At 91, her first passport came; by 96, Ohio grandmother had travelled all continents: How a 10-year travel journey healed her family estrangement

An Ohio grandmother who celebrated her 96th birthday this year has accomplished a travel feat many only dream of, visiting all seven continents with her grandson after receiving her first passport at 91. Joy Ryan, fondly nicknamed ‘Grandma Joy’, completed the journey after traveling to Thailand and Australia with her 45-year-old grandson, Brad Ryan.

The last continent on their list was Australia. In particular, Joy was delighted to see koalas and their babies, called joeys, on the visit. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful country, and all these little koalas, they’re so cute,” she told People.

She thought of when she’d reached her goal and thought, “Well, old girl, you finally made it.”


But their travels have been about more than ticking off destinations. The journey also helped Joy and Brad rekindle their relationship after almost a decade apart.

How a camping trip launched their journey

In 2015, after 10 years of estrangement, Brad reached out to Joy and asked if she wanted to go camping with him in the Great Smoky Mountains. Joy was 85 years old and has never seen a mountain.

The trip also offered Brad, who was studying veterinary medicine and feeling the effects of stress and burnout, a chance to reconnect with his grandmother.

“We were estranged for 10 years prior to all this travel,” Brad told Travel + Leisure. He said the long hours they were together on the road provided opportunities to have conversations they might have otherwise avoided.

That first trip soon became a grand travel project. The duo visited all 63 national parks in the United States in more than 7 years and 100,000 miles. In May 2023, Joy finished the challenge at the National Park of American Samoa and became the oldest person to visit all the U.S. national parks.

The duo have shared their adventures with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, and Brad has written about their relationship and travels in his memoir, Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing, One National Park at a Time.

From national parks to 7 continents

Once the grandmother and grandson completed their US national park challenge, they decided to see the rest of the world.

Joy got her first passport, at 91 years old. They went all over the world, including Kenya to see elephants, Ireland to see historic castles, and Antarctica, where Joy got stuck in a penguin traffic jam.

They also visited the Galapagos Islands and Iceland, where they saw the northern lights. Their recent trips to Thailand and Australia, made with the help of nonprofit educational travel organization Road Scholar, completed the seven-continent challenge.

Brad was most impressed by conversations with Buddhist monks in Thailand. One young monk, he said, spoke of human interconnectedness and the need not to stay trapped in the past.