Meet Luisa Yu, an 80-year-old Filipino-American who has become the oldest Filipino to travel to every country in the world. Hailing from the Philippines, she moved to the US at 23 as an exchange student. Over five decades, she visited all 193 UN countries, culminating in a celebratory visit in November 2023 at her final destination, Serbia, which captured the hearts of the nation. She garnered over a million views in an Instagram story of completing her last country and became an overnight media sensation.
Since then, Luisa’s incredible travel accomplishments have been featured in many social media and news outlets around the world. As the co-leader of the global community of Filipino World Travelers, she embodies the spirit of using travel as a force for good and inspires others to follow their dreams. Luisa was recognised with the 2022 Nomadmania Most Positive Award.
You can also watch this interview in video form on our NomadMania Youtube channel. This interview was conducted by NomadMania Executive Committee member Dondon Bales who was with Luisa when she arrived at her final country.
Congratulations! You have finished visiting all the 193 UN countries in the world. We’re so excited and so happy for you. So, tell us how it all started for you.
It all started when I was in Leyte, a small province – in Tacloban, where you also come from. I always had a desire to dream about travelling and hoped that someday I would be able to see the world.
And what was it like before, when you were starting to travel? Was it difficult? Was it challenging many years ago?
Oh, yes, it was so challenging. It was not easy because there was no Internet or social media. I had to do a lot of my research in the library. That was my source of finding out where the places were and reading about all the beautiful parts of the world, realising that there were so many things to offer and to see what it is like to travel.
How long did it take you to finish visiting all the countries in the world?
It was a long time, almost forever – 50 years of my life. It wasn’t easy. Like I said, it was difficult. You know, when you have a lot of responsibilities in life, with a job, having a kid, and all these things to consider, it was not easy to travel. You had to do a lot of research. But I did it.
What are some key highlights of your visits across all these different countries in the world?
There were a lot of things that I did, like skydiving in Dubai. In spite of my difficulties with jumping, I did it. I have visited a lot of festivals, like the Gerewol festival in Niger. I went to see the Sing-sing in Papua New Guinea. I attended the Carnival in Rio and many other festivals that are too numerous to mention.
I know you even had a funny story when you lost your phone. Tell us about that.
In one of my trips to Palau in the South Pacific, I went on a scenic flight in a small plane with no door. When I tried to take pictures, the wind blew on my camera, and it fell into the water. I said, ‘Oh, I lost my life!‘ because everything was there. I had all my contacts, my itinerary, all my communication. It was the most difficult thing, but I managed, in spite of that, by asking people, ‘What time is it?’ ‘Can you please wake me up at a certain time?‘ I don’t know how I made it. It was not easy. My phone skydived, just like I did.
Well, how did you manage to arrange the whole skydiving? Did you get permission from your family or doctor?
Yes, it was not easy because when I signed up for the skydive, I didn’t realize they would send me a form that my doctor had to sign the paper for anyone 70 and above. I skydived when I was 78, during my trip to the Expo in Dubai. So, I went to my doctor’s office and said I needed to get this signed. The secretary said, ‘No, the doctor said you’re not jumping.’ I said to him, ‘But you know, I made an appointment.’ I said, ‘Please, doctor, sign this paper because it is on my bucket list. I want to do it.’ Finally, after making some arrangement that if anything happened to me, he would not be responsible, he asked me, ‘Are you sure you really want to do it?‘ I said, ‘Yes, doctor, please. This is on my bucket list.’ So, he finally said, ‘Okay,‘ and with some witnesses, he signed it. I was so happy, and I did it. That was the highlight of my adventure.
The biggest highlight recently is when you arrived in Serbia, your final country. Tell us about the whole experience.
Oh my God, I couldn’t believe it! You know, it started when I was deciding whether I wanted to finish in Trinidad & Tobago or Serbia. But then I said, well, Trinidad & Tobago is closer to me in Miami, so it’s easier for me to go there. I should go to Serbia first since it’s the farthest. And also, with the weather, it was going to be cold. Many things happened after I came back from the South Pacific, and my health kind of had some problems. So, my doctor said I shouldn’t be travelling for now. But somehow, all my friends that I met before encouraged me to make Serbia my last country. They said, “We will be there. It’s closer to Europe.” All the people I met during my travels were such wonderful people. We bonded together and became like a whole family, and I had such beautiful experiences on all my trips everywhere I go with my travelling.
Dondon, you were also in Europe and said, “Do it in Europe. I will be there to greet you.” I said, “Really?” and you said, “Yes.” So that’s what made me decide on Serbia. But never in my imagination did I think I would have such a huge reception. When I came out of the door, all these people were welcoming me at the airport, cheering, clapping, and they were all there. I couldn’t believe it.
Then, after the arrival was party time! They took me to a nightclub. We had a huge Serbian-style dinner that Iv and Vanna arranged. We partied, and so many people recognized me. They came to take pictures with me, congratulating me. We then went to another place, like a club or a bar, and had so much fun. People were texting Vanna and Iv, saying they would come and to please wait for them because they saw the Instagram post that went viral with 1.8 million viewers. I said, “What!?!?!” and they said, “Yes, you have all these viewers following you.” My God, never in my imagination did I think this would happen.
Suddenly, newspapers and television were featuring me in the news. I said, “I can’t take this!” Dondon became my public relations person, Vanna was my media point of contact, and Iv was my driver, taking me here and there. Some people even came to the place where we were staying because we didn’t have much time. They said, “We will come to you.” It was so exciting.”
You became a recognizable face. I remember when we walked in the street, people will come and say “Is that Luisa Yu? Can we have a picture?”
I feel honoured, at my age, to be getting all this attention.
On your last day, you had the opportunity to speak to students at the College of Tourism. Tell us about that experience.
It was so emotional because I was invited to speak at this College of Tourism in Serbia, and they were preparing the auditorium for me. I thought it was just a small talk. When we went there, all these people were waiting, welcoming me with costumes and presents. I was overwhelmed. They took me to the studio because my time was so limited. I said, ‘I’m flying tonight, so I have to be short.’ They asked me questions, and I spoke to them, encouraged them, and inspired them. It was emotional for me because they were clapping and asking me so many questions about my travels. They were showing at the back of the stage all the pictures from some of my adventures in visiting different countries. It was something I will never forget in my life.
It was such a perfect example of using travel as a force for good—really inspiring young people. You won the 2022 NomadMania Most Positive Traveler Award. You also won the Most Adventurous Explorer Award, and you’re featured in the book ‘Gala: Adventures of the Most Well-Traveled Filipinos.’ Now, you’re the co-leader of the Filipino World Travelers group. You’re an inspiration to many. So, what message would you like to leave with our fellow travellers and aspiring travellers?
Like I said to the students, ‘Be positive. Don’t be afraid. Just go with your passion. If you want to travel, don’t wait. Just go whenever you have the opportunity, because it might not come back again, and life is too short. Just do it.’
Any tips and tricks when you travel?
There’s a lot, because everybody asks me, ‘Are you travelling? How do you manage your budget?’ I said, ‘I travel whenever I can save some money. I did some backpacking in the past, and even now, I’m still backpacking. I stayed in hostels, luxury hotels—everything I could afford to support myself while travelling. For the first time in my life, I even tried couch surfing with one of my friends that I met during a trip. It was amazing and fun. I’m having fun at my age.’
So, my final question, which is our NomadMania signature question: If you were given the opportunity to invite four people in human history to have dinner with you, who would you like to invite and why?
It’s a bit of a difficult question but I’ll mainly focus on the people that are related to travelling like Jose Rizal, our Philippine national hero. He was well travelled. He also speaks many languages and he travelled to many countries in the world, and he inspired me because of the things that he did for our country. And John F. Kennedy, he was the president who had the vision to send someone to visit the moon. And Neil Armstrong, the first person to land on the moon. The last one, I would say, John Wayne. I used to see his movies when I was young and I was looking at all this beautiful background scenery, about the mountains and places. I said, ‘Someday, I want to see those places where he was riding a horse, and I want to visit them’. So those are the people that inspired me.
