Adventurers visit 7 continents in less than 4 days, smashing World Record

CTV News Channel: Redefining 'trip of a lifetime' Travellers Julie Berry and Kasey Stewart set a new World Record for travelling seven continents in 92 hours.

A couple of American adventurers didn’t quite meet their goal of visiting all seven continents in three days, but they did smash the old Guinness World Record by reaching all seven in less than four days -- 92 hours, four minutes and 19 seconds to be exact. The previous record was 120 hours.

Julie Berry and Kasey Stewart didn’t just run through airports, either. They took a helicopter ride over the Sydney Opera House, posed for photos in front of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, and found time to skate on the ice rink outside Toronto’s city hall.

And the two barely knew each other before heading out on their adventure in December.

Stewart and Berry met briefly last year in New Zealand and kept in touch on social media, because they had so much in common. Both were former reality TV show participants -- Berry on “Survivor” and Stewart on “The Bachelorette.” Both had taken a year off to travel.

The trip was Stewart’s idea. After he had finished visiting all seven continents for the first time, he began thinking about how quickly he could do it again. He started to map out flights, and contacted Berry.

Stewart tells CTV News Channel that it was all about “the lure of doing something that nobody has ever done before.”

Berry says she jumped at the chance. “Adventure, travel, Guinness Book of World Records--why not?” she says.

The two managed to wrangle a sponsor for the priciest part of the trip -- flying to Antarctica -- but financed most it themselves.

They started in Sydney (Australia) and then flew to Dubai (Asia), Cairo (Africa), Frankfurt (Europe), Toronto (North America) and Santiago (South America) before finishing in Antarctica.

They didn’t miss any flights, but were delayed 20 hours by a snowstorm on the final leg from Chile to Antarctica.

There was plenty of jet leg too.

“You’re moving so fast, you don’t even know what times on your end,” Stewart says. “Most definitely we had some really weird conversations ... you get a little loopy.”

Berry says she had no idea how she’d get along with her travel companion but, in the end, they “got along great.”

For Berry, the trip was a way to inspire people. “If you’re inspired, you’re surely going to inspire other people,” she says.

Stewart said he’s inspired by people who pursue things that are “not going to be wildly popular or accepted by most people, but (that) they know in their heart it’s what they’re supposed to do.”