Local Woman Uses Retirement to Travel the Globe

Becky Stephens sat on a bench in Victoria, Australia, watching little penguins dabble on the coast of Phillip Island as the pit-pats of raindrops danced on her umbrella.

More than 10,000 miles from her home in Severn, the rain provided the perfect soundtrack to her environment as the 68-year-old watched the sun set over the Tasman Sea amid the rainclouds.  

The Phillip Island Park had cleared. Only a local ranger could snap Stephens from the captivating scenery.

It’s moments like that where the Severn resident is fully satisfied in her current season of life: retirement.

A 30-year educator in Baltimore and Anne Arundel County, Stephens retired in 2007 after teaching business education at Catonsville High. Since that time, one could say she’s adopted a new profession—traveler extraordinaire.

After retiring four years ago, Stephens has been to nine countries on two continents and said she will continue to travel the world until either her body breaks, or her wallet.

“It’s not like [a bucket list] or anything. I’m not being that particular. If I know somebody who’s going on a trip, I take an interest,” Stephens said.

The retired teacher said she was first turned on to traveling by a longtime friend who directed her to boat tours held by Grand Circle, an adventure travel company that puts people in a nation and offers them a completely immersed experience.

“My first trip started in Paris and we took a boat almost all the way to Normandy,” she said. “After the first [trip] I was hooked.”

Between 2008 and 2011, Stephens has been to France, Switzerland, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia over the course of four vacations.

The vacations themselves are comfortable, Stephens said, but it’s the complete immersion into another country’s culture that has wet her appetite for international travel.

“The variety of images, from Uluru [Ayers Rock] to kangaroos, to the Great Barrier Reef, it’s wonderful,” Stephens said.

In her travels, Stephens has visited schools in Fiji, participated in historical tribe ceremonies and sat in the home of an aborigine family in Australia for a traditional meal.

Noting Australia as her favorite destination to date, Stephens recommended that those heading down under should never pass on an experience in the outback.

“I wish everyone had the opportunity to see it. It’s unlike any place in the world,” she said.

She views her extensive traveling as a blessing and said she feels lucky to enjoy her passion for travel. However, amid her adventures, Stephens developed an additional zeal for the world, a global view.

“If people could just see different sights and meet people from different countries, I think we would be much more open-minded,” Stephens said. “It would change some of the prejudices you see in the world today.”

In her travels to traditionally unvisited parts of various countries, the 68-year-old said one’s perception of a culture can be shattered in the most positive of ways.

“People are super-friendly in other countries. All you have to do is have a puzzled look on your face and you’ll be helped by a total stranger,” she said.

Stephens knows she won’t be able to travel the world forever, but said she’ll keep pursuing her international adventures as long as she stays healthy and can afford the trip.

In just a few months, the Severn resident will head to Germany to travel along the Elbe River as she visit Prague, Frankfurt and other locations.