Cassandra De Pecol

Cassandra De Pecol (born June 23, 1989) is an American author, traveler, activist, and speaker. In 2017, she set Guinness World Records in two categories: "Fastest time to visit all sovereign countries" and "Fastest time to visit all sovereign countries—Female". Both records were broken in 2019.

World travel and Guinness record
From July 24, 2015 to February 2, 2017, De Pecol traveled to every sovereign nation in the world. In 2017, De Pecol had two Guinness World Records: "Fastest time to visit all sovereign countries" and "Fastest time to visit all sovereign countries - Female". In 2019, both records were beaten by Taylor Demonbreun.

While traveling, she spoke to over 16,000 university students in 40 countries, and acted as an ambassador of peace for the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism and SKAL international.

Though she planted trees to help offset her carbon footprint, she was criticized for taking a large number of flights, as well as for spending only a little time in each country.

The trip around the world cost about US$111,000 and was funded by sponsors that De Pecol obtained throughout the expedition. De Pecol filmed her travels and uploaded them in her social media pages.

Other ventures
As a public speaker, she spoke in various events like; TEDxMile High, World Domination Summit and Future Leaders in Travel Retreat.

In July 2018, De Pecol released her memoir, Expedition 196: A Personal Journal from the First Woman on Record to Travel Every Country.

Lawsuit
DePecol has been sued by Travelers United, which states that she has made “unfair and deceptive” claims related to advertising. Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote that Travelers United "hopes that the lawsuit will be a watershed moment in the industry, bringing more accountability to claims made by travel content creators. Lauren Wolfe, counsel for Travelers United, stated "We hope that other nonprofits will be emboldened to bring similar lawsuits." Travelers United said that De Pecol had incorrectly said she was the "first woman to travel to every country" and that she had said she would be the "first sponsored astronaut" by Virgin Galactic.

Reality television appearance
On December 8, 2013, DePecol appeared on the show Naked and Afraid in a special called "Double Jeopardy".