WATCH ABOVE: Two Vancouver men are looking for a woman to join their next global adventure to put an end to a common stereotype. As Jessica Kent reports, two Edmonton woman are vying for the spot.
EDMONTON — Two Edmonton women hope one of them might be the lucky one selected to spend the next four years travelling the world, all expenses paid.
Best friends Hannah Landsman and Darian Cannard, both 22, are in the running to get their “Global Degree.”
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as far as university or anything and this is basically like a university degree for travelling,” said Cannard.
“Travelling, in my opinion, is the best education that a person can get.”
The Global Degree initiative was started by two Vancouver men. Michael Graziano and Alex Hennessy are looking for a female travel companion to join them on their adventure to visit every country on earth, all while documenting it on YouTube. The men say their quest is about breaking stereotypes.
“There are a lot of women who are interested in travel and they feel like they can’t do it because of reservations that they have, misconceptions that they have in their mind,” said Graziano. “We really want to expose those misconceptions.”
“We keep encountering these women who say, ‘I wouldn’t go to India on my own.’ It’s like, I want visual evidence of why they should. I want to say, ‘Look at this, she had an amazing time,'” added Hennessy.
READ MORE: ‘Global Degree’ creators seeking female traveller for around-the-world trip
Both avid travellers, Landsman and Cannard believe either one of them would be a perfect candidate to join the Vancouver pair.
“Of course there’s the travel aspect of it, but they want a woman on to show the world isn’t scary, women can travel by themselves,” said Landsman. “That’s what sold me – to be a role model for other women to travel.”
WATCH: Hannah Landman’s Global Degree submission
“I’m constantly trying to push people to travel and it’s such an opening experience and you learn so much about yourself,” added Cannard. “Travelling brings out the absolute best and most-giving parts of people.”
WATCH: Darian Cannard’s Global Degree submission
While the best friends of eight years are hopeful, even if one of them doesn’t win they plan to embark on a journey of their own.
“We’re just going to go do it on our own and have two female travellers doing it on their own,” said Cannard.
The contest winner will join Graziano and Hennessy on their leg through Asia, Australia and the South Pacific, visiting 35 countries in seven months before coming home to work and then head back out their trip.
The contest was originally supposed to close this past Thursday, but because there was so much interest, it will now close on Sunday night. So far, about 170 women from around the world have entered. A vast majority of the trip is being paid for by sponsors, but Graziano and Hennessy are footing part of the bill themselves.
For more information, visit Global Degree on Facebook.
With files from Jon Azpiri, Global News.