Guinness World Record-Holding Traveler Is Giving Away His Frequent Flyer Miles

traveler woman just arrived to destination with her suitcase

James Asquith holds the world record for the youngest traveler to visit every nation on the globe. Now, he tells Public Radio International’s The World that he will give away all of the frequent flyer miles he earned along the way to the lucky person who can guess exactly how many miles he accrued during his record-setting journey. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot of miles.

In 2016, James Asquith earned a place in the record books when he became the youngest person to travel to all 196 countries on earth before he turned 25 years of age. As one might expect, the now 28-year-old traveler earned quite a few frequent flyer miles along the the way. He tells Public Radio International’s (PRI) The World that he banked enough airline loyalty miles to circle the globe at least three times. Now, as part of the launch of his new home-sharing app, Holiday Swap, Asquith plans to give away all of those miles to the person who can guess exactly how many rewards miles he was able to earn during his round-the-world journey.

Asquith hinted at his plans to give away every last frequent flyer mile in an Instagram post late last month. The well-traveled entrepreneur told radio hosts that the contest is as much about sharing his love of travel as it is about promoting his new accommodation-swapping app.

“I thought, you know what, I built up a bunch of air miles and I actually don’t necessarily use them that much,” Asquith explained to listeners. “And I thought, hey, I get asked all the time by people, ‘How’s the best way to use air miles?’ People always saying ‘How can you sometimes travel in business class?’ Or ‘How can you travel so much?’ And it always gets asked and I love seeing how it inspires people. Because travel is the biggest thing that’s ever inspired me, it was the best education I had — learning about different cultures, how people think differently and how people think the same. And about food, religion. I feel like it made me a more interesting person and made me a better person. So look, you know, I can always start off with zero again.”

In fact, Asquith says that a similar inspiration motivated him to found Holiday Swap in the first place. Business Insider called the accommodation-sharing app, “like Tinder with the aim of getting people to swap homes with other people when they travel.”

“After visiting every country in the world, James aimed to make travel more accessible and cheaper for everyone,” Holiday Swap promotional information reveals. “That’s when the idea of Holiday Swap was born.”

Potential world travelers interested in attempting to take the huge stash of air miles off the backpacker-turned-tech-mogul’s hands should follow @jamesasquithtravel on Instagram for details. There are also a few hints in his feed to help make those guesses just a bit more educated. For example, Asquith notes that he earned points through Avios and often traveled with his mother and sister. The lucky winner will be announced in September. Good luck.

[Photo: Shutterstock]