Six years ago, during our entire week without a signal, data, or internet and wandering through the otherworldly landscapes of Socotra Island, Yemen, my friend and co-guide at the time, Pier Doyon, asked me a question that caught me off guard: “What would your title be if you visited every country in the world?”
I initially laughed this off, not ever having thought about it. After all, traveling to every country wasn’t ever a goal I had consciously set—just a curious byproduct of an insatiable desire to explore. But then Pier couldn’t resist teasing. He tossed out a list of tongue-in-cheek ideas:
- “First Person to Visit Every Country in the World While in Medical School”
- “First Person to Visit Every Country in the World with Over $300,000 in Student Loan Debt”
- “First New Yorker to Breakdance in Every Country in the World”
- “First Person to Bring an NYC Attitude to Every Country in the World.”
My favorite, though, was his last one: “First Person to Visit Every Country in the World and Not Give a Crap.”
That one stayed with me for years. By the time I got down to the single digits of new countries left for me to visit, it became my default response whenever someone asked how I wanted this journey defined. “First Person to Visit Every Country in the World and Not Give a Crap” — cheeky, irreverent, and fitting.
But this trip reminded me how, sometimes, the most profound ideas come out of nowhere.
“Calvin,” someone said on this particular trip, “how about the ‘first person to take groups of strangers to every country in the world’?”
There it was. That’s the one.
If I were foolhardy enough to care about Guinness Book of World Records headlines or lofty titles, this would be it. Because I never traveled for the sake of ticking off a list, proving a point, or surviving medical school (though, let’s face it, travel did help me survive med school). I traveled for the people — the strangers who became friends, and the friends who became family.
It wasn’t about the countries; it was about the connections.
The tagline I’d be proud of?
“The First Person to Take Groups of Strangers to Every Country in the World.”
That feels right. That feels like me.