Unsatiated Travel Bug Blues

Sigh....Just posting on here out of boredom, and it's worth mentioning that I was able to travel a lot when I was younger, but then between finances and lack of ability to get visas without much in the way of higher education, I had to go home. It's kind of depressing, I'm 28 and so many people my age in my area(small town Georgia USA) have been married, knocked up, or both by now; this is something I look at and think wow you have completely wasted your life. So basically not very many people around here seem to think it's a big deal that I haven't been on a plane in 2 years, but after doing as much travelling as I did when I was younger that's depressing!

I feel your pain. It's a constant struggle to find both time and money, and wonder myself if the stars will align perfectly for the rest of my life. However, experience tells me it doesn't. Hang in there! What usually works for me is planning a trip, even if it's a year out, as it gives me something to look forward to.

Hi kitty, stumbled across this by chance. i just wanna pick your brains on what you said about being married/ knocked up in your 20's as a waste. i just been through break up and (as you do when you split with someone) feel as if i should have worked harder at it and be looking at getting maried by now. (i'm 25) anothter part of me wants to just p*ss off and go somewhere for a few months. i not saying if your views are wrong or right, i just interested to know why you think that? everyone around me is moving in together and getting married too. i'd like to hear from someone like you who knows what benefits/happiness travelling gives you as apposed to settling down.

as for your blues, well it sounds like you have travelled in the past so maybe at this point just be happy that you have and that many will never get the chance to do what you have? i know that may not help but we are luckier than we remember sometimes, i am very guilty of this myself.

also, through your experiences people. is £1,000 (sterling) enough to just say, f*ck it and go on an adventure somewhere? i would obviously be looking to work wherever i went.

dan

1,000 is a start, although in my experience you usually end up needing at least twice the funds you think you do!

Well I am certainly taking comfort now that I only have barely more than a year to go untill my degree is finished, which means I'm about to have so many more options where travelling is concerned!

Dan, it's not a waste if it's something you truly want as opposed to society's expectations. I'm 28 so in the contemplating the progress of my life so far as I'm about to turn 30 stage. A lot of my classmates are more traditional-aged students, and it does bother me somewhat when they say their goal is to be married within 5 years, which to me suggests that so many satisfy this by marrying the first seemingly decent person who comes along. And after seeing so many friends and family members survive divorces, I'm becoming more convinced the older that I get that this wouldn't be so common if more relationships only had 2 people in them. When I say more than 2, often the others would be say relatives who nag constantly about why I haven't "settled down" yet.

A lot of my perspective is coming back from being overseas for a few years, which was when I was 26, and having so many all of a sudden be shocked that I'm still single and childless at my age. Then it was pointed out in a sociology class I had to take for my degree that marriage and childbirth happens earlier in the US than it does in any western country worldwide. Of course here there isn't such an emphasis on things such as taking a gap year after finishing high school, more like getting married and making babies after finishing high school. Which explains why you don't see many Americans taking long round the world backpacking trips.

Finally, I like so many people have evolved dramatically through my 20s, so surely I would have gone through a nasty divorce if I had married when I was 21. Anyway, here's some statistics much like what was in my sociology textbook:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_at_first_marriage

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_age_of_wom_at_fir_chi-health-age-women-first-childbirth

If something is what you really want, whether it's travel or the domestic life or something else, go for it. It just worries me when people make decisions based on what others expect them to do. I've always been fiesty and independent like that!

[ 04-Apr-2010, at 12:27 by SassyKitty ]

a year will fly by so you'll be away again soon.

i am suprised that the average age of marrige for british guys is 30. seems high to me, does make me feel better tho! cheers for that. guess i'm just feeling like i should be getting to that stage because of whats happened lately. we're always wanting what we cant have. thanks for the reply tho, has helped me think.

what places have you travelled anyway?

Of course if you've been through what you've been through it's hard, and hard too when everyone around you is experiencing what you want to eventually. I have to remind myself a lot that it's best to not rush things, key word being eventually, even with travel, though that one is very hard!

So far, I've been to Southern Africa and a few places in the South Pacific, and lived in Australia for a few years. Unfortunately my finances weren't in good shape so I had to cut my travelling short before I made it to Europe. Though it's probably for the better, just because long-term visas for anywhere are difficult if you don't have much in the way of higher education unless you marry someone for the wrong reasons. South America is right up there on my priority list with Europe.

Whereabouts have you/are you planning to go?

Just remember, sometimes you never know what you have until its gone. Ive been away from Georgia for two years and sometimes I really miss the ole place. Where in GA are ya? Athens? awesome fun town.

Just remember, sometimes you never know what you have until its gone.

Absolutely. I never thought I would miss Manchester but I do, and I'm trying to appreciate the life I have here in NZ as I know I will miss it when I move on.

If all goes well I'll be in Athens long enough to do my Master's, UGA has a fabulous accounting program! Unfortunately for now I'm stuck in Warner Robins, family is here so it was an easy place to go to when the travel funds ran a bit short. It definitely makes me appreciate life in the big smoke so much more being away from it.

If all goes well I'll be in Athens long enough to do my Master's, UGA has a fabulous accounting program! Unfortunately for now I'm stuck in Warner Robins, family is here so it was an easy place to go to when the travel funds ran a bit short. It definitely makes me appreciate life in the big smoke so much more being away from it.

Ok well I can totally commiserate with you being in Warner Robins! lol


Unsatiated Travel Bug Blues

Unsatiated Travel Bug Blues

Unsatiated Travel Bug Blues

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