FT Series

Dream jobs

Meet the people who’ve given up the 9-5 to seek new careers — and new lives — on distant shores
From financial consultant to spearfishing in Mexico

Leo Waltman left swapped Dutch banks for diving off the Yucatan peninsula

From telecoms to winemaking in Provence

Stephen Cronk ditched London corporate life to set up a boutique wine business

From architecture to chocolate farming in Costa Rica

On holiday in Central America, Vicki Chandler decided to swap building restoration for cacao beans

From selling hair extensions to running a safari lodge in South Africa

A visit to Johannesburg helped Jessica Gold decide to develop Makanyi Lodge and go into the tourism business

From management consultant to Antarctic guide

Carolyn Bailey swapped flip charts and team-building for a tent on a glacier

From insurance sales to motorbikes in Vietnam

Hawkmoon Boxer swapped Manchester for a new life as a guide in Hoi An

More from this Series

From army colonel to eco-lodge owner

How Guy Levene left the military and built a lodge in Ethiopia

From stay-at-home mum to bush pilot

After 10 years at home with her kids, Glenys Watson became a pilot in Papua New Guinea

From finance to free diving instructor

How Mike Board left a finance job in Canary Wharf and became an instructor in Indonesia

From UK-based geophysicist to volcanologist in Montserrat

Rod Stewart swapped Edinburgh for an observatory on the Caribbean island

From England to chasing the aurora borealis in Finland

Tony Bateman made a website that helped total newbies see the Northern Lights

From Sweden to tour guide on Easter Island

Marcus Edensky moved from a Sweden to start a new life in the Pacific

From policeman to hot-air balloon pilot in Myanmar

Skills learnt as a uniformed constable translate well into a career up in the air

From PR in London to husky driving in the Arctic

Gaynor Leeper quit her job as a communications manager in to work in adventure tourism