From Detroit to every corner of the globe, Jessica Nabongo has reshaped the concept of solo travel for women. As the first Black woman to visit every country in the world, she has become a powerful voice for representation, cultural curiosity and a more inclusive way of seeing the world.
Nabongo occupies a space that is both influential and quietly disruptive. She has expanded not only the map of where travel stories come from, but who gets to tell them. Her legacy is not simply that she went everywhere, but that she did so with intention, visibility and purpose.
Nabongo is known as the first Black woman to have visited every country in the world, a milestone she reached in 2019. That achievement spans all 193 United Nations member states, the two UN observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine), Antarctica and all 50 US states, much of it undertaken solo.
A first-generation American, Nabongo was born in Detroit to Ugandan parents. She attended St. John’s University in New York where she earned a degree in English literature, later completing a graduate degree at the London School of Economics. Growing up between cultures shaped her sense of identity early. Travel was woven into her childhood through both overseas and domestic family holidays and road trips, becoming a natural part of her early life.
What distinguished her path was an early awareness that the life she expected to want did not fully satisfy her. In her early twenties, she left a secure corporate role and relocated to Japan to teach English, prioritising exploration over a stable career. That decision proved formative. Travel became less about individual trips and more about trajectory, shaping not only where she went, but how she came to understand herself.
As her travels expanded, Nabongo increasingly travelled alone, driven by practicality and the freedom to keep moving. Waiting for others felt constraining. Solo travel offered momentum, autonomy and deeper immersion, and over time, it built confidence. Rather than framing solo travel as fearless, she has consistently described it as informed, grounded in preparation, awareness and intuition.
This philosophy has guided her through destinations many would caution against visiting alone, particularly as a woman. Nabongo acknowledges risk, but rejects fear as a framework for decision-making. Experience, local knowledge and cultural respect shape how she moves through the world. In doing so, she challenges the idea that safety is achieved through avoidance rather than informed engagement.
Her visibility matters. Throughout her journey, Nabongo encountered heightened scrutiny at borders and in public spaces, often because of her appearance. Rather than retreat, she chose visibility. Her travels became a way of asserting that Black women belong within the global travel narrative and have long been part of it. This commitment to representation and travel equity now sits at the centre of her influence.
That influence extends beyond social platforms. Nabongo is widely regarded as a thoughtful voice in conversations about responsible and inclusive tourism. She collaborates selectively with destinations and organisations aligned with her values, speaks on international stages, and uses her platform to represent places and perspectives often overlooked by mainstream travel media.
Her travels span countries many would caution against visiting alone, particularly as a woman: Iran, South Sudan, Venezuela, Guatemala and remote corners of the American heartland. She does not deny risk, but approaches it with preparation rather than fear. Preparation, cultural literacy and intuition shape how she moves through the world.
Her memoir, Catch Me If You Can, published after the completion of her world journey, reflects this approach. The book moves between travel narrative and personal reckoning, exploring identity, belonging and the emotional realities of long-term, largely solo travel. It offers a candid account of growth, fatigue, resilience and purpose, without turning the journey into a victory lap.
Nabongo’s selection to write the foreword for Lonely Planet’s Women Travel Solo reflects the alignment between her journey and the themes shaping contemporary solo travel. Her experience speaks to self-trust, independence, cultural curiosity and the freedom to move on one’s own terms. While her achievement is exceptional in scale, her message is deliberately inclusive. Solo travel, she argues, is not the preserve of a particular personality type or life stage.
In claiming the world on her own terms, Nabongo has created space for others to do the same. In doing so, she has widened the horizon for women who choose to travel alone.
Catch Me If You Can by Jessica Nabongo is available from Penguin.