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!
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| 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.
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.
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