Teacher who swapped classroom to scuba dive with sharks and hike up volcanoes has ‘no regrets’ as she travels the world

A teacher who swapped the classroom for a life of adventure, travelling the world, scuba diving with sharks and hiking up volcanoes, has said she has “no regrets”.

Hannah Cauldwell, 30, from Devon, left her job as a secondary school French and Spanish teacher in 2022 after finding the classroom “too restrictive”.

The same year, she began a masters degree in translation and journeyed across Japan and South Korea during her studies – which gave her the “travelling bug”.

After graduating in 2023, Hannah travelled through Jordan, Egypt, Iceland and Nepal, before spending months in Asia canyoning in the Philippines, hiking around an active volcano in Indonesia and couch surfing in Taiwan.

She has also scuba-dived with sharks in Mexico and hiked around Mont Blanc, with her fiancee Cas, 38, a photographer, accompanying her on many of the travels.

Now working as a travel co-ordinator hosting group tours for WeRoad – which she described as “the best job in the world” – Hannah said she cannot imagine returning to traditional teaching and encourages others with the travel bug to “just go for it”.

Hannah told PA Real Life: “I wouldn’t do anything differently.

“Before all this, when I was younger and went abroad on my own, I don’t think I had a very strong sense of danger and luckily nothing happened, but I think you always need to be aware of who you are with and where you are.

“But apart from that, I think all my experiences were learning experiences.

“If you can, just go for it, you won’t regret it… I have no regrets!”

Hannah completed her postgraduate certificate in education in 2019 and began teaching French and Spanish in a secondary school from 2020.

She said: “It was really hard doing that during the pandemic because it was a big school and the year groups were in their bubbles, so we had to keep moving around.

“I found it a bit too restrictive, but I started doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, supporting that in schools, and that was way better.

“I thought maybe I need a job outdoors or something different.”

Hannah said she ensured her class completed their exams before handing in her notice in 2022, a decision which left her feeling “so relieved”.

That same year, she began a masters in translation at the University of Surrey with the hope of working abroad.

During the course, she travelled solo to Japan for five weeks and in South Korea for one week and “got the travelling bug”.

“In Japan, I went solo hiking and made friends with a Japanese lady. I went to a few traditional onsen, which is a hot spring you go in naked.

“In South Korea, I met up with a bunch of random women from a Facebook group and we went hiking outside of Seoul.”

She then completed a ski season in France and, after graduating in 2023, set off to explore more of the world.

Hannah said she had not saved up “too much” beforehand because she planned to work while travelling by tutoring and translating online.

In September 2024, she travelled to Jordan where she went canyoning and floated in the Dead Sea, and then went to Egypt to see the Pyramids before meeting her partner in Spain.

By November, Hannah had travelled to Iceland and went to Nepal in December.

From January to April 2025, she explored Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.

“We don’t have much money so we looked into couch surfing, and it turns out that that’s quite popular in Taiwan,” Hannah explained of the practice which involves staying in spare spaces in hosts’ homes, often sleeping on their sofa.

“So we stayed with four different families or individuals – we only stayed with women, just because of safety reasons.

“Those people were amazing – they took us out with their families and we went to the beach and went for food and it was such a nice cultural exchange.

“An average accommodation is about £20 a night and we couch surfed for 10 nights, so we saved maybe around £300 to £400.

“And then in the Philippines, we did really cool canyoning, jumping off 10-metre high rocks and cliffs.

“In Indonesia, we hiked up Mount Ijen which has a live volcano, and you see the sulphur, you have to wear a gas mask and you see the blue flames of the volcano.”

She continued her adventures in Mexico and the Dolomites, before returning to the UK to work at a summer school and then in August she hiked around Mont Blanc.

Hannah said: “Mexico was great for scuba diving – we saw sharks and turtles and a puffer fish.”

Now, she is in Albania with her fiancee, which she said is “the most colourful, exciting country”.

Along the way, Hannah began to realise that “everyone wants the same thing” in life: wherever she travelled, people valued family, a safe home and the chance to enjoy themselves.

“In Albania, we’ve had loads of people ask where we’re from, but in an inquisitive way, and it just sparks conversations,” Hannah added.

“And then in Bali, we were a little bit cautious about being out as a same-sex couple, just because of what we’d read and we hadn’t been there before, and then people were just really chilled about it.

“We stayed in a guesthouse and this man was so lovely, asking how long we’d been together, it was amazing.”

Hannah has loved sharing these experiences with Cas because they both often have to “pinch” themselves that they are “actually living this life”.

She thinks the journey has pushed them both out of their comfort zones, with Cas taking on adventurous activities – despite sometimes being hesitant – while Hannah has begun working as a travel co-ordinator.

As part of her role for tour operator WeRoad, Hannah hosts group tours which she said is “the best job in the world”.

She added: “I did some tours in Albania and it’s just been amazing to experience these countries while meeting people and showing them places.

“Everyone has been so lovely and there’s a bond between everyone.”

Hannah and Cas return to the UK every few months, staying in one of Cas’s family’s properties, which removes the “financial commitment” of having their own home base.

Hannah now cannot imagine returning to traditional teaching in the UK, and said her experiences have highlighted how rigid the school system can be.

“I just think the curriculum at home is so stuffy, even just within the realms of my own language lessons,” Hannah explained.

“I would try to do really creative stuff, like teaching about Day of the Dead… but that isn’t always well-regarded within schools.

“I think life lessons would be so much better. There are attempts at it with PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic education), but I think children should be learning about everyday skills.”

Since leaving teaching, Hannah has visited 29 countries and said it is “impossible” to pick her favourite, but some of her “standouts” so far are Sri Lanka, Nepal and Mont Blanc.

Hannah and Cas plan to continue travelling and hope to visit Argentina, Chile and China.

For more information, visit: weroad.com.