One of my favorite things about going on a long-term, around the world (RTW) trip is the comments I get from others about the whole thing. Not the supportive "that is awesome" comments, those are pretty amazing, but the comments that are negative about the whole experience. It seems like no matter who you interact with, someone will turn sour on you every once in a while.
We can shrug these comments off without taking them seriously, but there are others who hear negativity and begin to second guess their desire to go on a RTW trip. Yes, indecisive RTWer, this post is for you. Rather than repeat what is already known, we want to speak directly to those who are on the fence on long-term travel to try and dispel some myths to get you back on track to a RTW journey of a lifetime! To do that, we need to take a look at some of the arguments you've likely already heard, and why they are absolutely pointless if travel is your number one dream.
Argument #1: You Won't Get a Job After, The World Economy is Awful
While there is some truth to this statement, it shouldn't be used as an argument against long-term travel. Why is that? There are jobs everywhere, you just have to be willing look for them. Odds are if you are in a career that has enough flexibility to allow you to save enough money for RTW travel, you'll be in a good place to find another job when you return home in the future. It may not be in the same city you lived in before, or may even be a completely different direction then your last career. The truth is that if you want a job, you'll probably be able to find one.
Not to discuss world economics of job creation and employment on this blog in any deeper fashion, there is one major sticking point that always bothered me when people say they cannot find a job. The Earth is huge. Really huge. 7 billion people huge. If you condense your job search into one geographic region, such as a city or state, you are making it that much harder on yourself in finding employment. Why compete against a few dozen or hundred people for 1 to 2 jobs when there are millions of opportunities out there, many of which you are completely qualified for?
So you may not be able to find a job in your current city when you return home, it happens. The benefit of RTW travel is that it is a life changing experience. When you get back you will be a different person. A different person with a different outlook on life and life goals. You may realize you want to live in a different city, state, or country. Not because it'll help you find a job easier, but because it is another adventure. After a trip around the world for several months or years, falling into routine just seems a bit too boring for most. Expect the same to happen to you and you'll start to see all the possibilities that are available for anyone who take the added effort to look.
On the other side of the argument, if you are so worried about finding a job in a particular city, you probably shouldn't consider RTW travel at all. But if you are of that mindset, you probably don't even want to explore the world to begin with and haven't got this far in the post before closing it anyway. If you have no curiosity to consider living somewhere new, what is driving you to want to travel long-term? If you can answer that question, then this argument either has merit or is completely worthless for your specific case.
Argument #2: There Are More Important Things Than Travel
This argument is one of my personal favorites, as there is often no logical response when I follow up with "yeah, like what?" Most of the time people bring up the argument that your mid-twenties to early-thirties are the time to get a house, settle down, climb the corporate ladder, and start a family. That is great, except not everyone wants a house or a family just yet. Don't get me wrong, we would love to have a house and maybe some dogs, but just not yet. It is all about priorities, and RTW travelers have a different set than most.
A lot of sacrifices need to be made for the goal of long-term travel. A permanent residence, pets, family, and even your career are things that do need to be put on hold in most cases to pursue a nomadic lifestyle for even a brief period of time. If you are an indecisive RTW traveler, you probably have already come to terms with these main issues if you are even considering going, so hearing an argument falls a bit on deaf ears even though it can start the seed of second guessing. The key is to remember that your priorities in life are yours, and no one has the right answer on how to live "correctly."
Lets take a look at various different priorities that people often have. One non-traveler may have interests in cars and technology and spend all their money on that. A family may want to raise kids and spend their money that way. Us? We don't own smart phones or have kids. We don't own a flat screen TV or even have cable. Our cars are 8 and 13 years old and we have no intention to buy new ones anytime soon. We even get bothered by even spending money to buy a new netbook or camera, things we can take traveling with us.
Why do we do this? We do it so we can buy $2,000 worth of airfare anywhere in the world we want without even thinking twice about it. Why are we so nonchalant about it? Its how we live our life, and it is exactly how we like it. By cutting out some monthly expenditures, especially around electronics, our airfare cost covers itself immediately. Is there anything wrong with any of the cases mentioned in this post? No, and that is the point. Your life is yours. Live it how you choose.
To finish the counterpoint to this argument, we need to go back to a statement made in the first argument of this post: there are 7 billion people in the world. They can work if they want to, the world will keep on spinning if you make travel your number one priority. Some may not accept it, but they don't have to. It is all about what you want out of life.
Argument #3: Travel Later, Work Now
The only real truth in the world is that we all grow old. Some of us unfortunately will never make it to enjoy retirement in our fullest potential. The most common dream is to retire and see the world, but we like to view a RTW journey as almost a mini-retirement where you can enjoy the world with all of the energy of youth. After all, are you really going to jump off that mountain to go paragliding or go scuba diving with sharks when you are in your sixties and retired? Don't answer that, because I am striving for it too, but many people may not have the same capabilities. Isn't that enough of a driver to try and make travel a priority now and worry about all the other details of life later?
But lets look at the other side of the argument for the sake of arguments: work now. By working now, assuming you are in your mid-twenties to early-thirties, you are viewed as putting in your time and climbing the corporate ladder. Many view this as essential to career success. But at the same time, the world economy recently collapsed and even those at the very top of the ladder are starting all over again. Based on current economic outlooks, there is no guarantees that something like this could never happen again. How many people have had their hopes and dreams of retirement come tumbling down in the mess of an economic collapse? What would you do forty years from now if you were in that position when you've been dreaming for decades of doing nothing but travel?
For us, if a tragedy like the past decade were to occur again, we'd likely be working just like everyone else no matter how padded our retirement savings will be by then. When faced with the fear of working until I drop, I would much rather have my retirement now while I know I can still enjoy it. If taking a year or two off to travel means you need to work a few years more later on, is that really a big deal? At least you'll have guarantees you'll do something epic at least once, and have the energy and mental capacity to remember it all for the rest of your life, whether that is 10, 20, 40, or 80 years. Then, if you are lucky enough to make it to your goal, why not do it all over again?
So, why haven't you RTW'd yet? Were any of these statements used against you as a way to talk you out of your grand plan? What did you say in response? Comment below and let us know! If you are still on the fence, we'd love to talk to you. If you were torn before and finally chose to travel, we want to know what convinced you!
This post celebrates Living the Dream's 600th post. Hooray! Thanks for reading!