’s that one
thing
that’ll pull you out for me that thing
was was travel and it ended up being a
beautiful and life-changing experience
we are given these magnificent minds and
these powerful bodies and it doesn’t
matter where you come from your monetary
status your religion your age how others
judge you what your friends or family
say you can or can’t do it doesn’t even
matter what your dreams are none of that
matters what matters is your truth
you’re either here on this earth for one
more hour or you’re here for 100 more
years but the beauty is you’ll never
know
so like female record-breaker Amelia
Earhart said the most effective way to
do it is to do it nothing else matters
but the next step you take and the
respect and growth that you owe to
yourself so find that one thing that
brings you just a little bit of
excitement and devote yourself to it a
hundred and fifty percent in my
experience you won’t regret it
thank you
[Applause]
who in their right mind would travel
alone to 196 countries when someone
finds out I’ve done something that no
other woman on this planet has done and
broken two Guinness World Records
they usually have a few questions for me
they want to know how I pulled it off
what my experience was like and why I
even did it in the first place today I’m
excited to share with you how it took me
three years to plan and raise money for
the 18-month trip what my experience was
like traveling alone as a woman and I’m
gonna talk about something I’ve never
talked about publicly before the real
reason why I did this expedition so how
did I do it 196 countries sounds easy
enough right
I knew this expedition was going to be a
huge endeavor and the first step was
figuring out all the rules for breaking
a Guinness World Record there are so
many rules both big and small like how I
was only allowed to take scheduled
public transportation to and from each
country I wasn’t allowed to drive a car
while in the Guinness clock and there
were limitations as to how far I could
travel in a taxi I also had to prove
that I’d been in each country which is
harder than you think many countries
throughout Europe and Central America
don’t stamp passport so I had to find
different ways to document everything
I collected photos videos countless
tickets GPS coordinates signed witness
statements credit card bills and even
phone logs next time you go to North
Korea you can forget about bringing your
phone they don’t stamp passports you
can’t use your credit card and kidding
that jung-hoon is not going to give you
an autograph you you can however send a
pre-approved propaganda postcard showing
a fist crushing the Pentagon
and then there was the most challenging
rule of all I wasn’t allowed to spend
more than 14 days in a country this
didn’t seem like a big deal at first but
I wasn’t always able to predict when I’d
received my visas this rule almost ended
my expedition in country number 196
Yemen first the u.s. embassy wouldn’t
let me in
due to high terrorist activity in Yemen
and then the Oman authorities wouldn’t
let me out due to the situation Yemen I
faced a major risk of being stuck on the
mainland of Yemen but after two attempts
of trying to cross the border I watched
in the night as the rusted steel gates
pushed back and I was finally let back
into Oman but then the challenge came
how do I pay for this expedition most
people think that I must be rich or that
I’m just this young blond American girl
leisurely travelling the world not
having to do a single day of work but
they couldn’t be more wrong I didn’t
grow up in a family with a lot of money
in fact I had to put myself through
college and I wasn’t able to finish my
degree because I couldn’t afford it so
with I knew that with this expedition
I’d have to find creative ways with
having to figure out how to fund it I
spent countless hours developing
business plans finding financial backers
vlogging filming an educational
documentary so that I could pay for it
all on my own
remember the time and effort it took you
to plan your last vacation now imagine
doing it 196 times and all on your own
what I thought would take me six months
to plan actually took me three years so
what was it like in four words it was
exhilarating it was exhausting it was
scary and it was eye-opening whether
you’ve been to five countries or a
hundred and fifty you probably have your
own personal unique
related to each place we all have our
own way of traveling and discovering a
culture and it doesn’t matter what you
see or where you go what matters is your
own experience while you’re there some
people think that only spending a week
or an hour in a country doesn’t allow
you enough time to see it but if there’s
one thing I know to be true it’s that
just one brief experience can shape your
whole life it was 11 p.m. on a Saturday
night when I arrived in Cuba after
traveling 12 miles in the taxi I
realized I only had $20 cash on me
Cuba didn’t accept US debit or credit
cards so when I got to the hotel I was
unable to pay the hotel or the taxi
driver I was so ashamed of the mistake
that I’d made I rarely cry but that
night I just sat on the side of the road
and completely broke down the taxi
driver came over to me and said
something like yo tengo tres aha see on
tienda VNL and with my broken Spanish I
understood that to be something like I
have three daughters I’d hate for them
to be in your position you can come stay
with my family for the night
at first I refused but then sheepishly
agreed I didn’t know what his wife would
think of him bringing home a young blond
American girl at midnight but when we
arrived to their little concrete home
she greeted me with a kiss on the cheek
and made the bed for me it wasn’t until
the next morning when I saw her sleeping
on a one-inch thick foam pad on the
kitchen floor with a floral sheet draped
over her she had given me her own bed to
sleep in I had experiences like this
over a hundred and ninety-six times I
have just a taste of what every country
in the world is like which for most
people is unimaginable I know that
non-muslim women can enter Saudi Arabia
alone and without covering their heads I
know that you can swim with whales in
Tonga
and that you can cross the Drake Passage
to Antarctica and 60 mile-per-hour winds
and 30-foot waves only to find
tranquility and penguins on the other
side these experiences will forever
shape my view of the world
but while this expedition was
exhilarating it was also quite
exhausting
I spoke to over 16,000 students on
countless issues
I collected water samples and planted
trees to offset my carbon footprint
I met with mayors and ministers and
filmed an educational documentary and I
used social media as a means to showcase
the beauty of countries around the world
and encourage others to travel in ways
that they never have before but what you
don’t see on Instagram it’s the constant
exhaustion of working 15 hour days or
the raw fear that I felt I was a woman
traveling alone and many countries that
I travel to were either
inaccessible or dangerous or both
imagine arriving to border control at
2:00 in the morning in Mogadishu Somalia
and then getting into an armed vehicle
surrounded by pickup trucks filled with
men with machine guns then imagine
passing through four security gates just
to get to the comp compound and then
them showing you to your room and then
nonchalantly pointing out the safe room
where you go in case you hear an
explosion I wasn’t sure if I’d be able
to tell my family if I’d be coming home
or when and we all knew that it was a
possibility that I wouldn’t make it back
safely but I wouldn’t trade these
experiences for the world they were hard
and scary yes but I discovered the
goodness and people all around the world
because of my expedition I’ve been
featured in tons of new channels around
the world and hundreds of thousands of
newspapers magazines and articles and
when I only have 30 seconds to answer
the why question this is what I tell
them I saw the opportunity to make
history by breaking a speed record I
wanted to break down misconceptions
about women and
as a triathlete I wanted to test my
physical and mental endurance while also
experiencing as much of the world as
possible I wanted to inspire others and
enhance the world we live in and leave a
positive legacy behind and while all of
that is true
this expedition actually started from a
much darker place at the age of 13 I
started feeling like something was off
but I was never able to pinpoint it I
didn’t know why I was having these
negative thoughts or these feelings of
unexplained sadness so I just ignored
them as though they didn’t exist and at
the age of 21 I traveled with my brother
for a month and he began to notice this
unusual pattern of melancholy he
blatantly asked me Cassie are you
depressed I became so defensive
I completely diverted from him and again
just shoved these feelings aside I spent
the next two years running away from my
own truth but those thoughts never seem
to go away and in 2014 I was casted for
a reality TV show called naked and
afraid
the show appears two strangers together
to survive naked in the wilderness for
21 days I’ve never been on TV before and
I saw this as an exciting opportunity to
pull myself up but I was not prepared
for what came next the editing made me
look like a useless villain and worse
viewers agreed I received hundreds of
thousands of hate messages and death
threats and still do to this very day I
didn’t know why so many people hated me
or what I’d done wrong when I just tried
to do my very best I didn’t know what to
do next so I moved out to Los Angeles
and picked up two babysitting jobs
working 85 hours a week just to make
ends meet
eventually I hit rock bottom
and I felt like I had nothing else in me
i sat on the cliffside in Malibu and
wondered if me being alive had any
positive impact on society but then I
asked myself the question if I could do
anything what would it be
travel I still had feelings of
melancholy and unexplained sadness
throughout the expedition but at least I
had a reason to learn how to manage it
or attempt to overcome it but about a
quarter of the way through the
expedition I ran out of money and I
consider quitting and I realized I could
not leave my commitments behind my
commitments to my sponsors to my family
to my supporters to everyone and I had
to finish what I started when you’re at
that very last moment and everything
around you is caving in what’s that one
thing
that’ll pull you out for me that thing
was was travel and it ended up being a
beautiful and life-changing experience
we are given these magnificent minds and
these powerful bodies and it doesn’t
matter where you come from your monetary
status your religion your age how others
judge you what your friends or family
say you can or can’t do it doesn’t even
matter what your dreams are none of that
matters what matters is your truth
you’re either here on this earth for one
more hour or you’re here for 100 more
years but the beauty is you’ll never
know
so like female record-breaker Amelia
Earhart said the most effective way to
do it is to do it nothing else matters
but the next step you take and the
respect and growth that you owe to
yourself so find that one thing that
brings you just a little bit of
excitement and devote yourself to it a
hundred and fifty percent in my
experience you won’t regret it
thank you
[Applause]
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