Traveling is a wonderful experience not just because you get to see cool places, but because you get to see cool things and experience different cultures, and Hoover English teacher Joshua Leibner is one of the biggest travelers. 

Leibner has been to a little more than 80 countries. 

He is originally from Arlington, Virginia, and didn’t start traveling until after college. 

“I just went by myself to Europe and started wandering around Europe right after college,” he said. “I didn’t even know what country I was going to next, I just met people along the way and started in England and ended up in Cairo. It lit the fire for travel.”

Out of all the places he has been, Leibner says that he has a lot of favorites.

“I lived in Cambodia for a while, took some time off teaching so I could work for an organization that helped women in poverty in Cambodia,” he said. 

Though he had many countries to choose from he picked New Zealand, Vietnam, Columbia, Bolivia, and Japan to be in his top favorites.

While on his journey, Leibner made many memories but when asked about one that would stick with him forever he said “I was robbed in Tanzania and had my passport, money, everything stolen so it was horrible trying to navigate Africa with nothing. But I have so many great memories of museums and art and travel by hitchhiking and train. Just wandering from country to country without knowing where you’re gonna spend the night.”

Leibner encourages students that “the single best use of your money and time is to travel, you’ll never regret going on a trip or going to a different country and it changes you. That’s how wonderful it is.”

Throughout his traveling journey, Leibner got to experience many different cultures. 

“It humbles you because there’s 8 billion people and 8 billion stories and everyone has their own journey and we realize, whoa were an incredibly lucky country that many other places in the world do not have the opportunities we have,” And that means we have a lot of responsibility to help others in the world.”