A woman inspired to make the most of life after losing her father before he could enjoy his retirement has visited 57 cities before her 50th birthday.
Tina White challenged herself in June last year to visit 50 international cities before turning 50 in January 2027.
The 49-year-old reached the milestone in April 2026, after just 10 months, thanks to a series of extreme day trips.
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The mini-breaks cost less than £120 each, and she’s spent around £7,000 altogether, funded by snapping up the cheapest flights and prioritising travel over new clothes or other luxuries.
“I love visiting the UK, but the cost of trains is higher than the cost of a flight, so why would you not go experience another country?” Tina, from Leeds, West Yorks, told What’s The Jam – Your daily pulse on what’s trending, creating, and moving the needle .
“I work my 40 hours over four days, so I have Mondays off, and I usually let Skyscanner decide my destinations, based on price for the dates I can travel.
“I will now have to adjust this slightly to achieve my next challenge of visiting new countries.
“For day trips, once the flight is booked, I’ll book the airport parking and then plan a rough itinerary for the day.
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“I’ve been very lucky with flights; I have had a couple of short delays, less than an hour.
“I usually look to pay less than £60 for the flights for a day trip, and parking costs me £20 to £25 for the day.
“I take a water bottle to fill up in the airport and sometimes take snacks.
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“I use public transport whilst there, which is usually less than £10 total. I prefer to snack rather than have a sit-down meal.
“I like to try different foods from that country.
“I try and keep the whole day under £120.
“I love a day trip because it allows you to have a glimpse into a new city or country without the extra cost of a hotel; you can then decide if it’s somewhere you’d like to return to or not.”
Tina has visited 25 countries and 57 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Prague, Venice, Milan, Bergamo, Rome, Cork, Luxembourg, Bruges, Dinant and Zadar.
Her 50th city was Lake Maggiore in Italy, which she visited in April.
The challenge was inspired by the death of her father, Gerald White, who died aged 67 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease shortly after retiring.
Tina, a full-time technical administrator, said: “I lost my dad three years ago and decided I wasn’t going to wait until retirement to enjoy my life.
“Dad took early retirement, and they enjoyed a couple of years enjoying more holidays.
“He’d always worked hard and saved for retirement.
“We then went into lockdown, and as restrictions were lifted, he was diagnosed with MND.
“He deteriorated quickly and never got to enjoy the retirement he was looking forward to.
“We don’t know what’s around the corner, and why should we wait until we’ve worked for 40-plus years to enjoy our life?”.
Now, after recently completing a whirlwind 10-hour trip to Cologne, Germany, Tina has set herself a new goal – visiting as many different countries as possible.
She hopes one day to leave work and travel for six months of the year.
Tina added: “I think my business and the travelling have changed me as a person – I have started doing things on my own.
“I bought a house at 19, married at 21, first child at 25 and have put everything into being a mum because it’s all I ever wanted, but now it’s time to find myself again and do what I enjoy alongside still being a wife and mum.
“I have found the confidence to do things on my own if there’s no one to come with me.
“I think Dad would be happy that I was getting out and about and enjoying my life.”
A few months after losing her father, Tina also decided to improve her health.
She said: “I started taking Mounjaro and have lost five and a half stone.
“It’s helped me enjoy travelling so much more.
“The seat belt on the plane now fits, and I can walk so much further than I could before.”
When Tina realised she had completed the challenge months early, she said she felt “incredibly lucky”.
She said: “I wanted to explore more places and it was too late to choose countries.
“I honestly didn’t think I would achieve it; we’ve always been lucky enough to have one abroad holiday a year, but I was determined to have more.
“It’s so hard to choose a favourite place; I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about New York and Venice, and absolutely loved them both.
“I just love every city in Italy I’ve visited.”
Since last June, Tina has been to Zadar, Croatia, Bruges, Lille, Dinant, Namur, Luxembourg, Paris, St Omer, San Antonio, Rome, Vatican City, Edinburgh, Prague, Jandia, Baceno, Stresa, Lake Maggiore islands, Milan, Bergamo, Cork and Cologne.
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