Travelers' Century Club
The Travelers' Century Club (TCC) is an American association whose members have traveled to at least 100 countries. It was founded in 1954 by Bert Hemphill in Los Angeles . With his company Hemphill Travel Service , Hemphill was a pioneer in the implementation of exclusive world travel by air.
This was possible for a small group of wealthy people in the 1950s. The regular customers of Hemphill Travel Service and its travel guides were the first to meet this criterion.
In 1960 the club had 43 members. By 1980 the number grew to 300. Today about 2000 people are members of the Travelers' Century Club. Around ten percent of this comes from the travel industry.
The countries and regions that are valid for the admission criterion are defined in an official list approved by the TCC Board, which is based on the DXCC country list of the American Radio Relay League . This list is constantly updated and now contains 329 areas. This includes not only countries, but also distant islands (e.g. Diego Garcia ), remote regions (e.g. Siberia ) and the Antarctic regions .
The club rewards visits from 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 countries and regions. Proof of visiting the first 100 countries / regions is usually provided on the basis of trust, whereby confirmations must be submitted on request. Proof is required to visit all other areas. A minimum length of stay is not required.
John Clouse was the first to travel to 315 countries and regions at the time. He was listed on the Guinness World Records in 1995 as the most widely traveled person. At the beginning of 2007, 9 people visited all 315 areas. The youngest was 37 when he achieved this goal. The youngest person to travel to 100 countries / territories was two years and eight months old.
How difficult it is to achieve this goal is shown by the efforts made by the members to achieve it. In order to visit the various areas in Antarctica, the bad weather often means several trips on Russian icebreakers or similar exotic means of transport. Some areas (Diego Garcia, Wake Island etc.) cannot be reached by commercial transport at all, so the club members charter ships for the passage.
The entry fee to the Travelers' Century Club is $ 100, and the annual fee is an additional $ 65-95. The new member receives a pin as well as the quarterly membership magazine The Centurian . Anyone who has visited 50 countries / regions can participate in the meetings and events of the Travelers' Century Club as a provisional member, but is not entitled to vote.
The following membership levels exist:
- from 50 countries / regions visited: Provisional Member
- from 100 countries / regions visited: Member
- from 150 countries / regions visited: Silver Member
- from 200 countries / regions visited: Gold Member
- from 250 countries / regions visited: Platinum Member
- 300+ countries / regions visited: Diamond Member
Individual evidence
- ↑ Countries & Territories. TCC, December 14, 2019, accessed February 4, 2020 .