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This 27-Year-Old Man Has Visited Every Country In The World Except One: Malta

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Sal Lavallo was born in 1990 in a small city in Indiana, USA. When he turned 16, Lavallo developed a love for travel, and at 27 years old, he’s been to every country in the world… except Malta. That’s all set to change today.

As one would expect, Lavallo has been documenting his travels for a while now. He has a dedicated website detailing his journeys, which have seen the young American man visit 192 countries. His Instagram feed is a beautiful mix of colours and locations, and the 479-photo strong collection came to an end today when Lavallo arrived in Malta.

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Back in May, Lavallo was on track to being the youngest American to visit all the members states in the United Nations. Unfortunately, he just missed the achievement when he turned 27 this September, but it definitely won’t make this experience any less rewarding. After all, setting records is not why Lavallo set out to travel the world.

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“I really just want to show the beauty of the world and the way people connect to one another, whether or not the record happens,” Lavallo had said. “It’s more that I see myself as somebody involved in the world in a global way, so it’s not about being an adventurer or tourist, but being productive in finding the best ways to help economies develop.”

In fact, one of the first things you’ll find when you visit Lavallo’s website is a large quote bearing the words, “Travel isn’t my life. The world is my life.”

In an emotional post from yesterday, Sal explained how faith has kept him going through this long journey of his. The 27-year-old man, whose belief is Islam, has frequently discussed religion and diversity on his travels, and still feels like it’s one of the most important sources of strength that he’s found during his years-long travel.

“Encompassing and fueling all the other things I’ve written about, is my gratitude towards the divine, aka Allah or God or any of the many terms I call the ineffable magic,” Lavallo said. “My spirituality is so special and intimate – so literally essential – that it is difficult to explain. Part of traveling the world has been searching out these transcendental experiences. For to better understand humanity is to more clearly see God. To appreciate all that is given to us in nature, emotion, and science is to praise God. To give endless thanks is to respect God. And to love is to know God.”

Travelling to so many countries is definitely not a simple feat, but Lavallo has had some great help on the way. 

“Maybe it sounds silly to say that a hotel brand helped me get to every country, but in the past four and a half years, I have stayed nearly 350 nights with SPG/Marriott,” he said in a recent Instagram post.

That comes up to over 20% of his time, which has spread out to more than 65 properties in nearly 40 countries. Malta will also be following this example, with Lavallo being invited to stay at Le Méridien to celebrate his grand tour’s final stop!

Tag someone who’d love to visit every country in the world!

READ NEXT: Maltese Couple Who Dropped Everything To Travel The World Return For Wedding

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).

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