Missing the Essence of Travelling?!

Hi,

I think you would miss out on things, yeah. At least for me, my mindset for a three week holiday is completely different than it is when travelling for 3+ months. Probably most importantly is that a holiday can (and will) be planned; with such a short amount of time, you're trying to maximize the things you see and do, and won't really burn out on it.
When travelling, however, I have the mindset of just turning up somewhere, and seeing about what to do when there. There's just no planning for such a significant amount of time, and it's much easier to take rest days and really slide into the rhythm of wherever it is you find yourself; it feels to me that it doesn't matter if I "waste" a week somewhere of no importance, because there's a near endless amount of time still left on the trip - and then frequently it's the experiences of that week which I'll recall most clearly later on.

What I'd recommend considering is not just travelling for three months, but rather taking off a complete year, and working part of that time (for example on a working holiday visa in or ) to stretch your money and make it last for that entire length of time. The experience you gain from such a significant amount of travelling is frequently considered to be quite valuable by employers (it shows things like initiative, having encountered (and being able to handle) a large number of situations, etc), and it gave me personally a huge confidence boost. Obviously there's no guarantees in something like this, but you might come out of such a trip with better job prospects than you have right now, especially if you can find work abroad which is somehow related to what you want to do (rather than just fruit picking).

If you've never done any long term travel before, it can be really hard knowing if it's for you, and you'll be consciously giving up a lot of (feelings of) security and knowing where you're at in life. I can say "Go for it!", "You only live once!", "You're still young; now's the perfect time!" and all those things, but I'm just a random stranger on the internet; what worked for me probably won't work for you (though if you want to know more about how I experienced my travels, you can read the first half of a while ago). There definitely will be hardship during / due to travelling, and you might end up back home after a while, completely broke and out of prospects. The security of home and all those things are worth a lot, and long-term travel really is not for everyone, so that's what you have to weigh in your mind. What is it you value most?

I hope this was actually helpful in some way. Good luck making the decision!

[ 11-Apr-2011, at 10:05 by Sander ]


Missing the Essence of Travelling?!

Missing the Essence of Travelling?!

Missing the Essence of Travelling?!

Subscribe to receive free email updates:

0 Response to "Missing the Essence of Travelling?!"

Post a Comment