Math teacher Sean McGrath is living proof that your childhood experiences or lack thereof might have a bigger impact on your life than you think.

“When I was small, my family didn’t travel that much,” he said. But despite this, travel is now one of his greatest passions.

McGrath is probably best known at Algonquin as a hip math teacher with a rockin’ sense of style. What you might not know though is that he spends nearly all of his breaks from school travelling, usually with his wife.

“I was always curious about the world,” he said, “But I didn’t really start travelling until after I got married. I took my first big trip outside of the United States on my honeymoon. We went to France and rented a car, and then drove to Spain. It really inspired me to want to travel more.”

“The thing that I like about travelling, especially to other countries, is the cultural aspect. I like trying new food and being in that new culture, even if it’s just for a little while,” he said.

When asked about his favorite destination, he could not choose just one. “My favorite place culturally is actually Paris,” he said, “But if I were just to go to the most beautiful place on earth then I would probably say the Greek islands.”

McGrath loves travel and exploration of new cultures so much that he’d even consider making it a full time endeavor. “If I could get paid to travel, then that’s what I would do,” he said, “in a second.”

Think that travelling with McGrath might be a fun experience? You might just be out of luck. When asked about whether he would ever consider leading a school trip abroad, his response was a firm “No.”

“My wife is a Spanish teacher and she’s led trips and I’ve tagged along on those trips so I wasn’t officially in charge,” he said.

“It’s not that I would not want to have the experience of travelling and doing that with students, it’s just that being in charge of a trip means you’re sort of working, and I would rather enjoy myself than have to work.”