A woman who quit her dream job to travel says she regrets not saving enough money for a house or retirement.

In an article for CNBC, Helen Zhao wrote that she quit her dream job as a video producer at the news outlet in 2022 after working there for almost five years. Zhao wrote that she traveled to 18 countries in Asia and South America over the course of a year and a half on a budget of $34,000.

Zhao told Business Insider in an email that she felt burned out from working more than 60 hours a week throughout her 20s and that she wanted to take a break and travel.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to see enough of the world if I only had 2 weeks of vacation per year while working full-time," Zhao said.

In the CNBC article, Zhao outlined her biggest regrets from the experience. One of those was that she spent a substantial amount of her life savings.

"Now, at 34, I have very little saved for retirement, I'm far from a down payment on a house in my hometown of Los Angeles, and I'm not ready to have kids," Zhao wrote for CNBC.

Zhao added that while she didn't regret spending money traveling, she wished she had been better prepared for the trip financially.

"Had I studied personal finance and started saving, investing and career planning in high school, I believe I could've taken my sabbatical without significantly delaying other life goals," Zhao wrote.

Despite spending a lot of her savings, Zhao told BI that the break she took from work to travel helped her grow as a person.

"I also developed so much gratitude for everything that I have, having witnessed so much poverty around the world," Zhao said.

"Living in Los Angeles, it's easy to get jaded and feel dissatisfied constantly comparing yourself to other people. I feel so much more in touch with the true meaning of life," she continued.

In 2022, more than 54 million Americans traveled abroad, according to a report by the International Trade Administration. The average person spent $1,783 on their trips abroad that year.

Not all travelers have financial regrets after spending big on traveling abroad. In 2019, a woman told BI that she was planning to spend $50,000 on travel in a single year and had no regrets doing so. And in February, another woman told BI she spent all her savings traveling across Europe, and she encouraged others to do the same.

February 22, 2024: This story has been updated with comments from Zhao.