We recently connected with LEB and have shared our conversation below.

LEB, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I live for vacations & time off. Although I don’t consider my travels as “a vacation” it is still a time to decompress, leave any stress behind and time to fully reset mentally.

I quit my day job to travel full time. This was definitely a scary decision but I don’t regret it at all. As a young adult, I don’t want to work my entire life just to be able to do a little bit of traveling once I’m retired. I want to be able to experience everything through out my life rather than at just one point in my life.

I think any working professional and business owner needs to prioritize time off. Humans were not meant to work 24/7. We all need breaks. Physical and mental breaks. No person can be productive non-stop and it is extremely important to give yourself a break to reset and come back stronger than ever.

My advice to any entrepreneur or business owner would be to take care of yourself. Reward the big and small wins with some time off to celebrate your accomplishments. You were not born to work, you were born to live.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m LEB. I am a 27 year old solo traveler and content creator. I spent a lot of my late teens and early twenties unsure what I wanted to do with my life…to be honest I still feel unsure at times. All I knew was I wanted to see as much of the world as possible. I didn’t just want a small taste of a new place but I wanted to fully immerse myself long term into as many countries in the world as I possible could. And that’s what I’m doing.

Immediately after I graduated college, rather than start a career as most new college graduates do, I bought I one way plane ticket across the world. I spent a year and a half exploring Europe and South East Asia and instantly knew that traveling was what I was meant to do.

But like everything in this world, you need money to travel. I wasn’t working and if I wanted to continue to see the world I knew I would need to get a job. So I started a career and worked hard for three years before quitting to travel again. And this time around, I made sure to find ways to make money while I travel. Best of both worlds.

Life is too short to work until you’re 65 and then retire. I want to live the “retired life” when I’m young and in my 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s. I have decided that I won’t wait until I’m older to retire and travel. Rather I will take a mini retirement every few years to ensure that I can see every part of the world by the time I do turn 65.

So who am I? I’m an explorer, an adventurer and I am someone who believes life’s too short to wait to see the world. Do what makes you genuinely happy and don’t wait to follow your dreams. The time to follow them is now.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a solo traveler is meeting and connecting with people from all over the world. I always say it’s not the place that makes the memories but the people you meet along the way and share those memories with. I love getting to know a person and learning about their life and where they come from. Everyone has grown up so differently and it is so fascinating to learn about other countries cultures and to hear stories from individuals living all over the world. I value friendships so much and it is so rewarding to create bonding relationships with people from different parts of the world.

Another rewarding aspect of being a full time traveler is the ability to help others plan their dream trips. I love blogging about my adventures and sharing tips and tricks with friends, family and strangers. It is very rewarding to help someone plan a trip and to see them having the best time on it. Anything I’ve learned from being a solo traveler, I will always share with anyone who asks.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

A lot of people think I’m “crazy” for doing what I do. I quit my job giving up an income and stability. I gave up my apartment and put my belongings into storage giving up my home. And I bought a one way ticket to a continent and country I had never been to. Alone. I think the people that call me crazy simply don’t understand why I choose to do this or even how I am able to do it.

I chose to do it because as I mentioned in an earlier response, I think life is too short not to. I don’t want to wait until I’m retired to go out and see the world and live my life. There is so much to see in this world and I already feel like there is not enough time in a lifetime to do it all. I also care less about the short trips and visits and prefer to spend long periods of time in each place so that I can really understand the culture and learn the area. I love knowing my way around different cities and towns and small random roads. It is truly what makes me feel most alive.

How am I able to do this and as many ask how do I afford it? I worked hard to save over the years and this is simply how I choose to spend my money. Some people my age choose to buy a house let’s say and I’m just choosing to travel the world. Most importantly though is I am not luxuriously traveling. I’m a backpacker. I sleep in hostels in 10 person dorm rooms. I eat at the most local places rather than the fancy expensive restaurants. I take overnight buses because it’s the cheapest form or transportation and it also saves me a night of needing to pay for accommodation. I don’t think people understand that you don’t need to be “rich” or “very well off and successful” to see the world. There are just different ways to do it and I choose the low budget way. Anyone can do it!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @travel_with_leb
• Other: TikTok: @travel_with_leb