High Five! A Must-See Video of a Guy Who Quit His Job to See the World

Greg Keraghosian
·Associate Travel Editor
Updated

Craig Lewis was restless in his job as a marketing manager in Atlanta, and he wanted to travel the world. So he got a camera and took the plunge, again and again.

There’s lots of jumping in Lewis’ viral video of his year enjoying everything and everyone the world has to offer, and the first jump is of him quitting his job and walking out his office elevator for the last time. He then gives the camera the first of many high-fives that transition from one envy-inducing destination to another, flanked by friends he made along the way.

Related: I Quit My Job and Built a Tiny House So I Could Travel

Base-jumping in Millau, France. (Photo: lewiee1/Instagram)

Overall Lewis, 26, said he went to 36 countries in about a year, and in his action-packed video we see him at Tomatina in Spain, a shark-diving cage in Cape Town, wingsuit-diving in California, a safari in Tanzania, a festival in Belgium, volunteering at a youth center in Kenya, and a lot more. He says he skydived 160 times total during the voyage.

Speaking of jumps, the coolest shot in the video has to be at the 1:27 frame in Beachy Head, UK, where his friend runs away from the camera and off a cliff.

Lewis with the kids at the Wale Wale youth center in Kenya. (Photo: lewiee1/Instagram)

Lewis told CNN that he worked hard and saved for three years at his job to afford the trip, in which he says he doesn’t think he stayed at a single hotel. He couch-surfed often and recalls sleeping in airports, trains, buses, and 36-man dorm rooms.

He said his favorite moments included hiking to the base camp at Mount Everest, and that volunteering at Kenya’s Wale Wale youth center and the Mother Teresa school changed his life. “You cannot put a price on these experiences, and they are by far the first places I would go back to,” he told CNN.

Related: This Banker Quit Wall Street To Fulfill His Dream of Living in Maui

You can follow Lewis’ future adventures on his Instagram account.

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