'I quit my job and sold my house to travel the world solo in my 60s'

A woman is on a mission to visit every country in the world after ditching her 9-to-5 job and selling her home. After catching the travel bug, Lynn Stephenson, 61, has visited 168 countries so far, with 27 more to go, and hopes to complete her journey within the next year.

Lynn, who used to work as an office administrator at Nottingham Magistrates' Court and was a part-time fitness instructor, gave up her lifestyle in 2022. After paying off her mortgage, she sold her semi-detached house in Nottingham for £136,000, which has funded her travels.

Now, she documents her adventures on social media, where she has gained more than 12,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram. Most recently, she has been island-hopping in the South Pacific

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Her travels have also taken her swimming with manta rays and sharks, visiting a leprosy camp, and spending time with a tribe in Vanuatu who are fascinated by Prince Philip.

Lynn, who has no family in the UK apart from her brothers, said: "I lived in Carlton for 40 years, I'm originally from the North East but moved to Nottingham at 19. I did my first round the world trip in 1992, it was a whole different world then without internet and mobile phones.

"You had a guide book and tried to find yourself somewhere to sleep. After I sometimes go off for bits and bobs. I did an around the world trip in 2003 too."

Lynn decided to quit her job and sell up in November 2022. She said: "It was always on the radar and what I wanted to do. It was a case of let's just spend this money before I get old.

"Covid gave me the complete push that I needed to do it, I had never believed that you could lockdown the entire world. I sold the house in Carlton. I already had the flight booked for the day of completion and I had everything in storage.

"I absolutely love it, every day is an adventure. It’s not all fun and games, things can go wrong. It makes me very calm travelling. I’ve had to replace passports and credit cards."

Lynn manages to visit roughly 30 countries a year and says she can make do with as little as £20-a-day. "The house sale was £136,000. That’s all I've used it for. I’ve got £30,000 of it left, and I’ve got 27 countries left, so hopefully that’s going to last me," she said.

Since she began her journey in 2022, Lynn has ticked off Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Pakistan and Taiwan. Her most recent adventure has been on the remote island of Nauru where hotel rooms can fetch up to £130 a night due to scarcity.

Lynn added: "I’m in the South Pacific now and it’s expensive. Whereas in Asia it would be really cheap, it’s swings and roundabouts really. Some places in the South Pacific you haven’t got a choice. There’s three hotels here and you haven’t got a choice. You can pay £130 a night. The equivalent in Asia is £20-a-night, or even less.

"My favourite thing about travelling is just realising the world is full of really kind, hospitable people. Despite what media tell you, it’s a safe place. Iran is my favourite country. You have to separate the government from the people.

"Everyone on the street wanted to chat to me and openly criticise the government, even though there’s secret police. The country is full of the nicest people. The Galápagos Islands are amazing, too, definitely. I went for eight days and stayed for 16."

Lynn added: "Where in the world can you swim in the same day with penguins, sharks and sea lions. They have the giant tortoises and I saw a seahorse.

"I think it’s really difficult to pick your favourite country. How can you compare Papua New Guinea to Italy? They’re completely different. The ones that got me were north Pakistan because it was spectacular, and actually Moldova, too."

Lynn has only returned to the UK on a handful of occasions where her planning has allowed and says her next stop is Australia before tackling most of central Africa.

She added: "My brothers are used to it, I’ve been doing it for 40 years, so they’re used to me taking off to some country they haven’t heard of. I don’t get frightened very quickly. In Bosnia in the 1990s I had machine guns pointed at me and I had a wee in a minefield."

She continued: "There’s going to be a couple of countries I'm going to struggle getting to, like Haiti and North Korea, which hasn’t opened back up. I have walked in the DMZ but I need to go into it.

"There’s a couple in the Central African Republic which are a bit dodgy. I’m off to go to Australia to see some friends that I met on my travels. I’m there for a couple of weeks.

"I’m going to do Bangladesh and Brunei. Then in February I'm going back to Africa. I’m off to South Sudan and tick off as many as possible.

"I’m hoping I can finish it in the year. I average 30 countries a year. That’s doing it quite slowly as well. Some of it is easier, but some of it requires lots of planning."