Meet the Pittsburgh-area man who has visited all 7 continents
Of the more than 8 billion people in the world, it's estimated less than 1% have been to all seven continents. One of the people making up this elusive club lives right in the Pittsburgh area.
Once inside Steve Rudinec's Rostraver home, you'll see memories and treasures from across the globe.
Racking up what he believes is close to a million air miles was never the goal for Rudinec. The Donora native didn't do much traveling when he was younger.
"The farthest we ever went on vacation was to New Jersey. I had never been on a plane. I had never really been anywhere out of the western part of the state," he said while sitting at his kitchen table.
Then, when he started working in the mining business, work sent him to Europe in 1984, Africa in '93, Australia in '95, South America in 2004 and Asia in 2012. Those trips to 20 countries added up to six of the seven continents. While it may have been for work, there was time to see the wonders each place houses along with some dangers.
"On my way out of the lion park, I decided to go in and pet the lions, and this little guy right here took a bite out of my boot," Rudinec said about a trip to South Africa.
After visiting China in 2012, Rudinec started realizing he could achieve what so few have been able to see.
"I was kind of kidding around for a while that I would like to get to Antarctica and do all seven," he said with a laugh.
It became a goal. Rudinec started looking up how to travel to one of the most remote parts of the globe. In 2021, everything almost came to an end. He went for a stress test, his face went numb and his heart stopped.
"I took that as, OK, anything can happen at any moment. I really wanted to get to do all seven. That really drove me more to want to do all seven," Rudinec said.
Then in February of this year, he made the trip and checked off that final box.
"Penguins everywhere. Whales everywhere. Seals everywhere. Just truly an amazing place," Rudinec said about Antarctica.
Like a true yinzer, a Terrible Towel made its way to every destination.
"This one is from Antarctica. I generally leave it with whoever my host is who's taking care of me," Rudinec said about the Terrible Towels.
A favorite location and memory are hard to narrow down to just one when you've seen so much from such unique cultures and places, but if there is anything Rudinec has learned in his travels around the world, while we may have our differences, people have more in common than we think.
"They're just so friendly, and then you come to realize that people are people. We start talking about our kids. We start talking about our hobbies," he said.
What's next? Rudinec has visited 48 of the 50 states, just needing Hawaii and Alaska.
"That will be my next goal. That's right. That's right. I was so close to Alaska," he said with a smile.
And after flying to the other corner of the world, what's a few hours to states 49 and 50.
