Travel more, learn more: Shalain Benford visits countries across world

In the most basic of terms, people can be divided into two groups: homebodies and adventurers. Homebodies prefer to stay in their comfortable, familiar abodes, while adventurers live to branch out and see what the world has to offer. Both lifestyles have their perks, but East Franklin Junior High School teacher Shalain Benford prefers to live on the more adventurous side of life.

Every year Benford takes a special trip either in the United States or overseas. Before she started this tradition, she served in the Army for 20 years, which allowed her to travel to many places. But her desire to see the world started at a young age.

Benford said when she was a child in school, she drew her inspiration from her history and geography books.

“I would see pictures of these places and historical things, and I wanted to go there and see for myself if they were real,” Benford said.

Now, she takes her experiences and memories from these travels and tries to impress the importance of traveling and learning on the children she teaches and her nieces and nephews.

“I learn so much from every place I go, and I want the kids to have those same kinds of experiences,” she said.

One item she said she always brings back from the places she visits is currency. The different coins and paper money fascinate the children, she said.

Vocabulary words also work their way into her sharing with her students. “Peckish,” which essentially means hungry, is one of the words that she has taught them. She learned it in Australia, and she said the students to whom she has taught this word in the past still use it when they tell her that they’re ready for a snack.

“I’m a very hands-on learner, and I think it’s important for the kids to be interactive that way too, which is why I enjoy showing them these things and having them do crafts and activities,” Benford said.

A Christmas tree in her living room is full of ornaments from places she has visited, which she also shares with the children.

Benford has visited almost every one of the 50 United States and many other countries, but she said her big bucket-list trip was Australia – which she visited after she retired from the Army.

“I guess one of the reasons it was so important is because I didn’t think it would ever happen, and then when it finally did, I just couldn’t believe it,” she explained.

Traveling, Benford said, is her version of “me time.” She said everyone has to take time for themselves, and this is her way – but more often than not, she isn’t alone.

Benford often travels on the Go Ahead Tours, a travel company that provides guided tours on all seven continents. She has also traveled through Listerhill Credit Union’s Young at Heart program. Her nieces and nephews get a special treat: they each get one free trip with her, usually within the United States.

“Traveling with the right people is so important. I’ve made so many friends through my travels that I still keep in touch with,” she said.

However, no matter where she goes, she said nothing can beat Alabama.