81-Year-Old Filipina Bags Most Intrepid Traveller at the World Travellers “Oscars”

Miami based Filipina American proves that wanderlust has no age limit

Manila, Philippines. At 81 years old, Luisa Yu, a Filipina American based in Miami, has won the Most Intrepid Traveller award at the 2025 NomadMania Travel Awards held from 22 to 23 November 2025. This category recognises the boldest global explorers and Yu stood out among four other finalists which secured her place among the world’s most remarkable adventurers.

Often called the Oscars of world travellers, the NomadMania Awards are decided by the NomadMania community. This global organisation of more than 50,000 travellers is known for tracking and verifying travel achievements across the world.

She did not stop at visiting all countries

Most travellers would slow down after completing all 193 UN recognised countries which Yu achieved in 2023. Instead, she kept going and chose even more ambitious journeys.

Over the past year, she travelled through Afghanistan, Somalia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan, the Pamir Highway, and the Ennedi Desert in Chad, where she camped for 12 days in tough outdoor conditions. Her travels continued in Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Japan, Austria, and Portugal in 2025.

If you need proof of her courage, she also skydived in Dubai at 77 years old. Her energy speaks for itself.

As Co Leader of the global community Filipino World Travelers (FWT), Yu is not only collecting passport stamps. She is showing travellers everywhere what it means to explore with purpose.

A monumental gathering of UN Masters

Now in its fifth year, the NomadMania Awards brought together more than 100 UN Masters, meaning travellers who have visited every UN recognised country. There are fewer than 500 people worldwide who have reached this milestone which makes the gathering a major moment in travel history.

This two day virtual event is considered the largest online assembly of all world country travellers ever recorded. It featured:

• One traveller who completed the Grand Slam of Travel, meaning all 193 countries, both the North and South Poles, and a trip to outer space

• Four travellers who have visited all UN countries at least twice

Sessions covered themes such as travel cybersecurity, dark travel, LGBT travel, solo woman travel, digital nomadism, and budget travel. Speakers included participants younger than 30 and older than 65. There were also sessions in Spanish and Chinese which showed the truly global reach of this community.

Filipinos shining on the global stage

Yu’s win is part of a larger moment for Filipino travellers as several finalists were also part of the Filipino World Travelers community.

Kach Umandap, finalist for Most Purposeful Traveller. She is the first Filipino and the youngest traveller to visit all countries using only a Philippine passport in 2025. She also launched initiatives to support young remote Filipino workers.

Odette A. Ricasa, finalist for Best Travel Book and the first Filipino to visit all countries in 2022. She authored It’s All in the State of Mind.

Wyatt Maktrav and Kaila de los Reyes, finalists for Biggest Low Passport Index Traveller. Wyatt, at only 12 years old, became the youngest person to visit all European UN countries in 2025 with his mother Kaila.

Even with these achievements, a Filipino traveller has not yet won the Biggest Low Passport Index Traveller award although Filipinos have been finalists every year since the category began. This includes Kach Umandap in 2022, Pia Montemayor in 2023, Gean Tayone in 2024, and Wyatt Maktrav and Kaila de los Reyes in 2025.

A rare double win

Yu’s new award is her second NomadMania trophy. She previously won Most Positive Traveller in 2022. She now joins a very exclusive group with only one other person holding more than one NomadMania award. This is Thor Pedersen, who travelled to every country without flying and won Biggest Traveller in 2022 and Best Travel Book in 2025 for The Impossible Journey.

Yu’s win also comes after her courtesy visit to Malacañang in April 2025 with the President of the Philippines, together with fellow world travellers Kach Umandap, Odette Ricasa, and Dondon Bales, Founder of the Filipino World Travelers community.

For full details of the 2025 NomadMania Awards and finalists, you may visit :

Voting on NomadMania Travel Awards 2025

Travel Awards recording: UN Masters Weekend + NomadMania Awards

All images credited to Filipino World Travelers