For Mark Tuchmann, traveling around the world in its entirety was always a bucket list item. He kicked around the idea in various circumstances, even asking his wife if she’d want to embark on the journey for their 25th wedding anniversary. The idea finally gained momentum when he thought to pair it with THON fundraising.

Tuchmann’s daughter, Mattie Tuchmann, is a junior here at Penn State and heavily involved with THON through her sorority, Sigma Kappa. According to Mattie, it isn’t unusual for her father to come up with an idea like this.

While driving back for the spring semester, Mark called Mattie and pitched the idea of flying around the world not once, but twice, to support her DonerDrive. She wasn’t sure how it would all come together.

“One thing about him is he’s very persistent; when he has an idea in his head, and he’s passionate about it, there’s no turning back with him,” Mattie said.

Though breaking the world record for circumnavigating the globe once wasn’t feasible, Mark discovered that no one has ever set the record for doing it twice. So began his plan to travel around the world twice, first eastbound, then again in the opposite direction.

He immediately jumped into action to book his flights and applied to set the record.

“He expedited the Guinness World Record application,” Mattie said with a laugh.

“I think she thought I was kidding,” Mark said of telling his daughter. “I’m a little on the nutty side anyway, so she’s kind of used to some of the things I’ve done.”

Lucky for him, he has an equally “nutty” traveling companion who, once he heard about it, said we would embark on the journey right alongside Mark. Manoj Doshi will be joining Tuchmann for every leg of the trip and helping him advertise it along the way.

“It’s good to have a cohort,” Tuchmann said. The trip must be thoroughly documented through videos and receipts to officially set the world record, and the duo plans to vlog and update viewers as they trek.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Tuchmann said.

His work takes him all over the world, so he’s been able to find sponsors across the country and beyond.

The trip consists of multiple legs: JFK to Dubai, to Singapore, to Sydney, to Los Angeles, back to JFK, before setting off again in the opposite direction. They’ll be gone Sunday to Sunday, returning to the United States right as THON wraps up on February 22, and they must do it in seven days.

Coming from out of state, Mark wasn’t even familiar with THON 10 years ago. The cause hits close to home for him, though, because he is a philanthropist and tries his hardest to support kids every chance he gets.

“I think we all go through our lives and don’t realize how lucky we are,” Mark said. “This is just another opportunity where I can give back.”

The trip has almost reached its goal of $44,000, with one dollar being donated for each mile of the trip. Advertising for the trip will continue, and donations will be accepted until fundraising closes. Tuchmann is paying for the trip entirely on his own, so all donations will go straight to the cause.

“Next year we’ll have to outdo ourselves, instead of going east to west, maybe we’ll go north to south around it,” Mark said, laughing.

Those interested in following along on Mark Tuchmann’s record-breaking journey or donating can do so here.