Around the world in 17 years

-Leslie Reynolds

After visiting 27 countries on five different continents, four trips to the hospital due to food poisoning, and approximately 300 hours spent on airplanes, junior Ben Stephenson and his sister senior Lucy Stephenson still have not had their fill of world travel.

The itinerant siblings have been touring the world their whole lives, and have been everywhere from A to Z, Australia to Zimbabwe. The duo’s most recent travels include a 23-day expedition to Vietnam and Cambodia and an African safari traversing over three countries.

“The people we encountered [in Africa] were amazing,” Lucy said. “They’re so optimistic and hardworking, and they really want to learn English. They’re really driven. They’re way stronger emotionally [than Americans]—they have to be.”

Although Ben and Lucy had great experiences with the natives, the primary purpose of their vacation was to see wildlife.

“We didn’t really do as much people-interacting as we’d wanted to,” Ben said. “It was mostly just being driven around on safaris, which was really fun, but I kind of wanted to see more of the locals.”

The twosome saw all sorts of animals including elephants, monkeys and hyenas.

“The hyenas were as big as lions,” Lucy said. “That’s the thing I’m most scared of now. I don’t like hyenas.”

The group of about 20 Americans that made the trip—which consisted of Ben and Lucy and their two younger brothers, parents, and family friends—stayed in raised resorts called camps.

“They were hotel rooms on stilts,” Lucy said. “They were really strict about environmental stuff, so it was all made out of renewable resources.”

The siblings’ vacation to Africa was action-packed, with activities including bungee jumping over Victoria Falls, nearly a 400 foot drop.

“It’s really not what your body wants to do,” Lucy said. “It’s terrifying.”

Despite little contact with the African people, Ben and Lucy spent a lot of time mingling with the masses in Vietnam and Cambodia. Although they did not encounter any anti-American feeling in the South, a few people in the North seemed to harbor some resentment towards American tourists.

“The tour guide talked a couple times about the ‘glorious fight’ and how the North Vietnamese drove out the Americans. But then he would always follow up by saying ‘But we’re friends now!’” Ben said.

Ben and Lucy also experienced some very sobering things in Vietnam’s culture. 

“We went to a bunch of war crimes museums, and that was really good to see, but it was really, really sad,” Lucy said. “And the poverty is amazing in a sad way…but also, so much of what they do is based on ‘I’ll trade you my goat for your bike’ or something. It’s really cool to see that. Especially outside the city people are getting along pretty well.”

Even though travel comes with certain disadvantages, the siblings have never questioned the worth of experiencing these different cultures.

“It has its downsides, we went for what felt like days without air conditioner, and it’s so hot there…and I got really sick,” Lucy said. “I couldn’t do anything for three days and I lost a bunch of weight, but the other 20 days were really good.”

In Vietnam, Ben and Lucy were surprised by some of the things they witnessed, including the slaughtering of a pig in a public park, and a taxi driver running over a dog with no remorse.

“Whenever we would pet a dog…our tour guide would say ‘why are you playing with the livestock?’” Lucy said. “There are a lot of cultural things like that that just catch you off guard.”

Ben and Lucy also noticed many differences in the government in Vietnam and Cambodia.

“The corruption is almost as bad as the poverty,” Lucy said, “Because it causes the poverty,” Ben interjected.

Although the siblings are not fluent in other languages, they find ways around the language and cultural barriers in every country they visit.

“When we went to France, these little kids were like ‘do you want to play soccer with us?’ We couldn’t really talk to them very well, but we could play soccer with them,” Ben said.

Ben and Lucy always try to learn a little bit of the language when they travel to another country.

“They’re a lot nicer to you if you show that you’re not a haughty American tourist by trying to speak their language,” Ben said.

Ben and Lucy both hope to continue traveling their whole lives, and Lucy even plans to major in International Relations.

“It seems like it’s really important to be able to recognize the values of other cultures, even if they don’t line up with ours,” Lucy said. “It’s really helpful to get to see all that.”