At 19, She Packed Her Bags After Completing Chemo. 4 Years Later, She’s Running a Hostel in Cambodia (Exclusive)

Annabelle Stafford-Johnson spoke with PEOPLE about her unexpected life trajectory that went from cancer diagnosis in her teens to global ventures in her 20s

In June 2021, then 19-year-old Annabelle Stafford-Johnson packed her bags for Greece with the intent of a one-month-long adventure of island hopping with her friend after completing chemotherapy for her lymphoma diagnosis.

What she ended up finding was a new home and a fresh perspective on life.

The home she found, though, wasn’t in Greece. Rather, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, where she has since founded a hostel alongside three Australian “mates” in their late 20s, whom she met during her third Greek season in the European country.

Having worked together at a bar in Greece, Stafford-Johnson — who picked up seasonal work in upwards of five different countries since leaving her homeland at age 19, including ski instructing in Austria and Sweden — was confident in the Aussies’ ability to run a business.

Plus, Stafford-Johnson — who had two years of high school stripped from her amid her cancer treatment that began at age 17, happening simultaneously to the COVID-19 pandemic — didn’t want her newfound, adventure-filled years to come to an end.

“When you experience what it’s like to have your freedom taken away, especially at that age when it’s so not anticipated, and then if you’re lucky enough to sort of grasp what it’s like to get that freedom back, it’s a very unique and revelatory experience,” Stafford-Johnson, 23, tells PEOPLE of her outlook.

“You literally just realize how short life is,” she continues, emphasizing, “Tomorrow just isn’t promised. I think that just flipped a switch in my brain and suddenly I was just seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses… It’s just not that deep.”

The four new friends spontaneously quick-tripped it over to Cambodia in January 2024 and visited Koh Rong, an island in the Sihanoukville Province known for its sandy coves, coral reefs on the coast and dense jungle terrain inland. A connection was felt instantly.

“We had booked three days there, and it was sort of just this light bulb moment,” Stafford-Johnson says of her life-changing venture upon starting her very own hostel, The Wavy Sailor.

“You could sort of see it in all our eyes,” she added of the potential they saw in the spot.

That’s what made Stafford-Johnson’s last-minute decisions to continue traveling a no-brainer — in addition to using every cent left she had in her bank account to put down for the deposit on the Cambodian bungalow, a deal she and the Australian boys ultimately made in a matter of days.

“A lot of different people were looking at it at the time, and we very much got the sense that the island was quickly expanding. We were like, ‘Jesus, if we don’t do this now, we’re never going to be able to do it!'”

“We needed to pay a deposit the exact amount,” she shares, admitting, “I’m telling you, to the literal penny that was my part of the deposit… It was $2,000, and I had $2,000 left in my bank account.”

Stafford-Johnson, completely chill and unfazed about the trajectory of this risk she took a little over a year ago, continues to detail the chaotic beginnings of her now-established business in Cambodia upon putting the deposit down.

“We had to leave the island because we booked [a trip to] Vietnam,” she says, ultimately journeying over to Hanoi. “We’re going around to grab scooters, looking for stationary shops to get ink to thumbprint onto these papers to send over — and then, we secured a lease of this place.”

With admittedly no money left in her bank account, Stafford-Johnson briefly returned to Ireland to pick up work at a bar for approximately five months before heading back to Greece for the start of her preferred seasonal work.

“I just worked like a dog,” she recalls. “I was just working, working, working, I don’t know, 70 something hour weeks — and then doing little side things for friends or online, just trying to think of every little [way to make a] bit of money that I could.”

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In April 2024, Stafford-Johnson and her Australian friends officially took over the hostel. In November 2024, they rebranded it as The Wavy Sailor.

“We just finished our first high season as a brand and as a business,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Stafford-Johnson describes The Wavy Sailor as a “backpackers’ hostel” for “everyone,” though she says her main clientele range from ages 18 to mid-30s. Ultimately, it’s catered for those who “love to have a good time,” she makes clear.

“We love to throw a party… On the weekends, we have a lovely cocktail menu and drink venue — but it’s also the place where you can just come with your book and have a smoothie bowl and tan all day and relax,” she explains.

Above all, Stafford-Johnson says the hostel is rooted in “people making friends and connecting,” a foundation The Wavy Sailor was literally built on when the four strangers-turned-friends met in Greece that one summer.

“People rock up and they don’t know each other, they’ve checked in at the same time, then you see them three days later and it’s like they’ve known each other for 10 years,” she shares. “That’s what the space is focused around — people relaxing, exploring, having fun and getting to know each other.”

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As for what’s around the space — well, that’s the exciting part about being situated in the middle of a Cambodian jungle.

“We have monkeys,” adds Stafford-Johnson. “There was one day I found myself in my bungalow… and there were like 10 monkeys out on the balcony. This just became a daily occurrence for me. I was like… You have to walk around with your slingshot to scare them!”

“They are goofy… sassy,” she jokes.

In addition to the monkeys, Stafford-Johnson also points out a few other creatures that make their presence known — but it’s all part of the experience!

“There are bugs. There’s mosquitoes for sure,” she shares. “There’s lizards. We have geckos. We have geckos that hang out with us quite a bit, but they’re great because they eat the mosquitoes. So, if they hang out on the firewall or something, they’ll just sort of take the bugs.”