Alma Asinobi, a Nigerian travel content creator, did not exactly beat the record she desired, but she did put Nigeria on the map by carrying the Nigerian flag across continents.

In an Instagram post, she celebrated her success, writing, “Our Nigerian flag is officially the first and fastest flag to visit all seven continents! I guess my work here is done. I cannot wait to be homeeeee.”

Asinobi completed her tour in 71 hours, 26 minutes, and 25 seconds, falling short of the 64-hour Guinness World Record held by American veteran Johnny Cruz Buckingham.

However, her journey revealed the extent of passport inequality and the obstacles that Nigerians and possibly other Africans face while trying to travel the world.

The 26-year-old took her first overseas vacation to Benin, West Africa, in early 2020, and that trip made her want “to see what else was out there.” She has now visited about 35 countries, including her most recent record attempt.

While recording her travels, Asinobi discovered that influencers concentrated on the destinations rather than the journey itself. After going through lengthy, expensive, and difficult visa processes, she decided to generate social media material for other low-mobility passport holders.

She felt it was a topic worth addressing on a worldwide scale in 2024 after attempting three times to obtain a visa to a European nation before being granted one.

She told CNN, “This is something that … more than half of the world population actually experience. They don’t have passport privilege. But we don’t talk about this enough. I just thought … what better way to talk about it than to show the world how tough it is to travel with a passport like mine?”

Because of her Nigerian passport, the vlogger encountered visa problems, flight delays, and other travel limitations during her most recent endeavor. The Nigerian passport is at the 92nd position on a list of 102 on the Henley Passport Index. The index is a ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

Asinobi started her record attempt from Antarctica on March 19, before flying to Chile. She went on to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic but her flight to Paris was cancelled because the UK’s Heathrow Airport had closed following a fire at a nearby substation.

That caused a two-hour delay and reroute to Spain, where she missed her connecting flight and so she flew to Egypt. She subsequently flew to Dubai, where officials didn’t allow her to board for Perth, Australia, after they told her at the gate that they needed to re-confirm her visa.

After they confirmed that her visa was valid, Asinobi went to Australia on the next available flight. She chose Sydney to finish the trip, and even though she knew at that moment that her record attempt had failed, she was glad that she finished her tour. According to TVC, she became the first Nigerian to visit all 7 continents using a Nigerian passport.

“This is something that … more than half of the world population actually experience,” she said. “They don’t have passport privilege. But we don’t talk about this enough. I just thought … what better way to talk about it than to show the world how tough it is to travel with a passport like mine?”

Asinobi added that her tour goes beyond leisure travel. “There’s so much at stake. People have missed opportunities to go abroad for meetings, for conferences … I know of someone who lost his mom because they couldn’t get her visa to a (different) country in time for her to get surgery done. That is a life-changing event.”

Before embarking on the trip, Asinobi prepared contingency plans in case of delays or missed connections, but days before departure, she said that one country on her route refused to grant her a visa, leaving her with fewer options if something went wrong along the way.

Beyond restrictions, her body also faced the impact of her decision.

After her journey, she wrote on Instagram, “Gosh… Continent 8 (Dreamland) was kind to me. No visas needed, no flight needed, just a bed. To be honest any bed would have been fine. I just needed my swollen feet to not move for a few hours and all I can say is… mission accomplished.”

“As I was sleeping I heard ‘this is the final boarding call…’ and I jumped out of bed startled only to realize it was only a dream. That’s not normal,” she wrote.

When Asinobi returned to her home country, she organized a flag-signing ceremony, with over 600 supporters and fans signing the famous souvenir.

Asinobi may set a new world record for the most signatures on a single piece of travel memorabilia, even though her main objective was to raise awareness about passport privilege.