Culture
79 year-old Filipina Travels to All Countries in the World
On November 9, 2023, 79 year-old Luisa Yu landed in Belgrade, Serbia. Serbia is Luisa’s 193rd and final United Nations recognized country, making her the second Filipina to visit all countries in the world.
Mama Luisa or Tita Luisa, is well known in the travel community. She’s not your average traveler. At 77, she coolly went tandem skydiving over The Palm in Dubai. It comes as no surprise that she was awarded Most Adventurous Explorer by the Philippine Global Explorers (PGE) as well as Most Positive Traveler by NomadMania in 2022.
Luisa’s first trip was at the age of 23 to the United States where she studied. She first started traveling within the United States, and later excitedly went outside of the country, thus starting her travel diaries. She quit her nursing job in Miami because the schedule limited her travels. She then learned about investing in properties and started investing as a source of livelihood.
While traveling, Luisa is particularly fond of visiting tribes and experiencing the culture first hand with its people.
According to Luisa, she met some travelers from Serbia and Croatia who later on became friends and kept in touch and encouraged her to make Serbia her final country. These friends celebrated her feat with her by welcoming her in Belgrade.
Luisa says that she is happy finishing her goal of visiting 193 countries. It was not easy, but she made it. If she has any advice to young travelers, it is to save money and work hard and to believe that anybody can do it.
