World record travellers plan next trip

Cousins John Bougen and James Irving returned to New Zealand this month to complete their marathon journey around the world, and were already making more travel plans.

Over the past 5 1/2 months the pair have visited 191 countries.

The tiny African island state of Sao Tome and Principe and Afghanistan were the only two sovereign nations they failed to enter, because of flight schedules and seat availability.

Irving agreed that missing those two countries represented unfinished business.

But he and Bougen were also thinking of travelling to every one of the world's inhabited territories and dependencies, of which there are more than 40. "We knocked off two or three of them and we would really like to do every one," he said at Auckland Airport.

"We may not do them all in one shot."

Bougen and Irving are claiming that their single ticket journey is a world record for the number of countries visited and papers will be filed shortly with Guinness World Records.

Their 169-day journey saw them travel 241,800km. They used 104 airlines, sat on 54 planes, boarded 242 flights, entered 190 airports and spent 417 hours in the air after departing Auckland last August 28. Their venture, during which they supported Save The Children, cost about $350,000, which was paid for by themselves and through sponsorship.

- NZPA