7 wonders of the world in less than 7 days! Seems next to possible but not for Adventureman!
36-year-old, British adventurer, Jamie McDonald became the first in the world to achieve this extraordinary feat. He recently set a Guinness World Record for visiting all the seven wonders of the world in an awe-inspiring seven-day excursion.
He completed his travel escapade and covered the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, Petra in Jordan, the Colosseum in Italy, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru and Chichén Itzá in Mexico.
To achieve this remarkable accomplishment, McDonald travelled across 4 continents, landed in 9 countries, flew on 13 flights, and rode in 16 taxis, 9 buses, 4 trains and 1 toboggan to cover 22,856 miles in 6 days, 16 hours and 14 minutes for charity.
The logistics of the trip were taken care of by Travelport, which as per its website is the only modern retailing platform built for travel agencies.
“Adventureman began the trip at the Great Wall of China, the world’s longest human-made structure and the world-record clock started ticking the moment he left the first wonder via toboggan. Second, he visited India’s Taj Mahal – the country’s top tourist destination, which is widely considered a symbol of eternal love. From there, he travelled to Jordan and then by bus to the ancient city of Petra, whose carved rose-red sandstone rock facades, tombs, and temples became even more famous from their role in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Departing Jordan, Adventureman flew to Rome to see its legendary Colosseum, envisioning ancient gladiator battles before he made time for a quick pizza pit stop (the only non-aeroplane food he consumed during the trip). Christ the Redeemer, the world’s largest art deco statue, brought Adventureman to Brazil, where he was equally in awe of the view from its platform as he was of the statue itself. The sixth wonder, Machu Pichu (an Incan citadel nearly 8,000 feet above sea level) was Adventureman’s favourite: he plans to go back one day and bought a stuffed llama toy there to bring back for his daughter. Finally, after only 6 days, 16 hours and 14 minutes, he reached Chichén Itzá, an archaeological site that was a hallowed place of ceremony in the Mayan culture,” said an official press release by Travelport.
An author and motivational speaker, Jamie has broken several Guinness World records.
For the first nine years of his life, the Adventureman was in and out of hospital with a rare spinal condition called syringomyelia. Combined with a very weak immune system, epilepsy and problems with his legs; Jamie’s family feared he’d end up in a wheelchair and never walk again.
At the age of nine, his symptoms eased and in order to give back to the hospitals that helped him recover, he started Superhero Foundation.
For Adventureman, the main focus of his record-breaking trip was to raise funds for his charity, the Superhero Foundation.
As per an official press release by Travelport, the company donated $22,856, a dollar for every mile that Jamie travelled for this challenge.
In an exclusive conversation with WION, Jamie opened up about his experience.
On being asked as to how he managed to cover seven wonders of the world in seven days and the challenges that he faced, Jamie said, “This was a big Journey it was 43 pieces of Transport that needed to go right, if one thing went wrong it could have had a domino effect and then it could all go crashing down. We used a technology called Travelport plus they’re a global technology company in the travel industry called Travelport so this piece of technology helped navigate me through 43 forms of Transport.”
He said he also had a travel agent working behind the scenes.
“I also had a travel agent working behind the scenes because, for someone like me, this would be too mind-boggling to do by myself,” he said.
Further, he was asked about the common thread that he discovered during his journey, to which he replied, “Yeah well this isn’t the first rodeo. I’ve run across Canada, ran across a narrow carve, broken other world records sitting on a stationary bike for 12 days, and running on a treadmill for seven days, so I love adventure and I love the Journey of every Adventure that I do, but I’m always a little bit let down at the end of an adventure right! You’re always trying to finish and kind of get to the ending point, but this journey with the Seven Wonders being spread out through seven days, completely flipped that that kind of philosophy that I had on its head you know I always kind of work on it’s all about the journey and with this one it just felt like every time I got to a Wonder to a destination it just blew my mind through beauty and the fact that it’s so historical and so every single wonder was magical and it felt like this world record was all about the destination and was all about getting to the Wonder.”
Then he was asked how the trip was special and different as compared to other adventures to which he responded, “It was a short trip I wouldn’t recommend visiting seven wonders in seven days. I probably only had about 12 hours of sleep in the space of seven days. I was really sleep deprived, and I didn’t manage to get to try too much local food it was aeroplane food, I was on economy flights all the way but I did have about an hour at every wonder and was it enough I think it was right you know I think you know you get there to see the one that I soaked up every single one and even you know the Taj Mahal it brought tears to my eyes”.
Describing his visit to India, Jamie said that the Taj Mahal brought tears to his eyes and that he would like to bring his kids back to the country.
“I think what I would like to do is go back to these countries, especially India. It was just the most stimulating, interesting, fascinating country that I’ve ever been to. So, I’d like to take my kids back to India just to explore the country and see the Taj Mahal again. I mean, at one point I was waiting for a train and waiting for the train to arrive and suddenly this monkey came running out of nowhere and then grabbed this woman’s handbag and stole a handbag and went back to his monkey friends and then they all started pulling stuff out of the bag. At the time I was so sleep deprived and I was lucky enough, am I seeing right now? And this older lady, you could see she wanted her bag back and she was weighing up whether I know to get some courage to get it back so she grabbed a stick then went up and started swatting at the monkeys to get her backpack and it honestly, I just thought what is going on am I completely delusional am I seeing right? So yeah, I just felt like for me India there were just so many things to look at so many smells to take so many different types of food to eat that for me it’s just a place that I have to go back and you know I have to go back to India and explore more.”
While talking about his charity Superhero Foundation, he said “I spent most of my life in a hospital as a kid so I used to have a rare spinal condition where sometimes I couldn’t move my legs. But luckily thanks to the hospital where I live they got me healthy and well at nine years old and I started to move. So yeah, I’m just really lucky. So 10 years ago, I set up a charity called Superior Foundation to try and give back and give support to other kids that are sick too. And yeah, I mean that’s my mission there that’s every time I do Adventures need to be very meaningful. And so this adventure was exactly that because at the end of The Journey Travelport donated one dollar for every mile travelled so which meant over 22 000 was donated to a little boy called Archie who’s got cerebral palsy he got pain in his legs and he struggles to walk but there’s treatment that he can keep taking with those donations that twenty-two thousand dollars and to keep him walking for the rest of his life.”
“I think as I was a kid and I was really sick, I don’t think I could quite comprehend where I was at in life but I do remember the doctor explaining that you know I was going to end up in a wheelchair. And when we left there that hospital, I remember my mum looking at me and saying don’t you dare listen to a word of that you’re not going to end up in a wheelchair. And then when she got home she put this piece of string in the back garden and she said come on do it like let’s play tennis do you want to play? And I remember feeling like not really mum but I went out there and started cracking the ball and got this love for movement. So, with so much help from the doctors and nurses, my parents’ support, and movement, that I just got very lucky that my symptoms gradually disappeared and I got healthy,” he said on being asked how he overcame his fears.
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