Renee Bruns climbs to new heights , sets new records
American Renee Bruns tells us how she set a Guinness World Record for the most countries visited by a person in a wheelchair in a year .
AfA : Tell us a bit about yourself and what brought you to where you are today .
Renee : I was born with an undiagnosed skeletal disorder and started using a wheelchair full-time at the age of seven . Because of my disability , I started traveling around the country to see specialists when I was a young girl . Seeing different parts of the U . S . sparked an interest in traveling and when I was in the third grade , I expressed to my mom that I hoped to see all 50 states someday . We started taking family vacations each summer and would visit new states each year . By the time I was 16 , my family and I had been to all 50 states .
In my early 20s , I started traveling internationally and quickly made it my goal to see all 195 U . N . member nations . In May 2022 , I left my executive role at a Fortune 500 insurance agency to spend one year traveling full-time . I am coming up on my one-year anniversary and finishing my sabbatical year .
At this point , I ' ve been to 117 countries and all 7 continents ( plus the 50 states ). I ' m not done traveling and still hope to get to all 195 countries , but I will be slowing it down a bit so I can launch the next chapter of my life .
AfA : Congratulations on winning a Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in one year by a person in a wheelchair . What was this experience like and what has it taught you about yourself and your life goals ?
Renee : When I set out to see the world in May 2022 , my ultimate goal was not necessarily the Guinness World Record . I really wanted to experience the people around the world and gain a better understanding of how we are all connected . A few weeks before I left , I sent a very casual inquiry to Guinness to see if they had any sort of a record I could break , knowing that it was unlikely that there were many disabled travelers doing what I was doing . We exchanged a few messages and the record I recently received was what we settled on : most countries traveled to in one year with a wheelchair . I had a bucket list and on it was , get a Guinness World Record . It ' s always been a very broad statement with no specific details on what the record would be , when I would get it , or how I would begin it . For me , receiving the record was one of the most monumental moments in my life . While it was a personal
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