Originally posted by: Fern
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Originally posted by: Fern
Originally posted by: puffff
traveling 'around the world' has always been on the back of my mind since graduating college. but the time was never right. immediately after graduation, i didnt have the money. after i started working, i didnt have the time. the last few weeks, i've been thinking, it's now or never. if i stay this corporate world any longer, i may never go. when i'm 50, i want to be able to tell of all the cool things i did when i was younger. decorating my cubicle doesnt rank very high on the list of 'cool things'.
earlier today, i talked to my boss and submitted my letter of resignation. i'm leaving on good terms, though i can tell they were pretty shocked by my decision. they asked questions like why couldnt i do it the way normal people do, and take 2 week vacations at a time, instead of going for 6months to a year. my reply was, it's part of the adventure, to just keep going. they asked if i was independently wealthy (haha, this really made me laugh) to be able to afford doing this. well, i save money like crazy.. i've got a decent stash that should last me a year.
this isnt about discontent with my job. i like the work, the people are decent, the level of stress is low, and the hours are flexible. this is about seeing new things.
my tickets should be booked by the end of the week, and i should be off and running by february!
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." - Saint Augustine.
edit: (to answer some questions 🙂 )
i'll be traveling alone. but from reading blogs of other people who have done what i'm attempting to do, it won't be hard to meet other travelers on the road.
i've saved up about $25k for this trip. i'll be selling some of my things, like my motorcycle, maybe my car, my computer, furniture, so i'm hoping i can raise another $2k-$4k before i leave.
my mom wants me to bring a laptop with me, so much so that she's offered to pay for it. looking into travel friendly laptops now, if anyone has any good suggestions (small, durable, preferable not too expensive, let me know!)
definately gonna take pictures along the way. right now i have a pentax optio s digicam. hopefully i'll find the time and energy to blog most of my trip... i'll update with the site when it's all ready!
Dude, I did the same thing when I was 25 yrs old (I'm 45 now). Quite my job, gave my car and all my other stuff to my brothers. Bought a one-way ticket to London. Didn't know any other lanuages or where exactly I was going.
Ended up traveling all over Europe (from Scandanavia to Spain and the on the Magreb (Morrocco etc.)
Bought a combi van turned into a camper. I was gone from the US for about 8 years!
Definately go by yourself, that's how you meet lots of people.
I could tell you a million stories 98% great, 2% terrifying.
The only downside is, after your trip is over you life will seem sucky. Nothing can compare to the travel and adventure. You'll learn many lessons and prolly have some likelong friends in other places.
I use to travel through Europe etc on roads not even listed in any map. Went by compass in some places. Weird, peeps use to come out and wave. I swear there were remote places in Portugal where they hadn't seen internal combustion vehicles.
One bit of advice, go native - go get used clothing when you get there. Nobody will be able to tell you from the locals till you open your mouth.
Fern
Although I don't know you, You'll be the only person other than me that I know who did this.
Good Luck
Oh, one other thing. If you're gone long, you'll prolly face culture shock when you get back and, if like me, feel like a stranger in your own country. (Oddly enough though, to this day when I travel abroad I feel very very comfortable in other countries.
You will be a different person when you return.
Out of sheer curiosity. How were you able to afford 8 years in Europe including new clothes in each country and a van at the age of 25?
I left the US with about $10K I had saved (savings plus cashed in 401 (k) -remember interest rates back then were up to 20%).
The camper/van took up a good portion of my money. I did run out of money. I was in West Berlin at the time. Back in the days of the "Wall" (lot of wierd stores from that city). I was pretty bummed, I felt trapped behind hundreds of mile of communist territory.
I was living with a german gf I had met there, so I had a place to stay (it got a little tense cuz I could tell she didn't feel like "supporting" me and wanted me to kick in for rent/food.
In looking around I found "black market" jobs like unloading trucks, construction etc. But the good thing I discoverd was that Europe has "hitch hiker" services between cities. They charge peeps per on a per mile basis and the money is given to the driver. Well with my camper van I could seat up to 6 people. So for a while I became a "private bus" service ferrying peeps around Europe to cities.
Make no mistake, I lived cheaply - used clothes, a loaf of fresh bread and a hunk of cheese, or a Kebab for a meal. I could also cook in my camper, often eating only pasta and butter. Whatever was locally available and inexpensive.
I went for years never eating a cheeseburger or other food we would consider inexpensive cuz I felt they cost too much over there.
Another bit of luck was Berlin at that time was under the Tripartide agreement of WW2. So there was an American sector (as well as British and French) The Soviet Union/Russia got East Berlin. I would hike all over Berlin, looking at free local papers whatever, seeking to find just something when I stumbled onto one in English and saw a stock broker ad. I went and visited just for the hell of it.
Turns out there was a large American community of retired military living there along with US pilots for Pan AM. (I lived in Krauzberg district with my german gf, never had seen any American there, it was the hippy berlin area with a lot of Turks). Anyway, since I can do tax returns and acounting, the broker let me use an office cuz he wanted me (a CPA) to tell his clients what kind of investmenst were good for them. I ended up working with him from Jan - June and would travel around the rest of the time in my camper. By this time the german chick had blown me off and I was living in the broker's house cuz it was too cold to stay in the van.
After a couple of years of this I hooked up with french women from Paris and quit going back to Berlin. More hard times till I lucked out and bumped into a French Law firm that helped US companies (Like Disney when they started the Park in paris). I got hired there and worked a few years married to the french women. That lasted a few years till the french law firm was taken over by a big American company who ended up transfering me to NY. All-in-all about 7 or 8 yrs.
I found NY great to visit, crappy to live in so quit after a yr or two and moved to the Smoky Mountains.
Bottom line - BE RESOURCEFUL . I found if you're able-bodied and have a quick mind you can pretty much survive anywhere.
Fern
Edit: The above is a brief "overview". I think it mostly demonstartes that you don't need a lot of money, but you will have to work a bit. Which I think only adds to the experience. Your "forced" to interact with the locals in different locations. Really get to see and feel their daily lives (cuz you share in it). Its a whole diff experience than the tourism/visiting thing. Although at different times I'd bump into US peeps visiting for Spring Break etc and hang with them
Another thing. I think it w/b beneficial if we followed the Australian model mentioned above. I lived in London for a while in a boarding house owned by a Polish Familay and mostly occupied by Australians (although there wer Germans, Spainish and French there) I got to know the Australian women running it and they let me live and eat there free for a few months. Anyway point is the Australians are allowed by law (and encouraged) to leave for one year and travel. The law guarantees their jobs when they return. Thier society feels it is benefical for young people to travel the worldto gain perspective and likely, a sence of independance and can do. Most all had "black market jobs as well..
Another time I lived free in a campground in Paris for about 6 months. There were peeps who had been living there for years. We had are own little community. We would all gather for a group cook-out for dinner every night. Each brought what they could and we would cook and eat around the camp fire.
When I wanted to leave, I made arragements with the guards, who know me well by then, for them to open the gates of the campground and let me slip out at midnight - off on another adventure elsewhere. Lot of fond memories from that spot
