When Sandy Hazelip proposed a whirlwind trip to her longtime friend Ellie Hamby for their milestone birthdays, the 81-year-old leaped at the idea.
“She said, ‘Ellie, why don’t we consider traveling around the world in 80 days when we’re 80?’” Hamby recalled in a recent interview withThough the COVID-19 pandemic required the two friends of 23 years to put off their plans for after they turned 80, the two eventually made their grand voyage. On January 11, 2023, at the age of 81 years old, the two started their journey, disembarking from Dallas, Texas. First stop: Antarctica.“We went to the North Pole in Lapland and saw the northern lights and took a sleigh ride. We were in Zanzibar. We went to Egypt, India, Nepal, Bali, Japan, Rome and of course, London, too,” Hamby shared.
Along their route, their story caught the attention of social media platforms as they made their way around the globe, taking on each of the world’s continents. The more they traced their progress, the more they were recognized. “People would ask us, ‘Do you have TikTok?’ Well, no. Maybe we should get this going,” Hamby explained.