Is there anyone here who DOESN'T know my reaction to this? Anyone at all?
I'd imagine it's the same as mine.
Cool, so if I see your FB status is " Leaving everything behind to travel the world, sleeping God's know where, scrubbing toilets" I will call the FBI and Interpol. Please extend me the same courtesy.
Cool, so if I see your FB status is " Leaving everything behind to travel the world, sleeping God's know where, scrubbing toilets" I will call the FBI and Interpol. Please extend me the same courtesy.
Cool, so if I see your FB status is " Leaving everything behind to travel the world, sleeping God's know where, scrubbing toilets" I will call the FBI and Interpol. Please extend me the same courtesy.
can I get on this list? And please add camping.
I thought camping didn't need to be mentioned because it was understood. My life's goal is to die having never slept outside.
Cool, so if I see your FB status is " Leaving everything behind to travel the world, sleeping God's know where, scrubbing toilets" I will call the FBI and Interpol. Please extend me the same courtesy.
Cool, so if I see your FB status is " Leaving everything behind to travel the world, sleeping God's know where, scrubbing toilets" I will call the FBI and Interpol. Please extend me the same courtesy.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Sept 2, 2015 11:57:02 GMT -5
One of my friends did this pretty successfully and has been to over 100 countries, but she made sacrifices in other ways. She was also really lucky to have the support she did.
She sold her house and vehicle for the initial cash. Then six months out of the year she lived with her parents and worked three jobs (mostly serving type positions in her hometown where they didn't mind that her schedule was unusual). Then the other six months she traveled around the world very shoestring.
She did this for several years before meeting her husband, who is Nigerian.
They live in the States now with their two kids and I think the transition has been really rough on her. She did it for the adventure, rather than as a soul seeking excursion, and I know she really misses her old life.
I'm a big fan of travel and exploration, but I think a lot of these people who turn it into a life's mission to abandon worldly goods and just roam are in for some big surprises at not only how hard it is to accomplish, but also how it cannot last forever for the vast majority of people.
I don't have a problem with this. It's their lives, they're being honest that it's not all sunshine and roses, they aren't hurting anyone (and if ttt's article is correct that they are getting paired up with people who need help, that's pretty cool)...so whatever.
Honestly? If I could figure out how to do this and still have my career to come back to, I'd go travel the world for the year. I want my job to come back to though, so I don't know how that would work.
Though I want iammalcolmx to teach me how to fly first class all the time.
Post by downtoearth on Sept 2, 2015 12:21:03 GMT -5
I totally would love to just live and travel in other countries for a year or two, but I think that ship has sailed with 3 kids and expensive responsibilities. Our friends just went to SE Asia for 6-8 weeks with two kids and traveled all over. They loved it, but their kids weren't as thrilled. I think they were bummed to find out that their kids wanted more comfort travel and weren't willing to try different languages (tween to late elementary kids).
I also love camping, I don't mind "working" (like building a deck, cleaning, cooking, etc.) on vacation, and I like the barter system but my skills aren't very good for that. I also have housed random vacationers in our house and backyard that my DH has brought home from our local brewery or from bike rides, I've never flown business or first class, and once I had to give Plasma for $$ in order to get back home after a spring break. I think I'm pretty laid back about this stuff, but I am glad the these travelers have clarified that it's not all puppies and rainbows to be budget travelers.
@littlemoxie Potentially. I'm actually about to attempt to get a year-long sabbatical. We have some issues in our School with people abusing sabbatical time, and not using it for their intended purpose, so that's the only thing that would give me pause. I'd have to completely go off the radar if I did it, so no one would know what I was up to.
I don't have a problem with this. It's their lives, they're being honest that it's not all sunshine and roses, they aren't hurting anyone (and if ttt's article is correct that they are getting paired up with people who need help, that's pretty cool)...so whatever.
Honestly? If I could figure out how to do this and still have my career to come back to, I'd go travel the world for the year. I want my job to come back to though, so I don't know how that would work.
Though I want iammalcolmx to teach me how to fly first class all the time.
LOL!!! At one point during these past 24 hour journeys, on one of the flights, I turned to H and just said " Thank you" . Then when we were at the Virgin Clubhouse in Heathrow I turned to him again and said " Don't ever expect me to do anything else!!!" , poor guy.
This definitely rings somewhat true for me. The first year I lived in Cape Town, I had housing paid for but nothing else. I had saved up for it, but I would definitely stretch R30 meals over 2 days for example so that on the weekend I could travel and embark on adventures (mostly in hostels or on the bus and not super luxury).
I didn't scrub toilets, but made other minor sacrifices over the 18 months I lived there and travelled. It was well worth it to me to make great friends, travel and experience things I'll never forget. Many of us on this board are privileged enough at this point in our lives to have some type of choice in our life circumstances and everyone makes different choices, some more conventional, others more untraditional. That's what makes the world go round!
Post by shanbrite2 on Sept 2, 2015 21:09:12 GMT -5
We did this domestically after graduating. We renovated my minivan to be kind of like a camper (no bathroom) and it was actually quite comfortable. We saved enough and somehow things were WAAAAAY cheaper then (like gas was well south of $2, I think), so we didn't have to work as we went, so that was different. We either camped in the van or stayed with family friends, so that reduced costs. We mostly cooked our own food and had a Parks pass to visit National Parks for free. It was so wonderful and we have so many stories from those 6 months. I don't regret it for a second and I'm glad we did it when we did.
We also have 2 friends that consciously chose to work while traveling. Their jobs at the time were such that they could be anywhere in the world and still work (no toilets for them). Their website is carrieandjonathan.com if you want to read their story. I think they were abroad for 2-3 years?