Leaving everything behind to travel the world and build startups
One of the things I've always dreamed of
Leonel Ruiz4 min read
This is an idea that’s been going around in my head for months. I’ve already left everything behind to travel in the past, but things are different now. The first time I was 18, had a job I hated, and honestly, the decision wasn’t that hard to make.
Today I’m 21, and just like the first time, I have a job that stresses me out a lot. The difference is that I haven’t left it because of the money. Financially, I’m doing okay, and there aren’t many companies that would match my current salary or offer more.
Now that I’m older, leaving what I have behind for what could be the biggest adventure of my life scares me a bit. This isn’t a trip of a few weeks or a couple of months, we’re talking about 10 months to a year of traveling, without going back to my country or seeing my family and friends. Just me and my backpack.
It’s not like I have much to leave behind. I don’t really have anything tying me to one place. All my belongings fit perfectly into a backpack, I can quit my job at any time, and I have enough money saved to not work for almost a year, as long as I keep my expenses low.
I’ve been thinking about going to university next year to study computer science. The degree will take at least four years. Those will be years where I probably won’t be working much, but also very likely won’t be traveling. And traveling the world for a long period of time has been one of my biggest dreams since I was a kid. I know this isn’t my last chance, but if I don’t do it now, after university I’ll get a job and I’ll have to wait for vacations.
Why wait 5–6 years when I have the opportunity right now?
It’s a fact that I’m going to travel, even though I’m very scared of what might happen along the way. If I stay because of fear, I already know how my life will look, it’ll stay the same. But if I leave… I don’t know what could happen. Good or bad, that decision multiplies the possibilities, and that’s better than living the same routine every day.
And if I regret it during the trip, I can always buy a plane ticket back to Mexico, be home in a few hours, get another job, and go back to the same life as before.
Building startups
This part is new, because it wasn’t part of the original plan a few months ago. In 2025, I set a goal for myself: to build 12 SaaS startups in 12 months, inspired by the great Pieter Levels.
He once said that traveling opens your mind, and being exposed to different environments, cultures, and situations helps a lot when it comes to generating ideas, something I personally struggle with when trying to build new things.
This would basically be living as a digital nomad, building software while traveling. Of course, the idea behind this project is to make money with at least one of these startups. The dream is to live off my apps and finally have the freedom I’ve always wanted.
In the best-case scenario, if one of my apps is successful, I could reconsider going to university and instead focus on growing that startup.
The plan
As a tentative date, I’m aiming for late April or early May. To reduce costs, the best option is Central America and South America: it’s close, affordable, and there’s no language barrier.
At first, I thought about traveling from Guatemala all the way to Ushuaia in Argentina, but that’s a very long route with many countries, and one year isn’t enough time to enjoy it properly. I don’t want to feel rushed. So instead, this trip will focus on Central America, starting in Yucatán, Mexico, to visit Chichén Itzá (my fourth wonder of the world) before leaving my beautiful country.
From Yucatán, I plan to move to Belize, then spend a few months in Guatemala, and continue until reaching the end of Central America in Panama, traveling through a total of seven countries:
Belize
Guatemala
El Salvador
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
While reading Marek’s blog at indietraveller, I came across this route known as the Gringo Trail, which starts in San Cristóbal, Mexico, and ends in Panama City. What’s amazing about this route is that it can be done by land and sea, which makes it much cheaper. It fits perfectly with my plan and timeline, so I decided this will be the route for my adventure.
To wrap this up, I want to leave you with a few words.
If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.
It’s okay to be scared. What’s not okay is letting fear stop you. I believe it’s better to do things while being scared, and either succeed or stumble, than to never try and live with the question “what if?”.
Never let anyone stop you, and more importantly, never forget your dreams. Following my dreams has made me stumble countless times, but it has also helped me make them come true.