A pair of 81-year-old best friends have been proving it's never too late for adventure after travelling around the world in 80 days. Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby left Dallas in Texas in January 2023 with one mission - to visit all seven continents.
The two grandmothers first headed to Argentina - inspired by the book Around the World in 80 Days - where they boarded the Ocean Nova expedition ship to take them to Antarctica. They've been snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, visited the Angkor temples, rode on camels and took a trip to Mount Fuji in Japan.
Their 80-day trip saw them cover 18 countries and seven continents. The two women said they loved every destination they had been to but fell in love with Easter Island and Bali due to the sites and exotic wildlife.
Sandy and Ellie in Bali (Around the World at 80 / SWNS)
They made it their mission to visit all seven continent (Around the World at 80 / SWNS)After completing their journey in April 2023, they are now home planning their next adventure in 2024 - named 'We are 82 and travel we can do'.
Sandy, a physician, from Eastland, Texas, US, said: "A few years ago in anticipation of turning 80 years old I mentioned to Ellie one day that it would be fun to go around the world in 80 days at age 80.
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"Ellie's eyes lit up and we started planning.
"We had everything arranged but Covid shut travel down. But, it didn't shut us down so we made the trip this year.
"We now have a trip planned for next year when we will be 82.
Sandy and Ellie in Sydney (Around the World at 80 / SWNS)"We are going to go to South America and see some of the world wonders we missed this time.
"If our health holds out we will go to a couple of continents a year and fill in."
Ellie, a medical director, from Abilene, Texas, US, said: "My favourite place to visit was Easter Island.
"Those Moai statues are unbelievable, magnificent, mysterious and we still don't understand how they were moved or how long they have been there.
"I was fascinated by the Moai and Easter Island. It was a beautiful little island."
Sandy and Ellie in Nepal (Around the World at 80 / SWNS)
Sandy and Ellie stand before the Taj Mahal (Around the World at 80 / SWNS)The two best friends admit they have a long list of countries they want to visit managed to make the trip without any hiccups or problems.
Ellie said: "We never missed a day. We were always out having an adventure or flying.
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"We never spent one day in the hotel to sleep."
Sandy added: "We never had a miscommunication with flights.
"All our flights ran when they were supposed to, we never lost any luggage.
"It was remarkable."
Ellie said the trip was filled with fun moments but one that stood out was when they were in Antarctica.
Ellie said: "We were in Lapland and they asked if we want to take a husky ride, and we said sure.
"It was freezing temperature - way below freezing.
"We got there and all the huskies were lying down, and all of a sudden the huskies took off and we took off for the races.
"We were zipping around. It was so fun but we were totally not prepared for that one."
The pair who because close friends in 2005 after Ellie's husband died said they hope that their journey has inspired others to go out and see the world.
Sandy said: "Ellie has this wonderful saying, it goes 'the world is a book and he who does not travel only reads one page'.
"So going along with that, my advice is get up out of that easy chair, step out of your comfort zone, make some plans and live.
"Remember that age is only a number."
Countries Sandy and Ellie have visited:
- Peru
- Chile
- Argentina
- Antarctica
- England
- Spain
- Italy
- Finland
- Egypt
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- Zambia
- India
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Nepal
- Japan
- Australia
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