A Chinese-American teen is vying to set a record as the youngest person to fly solo to all seven continents in a quest that also aims to drum up donations for research into . Ethan Guo, who turned 19 last month, began his quest in May in Memphis, Tennessee. He has made multiple overnight stops and visited seven countries to get to the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday, before jetting off toward Heraklion in Greece.
The plan is to cover 50,000 miles over 100 days with stops in 60 countries. He hopes attention on the journey will drum up donations for his bid to raise up to $1 million for cancer research, an ambition born of the Stage-4 blood cancer diagnosis of a cousin of his. That prompted the tousled-haired teen to reach out to Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital based in Memphis.
“We came up with the idea of ...
how we can work on this together,” Guo said, "how we can make this world a better place.” So far, he has raised an admittedly “small amount” of more than $20,000 but he's convinced that he'll draw more donations. A press handler for Guo showed to The Associated Press an email exchange with an official at Guinness World Records Ltd.
about the teen's bid to become the youngest person to fly solo on seven continents. The London-based company did not immediately respond to an email from the AP seeking comment. Guo started learning to fly at age 13, and four years later had his pilot's license — but insurance companies balked at covering a minor for his ad.