Are we going to travel? - YES

Yes we are! Finally told Stefania about my plan and she is definitely in! I explained her what I would like to do in the time during our travel.


We are both fluent in English and TEFL certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) by the time we start in late 2013 or beginning 2014. This strongly depends on our budget.


Our idea right now:


2 month traveling in India and Thailand


3 month social project in Thailand


6 month teaching in China (to fill up the budget again)


3 month Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam


3 month social project somewhere in Asia


4 month for Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia



The idea behind this is to work as much as possible in projects or paid assignments as a teacher to self finance this trip. Some of my colleagues have been raveling for almost 4-5 years and I have never heard that anybody did regret traveling.


My grandma is already shocked and disappointed, sad for her that she never had the possibility to experience what I /we already did. Once you get out of your normal live you want to keep on exploring and see more. My granny said "now is the time to earn money" OK fair point so that implies to me that with 40 or 50 I have time to travel and do not need to worry about money. Hey wait a moment that is not true. I personally know nobody in his 40th that has not to worry about money. So why is it that most people do not understand my wish? I do not know but I need to accept it anyway.


Right now we are happy and excited about the plan to travel the world but there is still a lot to do and organize beforehand.

Something inspirational - stay hungry, stay foolish

I saw this on www.slideshare.net and think I really fits also very well when we talk about traveling. Leaving behind what we know and what we are used to is daunting at some point but I know for sure it can be rewarding if you are open to new perspectives. 

If it comes to extended traveling it is like with parachuting/sky diving. People who have never done it will ask you why you do it. It is dangerous and costs a lot for a small kick they will argue. But you know that they have never done it themselves and so they can not understand how this feeling burns inside of some of use. The feeling to get out and explore, not to rest and go a bit further than you did yesterday. 

People tell us all the time what we can do and where our boundaries are but who actually sets these boundaries for us? In fact nobody. We get born into a society and raised in it but with the age and the job and the own money also the possibility comes along to readjust our life. Set our own standards on how we measure quality of life and happiness. 

                           

In my opinion there are two ways of giving back to society. Donate money or really use your time and energy to make the lives of those who really need it better. In the first case you just have less on your bank account and a better feeling when you go to bed but chances are high that this feeling will be gone in the morning.

The Big Bang - How an idea developed

It all started in Dezember 2010 in Miami. Stefania spent her exchange semester in Mexico and we decided to hop over to Miami for a week. We stayed at the miami-santa-barbara hostel and got to know this lovely couple!

Dinner with an English couple in our hostel in Miami

They (I can not even remember their names) where from England travelled from New York down through Latin America to South America. He was working in the insurance business and she was a teacher in primary school. She was supposed to change school but instead they made a daring decision. Leave behind their jobs and travel the world. Why? They argued that they are young, have sufficient funds to support themselves and the biggest reason for them was WHY NOT?

Time passed by and Stefania and I returned to Austria and started working. Meanwhile we moved to Dublin in Ireland and work for IBM and Oracle in sales positions. So far so good. A secure job with a high salary and perfect development possibilities in big American corporations. But every other day the thought comes up in my mind and I feel that something is not right for me in my life. From the outside everybody thinks is perfect but I am just not satisfied with this 9 - 5 job in the office. I am too young and the world is too big to stick to one place and work for the next 50 years or so.


A few weeks back I finally saw this picture again and knew what i should do. I am free! let me explain this: I have no debt, no house or apartment, no kids, no pets, not even a car. So nothing can really drag me down.


We live in a world where it always has to be faster, stronger or bigger. Revenue has to grow and profit is the only thing that concerns everybody. Best quarter ever in terms of profit but by the way we have to "let go" 500 people. There is something wrong in our system. I think for me it is time to give something back to the world. Teach English in Asia or volunteer at a social project.
For most people it is a hard decision to make because they have apartments or kids but for me it is hard because no one from my family supports me or understands my wish to explore the world.

I Austria the mentality is rather closed minded and everybody should go the same way but hey that's the beauty in life we are not all the same. For me it is easy I can try it and even if I find out that it was the wrong decision for me I can go back to my job an keep on doing what I do now.

Most people in Europe will now say "Yes but your professional development?" "Traveling is nothing for young professionals with a good education!" "You will come back with no savings!" "No one will hire you after a year of doing nothing!"

Ok so all of this points are in fact not really valid or important!

Your professional development: You choose a major at college that You think will help you to become a successful person in the business world but what do you honestly know about your future job when you are 20? So most of the people land somewhere else where they thought they would be. Much more important is how do you define successful.


You will have no savings: As a fact most graduates are in debt or completely broke and work the first 5 -10 years just to pay off their college education. In Austria (where Stefania and I studied) education is free and the government pays for it. So we both do not have this problem.


No one will hire you: Traveling is gaining experiences and also in the professional world experience is everything. It may not be directly related but traveling broadens your horizon and therefore helps you to solve complex problems. More over if someone will hire you depends on your qualification and skills. If an potential employer will mot hire you after travelling they probably would not hire you any way.


So what could be the next step for us? I think it is reasonable to acquire a little more funds and start the journey in Deyember 2013. (despite the fact that I first of all have to convince Stefania to join me but I think this would definitely be something for her - and everybody else)


So what do we plan to visit, where to stay, what to work (I want to combine it with regular working from time to time) and where to travel? You will be able to read a more detailed plan in the future posts.