Long after most travelers would consider their life list complete, Miami-based Filipina-American Luisa Yu has refused to slow down. At 81, the woman who finished visiting all 193 UN-recognized countries in 2023 has instead sought out even harsher frontiers and harder journeys, a relentless streak that has now earned her the Most Intrepid Traveler award at the 2025 NomadMania Travel Awards.

Often described as the Oscars of world travel, the awards draw votes from a community of more than 50,000 explorers worldwide. Yu’s win placed her ahead of four other finalists and reaffirmed her status as one of the world’s most determined adventurers—an octogenarian who treats age not as a limit but as an invitation to keep going.

Completing every UN country might have been a natural endpoint, yet Yu treated it only as a beginning. Over the past year she traveled through Afghanistan, Somalia, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Ethiopia, the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan, and Chad’s remote Ennedi Desert, where she camped for nearly two weeks amid unforgiving conditions. Her momentum carried into 2025 with trips to Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Japan, Austria, and Portugal. It fits a pattern: at 77, she skydived in Dubai.

Her win was part of a remarkable Philippine presence at this year’s ceremony. Four members of Filipino World Travelers (FWT), the global community she co-leads, were also named finalists across major categories. Among them was Kach Umandap, nominated for Most Purposeful Traveler, recognized for becoming the youngest Filipino—and the first using solely a Philippine passport—to visit every country. Odette Ricasa was shortlisted for Best Travel Book for It’s All in the State of Mind, following her milestone as the first Filipino to visit all countries in 2022. The mother-and-son team of Wyatt Maktrav and Kaila de los Reyes were finalists for Biggest Low Passport Index Traveler, with Wyatt becoming the youngest person ever to visit all European UN countries at just 12 years old, accompanied by his single mother. Their presence underscored the expanding influence of Filipino travelers on the international stage.

Yu herself has become one of the most recognizable figures in this movement. This is her second NomadMania title, after being named Most Positive Traveler in 2022, making her one of only two people ever to receive multiple awards. Her journey is often cited as proof that exploration can be both purposeful and transformative.

Her own story began in Tacloban, Leyte, before she moved to the United States as a 23-year-old exchange student. Over five decades she carved out the time and courage to travel, often alone and relying on the kindness of strangers. “If you wait for someone to go with you, it might never happen,” she told the Philippine Consulate in New York. “Just go. Explore the world. It’s so beautiful out there—and people are usually kind and willing to help.”

She saved Serbia for last in 2023 at the urging of friends who flew in to surprise her. “They said, ‘You’re gonna have to come to Serbia because we will be flying. We are very close too and we’re going to celebrate your last country.’ It was a big surprise,” she said. Completing her final country felt, she said, “a dream come true.”

Her achievements have since resonated across the Filipino diaspora. Earlier this year, the Philippine Consulate in New York honored her as a symbol of persistence and cultural pride. At this year’s NomadMania gathering, which included more than 100 travelers who have visited every UN country—plus one who completed the “Grand Slam of Travel”—Yu stood out not only for her age but for her refusal to retreat from risk.

“Even though some places were considered dangerous, I said, ‘I think I can do this. I want to see these places with my own eyes because there’s a lot of history and culture that happened there,’” she said. In doing so, she has expanded the visibility of Filipina Americans in a space often dominated by younger or more privileged travelers.

As she accepted her award, Yu embodied the message she has shared for decades: that curiosity does not fade with age and exploration remains a lifelong pursuit. Her journeys continue not as displays of endurance, but as proof that dreams, when held onto long enough, can outlast every perceived limit—even time itself.