A Traveler Who Never Stops Moving

If you’ve ever told yourself, “I’ll travel more when I have more time,” Mari Escobar is living proof that excuse doesn’t hold up.

A financial controller for an indie Latin record label, Mari has visited over 53 countries — solo, with friends, and with family; all while holding down a demanding career in finance. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she sat down with Peter to talk about where her love of travel came from, what it really takes to climb the accounting ladder at a Big Four firm, and why a three-month solo trip through Europe changed everything.

It Started in the Family

Mari didn’t wake up one day and decide to become a world traveler. The groundwork was laid in childhood.

“My father always put that into me — he’s like, ‘Travel now that you can. Don’t wait till you’re old when your knees hurt and you can’t walk.’”

Her family took at least one major two-week trip each year, mostly through Europe, with frequent visits to Panama to see her father’s side of the family. But what made these trips formative wasn’t luxury. It was intensity.

“We go out early in the morning and we don’t come back till midnight. It’s all about doing stuff.”

No fancy dinners. No rigid hour-by-hour itineraries. Just walking, getting lost, trying local food, and soaking up the culture. That philosophy stuck. Today, Mari is the de facto travel agent for the whole family; booking flights, Ubers, and loosely structured itineraries while her father’s only job is to ask, “How much is it?”

College, Culture Shock, and a Widening World

Mari left Puerto Rico to attend Bentley University in Boston, where she eventually earned both her undergraduate degree and a Master of Science in Taxation. The move itself didn’t feel like culture shock at first — it felt like another exciting trip. But it was the people she met that truly expanded her worldview.

“I thought I always traveled… and then you meet people who go on weekend trips all the time. I had roommates from Indonesia. They do 30-hour flights like it’s nothing. I’m like, where is Indonesia? I never cared about it; but when you have close contact with these people, it changes everything.”

Meeting international students pushed her curiosity well beyond Europe and into places she’d never previously considered. It turned out the best passport stamp isn’t always the one in your hand — sometimes it’s the friend sitting next to you.

The Big Four: Glamour, Grind, and Burnout

After graduating, Mari landed a job with Ernst & Young (EY) in New York City, one of the prestigious “Big Four” global accounting firms. The first year was everything a young professional could want: a Times Square office, training trips to Chicago, company-paid meals, and a cohort of 50 new hires who became instant friends.

Then year two hit.

“We got a huge client and that changed everything. Working till midnight, leaving at 3 a.m. and when you left at 8 p.m., that felt early.”

The hours were relentless. Social life shrank to grabbing dinner with friends because New York apartments were too small to host anything. And vacation? A constant uphill battle.

“I’m always the one using all my vacation days. Most people don’t even keep track. But they always had a hard time approving anything longer than a week.”

After two and a half years in New York and a stint in the Puerto Rico office (where the hours were slightly more manageable), Mari made her exit. The Big Four, she explains, is a calculated trade-off: you endure the grind, build an unbeatable résumé, and then move on.

“Once you have that on your resume, you’re good to go. Everybody’s gonna look for you. That’s why you go through it, you become a slave for them, but you know you’re not going to do it forever.”

On the money side, the salary sounds impressive; until you do the math. As Mari put it with a laugh: “By the amount of hours, you were probably making minimum wage.” The irony? She saved the most money during her New York years precisely because she was too busy to spend it.

The Trip That Changed Everything

When Mari finally left EY, she did what any self-respecting travel-obsessed accountant would do: she booked a flight to Paris. The plan was one month of French lessons and city life. It turned into nearly three months across Europe.

“I kept changing my ticket.”

She visited her brother in Munich for Oktoberfest, met up with friends along the way, and spent long stretches entirely on her own; staying in hostels and doing something she never expected, talking to strangers.

“I thought I was shy before that trip. After that, I was like, I can talk to anyone standing next to me, because I had no option. Otherwise, I wouldn’t talk to anyone for three months.”

That trip didn’t just recharge her. It rewired her. The woman who had spent years crunching numbers under fluorescent lights discovered something more valuable than a line on a résumé; the confidence, adaptability, and pure joy that comes from navigating the world alone.

Key Takeaways

• Travel doesn’t require quitting your job. It requires treating vacation days as non-negotiable, not optional.
• Start the habit early. Whether it’s your parents, your friends, or your college roommates, surrounding yourself with travelers expands your sense of what’s possible.
• You don’t need a minute-by-minute itinerary. Have a general plan, know the highlights, and leave room to follow what excites you in the moment.
• Working for the Big Four, or other big companies is a launchpad, not a life sentence. The experience and the résumé credential are invaluable, but know your exit before burnout makes the decision for you.
• Working insane hours has one silver lining: forced savings. If you can survive the grind, the money you stockpile can fund the freedom that follows.
• Solo travel builds social confidence faster than almost anything else. When you have to talk to strangers, you quickly learn that you can and that most people are worth talking to.
• Hostels are underrated networking tools. They’re self-sorting: the people who want to explore find each other naturally.

This is Part One of a three-part interview with Mari Escobar on Alone with Peter. Part Two covers the nuts and bolts of solo female travel, how to stay safe, and how Mari structures her work life to maximize time abroad.