Meet the Filipina who has travelled to all 195 countries in the world

Kach Umandap has navigated endless visa applications, war zones and personal challenges – and credits the UAE for helping her achieve the feat

Kach Umandap in Turkmenistan. All photos: Kach Umandap

Somalia

Djibouti

Guatemala

Argentina

Lebanon

Russia

USA

Iceland

Bulgaria

Afghanistan

Greece

Kenya

Togo

Bangladesh

Zambia

Vatican

Lithuania

Grenada

Mauritius

Curacao

Iran

Ecuador

Thailand

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Nigeria

Norway

Mexico

Zimbabwe

The Philippine passport isn’t exactly what you’d call a golden ticket – it’s ranked 75th out of 106 on the Henley Passport Index, allowing access to just 67 destinations visa-free. But one Filipina defied all odds (and visa challenges), to pull off what to many is a logistical miracle – by visiting all 195 countries on Earth.

Earlier this month, Kach Umandap, 36, travelled to Sudan, ticking off the last country on her list and becoming the first Filipina to travel the world on a Philippine passport. Her feat was verified by Nomad Mania, a non-profit that serves as a hub for passionate travellers.

“I've always been fond of travelling ever since I was small,” Umandap tells The National, recalling how she'd go on school-sanctioned trips to different parts of the country. “Some trips would require a chaperone, but that was going to be more expensive, so I'd tell my mother that I'd just sit beside the teacher so I could join,” she adds with a chuckle.

While the idea of travelling the world seemed as distant as the destinations themselves, Umandap's inspiration came early. She recalls watching episodes of now-defunct Travel Time, the longest-running travel documentary show in the Philippines, with her lolo or grandfather.

“Lolo was a big fan of host Susan Calo Medina, and I remember thinking I wanted to make him proud by being like her,” Umandap recalls.

Journey to the Middle East

Umandap, whose parents were migrant workers in Kuwait, thought that the only way she could travel the world was to become a diplomat, so she pursued an economics degree with the aim of working for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Umandap in Kuwait, the first foreign country she visited. Photo: Kach Umandap

After graduating in 2009, she took up an internship at the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, marking her first international trip. She stayed in the Gulf country for the next four years and travelled to 14 neighbouring countries, including the UAE, Jordan and Georgia.

In 2013, Umandap accepted a job in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. While she didn't stay in the country for long, she was able to save enough money.

“I had 500,000 Philippine pesos [$8,565] in savings, so I went back home, made a down payment for an apartment and decided to travel for a while before looking for another job,” she says, adding she was going through “an existential crisis” at the time.

With a budget of $10 a day, Umandap and her siblings went backpacking, on a multi-country trail across Southeast Asia, where Philippine passport holders are welcome without a visa. They did what's dubbed as the “banana pancake trail”, which includes countries such as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Embracing nomadic life

During her trail of Southeast Asia, Umandap met a British backpacker Jonathan Howe, whom she married and has subsequently divorced. The couple decided to stay for a while in Vietnam, where Umandap taught English. She also learnt more about online work and how she could keep travelling while having a steady source of income.

Umandap in Vietnam, where she lived for seven months. Photo: Kach Umandap

“I met so many backpackers along the way, mostly Westerners who had been living nomadic lives, and I got really curious about how they were doing it,” she recalls.

The couple travelled to about 70 countries together. In addition to their online jobs, they had many side-hustles to sustain their trips. They became certified yoga instructors, Ayurveda massage therapists and even helped out in bars, restaurants and hotels for free food and accommodation. At one point, they settled in Peru and worked for a hostel in the Andes, surrounded by Inca ruins.

Beyond the financial hurdles, Umandap vividly recalls the challenges of navigating the world with a Philippine passport – particularly when travelling alongside her then-husband, who had the advantage of carrying a British passport.

“I remember when I would travel with him, I'd be held up in immigration counters while he'd quickly pass through,” she says. At the time, her goal was to visit all seven continents, which she achieved in 2016. Two years later, she ticked off 100 countries, all before the age of 30.

Travelling became progressively difficult for Umandap from then on, because the list of visa-free countries for Filipinos was quickly running out. “When I did this, I was like: 'OK, I'm halfway there', but also realised that the remaining countries are the ones where getting visas would be a challenge,” says Umandap.

The UAE connection

Umandap was deeply impacted by her divorce in 2021, describing it as a turning point that left her with almost nothing to her name. Moving back to the Philippines, she also still had more than 70 countries to tick off her list – many of these did not even have embassies in the Philippines, so getting a visa was even more difficult.

Determined to change her fate, she opened two online travel-related businesses – Filipino Passport, through which she offers services to help travellers navigate complex visa application processes, and Travel with Kach, where she personally organises and leads group tours.

To improve her chances of visiting more countries, and after doing some research, Umandap registered a business in the UAE in 2023 and got her residency.

Asked which country she'd go back to in a heartbeat, Umandap says Montenegro. Photo: Kach Umandap

“I had an Excel sheet with all these cities with my target embassies, and most them were in Abu Dhabi,” she says.

“During one of my organised tours in Morocco, I met a fellow Filipino who was working in Ras Al Khaimah at the time, and they helped with setting up the business from there. I was really at my lowest, physically and emotionally, and meeting fellow Filipinos in the UAE really helped me redeem myself.”

During the last stretch of her journey to complete 195 countries, Umandap made the UAE her base, flying from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah to Syria and Ethiopia, which became her jumping point to other African nations.

Thrill of travelling solo

Umandap, who is currently based in Palawan in the Philippines, travelled to her 195th country, Sudan, on January 6 this year. She says that while she was with companions for many of her journeys, a huge chunk of her travelling was done alone.

“Because I travel solo, I make sure to do my homework when visiting countries that are not deemed safe for female travellers,” she says, adding she can't recall a particularly bad experience except when she got in a car accident when travelling in Pakistan in 2019.

“My strategy is to book an expensive hotel and befriend the locals who work there. I'd go to coffee shops, restaurants and try to mingle with as many people. I usually tend to find an older female who can be my guide and have my back while I'm in her country.”

Umandap also didn't face rejection in any of her visa applications, even to countries like the US, which is notoriously difficult for Filipinos to get in.

Umandap in North Korea, where she needed a multiple-entry Chinese visa. Photo: Kach Umandap

“I get very obsessed when it comes to visa applications. I make sure that there's no reason for the country to reject my application. I didn't apply for a US visa until I'd visited 30 countries, for example,” she says.

Western countries aside, Umandap recalls struggling to obtain visas to countries such as North Korea, where she had to get a rare double-entry Chinese visa to cross the border and back.

A few war zones, countless visa applications and a gruelling divorce later, Umandap says she wouldn’t have done it any other way.

“I’ve learnt so much on this journey,” she says with a smile. Her mission now, Umandap adds, is to empower other Filipinos to travel far and wide.

“Above all, I’ve discovered my own strength and resilience. Growing up as a Filipino, facing the unique challenges of a developing country, has shaped me in ways I never expected – and I think it’s that very resilience that carried me through.”

Asked if there's a country she'd go back to in a heart beat, Umandap picks Montenegro. “It's a very beautiful country, from the mountains to the seas,” she says. “Most of all, they share similar values as Filipinos. Really nice and warm people.”