To Drop everything at 30

LittleKati wrote:

K2 wrote:I am 26 now when I discovered these boards and it's giving me more and more inspiration and courage to start planning for a yearly or more RTW trip. I'm hoping to "set sail" before I'm 30. I'm really happy to find so many like-minded ppl here.

Me too, me too It's more difficult to save up money for travel, but I won't give up! I'll try to make it before 30. And I wish you take off soon too!

It feels so far away though, having to wait a few years to save enough for it.

Hey Kati, I'm from Malaysia originally. I can't believe I haven't been to Thailand!

We're a year into a three-year wait for a RTW trip with (my wife and I). Seems far away, but time has been passing exceptionally fast.

To deal with the wait, we've really spent a lot of time daytripping close to home — essentially taking in home (where we grew up) with eyes wide open. Treating our little corner of the world as if it were part of our itinerary.

Good way to go about it, methinks. Time flies. Carpe diem, etc.

Couldn't agree more - one thing that I learnt very quickly on my RTW trip was that I knew other people's countries better than they did, and they knew my country better than I did. For instance, I'd been all around Australia to some very small and obscure places, whereas I tended not to do such things back home in England - partly because travelling abroad to a different culture is so easy from here, but partly through laziness. This has since been partially rectified, although going abroad is still more interesting! But like you said "eyes wide open"...that's the change that happened after my RTW.

I'm in a similar situation. I'm a 31 year old female who has a great job, but something's missing. The people I've met here aren't really the adventurous risk taking type. They're...uh...boring. Once you get into our age group, you get all sorts of advice to settle down and start contributing to your 401K, get a house and get a husband (in your case wife).

Jose Ortega, 20th century philosopher, talked of living without a constitutive identity. He believed that a person is truly free when they choose not to identify themselves with any specific identity. In short, the life you have now is not all your capable of and it's not a crazy idea to travel the world at your age! You'll learn so much about yourself and the world.

Go for it!

Becca

worldtraveller321 wrote:Hello All. I was wondering if it would be a bad idea for someone to drop everything at my age to go travel around the world or go work abroad.I am about 30 male, single with a steady full time job.I was wondering If im too late in my life to just drop it and go and try to be happy. Or AM i still young enough to do such a thing? not crazy?Anyone out there over age 35. Who just dropped everything and went?Not much to fall back on. But love to travel and want to experience life living in other countries?i was wondering if some jobs overseas like teaching english or WWOOFING or volunteer work like building a school in Africa would open up job skills to be marketable back home?

Seriously i am so happy i found this site..
It has been an absolute revelation. Inspiring.
This blog in particular has prompted me into action.
I have realised my dream!! To be a world traveller!! And i cant wait.
I am currently 29. 30 in October, got a house, cruisey well paid sales job, car, phone etc.. i am from Sydney.. And you know wat?
I m out.. I went and bought a 1 way ticket to London for April 16th 2012.
I intend on saving enough money between now and then to travel for at least 6months.
Europe parts of the middle east South America.
I am pumped with anticipation yet i am a nervous wreck and have no idea wheather i am being foolish and irresponsible as many ppl r telling me..
I am trying to learn as much as i can now so i m prepared. However i m looking fwd to loosing myself and breaking free from the monoteny and drearyness of a stale politically correct pretentious society. Time to spread the wings. Just shitting myself thats all..
But i owe this blog in particular a special thanks.. It was 2 days after i read this i bought my flight. 27/6/2011 1 way london for 16/4/2012.. Where i am going after that i will figure out lata.. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Pauli wrote: . . .yet i am a nervous wreck and have no idea whether i am being foolish and irresponsible as many ppl r telling me..

People told me I was being stupid - back in 1989 when I first headed abroad. But I've been overseas ever since then. I've loved it and had a great life and it's still not done.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a dream. In fact, why not!?

30 is too young to scare from dropping everything and moving ahead. I can't say about moving abroad as I hadn't seen any practical example of this but one of my friend dropped his job at 31 and started his own business in new city. And he is running it successfully. It was a difficult decision for him too but he took that and now he is happy. So I think that you have time to drop by and move ahead and settle abroad.

Never to late my friend! I'm never going to stop traveling.

I am curious if any of the wannabes ever followed through . . .

I hope so!

Like one of the other posters, I too, quit my job and joined the peace corps. In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. I had a fantastic time and I feel like it changed the direction of my life. It gave me a perspective I never even knew existed. It was tough and humbling - I felt fantastic highs and depressing lows. But it was absolutely rewarding and worth it. I feel the same way about long term travel.

Like they say... hindsight is 20/20 and before every big move in my life I lamented over the decision for several months, just like many people on this thread. For anyone considering dropping everything and leaving....my advice is this: There are no wrong decisions so set your sights on something and hang on for the ride. Any decision is better than no decision. Whatever you decide to do....it'll all work out in the end and you'll most likely never look back.

This is the best forum post I've read in a while! Super inspiring and motivating.

I'm 31 and my husband is 33 and we are leaving for our Australia/SEA trip in Jan 2012 for 4-6 months (as long as the $$ will last). We've been saving up since May 2011 and we're doing pretty good so far!

I'll be asking my company (think big NYC Wall Street bank) for a leave of absence and I'm frightened with what their response will be - if they say no do I quit? If they say they can only give me 3 months do I quit?

Also thinking about trying to find another corporate job while abroad - either in China or Singapore. We'll see what happens when we get there!

Wow, it's amazing to see how just a few posts can change your life!

I am 28 and I've always wanted to go to Australia. I am a lawyer in one of the biggest companies in Turkey, have a nice car, salary, a girlfriend and probably a good career. It seems so hard to drop everything, move to another country and start over. But it's just... I am NOT happy.

After reading all these posts, as crazy as it sounds to my family, I've finally decided to apply for visa and now waiting for a response from the embassy. I will be studying law in Melbourne, hopefully practice it in Victoria after graduation.

Thank you all for the motivation that used to lack in my life. If you have any further advice, I'd be happy to listen and it's greatly appreciated.

Hi

I moved from UK to Aus about six years ago, changed job/career, bought house

etc etc. Next month I'm off around Asia and Europe for a year, maybe longer

who knows.

You're biggest regret will be NOT doing or trying what you want to do. It's

been written many times before but it's the truth.

I'll be coming up to 43 when I go and I can't wait!

20, 30, 40, 50, 60... I say DO IT!

DO IT!

I dropped everything at 36 to move to colorado and be a ski bum for 6 years, well not really a bum, snowmaking and lift maintenance.

Now I am 42 and dropping everything again, selling all the toys and stuffing a backpack for what may become a RTW starting in Schengen.

Don't fear the unknown, it is full of adventure. Your life awaits.

I am 42, P is 48. We are home just over a year from a 1 year rtw and 4 years from the next. We are both government employees and our employers have given us deferred leave.

It can be done, without dropping everything and the comfort of a job in the end. It is, of course, brutally hard to go from being free as a bird then back into recycled office air. From experience though, the wait goes quickly and we'll be scrambling to pack our bags again.

Find the right employer and you can have the best of both worlds.