After decades of traveling, both separately and together, Rachel Davey and Martina Sebova had each visited over 100 of the 195 UN-recognized countries and territories on the globe.
The pair, who met during an overland tour of Europe back in 2008, were having coffee together in Melbourne, Australia, when they first discussed the prospect of visiting the 88 or so remaining countries on their lists.
They quickly decided to spend the next two years doing just that together.
While the thought of traveling to so many new destinations in a relatively short space of time was somewhat daunting, Sebova notes that having over half of the countries in the world already ticked off made things a lot easier.
"I think it would terrify me if I had to start visiting every country and I'd been to like 10," the travel blogger tells CNN Travel. "I don't really think that that's even viable. You need to be well traveled [before doing something like this]."
The excited pair then began planning for their big trip, saving as much money as they could in order to fund the journey, with the aim of spending around five to seven days in each country.