I sold my house to go travelling full time and I’ve visited 168 countries – here’s why Iran and Iraq are two of my favourite places (and why I feel safer abroad than in the UK)

To say that Lynn Stephenson likes travelling would be an understatement.

The 61-year-old’s wanderlust is so powerful that she sold her house to go globetrotting full-time and has now visited 168 countries out of 195.

She told MailOnline Travel that she has no ‘plan B’ in the event of the money running out and no regrets.

For Lynn, the entire globe is one big adventure. Even the parts of it viewed as too dangerous for tourists. The traveller, for example, lists Iran, where she spent 10 days in 2019, and Iraq as two of her favourite places.

‘I have always loved travel and always been quite adventurous,’ reveals Lynn. She explains: ‘I was brought up by grandad, who told me tales of his time in Egypt, Palestine and Greece during WW1.’

The intrepid traveller set off on her first solo adventure at age 29. After working seven days a week for a year, Lynn was able to save to travel to Greece.

She says: ‘I spent six months working three jobs on a Greek island to acclimatise and save more money. I then bought a round-the-world ticket and off I went.

‘It was a different world then – no internet, no mobile phones, no social media, no organised tours, no cruise ships, just a few intrepid travellers.

Lynn Stephenson has travelled to 168 countries (60 since she sold her house in 2022). She reveals why she has no regrets to MailOnline and explains why Iran (where she’s pictured above) is one of her favourite countries

‘Iran is my favourite country, with the kindest, most hospitable people I’ve ever met,’ reveals Lynn

Lynn says Eswatini (above) is an underrated destination with ‘wonderful wildlife encounters’

‘I set off with a Lonely Planet “Southeast Asia on a shoestring” guidebook – the backpacker’s bible – and I’d just turn up somewhere and find somewhere to sleep. I had the best year of my life. I came back and got a job in the German Alps for a year to save enough money to travel in Africa, which I did in a double-decker bus.’

While Lynn explains that she’s ‘travelled on and off’ since then, she took an even bigger leap two years ago when she sold her house in Carlton, Nottinghamshire.

She reveals: ‘I had always planned to use it to fund my travels, but the events around Covid gave me the final push. I would never have believed that you could lock down the entire world and that scared me.

‘I have no dependents, so it didn’t make any sense to have equity in a house. I decided to spend it wisely on travel and making memories.

‘I couldn’t rent it out, as that wouldn’t have given me enough money to travel, so I sold it. Travelling makes you realise how little you actually need.’

Having been a clerk who entered trial results at Nottingham courts and a fitness instructor, Lynn is now a ‘complete nomad’ on the road to ticking off the entire world map. 

Out of the 168 countries (60 since the house sale) she’s visited so far, Lynn explains that there has been ‘nowhere she’s disliked’.

But she has got five favourite destinations.

Lynn describes Iraq as a destination that really ‘welcomes tourists’. She’s pictured above in Iraqi Kurdistan

The traveller liked Taiwan (where she’s pictured above) so much ‘she recently returned to see more’

Lynn describes Angola, where this photo was taken, as one of the world’s underrated destinations

Lynn reveals: ‘Iran is my favourite country, with the kindest, most hospitable people I have met. One old lady was even tickling me under the chin in the middle of the street and all the young girls wanted to kiss me on the cheek.’

She also includes the Galapagos Islands in her top five, explaining: ‘The Galapagos Islands were incredible. Where else can you swim with penguins, sea lions, sharks, turtles, stingrays and marine iguanas? A penguin swam between my legs and it’s not every day you can say that.’

Georgia also ‘holds a very special place in my heart’, reveals Lynn.

She explains: ‘So friendly, so beautiful and wonderful food. They invented wine and for that I will be eternally grateful.’

Italy also makes the hotlist, especially Puglia, explains Lynn, who adds: ‘I keep returning to Italy – so much history and so many beautiful buildings and wonderful food, wine, beaches, cave towns and trulli (stone hut) houses.’

Samoa rounds off the top five for Lynn, who reveals: ‘My time in Samoa staying in a beach fale [thatched hut] will always be a favourite memory, waking up to the most incredible sunrises I have ever seen, the sky full of shades of red, purple, yellow, orange and blue.’

When it comes to pleasant surprises, Lynn cites North Pakistan as making the grade.

She says: ‘It was so incredibly beautiful, the fairy meadows and the Hunza Valley. Also very friendly, with remnants of their Buddhist past and they are very proud they have a 100 per cent literacy rate.’

North Pakistan is ‘incredibly beautiful’ explains Lynn. She’s pictured there in this photograph

Lynn has ‘always loved travel and always been quite adventurous’. Here she’s pictured in Easter Island

Lynn, pictured here in Bhutan, says she hasn’t travelled anywhere she hasn’t liked

The traveller also ‘fell in love’ with ‘beautiful, interesting and budget-friendly’ Moldova and she enjoyed her trip to Taiwan last year so much she ‘recently returned to see more’.

As for underrated destinations, Lynn says Iraq, which she visited in 2023, ‘almost made her list of top five countries’, adding: ‘It’s home to one of the oldest civilisations on earth, the people are so incredibly kind and really welcome tourists.’

In Europe, it’s the Balkan countries that Lynn describes as underappreciated, explaining: ‘[They] are incredibly beautiful and most are extremely cheap. There are majestic Alps, sandy beaches, historic old towns, national parks and even a monastery carved out of the rock face.’

The last three countries to make Lynn’s underrated travel list are all in Africa.

She says: ‘Eswatini took me by surprise for the wonderful wildlife encounters. Where else can you walk with a wild rhino and get this close? This is because there is no poaching and no threats.’

Angola also surpassed all Lynn’s expectations.

She explains: ‘I was there for carnival, so vibrant, such a celebration. I travelled around the country by public transport and there is so much to see. It shares the Namib desert with Namibia and it has one of the highest waterfalls in Africa [Kalandula Falls], which is magnificent. There are also colourful tribes, huge canyons and beaches.’

Last on the list is Sao Tome and Principe, which Lynn describes as ‘so beautiful and unspoilt’ with ‘protected nature’.

Lynn, pictured here on the island of Vanuatu, says: ‘Travelling makes you realise how little you actually need’

The explorer, here in Turkmenistan, says ‘travelling teaches you that the world is a pretty safe place’

She adds: ‘Unlike many other African countries, it is spotlessly clean. On Principe, I went round the island on the back of a motorbike. We visited some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen and I was the only person on them.’

Although Lynn says her friends and family are too ‘used to her travelling to places they have never heard of’ to worry too much about her, there have been times when she’s given cause for concern.

Lynn recalls: ‘The only time my brother worried about me was when I went on an aid convoy to Bosnia at the height of the war there, organised by some Yorkshire miners. There was no way then of contacting anyone.

‘Hostilities heightened and I didn’t realise the impact of the reports in the news. I had a machine gun pointed at me, I inadvertently had a wee in a minefield and there were grenade attacks. The worst thing was seeing body bags full of dead people being thrown into the back of a lorry like they were sacks of potatoes. Some of them were tiny. It made it worse and more poignant because it was a Coca-Cola lorry.’

Lynn also experienced ‘tension’ in two other destinations, explaining: ‘There were areas of Papua New Guinea when I backpacked there over 20 years ago where there was a definite air of tension and menace in the air. Although other parts were the exact opposite and I was treated with so much kindness. I experienced the same tension walking around the area by the train station in Johannesburg in 1995.’

There have been a few other ‘dangerous moments’ as Lynn explains she does have ‘the tendency to wander up mountains alone’ in countries that ‘don’t have health and safety regulations.’

Lynn reveals that Angola is home to one of Africa’s most magnificent waterfalls – Kalandula Falls

Lynn, photographed here with a friend she met while travelling, says she has received a ‘humbling’ level of ‘kindness’ on her adventures

Aside from this, Lynn reveals: ‘Everywhere else I have felt much safer than I do in the UK. I think one thing travelling teaches you is that the world is a pretty safe place, despite what the media tells you. Also, I travel to places with very little tourism that don’t attract the pickpockets and criminals attracted by mass tourism opportunities.’

Lynn says she stays with friends or family if she travels back to the UK, but now has ‘friends all over the world’.

She’s currently in a small Australian town called Tawonga – ‘a beautiful part of Australia most people don’t get the chance to see in the Australian Alps’ – staying with friends she met earlier in the year in West Africa.

The next step? ‘To keep travelling and find a way to fund it,’ says Lynn.

She currently makes a ‘tiny amount of money’ from her travel blog and is set to offer conversation practice to English students online. And she’s not missing the house.

The adventurer says: ‘I don’t have a single regret. The memories I have made over the past two years have been priceless. It is wonderful being able to share my travels and adventures and my friends have been so incredibly supportive, it’s overwhelming. So many say that they live the adventures vicariously through me.

‘I have met so many inspirational people, the kindness I have received has been humbling. It isn’t just my encounters with people but also with the huge array of wildlife both on land and sea, which has left me mesmerised. I have seen so many incredible sights and I will never fail to be impressed and awestruck by the beautiful things I see, each one different.’

Want more from Lynn? Follow her adventures on her blog – www.daredreamdiscover.com and at @daredreamdiscover1 (Instagram) and @daredreamdiscover1 (Facebook).