James Rogers and Paige Parker are quite the roadtrippers.
In fact, they love traveling so much, they went on the journey of a lifetime.
The dynamic duo visited 116 countries by car, achieving the record title for the most countries visited in a continuous journey by car.
From Panama to Japan, there’s not much of the globe that the pair left unseen.
“I did not set out to make a record. I had been around the world by motorcycle,” said James.
“I wanted to do a longer trip and the turn of the millennium was coming up. No one had circumnavigated at the turn of a millennium before, so I decided to do it by car since I had already done it on a motorcycle.”
So, from 1 January 1999 to 5 January 2002, the two had a special 4-wheel drive, hard top convertible one-of-a-kind Mercedes Benz designed with a custom-made small trailer.
With it, they navigated through various border crossings, damaged roads, blizzards, and even war zones.
They met extraordinary and ordinary people, drove through deserts and jungles, faced epidemics, and tasted their fair share of both divine and terrible food.
“Every day was unique and an adventure,” said James.
James and Paige covered more than 245,000 kilometres (152,235 mi) during their travels, which began in Iceland on 1 January 1999.
Their non-stop, self-contained, three-year trip took them to six different continents, where their goal was to explore as much of the world as possible at the turn of the millennium.
They wanted to learn what people and countries were doing and to see how well they were doing it.
Their adventures even encouraged Paige to write a memoir, Don’t Call Me Mrs. Rogers.
Although James says each country that they visited was interesting, his favourite was China since so much change was taking place at the time.
James says he does not know how much money he and Paige spent during their travels because they were more focused on making memories.
“I have not counted,” he said.
“The adventures and the circumnavigation were the most important.”
James says it was extraordinarily exciting to learn he broke the record and that his friends and family reacted with shock, surprise, and admiration.
Today, he continues globetrotting and has no plans to stop.
“I continue to visit countries. I decided to have children which I had always opposed,” he said.
“My two daughters showed me I was wrong. We moved to Singapore so they would speak Mandarin which I learned would be important.”
For those interested in breaking a similar record title, James says to do your homework!
“Take small bills in US dollars,” he said.
“Park at the police station whenever you can.”
James also says visiting the world by car was quite the experience.
“I have a passion to see what is happening everywhere, so this was a dream,” he said.
“Plus, constant adventure which I also love.”
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