18 Days in the Clouds: CNN’s Larry Madowo Reveals Mind-Blowing 2025 Flight Stats
If you thought your holiday commute was stressful, CNN International Correspondent Larry Madowo just raised the bar. The Kenyan-born media star recently gave fans a peek into his high-flying lifestyle, revealing a 2025 travel schedule that would make even a seasoned pilot dizzy. Using the popular tracking app Flighty, Madowo confirmed he boarded a staggering 103 flights over the course of the year.
While most people measure their year in months, Larry could practically measure his in “days spent in the clouds.” His total time in transit added up to 17 days and 16 hours. That is nearly 18 full days of eating airplane food, navigating terminals, and clearing immigration. It is a rare, quantifiable look at the physical “hustle” behind the polished reports we see on our screens.
Despite being a roving correspondent for one of the world’s biggest news networks, Madowo’s “Flighty Passport” featured some shocking omissions. Covering a massive 181,187 miles, he touched down in 46 different airports and utilized 23 different airlines. However, there were two giant holes in his 2025 map.
“I lost nearly 18 full days in the sky but didn’t visit Asia or South America even once,” Madowo shared. Despite the high frequency of his travel, his duties kept him strictly within a high-density loop of Africa, Europe, and North America. It’s a testament to where the biggest headlines of 2025 were breaking—and apparently, the “Global South” and the “East” weren’t on his specific itinerary this time around.
Madowo has become the face of African storytelling on the global stage. Since he began tracking his journeys in May 2023, 2025 has clocked in as his most documented year to date. From environmental crises to major political shifts, his 103 flights represent the logistical mountain journalists must climb to bring “breaking news” to our living rooms.
While the stats are impressive, they also highlight the grueling reality of international reporting. It isn’t just about the 181,000 miles; it’s about the 46 airports and the constant “on-call” nature of the job. Larry Madowo isn’t just a journalist—he’s officially a professional nomad.