California second-grade teacher becomes rare traveler to visit every country in the world

In May 2023, Lucy Hsu stepped foot into Syria and entered an exclusive club.

The Middle Eastern country was the 193rd Hsu had traveled to.

“There are not many people who have visited every country in the world,” Hsu said. 

“One hundred ninety-three is the total that is recognized by most travel clubs because that represents the number of UN members who do vote in the UN,” the 43-year-old Hsu said.

Although there is no official tally, it is widely estimated that roughly 400 people in the world have been to every country. By comparison, more than 600 people have gone into outer space.

Hsu, a second-grade teacher at Cadwallader Elementary School in San Jose, didn’t get her first passport until she was 23. Hsu’s parents immigrated to the United States from Vietnam and the family had little in their budget for international travel.

“They were in a new country. They never had formal education being from Vietnam, like little village kids. They were starting really from zero,” Hsu said. 

After graduating from UC Berkeley and working for a year, Hsu had saved up enough for her first international destination: London. Hsu, who had been fascinated by geography and history since she was a little girl, wanted to keep going.

As her teaching career started to take off, so did Hsu. During every break from teaching, Hsu was traveling. It was during summer breaks that Hsu added the most countries to her tally.

“Every year I would plan a big trip," Hsu said. "And so then my next trip was to Australia and New Zealand. Then the next summer it was a different part of Europe. Then it was Central America. And by the time I had taught for six, seven years, I think it was already 50 countries.”

Once she learned from other travelers there was something called the “Century Club,” made up of people who had been to 100 countries, that became her goal. Once she surpassed that number though, she didn’t slow down.

“I started researching these extreme countries that I could go to,” Hsu said. “And so by the time I was in this club for maybe five years, then I reached close to 150.”

During that period, for Hsu, not only did the number of countries change but her perspective on them. She shifted from being a mere tourist to volunteering around the world, staying with locals and truly experiencing their cultures.

Then she brought those meaningful experiences back to her classroom.

“When I ask the students, what were they grateful for? You heard answers like, ‘I'm grateful for diversity, my freedom. I'm grateful for my education opportunities,’ ” Hsu said. “Those answers, I would say, are directly correlated to discussions I've had with them.”

Beyond her classroom, Hsu has been invited to share what her journeys have taught her about the world at various travel conventions. 

“I feel a lot of confidence in knowing that I can be anywhere and have peace. I can be anywhere and find work and be useful and have a purpose,” Hsu said.