Has anyone ever just dropped it all and headed off and found a completely new life and career after a year or so traveling? I'd love to hear any stories?
Do you mean after coming back or staying and working abroad? Teaching English seems to be very popular. Actually thought of selling up and going for it, though I'd want to test the water first to see if I even liked it. I may not.
For now, it's just an idea and may never happen.
[ 20-Sep-2009, at 04:29 by fabyomama ]
I started travelling many years ago and always got so frustrated and depressed on returning home, knowing that there was surely a way of working and playing with near as possible equal amounts of time for each.
Then along came my job, well not exactly, I had to work my socks off to prove I was good at what was on offer, and now I get to travel and be paid at the same time. Had I not began my adventures back then, I probably would never have got the itch to make travelling part of my everyday life. I don't know how much longer the work will last, I've been doing it for over twenty years, in that time I've seen so much of the world and there's still more to come and when it does dry up I can consider myself so incredibly lucky. All thanks to my wanting much more after getting a taste for the planet.
I sort-of have: I used to have a nice job in logistics, and after six months in South America I got a position as a researcher in university (in my original field of training). But to be honest: I didn't really need nor use the travelling to make up my mind, already done that before I left.
I came back from a week sitting by the sea in West Cork, Ireland some years ago. I marched into my bosses office and told him how grateful I was for the opportunity to work for his company, how much it had meant to me and the valuable lessons I had learned in my time there, and how I was sorry to have to leave but I must broaden my horizons....
Oh no, wait! That was a dream I had.
What actually happened was I walked into his office and told him to shove his job up his A***. Man did that feel good. Next day I was sitting outside a tiny rustic bar in the countryside, on a beautiful summers day, so I phoned him up to tell him again...
Then I started writing. Ever since then I've had no money but a lot of freedom.
Money does help somewhat, but I totally agree it isn't everything.
Yep! I went to school for music and have been singing since then. I love it, but I knew a while back it wasn't the only thing I wanted to do. I worked in medicine for about fifteen years (also while singing), but after a trip to SE Asia a few years ago, I left medicine and a stable paycheck to go back to school for archaeology, something I have wanted to do since I was eight years old. I had wanted to study it previously, but didn't know what to focus on. After my trip, I knew exactly what I wanted to study and went for it! I've been adding areas of interest since then.
This was the third summer I worked as an archaeologist, only this time, it was in Fiji. It was amazing. The pay isn't the best, but it's the most amazing job I could ask for!
Being a young 19 year old, I went traveling for 5 months....when I came back I gave up my previous career and studied travel and tourism....fast foward 19 years and I now live almost the completely opposite side of the world from where I grew up and own my own travel company. It has been a lot of hard work over the last 19 years and continues to be a lot of work, but well worth it. I can now travel anywhere in the world that I want to go.....money is no issue, it is now trying to find the time that is a struggle. I say go for it, if you are pondering your question in the first place, the chances are that you are not entirely happy with what you are currently doing anyways. You will never know until you test the waters!
After traveling, hmm.. let me rephrase that, after seeing and experiencing a totally different place, society and culture... my life has never been the same again!
I began to rethink my life. Thought of the things that I need, those that I want, questioned my own priorities, and looked at life differently. For me it was being able to find a deeper meaning to life through other people, their views, beliefs and lifestyle. And because of that realization I pursued a passion, took a great responsibility to motivate, inspire and share what I have experienced to my students.
Found a great passion in teaching.. not just teaching English as a second language which is becoming a trend nowadays.. it is being able to make someone else's life better. I've been working and living in Thailand as a TESOL teacher in a public school and running my own language school for 3 years now, since then I've been working everyday, traveled less and lived a more meaningful life dedicated to others.
For me it was Australia. I didn't drop everything straight away as I was too busy running my own company (Internet), but after a few more trips to Australia I finally got out, moved to Australia (from Germany), studied Tourism (and sort of still do), have no money anymore to travel overseas, but at least live where I love to be and never regret my decision
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