A YouTube star who has visited every country on Earth has named her favourite place on the planet – and it’s rather surprising.
At the age of 21, Lexie Alford became the youngest person ever to have visited the world’s 196 countries. She has since racked up a huge following of 540,000 fans on YouTube, where she posts travel content.
In a recent clip, she revealed her favourite spot in the world that she’s visited. “I’ve traveled to every country in the world, and there’s one question that nearly every single person I’ve ever met has asked me,” she explained.
So what was the country? The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The country, bordered by India and China, is often called the “world’s happiest country” thanks to its government’s focus on the well-being of its citizens rather than simple economic factors.
The nation is about the same size as Belgium, with a population of under 800,000 people. Around 85% of Bhutan’s land is forest, and Lexie on her Lexie Limitless YouTube channel said that it has “the freshest air she’s ever breathed.”
Although Lexie first visited the country in 2018, she returned this year to visit the fabled Paro Taktsang, or “Tiger’s Nest” monastery. Sited some 3,000 metres above the Paro valley, it was built in 1692, although it was severely damaged by fire in the late 1990s and painstakingly rebuilt to look identical to the original.
She claimed the country was “one of the world’s best-kept secrets.”
Apart from its stunning scenery and unspoiled countryside, Lexie says, what makes Bhutan so special is its culture: “The most significant thing that makes Bhutan so different from every other country is that it’s ranked the happiest country in the world.
Apart from its stunning scenery and unspoiled countryside, Lexie says, what makes Bhutan so special is its culture. She continued: “The most significant thing that makes Bhutan so different from every other country is that it’s ranked the happiest country in the world.
“Everything from its government to the spiritual practices have created some of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever met.”
It’s also home to some unique cuisine, including a fiercely hot stew that is “filled to the brim” with really spicy chillies, Lexie says.
Lexie, who chronicles her many travels on YouTube and Instagram, also sampled a traditional Bhutanese bath, which is heated with red-hot stones dropped into the water: “The stones start sizzling and vibrating and creating all this steam and it heats up the water that way,”she explains.
Tourism is a hugely important part of Bhutan’s economy. In 2007, the country had the second-fastest-growing economy in the world, although tourism was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and visitor numbers have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.
But its “National Happiness Index” gives the country a rare selling-point. Lexie says: “I think that the world has so much to learn from this tiny country.”
The index is compiled from a survey of around 300 questions that takes around three hours to complete. However, every citizen that hands in a completed survey is compensated with a full day’s wages.
The government’s generosity does’t stop there, with citizens routinely being gifted with five acres of land and “all the basic necessities to settle down in that new place.”
As a result there’s enormous affection for King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his Queen Jetsun Pema who is often referred to as “Kate Middleton of the Himalayas”.