Jessica Nabongo is your travel buddy, whichever country you are planning to visit this holiday, believe me she has been there, and she is sharing her experience of travelling every country in the world not just as a black woman but as a human being. She completed the world travel in October 2019 with her last country being Seychelles.
Born on May 15th 1984 to Ugandan Parents in Detroit, Michigan. Jessica is a travel influencer, entrepreneur and one of Americas famous bloggers. The millennial has a net worth estimated to be over 1.5$ million as listed by Forbes, Wikipedia and Business Insider. She owns a travel blog Catch Me If You Can, a jewelry line ‘This Is The Catch‘ described as a luxury lifestyle brand inspired by the global adventures of Jessica Nabongo, a travel boutique that provides membership access to exclusive luxe and local experiences called The Nabongo List, and now an author of an anticipated biography of her experiences, tips and stories gathered while travelling through every country.
In a description of herself Jessica associates as a wanderlust, writer, entrepreneur, travel expert and public speaker. She is the first black woman to have traveled to every country in the world and has curated her experiences based on her explorative itchy feet.
Soon after graduation, Jessica landed a high paying job in the pharmaceutical industry, but due to the extensive requirements of the job, and her urge to see the world, she quit the job to become an English teacher in Japan and along the way acquired a Masters in Economics. Through all these changes, Jessica realized that one thing had stayed true, her desire to travel and write and take pictures documenting her experiences. She deiced to start a blog The Catch Me If You Can where she successfully built a community of interested and likeminded people.
In an interview with Banana Republic, she says “I’ve always wanted to visit every country in the world because am a geography nerd. At the time, I had read about an American woman, Cassie De Pecol, who was the first woman on record to visit every country in the world. I hadn’t even known that was a thing. So I did some research and realized no black woman had done this. So I wanted to be the first black woman to do it. The reason why its important? Because representation matters. I can go out and do things simply because I want to do them. But I know a lot of other people can’t. I hope that when people see me do this, they let go of fear as much as possible and just get out and explore the world. And one more thing on that note -being a woman, a lot of women have done this. I say fear is the number one reason. People see me doing it. I don’t always travel alone, but have been to over 62 countries on my own. I want all women to see and understand: don’t let them tell you the world is a scary place. Its not true. The world is ours, lets go. I hope that when people see me do this they let go of fear as much as possible and just get out and explore the world.”
Whether you have a passport or not, Jessica hopes to use her story to educate and inspire you to travel and experience the world around you. Often when people think about travel, the mind goes to an island somewhere in the Bahamas, or Morocco. You can start by challenging yourself to a two-day trip around your country, and constantly upgrade from there.
Now that restrictions are being lifted locally and globally, are you ready to travel around? What places do you hope to visit, share below.
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