A doctor who felt the post-pandemic stress of his profession was “going to kill him” has sold his home and belongings to travel the world in a campervan.
Gary Grant, 47, made the radical shift after experiencing severe burnout as a GP.
He had lived alone in a Lytham St Annes rental property since his 2021 separation from his wife, where co-parents two young children.
While patient contact was “rewarding” after becoming a GP in 2008, the pandemic’s aftermath brought long days of “complicated” cases. “Skyrocketed” hospital waiting times left him returning home “exhausted” each night.
Mr Grant said it got to the point where he felt the stress of the job was “going to kill (him)” and he eventually thought “sod this” before deciding to leave his rental property, sell his belongings and his car, and buy a converted minibus – where he now lives.
Over the last four months, he has been sharing his travels on TikTok, as he visits a host of destinations using the money from his sales.
He has explored Europe with his children and embarked on solo trips to Qatar, Greece, Turkey and Bali, to name a few.
With another trip on the horizon to the US, Mexico and Guatemala, Mr Grant said his perspective on life has shifted and he now feels “liberated” and “free” from the constraints of working life – and he says he will “never” regret his decision.
“I’m fully aware of how midlife crisis this sounds, the deluxe midlife crisis at the elite level, but it has been very, very liberating,” Mr Grant told PA Real Life.
“It has been about getting away from a life that had become a constant stress and finding a way out, even if it seems quite radical.
“Shortly, technically, I’ll be homeless and jobless, but that’s not scary because I feel free.
“Now I’m based wherever my campervan takes me and I’m not going to regret doing this because I’ve had so many incredible, life-changing experiences already.”
He said he fell into medicine “by accident” in 2008.
“It’s always been tough and the NHS has always been on the verge of crisis,” he said.
“The patient contact was rewarding and I think speaking to people like a human being is the important part of being a doctor, I enjoyed that aspect of it.”
Mr Grant said after the Covid-19 pandemic the role of a GP became “ridiculously tough” for many around the country.
“The demand is rising at the same time as there are fewer of us in the industry,” he said.
“Waiting times for hospitals after Covid skyrocketed so we ended up seeing really complicated things that specialists should be seeing, but we were left trying to deal with it.
“People’s mental health also took a hit and trying to help someone in 10 minutes, it was very hard.”
With this, Mr Grant said his days became longer and longer until he was the last person to leave, when the cleaner would knock on his door.
“I would get home, totally exhausted, and get up and do it all over again the next day,” he said.
“In the morning I would think, ‘right, come on I can do this’, but by the afternoon I would say to myself ‘the stress of this is going to kill me’.”
In December 2024, Mr Grant’s GP surgery gave him some time off work and he found the experience “freeing”.
While he said his GP practice in particular were “very supportive” and “tried to offer me the best working environment possible”, being removed from the demands of the role made him feel like “a different human being”.
“Mr Grant is a different person to Dr Grant and the job pressure being removed made me question how I could do things differently,” he said.
He made the decision to step back from his job officially on December 6.
“I thought ‘why am I sitting here stressed out of my brain four or five days a week, doing a job that I no longer like?’” he said.
“I just thought ‘sod this’.”
He moved out of a property he had been renting, and he sold his furniture, his car and most of his non-essential belongings – opting to keep items like clothes and photographs.
He bought a converted minibus for £10,000, in which he is based when in the UK.
“It doesn’t even contain a toilet, I’m a 47-year-old man and I use a potty and shower at the gym,” he said.
In January this year, he took the campervan to visit seven European countries in seven days with his children, which included Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and France.
He has also embarked on solo trips to Sicily, Norway, Turkey, East Timor in south-east Asia, Qatar, Greece and Slovakia – as well as a month-long stint in Bali.
In the near future, he plans to visit the US, Mexico and Guatemala.
Mr Grant said he is funding his travels from the sale of his possessions and some savings.
“Whatever job I’ve got, I will hopefully do it digitally or remotely because the freedom of living in the campervan is incredible,” he said.
Mr Grant has been sharing his journey on TikTok, under the handle doctorbinfire, where one of his most popular videos, sipping a cocktail on a beach in Bali, gained more than 200,000 views, which he said “blew my mind”.
Along the way, Mr Grant feels his perspective on life has shifted.
“Being a doctor, you see lots of tragic and sad things and you realise life is short,” he said.
“I’m doing something scary and it might not work out, but I’ve realised life is for living and you shouldn’t feel trapped.
“I’m a much nicer person than I was last year and I feel free, I’ll never regret doing this.”
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