On August 18, it took off in the custom-made ultralight aircraft Shark.
A journey that Rutherford thought would take about three months, but due to several obstacles along the way, it took much longer.
For example, month-long delays in both US Alaska and Russia due to visa and weather problems.
And the weather in particular was not the easiest thing to deal with.
- I would say that the most difficult thing was definitely to fly over Siberia - it was extremely cold.
It was minus 35 degrees on the ground, Rutherford said during a press conference on Thursday.
Rutherford explained that if the engine had stopped, she would have been several hours away from getting help.
- I do not know how long I would have survived.
In addition to breaking two Guinness World Records, she is also the first Belgian to ever fly around the world.
Kept at a distance
She has flown to a number of different destinations, such as Singapore, Egypt, Greece, Russia and South Korea, but Rutherford has not been able to explore any of them on land, due to covid-19 restrictions.
In the United States, she landed in Jacksonville, Florida, to meet the then record holder as the world's youngest woman to fly around the world;
Shaesta Waiz.
“Come on girls!
Who will be next? ”
wrote Waiz in a post on Instagram where the two happily tense the arm muscles in front of Rutherford's plane.
Entertainment during the flights
Rutherford says that in order not to get bored during the trip, she listened to music.
- I had a playlist with about 40 hours of music on which I listened, she said in an interview.
Which song was your favorite?
- I listened a lot to Billie Eilish, especially when I was stuck in Russia.
Her new album.
If I were to listen to one of those songs again, it would probably trigger memories from that time.