A couple sold their house and all their belongings to spend their retirement backpacking around the world - and have been to 92 countries so far.

John Martin, 60, and his wife, Bev, 61, set off on their epic adventure in November 2021 after selling their home in Stuart, Florida, US, and listing their belongings and donating furniture to charities.

The couple decided they wanted to live life to the fullest after travelling around 53 US states and 52 US National Parks.

Grandparents of eight, John and Bev then wanted to head further afield and visited Indonesia, Colombia, Guatemala, Greece,

and New Zealand - staying in hotels and Airbnb.

The couple describe their jet-setting life as the "trip of a lifetime", they travel back to the US twice a year and are excited for their grandchildren to tag along when they are older."

John, a retired manufacturing manager, from Stuart, Florida, US, said: "In 2020 we bought a campervan and travelled around all the US states and territories."

"We realised that we didn't need our big house and that started this whole journey of what we wanted to do in our retirement."

"We thought 'why not go see the world?'. "

"We sold our home and downsized to a couple of backpacks and have been travelling ever since."

In June 2016, Bev and John had moved into a retirement community in Florida.

They said they had always known they wanted to travel and when covid hit they decided to buy a camper and travel around all 53 US states and territories.

Bev, a former stay-at-home mum, said: "We sat down one day and we knew we had money to travel in our retirement."

"We believed in living our life saving and being responsible around money."

"When we realised that we were retiring at a younger age, we looked at our budget and realised we could afford to travel two months a year."

"But if we sold our home and our things we could afford to go on a big adventure."

In November 2021, Bev and John set off to Central America on the first leg of their journey around the world.

Since then, they have visited the Bahamas, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and Romania.

Bev says they have visited "so many wonderful places" but one that stands out for them is Ukraine."

She said: "The war had started there when we visited in July 2022."

"We were in northern Romania - it was a safe area that we went through."

"The bridge we crossed was where many Ukrainian refugees fled the war and went into Romania."

John added: "For me, I love beautiful places to run. I think back to the mountains in New Zealand, Slovenia or Cape Town, South Africa. "

"They have been amazing places for me and I have truly enjoyed them."

When they told their children, they were travelling around the world, John and Beverley say they were excited for them.

She said: "We have five children and eight grandchildren, and all of our children are very excited about it."

"I think our children are excited for us to live out our best lives."

"I hope we are setting a good example for them that things don't matter, items don't matter."

"It is about connections and experiences."

"We want to give them the gift of travel to the world, to our grandchildren, we want to change their lives and hope to take them on trips around the globe."

The couple are sharing their journey on: retirementtravelers.com

List of their favourite countries -
- Albania
- Bulgaria
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Kosovo
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Morocco
- South Africa
- Australia
- New Zealand
- French Polynesia
- Bahamas
- Cayman Islands
- Puerto Rico
- St.Kitts and Nevis
- St Lucia
- St Martin and Sint Maartin
- US Virgin Islands
- Costa Rica
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Panama
- United States of America
- Canada
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Uruguay