A couple from Beijing is about to start the trip of their lives, flying a Chinese plane 80,000 kilometers around the globe. They plan to take off from northeastern China's Harbin at the end of the month.

The couple, Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong, will cross five continents, three oceans and 23 countries during their trip. It will be the first trip around the world completed by a Chinese plane. Zhang and Liang's trip is more than twice the distance of the standard around-the-world voyage, 36,787.6 kilometers, the length of the Southern and Northern Tropics, according to the International Air Transport Association. More than 90 percent of the countries they will visit are visa-free for Chinese citizens, including Peru, Chile, Togo, Seychelles, Thailand and Cambodia. Zhang hopes the world will be able to better understand China through their trip.

Since beginning to travel in 1998, the couple has left their footprints in more than 100 countries. They achieved a number of "firsts" as Chinese explorers, including being the first Chinese people to enter the Sacred Cenote in southeastern Mexico by cave diving, and the first to cross South Africa via helium balloon.

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