◎孫宇青
Cassie De Pecol, an intrepid traveler from Washington, Connecticut, USA, hopes to become the fastest female to travel to all 196 countries - and she’s just 27-years-old. She is nearing the end of her epic mission to visit most nations including Taiwan.
凱西．德佩科爾來自美國康乃狄克州華盛頓，她是一名勇敢、無所畏懼的旅人，可望以年僅27歲之姿，成為最快踏遍全球196個國家的女性。她已造訪包括台灣在內的大多數國家，很快就會抵達這場史詩般旅程的終點。
Cassie De Pecol in Iraq (Photo: Caters News Agency)
Cassie in Bali, Indonesia (Photo: Caters News Agency)
On her 25th birthday in July of 2015, Cassie started to plan for the trip of a lifetime, and so far she has ticked off 193 countries.
凱西是在2015年7月滿25歲後，開始計畫這場終生難忘的旅行，至今已將193個國家標上記號。
Cassie in Uruguay (Photo: Caters News Agency)
Cassie said： "Since school, I’ve been intrigued to learn more about every culture and religion. In America we are lucky to have such a vast melting pot of cultures.”
凱西說：「開始上學之後，我一直很好奇、很想學習各種文化和宗教。在美國的我們，很幸運身處在一個文化大熔爐裡。」
Cassie in Kazakstan (Photo: Caters News Agency)
"I wanted to learn about where these people came from, more specifically, where I came from. I wondered what existed outside of North America and what it was like. Is the Middle East really like how they say it is on the news? What about the Amazon?”
「我想知道這些人來自哪裡，更具體地說，我想知道我來自哪裡。我很好奇北美洲以外的世界存在著什麼、是什麼模樣。中東真的像新聞上說的那樣嗎？亞馬遜又是如何？」
Church in Saint Petersburg, Russia (Photo: Caters News Agency)
After 15 months on the road, Cassie has had both highs and lows. "I just hope that I’m able to inspire young women （and men!） around the world to go after goals that so far, people think can only be done by man," she said.
踏上旅途15個月後，凱西經歷過高潮和低潮。她說：「我希望可以激勵世界上更多年輕女性（還有男性！）去追尋目前仍被認為只有男性才能達成的目標。」
(Photo: Caters News Agency)