At 21, She Packed a Bag and Left the Country. She’s Slept in a Different Bed Every Night Since (Exclusive)

As a self-described “wanderlust,” Talia Schreiber opted to forgo a traditional career path upon graduating from UC Santa Barbara approximately one year ago. Instead, she packed a singular bag and left her home — well, the country — alone and has yet to return.

The California native, now 21 years old, has been to five counties in the past three months since making the decision to travel full-time after college. Despite her earned degree in economics, the lessons that she learned during her three-and-a-half years at university exceeded the classroom.

Inspired by a TikTok video of a woman solo traveling in Mexico, Schreiber — who was age 18 at the time, sick and “super sad” during her freshman year of school — tells PEOPLE exclusively that’s when she knew she wanted to attempt a solo trip herself, although she had zero idea what she was doing.

“No one around me had solo traveled, no one had traveled. I was like, ‘What is this? What is a hostel?'” she recalls thinking of her then-naive, yet curious self. “I looked at Google Flights and the flights were really cheap — so I was like, I’m going to book this for my spring break.”

“So I booked the trip,” Schreiber continues. “Spring break rolled around, and I went on my first solo trip to Puerto Escadillo, Mexico, with a suitcase — because I didn’t know what a backpack was — and I rolled up to a hostel like, ‘What is this?’ It was like a $7 night hostel!”

“Those 10 days really changed my life,” she says.

Undoubtedly, Schreiber was bitten by the travel bug — or as she simply put it, “addicted” — and took advantage of every spring and winter break throughout her university years to travel.

“I didn’t care where the destination was,” she says, explaining, “I would just book the cheapest flight anywhere.”

That’s in part what pushed her to graduate from UC Santa Barbara a semester earlier, “grinding” out her courses and working various jobs while in school so she could save up and hit the road as soon as possible.

“My entire life, I knew I wanted to travel, so I did any job I could get… I just did anything I could do to get money,” says Schreiber, who listed a range of unique gigs she took on from the past.

Among her most memorable places of employment? Dog walking, house cleaning, hoarder helping, tutoring and surf instructing, to name a few.

In February, Schreiber left for Brazil to begin her travels full time. She went to Colombia afterwards, then flew to England, followed by Morocco, stopped off in Madeira (an island off the coast of Africa), to eventually reach the mainland of Portugal.

At the time of the interview, Schreiber hopped on a call from the streets of Portugal’s northwest coastal city called Porto, though she’s since made her way to Morocco.

“I’m moving very fast,” she tells PEOPLE, noting that she’s only in places for “a few weeks” max before moving on.

You may be wondering about the expenses of a 21-year-old college grad — and how much walking someone’s dog and helping a hoarder clean their house — she really could’ve saved, allowing her to explore these foreign destinations alone, with no sign of stopping in the near future.

“I definitely have privilege and I want to acknowledge that,” the Bay Area native makes clear.

“However I do think that if there’s a will, there’s a way,” she continues, adding, “People are under this conception that you need so much money to live the lifestyle that I’m living — when in reality, I am not spending a lot of money to be doing all of these amazing things.”

The idea of travel sounds luxurious, but Schreiber detailed the realities of being on the road alone with the bare minimum, revealing the truth behind her now-thriving social media pages of travel content that’ve attracted nearly half a million followers across Instagram and TikTok combined.

In short, Schreiber has “no home base” at the moment. “I’m honestly a full-time nomad… I’ve been moving a lot… I’ve been sleeping in different beds every single night, camping, sleeping on the ground, sleeping in airports.”

Schreiber admitted it was “hard” to pinpoint the craziest place she’s slept in the past three months, though after giving the question a few seconds of thought, she began to rattle off a few standouts.

“I’ve slept on many European beaches because hostels are too expensive, like Portugal’s beaches. I hitchhiked and camped all up the Algarve in Portugal,” she shares, adding, “I’ve slept in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador… I got bit by a lot of mosquitoes.”

She clarifies, “It was camping, but it was in the middle of the jungle. There was mud, there were spiders. It was crazy.”

Oftentimes, Schreiber — who proudly states that she’s “mastered the art of sleeping in weird places” — relies on her inflatable sleeping pad that she carries around with her everywhere she goes so she can “sleep anywhere [she wants] for free,” she tells PEOPLE.

“It’s like a portable bed and it’s super lightweight because it’s just pumped up by air,” she explains.

Thrifty-minded, Schreiber also takes pride in her unconventional travel hacks to avoid the overnight scaries of searching for a place to rest her head alone, like finding overnight transportation that gets her from point A to point B while simultaneously providing shelter.

“Taking overnight sleeper buses not only gets you to your next destination quickly, but it also saves a night on a hostel because you’re in a bus,” she explains. “Couch surfing is really common, too, especially in Europe, and you get a house or a home stay for free.”

“I just slept on a boat the other night in Lisbon,” Schreiber says, because the hostels were really expensive. “‘Anyone have a free place to stay?'” she recalls asking on the app, Couch Surfer, at the time. “And this guy was like, ‘I have a boat!’ And he gave us his boat for free.”

On average, Schreiber reveals she’s spent approximately $898 a month since she left home.

“I built my lifestyle around spending less and then experiencing more,” she says of her “nature”-centric style of living. “I sleep in hammocks. I hitchhike to save money. I volunteer at hostels. I eat street food, swimming in waterfalls, camping… granola girl things.”

Schreiber also uses a barter system when applicable.

“I volunteered in hostels in Colombia for free accommodation. There are tons of incredible hostels with infinity pools and all of these amazing, luxurious things,” she shares. “For four hours a day, you serve people coffee or you clean the sheets and then you get to live there for free.”

“When you’re traveling, it is so easy to meet people,” Schreiber continues. “You will find locals who will take you into their home for free. You will find people who will give you free rides, free meals…. I have faith in humans because of traveling.”

“I just kind of go with the flow,” she says, adding, “I don’t usually have many plans, and I just speak to people. I’ve not only gotten free things, but amazing friends.”

Don’t let her free-spirited mindset fool you as a young female who’s traveling around the world in foreign places alone.

“Safety is always a priority for me. I love living, I want to be alive,” Schreiber tells PEOPLE, adding, “But also I don’t let fear dictate my life. Through this lifestyle, I’ve learned to trust my instinct… How to be street smart and how to make informed decisions.”

“I’ve really learned how to ask for help when I’ve needed it,” she adds. “I’ve found that humans are very helpful. They’re very helpful. They want to make you feel safe in their country. Locals want to make you feel safe, they want to make you feel loved.”

I’ve met so many amazing people on the road that have really restored my faith in humanity, and if I had stayed at home and let the fear of going alone dictate my life… I never would’ve seen that the world is actually not as scary of a place as I think the media portrays it to be,” Schreiber says.

“I think if you’re responsible, you keep your wits about you,” she emphasizes. “Just inner compass.”

Schreiber says her parents are also supportive of her wanderlust way of life (aside from the hitchhiking part, she shares) because they know it’s her “passion,” not a “way out.”

A hard worker, Schreiber profits off her social media platforms as a full-time content creator and her self-started travel business, Go Granola.

“I take people from all over the world to explore,” explains the host, who builds and plans group trips for adventure seekers who don’t want to travel alone. “I hope to leave them with forever friends, a community and more knowledge about solo traveling so that they could do it on their own as well.”

As for the upcoming timeline of Schreiber’s own travels, she’s not thinking too far ahead.

“I think I’m kind of traveling around the world to try to find a place that does feel like home in a sense,” she shares. “Maybe one day I’ll move back to California, but I just don’t see that in my future right now.”