Ellie Hamby, a documentary photographer, and Sandy Haze lip, a physician and lecturer, toured the world in 80 days, adventuring from the beaches of Bali to the deserts of Egypt.
The aged grandmothers started their ambitious adventure on January 11, according to the blog the two have used to document their travels. Their first stop was a location that escapes even many seasoned travelers: Antarctica. Getting to the southernmost continent first required crossing the Drake Passage, the known rough waters between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica's South Shetland Islands. "For almost two days, we were a rocking and rolling and a slipping and sliding through the Drake Passage and we were holding on for dear life," Hamby said in an interview with CNN. "It was just wild." "But when we stepped foot on the ground on the Antarctic, you forgot all of that," she recalled. "The beauty of the Antarctic is just unbelievable to see the penguins and the icebergs and the glacier — just, this was amazing."
Since that first adventure, the pair have visited 18 countries across all seven continents, often dressed in matching T-shirts. They've also accumulated (积累) a loving social media following who track the "traveling grannies" on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
Hazelip told CNN that she met Hamby after her husband died in
1999. The two bonded over their shared interest in travel and commitment to prioritizing unique experiences over comfort while abroad. Both became closer after Hamby's husband died in 2005.
Hazelip says the idea for their trip originated a few years before they were each set to turn 80.
"I just got the idea because we had traveled previously together internationally," she said. "And so about four years before we were going to turn 80, I mentioned to her one day, ‘ Ellie, wouldn't it be fun to go around the world in 80 days at age 80?'"
