Woman uses 'micro-retirements' for travel, changes her life in the process

Lauren Kirby, 21, a childcare worker, said she's saved over $12,500 to travel to 30 countries since she started working at age 18, news agency SNWS reported.

So far, she's visited Portugal, Mexico, Estonia and the U.S., among other countries, and she even lived for six months in Australia, she said.

These "micro-retirements" have made her better at her job, the British woman said, because she's been able to pick up childcare techniques from different cultures, such as taking children out for walks during all seasons throughout the year. 

Kirby, who is from Maidstone, Kent, told SWNS, "Once you go on a micro-retirement for the first time, it literally changes your life."

When she took her first micro-retirement from work at age 18, she returned a totally different person, she said.

"Now, I've hit 30 countries, and I'm working my way through the rest."

A travel company paid for her accommodations, flights, food and bills, she said. It also paid her minimum wage, or $988 a month.

It meant she was able to save $3,130. 

In 2023, she took a part-time job in a nursery closer to her home.

"I went out there, worked the first five months at a resort, then spent a month traveling," she said. "With the money I'd earned, I could just quit - and saw all the highlights of the East Coast, like Sydney and Byron Bay."

She said she saw how quickly everything closed down. 

She feared she might never be able to go abroad again when the borders closed, she told SWNS - and said that even now she thinks about how "things can change in the blink of an eye."

She said that among today's younger generations, "there's a lot more knowledge now of moving abroad, temporarily, to work - and [we're] taking advantage of this."

She said that being well-traveled has benefited her in her work.

She's been able to bring back different childcare tips and techniques to her own work in the U.K., she said.